Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
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 | John 1:45-51
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
From the Tenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Your zeal for the children you instruct would not go very far and would not have much result or success if it limited itself only to words. To make it effective it is necessary that your example support your instructions, and this is one of the main signs of your zeal.
Prayer
Eternal Father, Nathanael asked whether anything good could come from Nazareth, and Philip did not argue with him. He said come and see. Give us that same confidence in what we have to show rather than in what we have to prove. Make us people in whom there is no duplicity, seen clearly by you before we are seen by anyone else. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.