Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Intention: For a spirit of conversion within all people, one that opens our hearts to the ways of God and the needs of his people, especially those who suffer the injuries of the world’s injustice.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 8:19-21
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
From the Thirteenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Because children are the most innocent part of the Church and usually the best disposed to receive the impressions of grace, Jesus Christ desires that you fulfill so well your task of making them holy that all of them will come to the age of the perfect man and the fullness of Jesus Christ, so that they are no longer like children tossed here and there, no longer turned around by every wind of doctrine, by deceit, and by trickery, whether by companions with whom they associate or by men leading them into falsehood by their evil proposals.
Rather, in all things they are growing up in Jesus Christ, who is their head and through whom the whole body of the Church holds its structure and its union, so that they may always be so united with the Church and in her that by the hidden power that Jesus Christ furnishes to all his members, they will share in the promises of God in Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you want us to share in your life, to play our part in your plan for the world’s salvation. You ask us to be instruments of your presence wherever we are: the home we live in, the neighborhood we belong to, the places where we spend our day. May each of these be the focus of our prayer and of the good that we do today. May your word grow stronger and stronger within us as we come together in faith, compassion, and caring as one family joined by your love. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.