Let Us Remember

Besides the great Story of faith that Christians share, God’s most personal word to us is through our own story. This reflects the sacramental principle, so central to Catholic faith, that God reaches out to us with presence and grace through the everyday of life. Let Us Remember brings together 52 inspiring stories that assure of ‘the holy presence of God’ in each person’s life, including our own. It is an inspiring treat for the soul.

I owe a great debt to the De La Salle Christian Brothers: they taught my father many years ago at West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, and my dad would always regale me with stories of their teaching prowess. Now, in an inspiring new book, you can read just such beautiful stories, from the Brothers and all of the Lasallian colleagues who continue the great heritage of St. John Baptist de La Salle. By turns funny, charming, challenging, provocative and moving, these brief vignettes show us the enduring gift of the Lasallian charism.

There is a saying among storytellers: “All stories are true and some of them actually happened. And when I say ‘Once Upon a Time,’ this one will happen to you!” This book of stories actually happened! The book is a collection of experiences, doorways into the presence of God that can be found practically everywhere and anywhere if one has the eyes to see and ears to hear. The accounts in this book were solicited from teachers, students, and others sourced in the tradition and spirituality of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. This tradition is founded on three realities: prayer, presence, and personal experience. Culled from more than a hundred stories submitted to the book, these accounts are filled with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, and mirror God’s presence in those seeking to live as followers of Jesus, sharing their faith and wonder at how God works in and through their lives and the lives of others. Itself a teaching tool, this book introduces a way to see and recognize the Spirit of God in others that echoes how God moves in and out of our own lives daily, surprising us and questioning us in myriad ways. LET US REMEMBER—the title exhorts us to put back together the way it was, or still can be—to make whole again, binding mind, heart, and spirit. And the book seeks to do just this—to pray, and together to put a piece in the puzzle of our lives, bound to so many others, revealing another glimpse into the presence of our God—the mystery in which we dwell with each other and all the world. Enjoy, marvel, and then remember some of your own wisdom stories and send them in for the next volume.

This compilation of articles based on the experiences of teachers in very different teaching situations, ranging from kindergarten to university, deals with a foundation stone of the first schools founded by the Patron of Teachers, Saint John Baptist de La Salle. Each school day was punctuated by the sound of a bell followed by the invitation from the teacher or designated student, “Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.” Silence followed. Readers of these articles will find themselves deeply moved by some of the experiences told here. The invitational “let us” frequently leads both teacher and students to a deeper sense of relationship in a shared spiritual moment when hearts are touched. I could not help feeling how many of the stories are in tune with another traditional Lasallian idea, a daily three-minute reflection which is compelling enough in itself to need no further gloss or commentary. What is felt may be beyond words to express, but the mutual shared relationship is deeply spiritual.