Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Intention: That all people will find in their daily struggles and fears the power that comes from living in God’s ways and building God’s kingdom.
Today’s Gospel | Mark 6:53-56
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
From the Tenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
It is easy to conclude from these examples that your zeal for the children who are under your guidance would be very imperfect if you exercised it only by instructing them. It will only become perfect if you practice what you are teaching them. Example makes a much greater impression on the mind and the heart than words, especially for children, for they do not yet have a mind sufficiently able to reflect, and they ordinarily model themselves on the example of their teachers. They are led more readily to do what they see done for them than what they hear told to them, above all when the teachers’ words are not in harmony with the teachers’ actions.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you are the one we turn to for help in hard times. We listen for your voice as we face the hardships of life in today’s world. Turn our weakness into strength, sorrow into joy, and doubt into hope. May we trust in your goodness and grow in our faithfulness as we give ourselves as instruments of your healing touch, especially for those that you have entrusted to our care. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.