Pope Benedict's Prayer Intentions for September 2011

Apostleship of Prayer

General Intention - Teachers
That all teachers may know how to communicate the love of truth and instill authentic moral and spiritual values.

Some years ago a professor at the University of Nebraska studied great teachers to find out what made them great. Was it their mastery of their subject matter? Their ability to keep their students' interest? Their organizational or disciplinary skills? No. The great teachers he studied all had one thing in common - they experienced pleasure in seeing the growth of their students.

Pope Benedict asks us to join him this month in praying for teachers around the world. We're praying that they may know how to communicate those things that will help their students become the persons God created them to be - people who love the truth and are committed to moral and spiritual values.

Good education is more than acquiring skills that will help one land a good job. Good education involves the formation of the whole person - physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual. Without spiritual values, students may learn a lot of facts but know nothing about how to integrate those facts into what is most important.

Over ten years ago there was a high school student in California who achieved perfect scores on two difficult college entrance exams. A reporter asked her: "What‟s the meaning of life?" Her response: "I have no idea. I'd like to know myself."

Last February, the Holy Father said: "Educating is an act of love, an exercise of 'intellectual charity' which calls for responsibility, dedication, and a consistent life."

As teachers and students begin a new academic year, we join Pope Benedict in praying that educators around the world may help their students find true answers to the most important questions.

Reflection: 
Who were the best teachers you have had? What was it that made them so good?

Reading:
Proverbs 3:1-24  Happy the one who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding.

Links

• Pope Benedict's Address to Catholic Educators in the U.S., April 17, 2008
• Pope Benedict's Addresses to Catholic Teachers and Students in Great Britain, May 17, 2010
• Pope Benedict's Answers to Questions from Young People and a teacher during his Meeting with the Italian Catholic Action, October 30, 2010

Church in Asia
That the Christian communities of Asia may proclaim the Gospel with fervor, witnessing to its beauty with the joy of faith.

We're praying once more for the Church in the least Christian yet most populous continent in the world - Asia. There the Church faces several challenges. Christianity is a minority religion that exists in the midst of two older religions - Hinduism and Buddhism - and a more recent but vigorous religion - Islam. In Asia, the forces of nationalism, atheistic communism, and religious intolerance have often led to persecution.

Yet the small flock within the Asian Church has enormous power - the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work within the hearts of all believers. It is the power that enables Christians to love everyone because every person bears within him- or herself the image of God. Through its schools, orphanages, hospitals, and other ministries which are open to all, the Church reveals the beauty of the Gospel. As Pope Benedict put it in an address to Indian bishops this year, we do this "for no other motive than the love of Christ which impels us" (May 30, 2011; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14).

Perhaps the best example of this love for the people of Asia can be found in Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. She loved to explain why joy is essential for the proclamation of the Gospel: “Why has the work in the slums been blessed by God? Certainly not because of given personal qualities, but because of the joy that the sisters spread as they pass by. The people of the world lack our joy. Those who live in the slums have less of it. Our joy is the best means to preach Christianity."

Reflection:
How does your faith give you joy? How are you able to communicate that joy to others?

Reading:  
John 15:11-17 Jesus said: "I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you."

Links

• Pope Benedict's Address to Bishops of India, May 16, 2011
• Pope Benedict's Address to Bishops of India, May 30, 2011
• Pope John Paul II's 1999 Apostolic Exhortation "The Church in Asia"
• Church News from Asia

Prayer of the Month

Heavenly Father, you promised that those who instruct others in the ways of wisdom will shine like the stars for all eternity. Fill the hearts and minds of teachers with true knowledge and give them the ability to share the truth with their students. May the Holy Spirit open the minds of all people so that they may more readily recognize the truth and hold fast to it in the midst of a world that denies the very existence of true and lasting values. Amen.

APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER
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