Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For God’s blessing on the new school year and our Lasallian mission as we accompany our students into new realities and new challenges for them, for us, and for our world.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 19:3-12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
From the Fourth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Jesus Christ, speaking to his apostles, told them that he gave an example to them that they might do as he himself had done. He also wanted his disciples to accompany him at all the conversions he brought about, so that seeing how he acted, they could, in all they would have to do to win souls to God, be guided and formed by his conduct.
This is also what you must do, since Jesus Christ has chosen you among so many others to be his cooperators in the salvation of souls. In reading the Gospel you must study the manner and the means that he used to lead his disciples to practice the truths of the Gospel.
Prayer
Eternal Father, Jesus called us to see and to accept your truth, both the comforting reassurances and the hard realities. Life’s promise is found both in its pleasures and in its pain. May we always remember that you come to us through all of the experiences of each day and that, if our minds and hearts are open and ready, we can learn from them who you call us to be. Help us to be steadfast, to move through life together in faith, hope, and love. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.