Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Intention: For teachers and staff at the close of the first month, that the pace they have set is one they can sustain through the year.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
From the Eighth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
You, then, who have succeeded the apostles in their work of catechizing and instructing the poor, if you want to make your ministry as useful to the Church as it can be, you must every day, teach them catechism, helping them learn the basic truths of our religion, following the example of the apostles, which is that of Jesus Christ himself, who devoted himself every day to this task.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your Son asked for a commitment that does not keep glancing backward. Saint Jerome gave decades to the slow work of putting Scripture into the language of ordinary people. Give us that kind of endurance as this first month closes. Set our hands to the plow and keep our eyes forward. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.