On August 28, 2025, Brother Álvaro López Falcón, (Arlep District- La Salle in Spain and Portugal) pronounced his perpetual vows, thus reaffirming his option for the consecrated life, as a Brother of the Christian Schools, willing to dedicate his entire life to the mission and to the charism inherited from Saint John Baptist de La Salle.
“God calls me to ‘be a witness before all to what I have seen and heard’ (Acts 22:15). I have seen and heard his action in my life, among my family members, my friends, in my initial formation, up to the present day”, remarked Brother Alvaro, a few hours before making his perpetual profession, adding that “I have also seen and heard a God who uses apostles, to get close to the excluded children, those from the slums, from the peripheries, and to offer them a different future through education”.
Rereading the vocational history
Likewise, upon reading his vocational journey, Brother Alvaro recalls the words of the Holy Founder in one of his Meditations: “You are consecrated to God to live in this Community (…) To settle down in this Community, you ought to consider the day you made this move as the one on which your happiness on earth began, to be completed one day in heaven” (MDF 191.1.2).
“Without much precision and with more heart than academic rigour, I wish to echo these words in my own life. Hence, I can certainly corroborate that my joy began the day I set foot in this Institute“, says the young religious from Arucas, Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands (Spain), who began his Lasallian journey in his home town at the age of 3 at the Colegio La Salle. There he grew in his human and Christian education until the age of 16, when he moved to a public secondary school to complete his pre-university studies.
Brother Alvaro recalls that in those years “I had the good fortune to share the journey with other Lasallians from the heart who passed on to me values to acquire a comprehensive education. Not only the hours in the classroom and the conversations with Brothers and teachers helped me to develop myself in an integral way, but also thanks to the participation in the Christian Groups – Salle Joven, which gave me the opportunity to deepen in the Lasallian spirituality and to feel part of a family wider than the limits of the islands”.
The centrality of community life
With regard to the centrality of community life, Brother Alvaro also comments that “the dialogue with Brother Luis Rubio and the approach to the Brothers’ community was the ‘trigger’ to recognise the consecration to which the Lord was calling me”. In this regard, he says that he has always been struck by the fact that, in the formula of vows which John Baptist de La Salle makes with the first Brothers, “he always mentions the name of each one of them”, that is to say, “he did not associate himself with an abstract group of persons, but with concrete faces and stories”.
“That is why, with the passing of the years and the experience in different communities and ministries, today I treasure concrete names and faces which have shaped my own vocational journey and continue to be a source of joy in my consecration”, added the young Spanish religious.
The celebration of Brother Álvaro’s perpetual vows took place in La Salle Griñón, with the participation of family members, friends and accompanied by Brothers from different communities, led by the Visitor of the District, Brother Esteban de Vega.
The Superior General of the Institute, Brother Armin Luistro, and two General Councillors, Brothers Martín Digilio and Joël Palud, also took part in this event, in which some Brothers also commemorated their silver and golden jubilee of their perpetual profession, and others renewed their temporary vows.
Recalling the words that Pope Leo XIV addressed to the Brothers of the Christian Schools on 15 May 2025, during the audience he granted on the occasion of the third centenary of the Bull of Approbation of the Institute and the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of St. John Baptist de La Salle as the heavenly Patron of all educators, Br. Armin stressed that just as young people are “a volcano of life, energy, feelings and ideas, as can be seen in the wonderful things they are capable of doing”, “today’s event in the District is like a rupture in the crust of our Institute: an explosion of many wonderful things that God works through us”.
Small decisive steps
Recalling that “the Lasallian Mission is not planted and nourished by noise and fireworks, but by small decisive steps”, the Superior General asserted that “like the leaven that works silently and patiently so that the dough will ferment, the Lasallian story is best understood and appreciated in those privileged moments of encounter: between teacher and student, between sisters and brothers, far from our comfort zones, in the peripheries, and always with many moments of silence walking with the God of the Way”.
“It is my hope and prayer that the great celebration we will enjoy today will strengthen our determination to undertake the ‘wonderful adventure’ of our fraternity, bringing the light of Christ to those who are ‘far from salvation’,” concluded Br Armin Luistro.
As a Lasallian Family we join in these intentions and give thanks to God for the vocation of so many Brothers who have undertaken “the adventure of fraternity” in the footsteps of St. John Baptist de La Salle and the first Brothers.