Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: That all people will work together selflessly to bring peace and safety to those places that are being torn by war and battered by violence.
Today’s Gospel | Mark 2:13-17
Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
From the Fourth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
In carrying out your service to children, you will not fulfill your ministry adequately if you resemble Jesus Christ only in his guidance and in his conversion of souls. You must also enter into his purposes and kits goals. He came on earth, as he himself said, only that people might have life and have it to the full. This is why he said in another place that his words are spirit and life. By this he meant that his words procure the true life, which is the life of the soul, for those who hear them and, with gladness over what they have heard, act on them with love.
This must be your goal when you instruct your disciples, that they live a Christian life and that your words become spirit and life for them. Your words will accomplish this:
- Because they will be produced by the Spirit of God living in you,
- Because they will procure for your disciples the Christian spirit.
In possessing this spirit, which is the very Spirit of Jesus Christ they will live that true life which is so valuable to us because it leads surely to eternal life.
Prayer
Eternal Father, it is your will that we be at peace with one another. We pray that we will give ourselves fully to being a people of compassion. Inspire us to be at one with each another and to remove all obstacles that block us from caring about and for each other. Help us to look at one another without judgment and to love one another unconditionally. We pray especially that all those who are suffering are cared for and are restored to fullness. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.