From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 7th - St. Baptist de la Salle   
      
   John, the oldest son of a noble family, was born at Rheims, France, April   
   30,   
   1651. From a very young age he gave signs of great piety and love for God.   
   His   
   parents believed he was destined for the clerical life and he was educated   
   at   
   Rheims and the seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris. He was ordained to the   
   priesthood in 1678 at the age of twenty-seven. Everyone believed that he was   
   embarking on a prestigious career in the Church.   
      
   The gulf between rich and poor in 17th century France was tremendous. John   
   first   
   became interested in starting a charity school, because of an encounter with   
   Adrian Nyel, who had come from Rouen, France, in 1679, to start a school for   
   poor boys. However, he never thought that he would devote his entire life to   
   what he described as such a "distasteful" project.   
      
   He gave away his fortune, gave up his ecclesiastical position and left   
   family   
   and home to begin wholeheartedly what would become the founding community of   
   the   
   "Brothers of the Christian Schools," today known as "Christian Brothers,"   
   with   
   schools all over the world. His initial efforts were unsuccessful when two   
   of   
   his brothers and five schoolmasters left. John persevered and soon others   
   joined   
   him and in 1684 they took their first vow of obedience for one year.   
      
   In the early stages recruits came from educated men, but soon young boys   
   from   
   fifteen to twenty were applying and John set up the first junior novitiate.   
   It   
   was not long before parish priests were sending him boys to be educated and   
   returned to their villages to teach in their own parishes. Thus was founded   
   the   
   first teacher training college at Rheims. This was followed by a school for   
   delinquent boys.   
      
   At first John intended to have priests in his institution, but circumstances   
   led   
   him to doubt that this was God's plan. Subsequently, so as to insure that   
   his   
   order would be able to confine themselves to teaching and to be free from   
   class   
   distinctions, it was decided that no brother should be ordained and no   
   priest   
   should be accepted into the order.   
      
   John's teaching methods revolutionized elementary education in France and   
   throughout the world. Instead of individual instruction he taught students   
   in   
   groups (classes) and teaching was done in the vernacular language of the   
   country   
   rather than Latin. He changed the emphasis from the classical to the   
   practical,   
   so that when his students left school they would be able to get jobs to   
   support   
   themselves. Strict discipline was maintained in the classroom to avoid the   
   need   
   for punishment and enhance learning.   
      
   The teaching of faith and morals was a central theme in John's school   
   curriculum. He believed that a firm basis in religion was necessary for a   
   good   
   education, especially of youth. He also encouraged the question and answer   
   approach to teaching rather than long lectures.   
      
   John suffered from asthma and rheumatism, which he refused to allow to   
   interfere   
   with his work for God. He was injured in an accident in 1719 and grew   
   progressively weaker, dying on Good Friday, April 7, 1719.   
      
   John could have had a wealthy and prestigious life. Instead he gave up all   
   and   
   facing multiple obstacles he tenaciously fought for the education of poor   
   boys.   
   He was described as a kindly, sincere and generous spirited man who had the   
   amazing ability to convert even the most hardened criminal. His was a life   
   of   
   total giving.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
      
   "If anyone, O Lord does Thee a service, Thou repayest him by some trial. Oh,   
   what an inestimable reward is this for those who truly love Thee, if it   
   might be   
   given them to know its value!"   
    -St. Teresa   
      
   When the venerable Marco di Palfox saw that after he had done a good work,   
   some   
   tribulation, reproach, or calumny came upon him, he considered this as a   
   special   
   favor from the Lord; "For" he said, "as I receive no reward in this world,   
   it is   
   a sign that God means to reward me fully in Heaven."   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  April - Patience)   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   27 My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me. 28 And I   
   give   
   them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall   
   pluck them out of my hand.  (John 10:27028)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A PRAYER FOR THE DYING AND A SPECIAL SOUL   
      
   O MOST MERCIFUL JESUS, lover of souls,   
   I beseech Thee, by the agony of Thy most Sacred Heart,   
   and by the sorrows of Thine Immaculate Mother,   
   wash clean in Thy Blood the sinners of the whole world   
   who are to die this day.   
      
   Remember most especially the soul I spiritually adopt   
   with the intention of entrusting him or her to Thy Shepherd's care:   
   I beseech Thee for the grace to move this sinner, who is in   
   danger of going to Hell, to repent. I ask this because of my   
   trust in Thy great mercy.   
      
   If it should please Thy Majesty to send me a suffering this day   
   in exchange for the grace I ask for this soul, then, it, too,   
   shall please me very much, and I thank Thee, Most Sweet Jesus,   
   Shepherd and Lover of Souls; I thank Thee for this   
   opportunity to give mercy in thanksgiving for all the mercies   
   Thou hast shown me. Amen.   
      
   Heart of Jesus, once in agony, have mercy on the dying.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)