Memorial of Saint Monica
Intention: For parents sending children back to school this week, especially those doing it alone or on a tight budget, that they have what they need and are not made to feel judged for what they do not.
Today’s Gospel | Matthew 24:42-51
Jesus said to his disciples: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
From the Fifteenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
To reward so great a good work and a service which he regards so highly, God gives two kinds of reward in this world to those who commit themselves untiringly to the work of the salvation of souls. First, he gives them an abundance of grace; second, he gives them a more extended ministry and a greater ability to procure the conversion of souls.
Prayer
Eternal Father, the servant in the parable was trusted to feed the household at the proper time, and that was the whole of his job. Saint Monica waited years for her son and did not stop. Give us that steadiness in the parts of our work that nobody is checking. Let us be found doing what we were asked to do. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.