1. On the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the "dies natalis" of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, I am pleased to join the Brothers of the Christian Schools and those who share Lasallian ideals in giving thanks for the example of the "special patron of children and youth", who founded your Institute "in order to give a Christian education to the poor and to strengthen youth in the way of truth". With a heart filled with joy at the marvels accomplished by the Brothers in the course of their history, I invite you "to rediscover courageously the enterprising spirit, the creativity and the sanctity" of your founder (Vita Consecrata N° 37), so that the desire to respond with generosity to the charism of your religious family is strengthened in each one of you.

2. I have already had occasion to recall the educational genius of John Baptist de La Salle, as well as the importance of your mission to children and youth, especially to those who are poor or in difficulty. Your ideal, which is still relevant, calls for disciples who allow themselves to be fashioned by God and who, filled with enthusiasm for education and evangelisation, are able to offer to young people Christian hope and reasons for living. By revealing to young people the attractive person of your founder, you invite them, following his example, to experience a personal encounter with Christ, introducing them to "the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us" (Novo millennio ineunte, N° 43).

3. The secret of John Baptist de La Salle is the personal and living relationship he maintained with the Lord in daily meditation, a source from which he drew the inventive audacity that characterised him. By listening to God, he received the enlightenment that gradually enabled him to discern the urgent needs of his time, so that he could respond to them in a suitable manner. Moved by the Spirit "residing within you" and who "should penetrate the innermost recesses of your soul" (John Baptist de La Salle, Meditations for all the Sundays of the Year, N° 62), you will increasingly live in conformity with the gift received by your founder. He who begged his Brothers to live as "interior men" (Explanation of the method of interior prayer, N° 3), reveals to us in the treasure of his writings the contemplative dimension of his life, and consequently also of all Christian and missionary life. Following his example, and renewed by their personal encounter with Christ, the Brothers are able to announce the Gospel to the young people entrusted to them, and to accompany them with sensitivity in their human, moral and spiritual growth.

4. I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Institute to the importance of the witness of fraternal life. John Baptist de La Salle saw it as an essential means of enabling Brothers to accomplish better their mission of education and evangelisation. "They should seek in particular to be united in God and to have only one heart and one mind. They should be inspired by the words of St John who says: "he who dwells in love, dwells in God and God in him"(Meditations N° 113, 2). Called to make visible the gift of fraternity made by Christ to the Church, the community has a duty "to be and to be seen as a cell of intense fraternal communion, a sign and a stimulus for all baptised persons" (Fraternal Life in community, N° 2b). Such a community is naturally attractive. The exhilaration that radiates from it, even in the midst of difficulties, becomes a witness which confers on religious life a great power of attraction, and which is a source of vocations.

5. In this context, I encourage the Brothers to make their houses schools of fraternal life, "to promote a spirituality of communion" (Novo millennio ineunte, N° 43), extending it to the young people entrusted to them and to the lay persons who collaborate in their mission, helping them all to discover and share the charism of the Institute. I rejoice at what has already been accomplished, such as the creation of the "Lasallian Youth Network", which it will be good to continue with and develop. This gives rise to an exchange which enables baptised persons to discover and live to the full their particular vocation, and the Brothers to recall the need for this "high standard of ordinary Christian living" which is sanctity, accompanied by a "training in holiness adapted to people's needs" (Novo millennio ineunte, N° 31), and especially to those of young people.

6. "You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things" (Vita consecrata, N° 111). Dear Brothers, may this anniversary renew your fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel! A new millennium is opening before the Lasallian family, inviting it to go forward "relying on the help of Christ" (Novo millennio ineunte, N° 58), whom we have contemplated and loved, and who invites us once more to follow him.

Along this road, the Most Blessed Virgin accompanies us. I have entrusted to her the third millennium, and I have invoked her as the star of the new evangelisation. May she accompany also the spiritual sons of St John Baptist de La Salle, and make them grow in their availability and sanctity, as well as in the service of Christ and of their brothers! From the depths of my heart, and entrusting you to the intercession of your Founder and of all the saints of your Institute, I give my apostolic blessing to all the Brothers, extending it to the young people and to the members of your educational communities, and to all who share the Lasallian ideal.

The Vatican, April 26, 2001.

John Paul II
(Signed in the original French)