Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For all whose lives have been wounded by disease, disasters, or loss, that they may find in us a welcoming community of refuge and support.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.’’”
From the Fifth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
This is what God has provided in giving children teachers whom he has charged with this care and to whom he has given the concern and the vigilance not only to prevent anything whatsoever harmful to their salvation from capturing their hearts but also to guide the children through all the dangers they meet in the world. The result will be that the devil will not even dare approach them, because they are under the guidance of these attentive leaders and under the protection of God.
Ask God today for the grace to watch so well over the children confided to you that you will take every possible precaution to shield them from serious faults.
Ask God to be such good guides for them, through the light that you will procure for yourselves by turning to God and by the fidelity with which you do your work, that you will see clearly every obstacle to the good of their souls and keep away from the path of their salvation everything that could harm them.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your Son taught us that we are the bounty of fields planted and harvested through his love. Even when we do not grow as he intended, he still tends to us, never giving up on us. Lord, we pray for a spirit of gratefulness, thankful for your forgiveness and patience, your compassion and healing, your light and joy. May we honor your faithfulness to us through our own faithfulness to you and to one another. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.