Words such as care, love, support, kindness, tolerance, patience are so important to hear in this time of pandemic. What’s more essential is the action! Due to the fact, more people are staying at home, sometimes in overcrowded spaces families are living closer together. This brings challenges. The world is educating itself to a new way of life whether people are aware or not. God’s people believe that God is present in every situation and brings hope. The communities of family, parish and school celebrate the spirit of faith, hope, and love during this Catholic Schools Week.
Today during this special week assigned by the Church, Catholic Schools Week 2021, the Church remembers St Angela Merici (1470-1540) who founded the Ursuline Sisters in 1535 in Brescia, Italy. She formed a group of women to teach poor girls to become good Christians. She wanted to inculcate the virtues of love and charity in this group of women she gathered. She said to them,
‘I ask you please to try to bring them up with love, with a gentle and kindly hand, not overbearingly or harshly. Try to be kind always. Notice what Jesus Christ says, ‘Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart.’
The Gospel proclaimed at Mass today tells of the Parable of the Sower (Mk 4:1-20). Jesus teaches about the Word of God and the manner it takes root in a person’s life. Just as the seed falls in different places, somewhere it cannot grow due to bad conditions, in other places the seed thrives because of the nourishment it receives. God will nourish the Word in our lives as disciples if we take time to read the Word, reflect on it and pray. The Holy Spirit will help us as disciples to follow Jesus’ way of love and kindness.
Pope Francis in his Encyclical Letter on Fraternity and Social Friendship speaks about kindness saying, ‘…because it entails esteem and respect for others, once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the way ideas are discussed and compared. Kindness… opens new paths where hostility and conflict would burn all bridges.
The Parable of the Sower is accessible online in the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Religious Education programme.
INVITATION
VERITAS offers all the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé resources on the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé website.
Website: www.growinlove.ie
Email: trial@growinlove.ie
Password: growinlove
INVITATION
- Thank God for all the kindness that you receive
- Read the Parable of the Sower (Mk 4:1-20) in your Bible or in the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Children’s Book or e-book
- Do something kind for your family today
- Pray for the people in your family, in your parish and in your school that all may be kind to one another
Sr Anne Neylon