From today's gospel: "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?'"
From De La Salle (Med. 196.1): "So when it happens that you encounter some difficulty in the guidance of your disciples . . . turn to God with confidence. Very insistently ask Jesus Christ to make his Spirit come alive in you, for he has chosen you to do his work. . . You must, then, be very devoted to prayer to succeed in your ministry. You must constantly represent the needs of your disciples to Jesus Christ, explaining to him the difficulties that you have experienced in guiding them. Jesus Christ, seeing that you regard him as the one who can do everything in your work, whereas you are an instrument that must be moved only by him, will not fail to grant you what you ask of him."
Whether or not you are an experienced educator, you know that there will be times when what happens in your educating does not work. Maybe it is something that is going on with the students, with us, or in the world or community at the time. As goal oriented people, this is frustrating. The solution to these difficulties is prayer. We are reminded by both readings to be persistent in our requests for help, but both De La Salle and Jesus tell us that we need to be open as well to the Holy Spirit coming alive in us. Perhaps the help we need and will be strengthened for is a course of action that we would not ordinarily consider, or do not think that we can accomplish. As Pope Francis said in January, "Prayer, prayer always changes reality, let us not forget that: It either changes things or changes our hearts, but it always changes." May we always be open to such help in our work with our students!
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!