The Year of Spirituality: an invitation to focus on our heritage to meet today’s educational challenges

“Dear colleagues, Brothers and Lasallians, it is a pleasure to welcome you, even virtually, to our House, the  Generalate in Rome, which is also yours”. This way begins the greeting of Brother Joël Palud, General Councillor, at the foot of the relics of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, on the occasion of the Year of Lasallian Spirituality.

“In 2025, we celebrate so many things: a Jubilee in the universal Church, the third centenary of the Bull of Approbation of our Institute, the 125^th anniversary of the canonisation of John Baptist de La Salle, the 75^th anniversary of his proclamation as Patron Saint of all Educators. We might have thought that there were plenty of reasons to celebrate. However, at the request of the last General Chapter, we decided to dedicate this year also to Lasallian Spirituality.

In fact, one of the commitments stemming from the second Pathway of Transformation projected by the 46^th General Chapter, the Pathway of Radical Availability to God, makes explicit the commitment to “dedicate the year 2025 to deepen and share Lasallian spirituality in the Church and in the world, on the occasion of the celebration of the 300^th anniversary of the Bull of Approbation”.

“Heirs to a story that continues”

“We feel we are heirs to a history which has known significant stages, but which continues”, underlines Br Joël, recognising that our heritage goes beyond the reputation of our schools, the good academic results and pedagogical innovations. It also has to do with the spiritual legacy that “connects us today with our Founder”.

“John Baptist de La Salle speaks to us above all of other things today: he tells us of the Christian way of conceiving the spiritual life of the educator, of seeing the educational relationship between teacher and student under the gaze of God, of admiring the growth of our students as the continuation of an unfinished creation and of an ongoing process of salvation”.

Spirituality and Mission

This is why “Lasallian spirituality tells us things that have not grown old, but they are at the heart, the starting point which challenges us to invent new pedagogies which John Baptist de La Salle would not have thought of”, asserts Brother Joël, recalling that “our innovations make sense if they preserve the space for a personal encounter inspired by the Gospel and which gives ultimate meaning to our mission”.

“This is what this Year of Lasallian Spirituality invites us to do: to refocus on what is eternal in our heritage, on what is a gift of the Spirit to make us faithful to this charism which enables us to respond to the new educational challenges of today”, concluded the Councillor, emphasising that “Lasallian spirituality is our most precious asset: it enables us to read reality in order to see, in our school, the Kingdom at work”.

A microsite with resources for living the Year of Lasallian Spirituality, including articles, publications, multimedia materials and weekly reflections on the writings of the Founder, will soon be available on LaSalle.Org.

The Institute has also launched the “Being an Educator Today” Contest on the occasion of the 75^th Anniversary of the Proclamation of St. John Baptist de La Salle as Universal Patron of Teachers. HERE you can find all the information to participate.

Finally, on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the Letters Patent and the Bull of Approbation of the Institute, a virtual exhibition has been made available on the Institute’s website, including documents, photographs and historical images. The exhibition can be accessed HERE.