This week I spent time at another high school in our diocese, obviously it wasn’t as fun as being at Marian Central, but there were some good take-aways. I was visiting the school with 3 other priests to talk about vocations to married life, priesthood, and religious life. While we had a lot of good questions and laughs with the classes, early in the morning there were many tired faces and some remained tired later into the day. That tiredness got me thinking…

We hear from St. Luke this weekend that Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.

Even without faith, we could see the import of this. To be an excellent parent, one does not need to avoid being tired…that’s inevitable, but rather to love your child always. This is not a feeling, but an action of doing what is best for your child. Whether that’s going to every single golf match, to telling them “no you can’t have 2 bowls of sugar for breakfast”. To pray always without becoming weary is to be firm in the commitment to prayer every day. To be a good parent is to be firm in the commitment to parent every day.

St. Paul says

“All Scripture is inspired by God

and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction,

and for training in righteousness,

so that one who belongs to God may be competent,

equipped for every good work.”

To help our students to their future, we do not decide for them…but give them every resource and guidance they need to respond generously to their callings. What better resource can we give to our students than the Word which tells them how loved they are and what goodness God has placed in them.

Of course, if we don’t take the time to be “equipped for every good work”, we will find ourselves floundering to give our students anything worthwhile. My encouragement would be to pray for your student every day, make that time of prayer also one for yourself. If you find prayer difficult, then follow Paul's advice and bring the bible with you. There are many great resources out there to help you through scripture (try Fr. Mike Schmitz Bible in a Year) A commitment to Scripture is another great way of building discipline into our lives so that we have the virtues necessary to serve our students every day.

Will we find the grace given to us for the sake of committing each day to our purpose? When we hold in our vision what most matters, we will not be sidetracked or lose focus when life gets hectic. Beholding Jesus allows us to, oddly enough, to be better attentive to all the other important people and things in our lives.

Behold the Lamb of God.

Your Brother in Christ,

Fr. Warren