From today’s responsorial psalm: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands!"

From De La Salle: “All your care for the children entrusted to you would be useless if Jesus Christ did not give the quality, the power, and the efficacy needed to make your care useful. . . So when it happens that you encounter some difficulty in guidance of your disciples, . . . turn to God with confidence." (Meds. 195.3 and 196.1)

The students have returned! “[S]hout for joy and gladness"!

But soon enough, there will be a time when each of us has some difficulty with a student or that 4th hour section, ask “why did I give them that assignment?", or just be so frustrated that we want to scream or cry and cannot decide on either one. At those times, the same God whom we praised for bringing us and our students together in this place will be our only recourse. The psalmist and De La Salle want us to know that it is God in Christ who gives us all that is necessary for us to prosper the work of providing a human and a Christian education for students, no matter what obstacles we may perceive. May we remember this week to be more aware of the “gracious care of the Lord" so that when problems arise, we are ready to “turn to God with confidence."

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!