Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Intention: That the darkness of stigma, exclusion, and marginalization be replaced with the light of understanding, acceptance, and respect.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 7:31-35
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
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 invite us to share in your life, 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 within us as we come together in faith, compassion, and caring as one people to do your will. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.