By Brother Michael Kadow, FSC
During the Year of Lasallian Spirituality, Christian Brothers Conference is publishing reflections to provide spiritual inspiration and stir continued dialogue around Lasallian spirituality.
“He sure is friendly and down to earth.” Those were the words of my parents after they had met Brother James Miller, FSC, in our family kitchen in the fall of 1981. Jim, as his friends called him, had driven with me from his hometown area of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to my hometown of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, during one of his visits from Guatemala. He wanted to visit Roncalli High School in Manitowoc, which he had never seen. This reaction of my folks, in essence, describes the working premise of his spirituality and indeed Lasallian spirituality.
If one is friendly, meaning approachable and welcoming, as well as down to earth, meaning practical and without airs, he or she has the foundation for the Lasallian spirit. If a person has this fundamental attitude he or she can become disciples of Saint John Baptist de La Salle. If one approaches life in general, and education in particular, with any sort of attitude of superiority or all knowingness, one cannot in effect be of the Lasallian spirit.
Brother Jim Miller saw need and acted upon. Period. He was sensitive to knowing when situations or people were in need. He acted upon this awareness. Prone to action, he did what was practically needed. How was he able to do this? Because he had an approach and attitude of encounter that made him fearless and selfless in the face of need. Something needed repair. He could repair it. He repaired it. A group of youth needed a soccer coach. He knew something about soccer. He coached them. A community had no fire department in his locale. He began a volunteer fire department. He knew that Indian young men needed instruction and guidance in agricultural methods and moral development. He was knowledgeable about these topics. He taught and guided them.
Lasallian spirituality, as witnessed by Jim Miller, is an approach to education that has a lens toward need. Countless Lasallians, like Jim Miller, have become aware of an educational need and have responded. Some respond by creating new structures, modes and projects, like De La Salle, the early Brothers, the Brothers who were sent from France to the entire world, and those who began schools and other educational projects.
Some respond to the daily needs they see right in front of them. A teacher becomes aware that a strategy is not working, she changes her strategy. A member of the maintenance team notices that an area of the school has not been cleaned. He cleans it. A counselor notes that something is off about a student and makes a call home to learn that a grandparent has passed. An admissions’ staff member invites as many struggling students to register as those on the honor roll because she notes that these challenged youth will get the attention they deserve at her school. An alum funds a new program at their alma mater because he was one of the students helped by a new effort back in the day.
All of these are definitive examples of Lasallian spirituality in action. All of these have the stamp of the life of Jim Miller — Blessed Jim Miller — who lived this spirituality until that February day in 1982 when he was repairing a wall in Huehuetenango. Why was he doing that on a Saturday morning? It needed repairing! He could repair it. He was martyred in the very act of repairing. That we all might die in the act of “repairing” our world!
This month, as we commemorate the martyrdom of Blessed James Miller, let us strive to live the Lasallian spirit each day.
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Brother Michael Kadow, FSC, works with Lasallian formation at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Blessed James Miller, FSC, was martyred Feb. 13, 1982, in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. He was beatified by Pope Francis Dec. 7, 2019. Christian Brothers Conference is supporting his cause for canonization with the new Brother James Miller Guild.