May 1, 2017

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

From the Fourth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle

In carrying out your service to children, you will not fulfill your ministry adequately if you resemble Jesus Christ only in his guidance and conversion of souls. You must also enter into his purposes and goals. He came on earth, as he said, only that people might have life and have it to the full. This is why he said, in another place, that his words are spirit and life. By this he meant that his words procure the true life, which is the life of the soul, for those who hear them and who, with gladness over what they have heard, act on them with love.

This must be your goal when you instruct your disciples, that they live a Christian life and that your words become spirit and life for them. Your words will accomplish this because 1) they will be produced by the Spirit of God living in you, and 2) they will procure the Christian spirit for your disciples.

In possessing this spirit, which is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, they will live that true life which is so valuable to us because it leads surely to eternal life.

Prayer

Eternal Father, Jesus calls us to seek first your Kingdom in every moment of our daily lives. We thank you for this gift of being able to work to build a better world. Touch our hearts and strengthen our hands, so that our efforts always will be pure of heart and done for the good of others and for the glory of your name. May we, by our prayers and our deeds, help to show your presence to the world. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts forever.