Simple act of kindness highlights Lasallian spirit

At the De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Castletown, we have been blessed to welcome Transition year students from Mountrath Community School, 2nd year students from Crescent College, Limerick and 6th year students from Mountmellick Community School. 

We also facilitated a meditation workshop for the Lasallian Student Leaders. It was great to see so many Lasallian students gathered together.

In the Lasallian spirit of inclusion, I would like to share the following true story that happened in the last few weeks in the Centre.

We had welcomed a group of young people to the Centre and as usual were serving tea, coffee and biscuits at break time. It came to my attention that one of the young students was lactose intolerant and wouldn’t be able to have a cuppa. (We only had cow’s milk)

I decided to go across to the village shop and see if they had any soya or oat milk as we didn’t want to disappoint the student.

Anyone who has visited the village of Castletown will know that the shop is small and has limited stock. I looked around the shop and couldn’t find any soya or oat milk. Betty, the shopkeeper, who was serving another customer, could see that I was looking for something and I told her that I was looking for non-lactose milk. She told me that unfortunately she didn’t have any.

The other customer, overhearing my conversation with Betty, then said that she had some oat milk in her house which she had bought for her daughter. Her daughter had gone back to Australia where she lived and the milk would just be taking up cupboard space. I was welcome to have it.

I walked with the lady to her nearby house and on the way she told me that she had moved to Castletown a few years earlier and often walked the monastery grounds. She was very positive about the Brothers and said that any Brother she spoke to on her walks were always very friendly. When we got to her house, she produced not one but two cartons of oat milk.

I offered to pay for the cartons but she wouldn’t hear of it. I thanked her for her kindness and generosity. When I got to the Centre I was able to tell the student that I had managed to source some oat milk for her and told her of the generosity and kindness of the lady. The student was so appreciative and was able to enjoy her tea along with her fellow students.

So why share the story? Firstly, there was a need and we tried to satisfy that need. (The Lasallian spirit in action) Secondly, the kindness of a stranger who was willing to share what she had. Thirdly, the appreciation the local community has for the Brothers. Fourthly, the joy on the student’s face that a simple act of kindness can bring.

May we never underestimate the impact that little acts of kindness can make and may you all be touched by the milk of human kindness.

Derek (De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Castletown)