Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For all caregivers in this time of pandemic, that they may be blessed with strength, resilience, and confidence as they continue in their ministry of healing and hope for all those that they serve.
Today’s Gospel | Mark 6:53-56
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
From the Tenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
It is easy to conclude from these examples that your zeal for the children who are under your guidance would be very imperfect if you exercised it only by instructing them. It will only become perfect if you practice what you are teaching them. Example makes a much greater impression on the mind and the heart than words, especially for children, for they do not yet have a mind sufficiently able to reflect, and they ordinarily model themselves on the example of their teachers. They are led more readily to do what they see done for them than what they hear told to them, above all when the teachers’ words are not in harmony with the teachers’ actions.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you are the one we turn to in moments of weakness and times of need. As we face the hardships of life, may we trust in your goodness and grow in our faithfulness to your will. Help us to walk through each day seeking to be at one with you and to be ambassadors of your presence, especially to those who are most in need. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.