NOTE: JUNE THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY are available as a full month on request.

May 30.  Authority.  SEE.  A parent-teacher meeting was called to discuss school rules and authority.  Mr Jackson, the principal invited the parents to speak amongst themselves about the situation faced in schools and homes.  Are parents strict enough or too strict?   Do parents support the teachers in trying to enforce discipline in a classroom or playground made up of hundreds of children?  After the parents’ time to discuss and the feedback he received the principal asked an important question. Who is in charge here, really in charge?  What authority do I have, granted by whom?”          

JUDGE. Reflect, share. Scripture.  As Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem and were walking in the temple the chief priests, scribes and elders came to him and said, “by whose authority are you doing these things?” Jesus said, I will ask you a question. ‘Was the baptism of John from heaven? They replied, “We do not know?   Jesus said, ”neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”   Mark 11: 27-33.   Pope Francis: “The common good is the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment.” Underlying the principle is respect for the human person endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development.  It has also to do with the overall welfare of society.   LS 156. Pope Leo: Pope Leo in Equatorial Guinea 22 April 2026 meeting with authorities.   Yours is a young country! I am certain, therefore, that within the Church you will find help for the formation of free and responsible consciences, enabling you to advance together toward the future. In a world wounded by arrogance, people hunger and thirst for justice. It is necessary to encourage those who believe in peace and to dare to engage in “countercurrent” politics — those which place the common good at their very center. The city of God — the city of peace — is indeed received as a gift from on high, the horizon toward which our every noble aspiration turns. It is both a promise and a task.

Act and Pray.   Consider how best to deal with the issue of authority.   Pray for peace and harmony in homes, schools and society as a response to the correct use of authority. .