GOOD COUNSEL: ‘The Duties of a Christian.’
Br. John Deeney of the Oxford Community reflects on the importance of our Founder’s message in meeting the challenges of the modern world.
In a video racetrack game, attention, decisions, adjustments are constantly required. Similarly, in life we are constantly navigating our way, trying to avoid disasters. But how do we know what is the right option to choose, or recognise what harmful actions to avoid?
Well, we have laws and the 10 commandments and a plethora of people dispensing advice, though maybe we shouldn’t take ‘influencers’ too seriously. In his time, De La Salle was concerned that many who called themselves Christian did not know what that meant for life-guidance.
He wrote a 500 page book on The Duties of a Christian (Les Devoirs d’un Chrétien envers Dieu), to serve in educating people. In the section commenting on the commandments, he illustrates his work with examples of what was going on in the late 17th Century. Don’t use forged money or inaccurate weights, or swear oaths that you have no intention of keeping. Don’t act dishonestly if you are a lawyer (learnt through his own family context). Some of his points are still very relevant to the way we live now.
Sunday, he explains, is a day of rest and worship, not a day for sheer idleness. A day just slumped in an armchair in front of a TV would not meet with his approval.
The transmission of major news was slow and limited in his day but gossip was everywhere. ‘It is not right to listen to slanderous gossip …’ And he emphasised that we should certainly not be repeating it. Nor should we be telling lies. Modern media platforms would have left him scope to write a lengthy treatise on how to use them morally and productively.
We now have people in positions of power who have more reason to take that good advice to heart than even Louis XIV did 300 years ago. We should be ready to criticise our public figures but probably most of us also need to reflect on the power we have through our use of the media – for good or for ill.
‘When a poor person is in extreme necessity, and we have more than we need … we are obliged to give them support …’‘. This repeats the basic gospel injunction to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’.
In De La Salle’s time, the cities were receiving an influx of indigent peasants who arrived possessing very little and with no means of supporting themselves. We know that he did everything he could to help the very poor, especially the children. The situation with many refugees in our time is not so different, except that the scale is global. Sadly, we would have to note that we hear from many people in public life who do not accept the principle that we ought to give genuine help, so his words and life can continue to provide inspiration today.
We should not be ‘buying things at a bargain price by exploiting the ignorance or neediness of those who are selling’. Fair Trade? Once again, our modern problem is on a global scale. We might want to ignore it because we do not come face to face with those who farm our bananas or cocoa or dig out our diamonds or lithium. Nevertheless, we have no excuse for not being aware of the dangers of profit-fixated trading and the promotion of consumerism, and doing something to counter these.
Lack of morality in society undermines peace and justice not just in our own life but eventually on a national and global scale. We see many countries where governments are prepared to ignore moral considerations. Pope Francis doesn’t label his concerns about our world as commentaries on the commandments but there is certainly no contradiction there. Old wisdom again echoed in modern terms.
John Deeney FSC, 2024-1
*St. de La Salle published his book in 1703. It was a resource book on how to live as a Christian particularly for the use of Brothers and teachers when instructing their students.