{"id":95030,"date":"2023-09-14T15:01:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T14:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/?p=95030"},"modified":"2023-09-14T15:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T14:01:42","slug":"relal-challenged-to-a-new-adventure-with-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasalle.org\/en\/relal-challenged-to-a-new-adventure-with-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"RELAL: Challenged to a new adventure with the Lord!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At the end of the Meeting of the Lasallian Region of Latin America (RELAL) with the Superior General and his Council<\/a>, held in Medellin during the week of 4 to 9 September, Brother Armin Luistro, Superior General, addressed the 59 participants from the eight Districts of RELAL, recalling that “the 46th<\/sup> General Chapter invites us once again to a new adventure with the Lord”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Calling upon creativity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Armin evoked the unprecedented track record of Lasallians in Latin America and the Caribbean, since the arrival of the first De La Salle Brothers in the second half of the 19th<\/sup> century: “it is a powerful story that captures not only your glorious past, [but] it is also an amazing narrative that should call upon your creativity and deeply touch your hearts<\/strong>, just as our own founding story does,” the Filipino religious assured.<\/p>\n

Going to the “peripheries and borders of the continent” remains a necessity for RELAL. “Where are your brother and sister in Latin America and the Caribbean<\/strong>” is a question that cannot be put off. Brother Armin also invited us to consider in depth the “uncomfortable questions” suggested by Brother Carlos G\u00f3mez, Vicar General, when referring to the Leavening Project<\/a>: when did we last make a liminal, bold decision pushed to the limits? Is community life at the heart of the educational project? Does our educational service respond to exclusion, injustice, inequity? which of our current ministries or communities have walls thick enough to resist the leavening power of the yeast; which of our current ministries or communities have walls thick enough to resist the fermenting power of the leaven?<\/p>\n

Embarking on the journey to the peripheries<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It is up to each of you to live these questions as we all set out on the journey to the peripheries,” said the Superior General, quoting one of the biblical texts meditated on during the meeting, as a motivation for pilgrimage and for stepping out of comfort zones, “to feel that gentle breeze in which the Spirit of the Lord whispers: ‘Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch<\/strong>‘.<\/p>\n

With grateful feelings, Brother Armin urged RELAL to continue to embrace “the challenges for the Church, the strengths and opportunities in our communities and ministries<\/strong>, and the possible common projects and strategies that could guide us in the years to come (…) We are La Salle! Animo La Salle!<\/p>\n

He also remarked, regarding a memorable quote from Brother \u00c1lvaro Rodr\u00edguez, former Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers, that, truly, “our greatest richness is to be Brothers”. Thus, “I am only a Brother as long as I act as a brother, speak as a brother, love as a brother. I am only Lasallian as long as I act as a Lasallian, speak as a Lasallian, love as a Lasallian<\/strong>. May we be able to celebrate our Lasallian fraternity every day and continue to do every action every day for the love of God,” he concluded.<\/p>\n

Many lessons have been learned and many commitments have emerged from this RELAL meeting. This is how the Brother Visitors succinctly expressed it:<\/p>\n

Accompanying the vocation of Brothers and Lasallians<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The accompaniment and vocation promotion of the Brothers and Lasallians” will be a priority, a commitment for the Lasallian District of Bogot\u00e1, as its Visitor, Brother Diego D\u00edaz, said. For that reason, “formation is essential”<\/strong>, he underlined.<\/p>\n

Another task that the District will take on will be “to make the Leavening Project a reality, especially in the contexts where there is the greatest need<\/strong>, whether in Colombia, in Latin America or in other realities of the Institute”, because what it is all about is “being on the move, as Pope Francis asks us to be”.<\/p>\n<\/div>