Page 32 - CBA 1968 YEARBOOK

Brother Leo’s Last Class
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” (Tim. 4, 7)
There is sorrow and joy in every death. The sor­ row of losing a close friend, a member of a family, a man of God. There is joy in the fact that his was a life well spent in the service of God and Mankind. There is a joy too in the hope that he has attained that glorious resurrection promised by our Lord to all who would be faithful.
Brother Leo’s first thoughts today would go to his family—his brother and his sisters; to them we offer from our hearts our deepest sympathy. Characteris­ tically too, he would think of his community, the great Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, which he entered in 1924 and has loved ever since.
Brother Leo was a Christian Brother and he was proud of it.
Few men stand more strongly for what is deepest in our religion than a Christian Brother. Like every Christian Brother he helped to establish the name of God on earth, the love of mankind, the spreading of God’s message, the taking of individual boys and mak­ ing them responsible men to do God’s work— this is what is deepest in our religion—this is what Brother Leo stood for.
And so if he could speak to us this morning he would as usual speak in his familiar casual way. With his left hand in his back pocket, and his right hand gesturing with a cigarette, and with his glasses tipped down to the end of his nose he would say “Boys, take one—my devotion to the Eucharist, take my Faith, or take my spiritual values. Live by one of these and you will live forever.”
Now Brother Leo can pray with St. John Baptist de la Salle and now he has Jesus in his heart forever. This is Brother Leo’s last class and his greatest.
‘T -. .-'.V -i