“Just Keep Swimming”

(Prayer offered on the Public Address system for the entire La Salle Academy educational community on Thursday morning, 8 June 2017)

Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.

“Fish are friends, not food.” This is a quote from one of the greatest movies of all time, which has taught us some great lessons. And yes, that movie is Finding Nemo.

There are some pretty powerful words in Finding Nemo that convey a greater message. A couple of these include, “When I look at you, I’m home,” and when Dory says, “Trust, it’s what friends do.”

Trust- it’s truly what friends do. It might seem cliche, but trust is the foundation on which friendship is built. Along with trust, mutual love form the pillars of true friendship.

Jesus says the following about friendship in the Gospel of John: “This is my commandment: that you love one another, even as I have loved you. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13: 34-35.

Jesus commands that we love our neighbor- a task that seems rather easy. Being a good friend, student, son, and so on are parts of the way in which I can live out Christ’s command to love my neighbor. But then again, I did talk about my friend behind his back, and copied another friend’s homework because I was too tired to do it last night. Oh, and I also didn’t do the chores at home and neglected to tell my mom that I love her when I left the house this morning.

It happens, though. We are humans and we are prone to make mistakes and sin. But Jesus is calling us to make a conscious effort to avoid gossiping about our friends and to discourage gossip among those we are with. He also calls us to be honest with our friends and family- especially when it is really hard. We will need to do things that we don’t want to do: like chores, or going to work, or doing homework. But wouldn’t our good friend Dory tell us, “when life gets you down do you know what you’ve just gotta do? Just keep swimming.”

Let us pray: O God, source of all goodness, you have blessed us with friends and have given us the commandment that we should love one another. Keep us faithful to your command and keep us mindful of the people with whom we need reconciliation. Help us to grow in friendship with you, who is the greatest example of friendship. We ask all of these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us.

Live Jesus in our hearts, forever!

Nathan Ledoux–Alumnus, Class of 2016