Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
Intention: That all Americans will make today a time of reconciliation and healing and rededicate ourselves to the national work of building a better country and a better world.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 17: 7-10
Jesus said to the Apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”
From the Meditation on Saint Leo | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
When we are called to an apostolic work, if we do not know how to join zeal to action, all we do for our neighbor will have little effect. In your work you ought to devote your effort to oppose the interior and exterior enemies that would prevent the progress of your disciples in piety, mainly, their wayward companions and their own evil inclinations. There is no means you must fail to use to prevent your students from being corrupted by either one of these enemies.
Is this what you try especially to do to procure the good of their souls? Often reflect that it is for this purpose that God has commissioned you.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your Son taught that we should build lives of humility and service. We live in times when arrogance and greed are often confused for self-esteem and success. We pray that we might be signs of contradiction in such a world, working to answer selfishness with generosity, hard-heartedness with compassion, and mistrust with welcome. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.