The International Assembly did not meet in sessions on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, several busloads of participants made field trips planned by the preparatory commission to Orvieto and Assisi. I decided to stay in Rome and explore. Brother James Joost and I walked a five-hour circuit on Saturday which began at Saint John Lateran Basilica and ended at a little sidewalk restaurant in the Trastevere neighborhood. Ms. Janell Kloosterman and I decided to see if we could see Pope Francis in Saint Peter's Square after Mass on Sunday. We left the Generalate at 11:00 a.m., took the Metro to the stop near the Vatican, and joined the throng of thousands waiting. We could not get near the Square but found a spot down the Via Conciliazione. We stole a glimpse of Saint Francis on our tiptoes from deep in the crowd and were definitely caught up in the joy, excitement and hope of this Pope who seems to have his priorities in the right place.
In anticipation for the next major movement of the assembly (the writing of the responses to the challenges identified), we dedicated today to prayer and reflection. We allotted several hours to quiet reflection on Scripture texts, on a Zen teaching, and a pastoral letter from Brother Álvaro. After our personal quiet time, we gathered in thematic language groups to share our reflections and to express our insights visually. My thematic language group (Evangelization and Pastoral Ministry [English]) happens to have a very talented artist, Brother Laurence Hughes. Brother Laurence created the poster at the left to capture the essence of our group sharing.
The morning prayer presented us with the parable of the mustard seed, with a Zen parable in which the master asks the young monk to look beyond the number of seeds in the apple to consider how many apples there are in the seed, and Brother Álvaro’s letter of December 2012 in which he names the issue of our day as "not knowing how to see what we cannot see." In the picture, explained Brother Laurence to the entire assembly, is a matured apple tree which is the 300+ year Lasallian mission bearing fruit today. The outstretched hand of the Founder invites other to create responses to the needs of the day, needs symbolized by the heart at the top of the sapling. The road stretching out beyond the horizon is the "not yet" of the Lasallian mission.
In our Mass to close our day, the presider noted that we, like the disciples, await the Spirit after the Ascension of Jesus. The Liturgical Calendar and the Mission Assembly are precisely in sync at this point - we await the Spirit to guide us in the absence of our Savior and in the absence of our brother, De La Salle.
Charles Legendre, AFSC
District of New Orleans-Santa Fe, Director of Lasallian Mission
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