Thursday, February 1 – The Gentle Breeze

01 Feb

Power To Fly
Author Unknown

Ultimately we have the power to decide what we believe about ourselves. Don’t allow people to impose limitations on what you can do or whom you can become. Take, for instance, the humble bumble bee.

Biologists have determined that, aerodynamically speaking, the bumble bee cannot fly. It has too large of a body mass to be supported by such puny wings. The bumble bee fortunately does not listen to such criticism.

Remember: People rise no higher than their expectation level. Expect little, receive little. Expect to fly and who knows where your next flower might be?

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
__________________

Hebrews 12:18-19,21-24

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses; not a blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them. The whole scene was so terrible that Moses said: I am afraid, and was trembling with fright. But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a ‘first-born son’ and a citizen of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and been placed with spirit of the saints who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator who brings a new covenant and a blood for purification which pleads more insistently than Abel’s.
___________________

Mark 6:7-13

Jesus made a tour round the villages, teaching. Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.
___________________

I found there was much I could relate to in Regina’s sharing yesterday as I was preparing for this one. And then I spoke to her and it turns out she used today’s Gospel passage for yesterday’s sharing. I do not think that this happening is a mess up. In fact, I feel it is an illustration of what I wish to share today my brothers and sisters.

The writers of Hebrews used an interesting analogy in their letter. They brought up something the Jewish people were very familiar with, which was the manifestations of God to the Israelites post-Egypt as powerful signs of nature. They also pleaded to the Jewish knowledge of Isaiah, the nature of God as being mild and gentle was shown with great effect. Today’s reading from Hebrews concludes by identifying Christ as the fruition of the peaceful and loving nature of God.

And this is indeed how we need to learn to experience God in our lives. I once spoke to an atheist who said that he didn’t believe in miracles because he never experienced them. Not seeing any in his own life, he had even searched for them elsewhere. Readings reports, articles and journals, he approached the issue with scientific methodology. And he concluded there was nothing to make him believe they existed. But let us ask ourselves if this is how it works?

What may a miracle to someone may not be recognised as one by another. I could find an extra textbook I didn’t need anymore and donate it to charity, thus allowing someone who really needed it to buy it for cheap. That person would find it a miracle but I probably wouldn’t even know that person’s existence. It is through little things like these that God reaches out to each of us.

This is what Christ aims to teach his disciples when he sent them out without anything but the most basic possessions. As Regina put it so well yesterday, it is part of God’s mission for us. To overcome the obstacles we face in spreading the Good News. In doing that we need to be aware that God is there with us, reaching out to and supporting us in the smallest of things. The kindness of a stranger, a smile from a friend when we’re down. These speak where it matters the most and can be the most powerful faith experiences.

Regina’s sharing yesterday with today’s Gospel passage was just such an affirmation for me. I do not think it was a coincidence that it happened. It is a small thing really, caused by just a sideward glance or an off-target click. Even as such, it has led to much fruit – her good sharing yesterday which would have spoken to each of you in a personal way and which served as an affirmation and illustration for me today. Only God knows how far this good will extend but extend it will, I’m sure.

Indeed my sisters and brothers, these are also what we are called to present to those we testify to. We are not called to crusade and convert by forcefully flaunting the Bible, we are called to awaken others to the gentle breeze that God is sending them to cool them when they’re feeling warm.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Aloysius Ting)
__________________

Prayer: Lord, help us to be mindful that we search for you in the smallest and sometimes most insignificant things.

Give thanks to the Lord for: The nice weather we’re now having.

Upcoming Readings:
Fri, 02 Feb – Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
Sat, 03 Feb – Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Mark 6:30-34; Memorial for St. Blase, bishop, martyr; Memorial for St. Ansgar, bishop
Sun, 04 Feb – Isaiah 6:1-21, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11; Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Wednesday, January 31 – Good Morning, Christian

31 Jan – Memorial for St. John Bosco, priest

St. John Bosco (1815-1888) was the son of Venerable Margaret Bosco. His father died when he was just two years old, and as soon as he was old enough to do odd jobs, he did so for extra money for his family. Bosco would go to circuses, fairs, and carnivals, practise the tricks he saw the magicians perform, and then present one-boy shows. After his performance, while he still had an audience of boys, he would repeat the homily he had heard earlier in church.

He worked as a tailor, baker, shoemaker, and carpenter while attending college and the seminary. He was ordained in 1841. He was a teacher, and he worked with youth, finding places where they could meet, play and pray. He taught catechism to orphans and apprentices, and was chaplain in a hospice for girls.

He wrote short treatises aimed at explaining the faith to children, and then taught children how to print them. He was a friend of St. Joseph Cafasson, whose biography he wrote. He was confessor to Blessed Joseph Allamano. He founded the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in 1859, a community of priests who work with and educate boys, under the protection of Our Lady, Help of Christians, and St. Francis de Sales. He founded the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, in 1872, and the Union of Cooperator Salesians in 1875.

- Patron Saint Index
__________________

Hebrews 12:4-15

In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting in to the point of bloodshed. Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons?

My son, do not scorn correction from the Lord, do not resent his training, for the Lord trains those he loves, and chastises every son he accepts.

Perseverance is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him? If you were not getting this training, as all of you are, then you would be not sons but bastards. Besides, we have all had our human fathers who punished us, and we respected them for it; all the more readily ought we to submit to the Father of spirits, and so earn life. Our human fathers were training us for a short life and according to their own lights; but he does it all for our own good, so that we may share his own holiness. Of course, any discipline is at the time a matter for grief, not joy; but later, in those who have undergone it, it bears fruit in peace and uprightness. So steady all weary hands and trembling knees and make your crooked paths straight; then the injured limb will not be maimed, it will get better instead.

Seek peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord. Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a large number.
___________________

Mark 6:7-13

Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Don’t take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust under your feet as evidence to them.’ So they set off to proclaim repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.
___________________

Today we have the Master sending us out on a mission with a set of instructions.

Before we go on the mission, we have to be trained. The training program includes perseverance. When we falter during training, our Father, like any teacher, will discipline us. As we train and go through discipline, our training will bear fruit.

The mission is tough. There is no so-called welfare. There is no comfort except that you are doing God’s work.

What if a person forgets the instructions that had been given at the beginning of his mission? He might encounter difficulty and not know how to deal with certain situations. Sometimes people forget the mission too. They get hurt or distracted while on mission. But unknown to them, they are on their mission, except that the meaning behind what they do is veiled.

We are like that. Sometimes, we forget that we have decided to follow Christ. He sends us out on our mission to spread the Good News, and we happily go out. Then people hurt us, we get into conflicts with our loved ones, and then we get so affected that we forget, for some time, that we are on a mission given to us by Jesus. We ask God why He lets unfortunate things happen to us at the most inconvenient times. It just doesn’t make sense at all.

The answer is actually in His mission for us. Overcoming the difficulties, the conflicts, the obstacles—that is the unique God-given task in each person’s mission to spread the Good News. For it is how we react that will touch people’s hearts, soften what has hardened over years and turn them towards Christ, towards the Good News that we so often admit to profess.

What is God’s task for you in His mission today?

(Today’s OXYGEN by Regina Xie)
__________________

Prayer: Lord, help us to have courage through You to complete Your mission for us.

Give thanks to the Lord for: Giving each person the inclination to search for Him.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 01 Feb – Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24; Mark 6:7-13
Fri, 02 Feb – Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
Sat, 03 Feb – Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Mark 6:30-34; Memorial for St. Blase, bishop, martyr; Memorial for St. Ansgar, bishop
Sun, 04 Feb – Isaiah 6:1-21, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11; Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Tuesday, January 30 – Jesus the Sinseh

30 Jan

Takes Toil To Bloom
by Dorman Winger

One hot summer afternoon a woman was working strenuously, weeding her flower beds and pruning the plants. The flowers were especially magnificent.

A passerby asked, “I really like those flowers – do you?”

As she wiped perspiration from her face with a dirty hand, the woman’s weary response was, “Only when they bloom.”

The passerby thought how many folks have a similar attitude towards church, family work, or life in general – “I only like it when it is in full bloom and beautiful.”

The passerby thought of those necessary times of hard work – mulching, weeding, cultivating, pruning, and transplanting – as well as seasonal dormancy, which are all necessary to bring about the blooms which precede the bearing of seeds and fruits.

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
___________________

Hebrews 12:1-4

With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings us to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now one has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.
____________________

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.” Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.

Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak. “If I can touch even his clothes,” she had told herself, “I shall be well again”. And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. Immediately aware that power had gone out of him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, “Who touched me?” His disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. “My daughter,” he said, “your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.”

While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, “Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?” But Jesus had overhead this remark of their sand he said to the official, “Do not be afraid; only have faith.” And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.” But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the child by the hand he said to her, “Talitha, kum!” which mans, “Little girl, I tell you to get up.” The little girl got up at once and began to walk about for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
____________________

Since late last year, I’ve been nursing a shoulder injury that seemed to get worse over time. Today, I decided to visit a chinese sinseh rather than visiting a GP, since I had past experience of similar treatments by GPs. Might as well try a sinseh instead.

When I got there and the sinseh examined my shoulder, just by pressing the area around it, he could tell me that I sleep late at night, because my muscles in the area were stiff. I was simply amazed. In addition, he informed me that my late sleeping habits contributed to the shoulder injury, both when it first happened, and subsequently. During the treatment which lasted about half an hour, he gave me lots of useful tips on having a healthier lifestyle. Of course whether I follow his advice or not is another matter.

The woman with the haemorrhage in today’s gospel reading also decided to try some alternative medicine. She had been to various doctors in the past, to no avail. She had heard of Jesus who people were calling the Messiah, and she had heard of his miraculous works. She decided that if this really was someone sent by God, just touching his clothes would be enough to heal her. She didn’t even need to speak to him, or for him even to know that she had come to him.

But Jesus knew. He knew the moment the woman touched him, and he wanted to know who it was that touched him. Now this might seem odd, and indeed Jesus’ disciples found it odd. For them, it was more of a common sense thing. The people were all crowding around him, why would Jesus care if someone touched him? For us, it is more of a wondering why Jesus would bother to look for the woman. After all, she’s healed already, isn’t she?

Still Jesus wanted to know. And he confront the crowd, asking the person to show herself. When she finally did, she was trembling. Maybe she was afraid? Jesus told her, “Your faith has healed you.” As with the paralysed man on a stretcher, Jesus wasn’t healing her with those words; he was making a diagnosis for the woman, letting her know for sure that she had been healed, and he asked her to go in peace and be free from her complaint.

If Jesus had not stopped to reassure the woman of her healing, she might have had gone through life wondering whether or not she had really been healed. She might have gone back to her doctors to make sure of it, and the doctors would not be able to explain such a miracle. Her mind would still not be at ease, because she would never really know whether or not she was cured.

For us Catholics, we have been given the sacrament of reconciliation, better known as confession. It is God’s gift for us, because when we go for confession, our faith in God has already healed us of our sins. The priest there gives us the absolution, which is a spiritual diagnosis that God has already forgiven us our sins. It gives us peace of mind, and confirmation that our sins have been forgiven.

In addition, like a practitioner of medicine, a priest is a practitioner of spirituality. A doctor dispenses medical advice and tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle, which often involves changing some part of the way we live. For me, it will be sleeping earlier in the night (which I’m still not doing!). A priest, however, dispenses spiritual advice and tips on how to live a healthy spirituality, and this too often involves changing some part of the way we live.

Like TCM, frequent confession helps us get to the root of our problems. When we are sick, we go to the GP, he cures us, and that’s that. But going to the GP usually addresses only our symptoms. Going to a sinseh, on the other hand, usually addresses the causes of the illness, which is crucial to curing chronic or more serious illnesses. In addition, TCM usually requires frequent trips back to the sinseh.

Like the woman who makes the effort to seek Jesus for treatment, like Jairus who makes the effort to find Jesus to cure his daughter, we too must make the effort to seek Jesus in the confessional, rather than just treat it as a place to get peace of mind. Freeing ourselves from sin involves cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

In the same way, some of us treat confession like a treat to the GP. We know we have sinned and we have a guilty conscience, so we go to the confession, get the absolution, and we’re out of there in less than five minutes. We don’t stop to pay much attention to the spiritual advice that we’re given, so naturally when we go home, we have a high chance of falling into the same sin again.

But if we treat confession like seeking treatment from a sinseh, we realise that going to the confession regularly is necessary for us to address the root of our problems. Not only that, in order for us to be free from our “sin that clings so easily”, we need to make some effort on our part to change our lifestyle, according to the free spiritual advice that the priest in the confession dispenses. If not, we’re just going to fall back to our same old sin.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to be humble and to seek you for spiritual healing which you have made present for us through the sacrament of reconciliation. Help us also to be humble enough to take the spiritual (and medical) advice that your healers have given us. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The one who heals.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 31 Jan – Hebrews 12:4-15; Mark 6:7-13; Memorial for St. John Bosco, priest
Thu, 01 Feb – Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24; Mark 6:7-13
Fri, 02 Feb – Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
Sat, 03 Feb – Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Mark 6:30-34; Memorial for St. Blase, bishop, martyr; Memorial for St. Ansgar, bishop
Sun, 04 Feb – Isaiah 6:1-21, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11; Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Monday, January 29 – Deliver Us From Evil

29 Jan

Prayer for Tongue Control
Author Unknown

O Lord, keep me from getting talkative. And particularly from the fatal habit that I must say something on every subject at every occasion.

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips when inclined to tell of my aches and pains. They are increasing with the years and my love of rehearing them grows sweeter as the years go by.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint. Some of them are hard to live with, but a sour old woman or man is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Help me to extract all possible fun out of life. There are so many funny things around us, and I do not want to miss any of them.

Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy.

With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all. But you, my Lord, know that I want a few friends left at the end. Amen.

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
____________________

Hebrews 11:32-40

Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets – these were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what is right and earned the promises. They could keep a lion’s mouth shut, put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength, to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders. Some came back to their wives from the dead, by resurrection; and others submitted to torture, refusing release so that they would rise again to a better life. Some had to bear being pilloried and flogged, or even chained up in prison. They were stoned, or sawn in half, or beheaded; they were homeless, and dressed in the skins of sheep and goats; they were penniless and were given nothing but ill-treatment. They were too good for the world and they went out to live n deserts and mountains and in caves and ravines. These were all heroes of faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.
____________________

Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples reached the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and no sooner had he left the boat than a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain, because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but he snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!” – For Jesus had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit.” “What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name is legion,” he answered, for there are many of us” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district. Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.” So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned. The swineherds ran off and told their story in the town and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his full senses – the very man who had had the legion in him before – and they were afraid. And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs. Then they began to implore Jesus to leave the neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to b allowed to say with him. Jesus would not let him but said to him, “Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.” So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.
____________________

Today’s gospel reading reminds us that whether or not we believe it, that demons do exist. But there are a few things in today’s gospel reading that I don’t understand. First thing I want to know is why did the demon, on seeing Jesus, run towards him instead of away from him? And second thing is, why did the demon beg and plead with Jesus?

I’m not very sure, but I would say that it is because the demon recognised Jesus’ authority over him, and knew that there was no place that he could run to. From a book that I read on exorcism, it was explained that demons, being pure spirits, prefer to inhabit a place. If the demons were sent out of the man, they would no longer inhabit a place, and would be sent to hell. We somehow get the mistaken impression that demons like to be in hell. But if hell is really such a terrible state to be in, no one, not even the demons, would like it there.

We know from Church teaching and the writings of the saints that all of God’s creatures, especially humans, were made for God. If this is true for the demons as well, who are actually fallen angels, then this can explain why the demon rushed towards Jesus instead of away from him. The demon recognised Jesus and that even though the demon has rejected Jesus, it is still preferable to be close to Jesus than apart from him, since Jesus is God.

Knowing that Jesus was definitely going to send the demon out of the man, the demon pleaded to be sent to inhabit something else. What happens next is quite unimaginable – Jesus actually takes pity on the demon and sends it into the pigs. We know that Jesus doesn’t send anyone to hell, and this gospel reading actually shows us Jesus showing mercy on demons! If Jesus can and does show mercy to even demons who reject him completely, how much more mercy will he show to us humans when we turn to him for help and forgiveness?

Another spirit to take note of is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can “possess” us as well, but unlike the demons who possess us and take control of our bodies, the Holy Spirit is one that only does so with our consent. The Holy Spirit doesn’t take control of our bodies, but rather, he cooperates with us to do wonderful things.

There are some people in the world who are able to carry out marvellous deeds, some even miraculous. These deeds are not humanly possible and cannot be carried out by anyone who is human. It goes to say then that these feats are either works by the Holy Spirit, or by some other spirit or demon.

If it is the Holy Spirit that we cooperate with, we will be led towards the path of life, for the Holy Spirit is the giver of life. If, however, we are cooperating with another spirit that is not God, we will be lead to death, just as the pigs were led to their death. For only God’s way leads to life.

We are always surrounded by spirits. Some of these spirits have names that we know – Lust, Envy, Anger, Greed, Gluttony, you know them. Sometimes when we seem to be obsessed over something, it could be that we are being influenced by one of these spirits. If we know their name, then call out to Jesus who has authority over the spirits. Order these spirits, in the name of Jesus, to depart from us. Every Christian has the authority, by virtue of our baptism, to pray such simple deliverance prayers.

There is a saying that I read, but forgot where. It goes “No one ought to be confident in his own strength when he undergoes temptation”. Indeed so. Rely on the Spirit of God and the power of the name of Jesus to deliver us from evil.
___________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, we ask in your most holy and precious name, that any spirits that are not from God to depart from us and that we might be filled instead with your Holy Spirit. O precious blood of Jesus Christ, cover us and deliver us from evil. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Deliverance from evil spirits.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 30 Jan – Hebrews 12:1-4; Mark 5:21-43
Wed, 31 Jan – Hebrews 12:4-15; Mark 6:7-13; Memorial for St. John Bosco, priest
Thu, 01 Feb – Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24; Mark 6:7-13
Fri, 02 Feb – Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
Sat, 03 Feb – Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Mark 6:30-34; Memorial for St. Blase, bishop, martyr; Memorial for St. Ansgar, bishop
Sun, 04 Feb – Isaiah 6:1-21, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11; Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Sunday, January 28 – With Love

28 Jan – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Church As The Prophet Of God

We are privileged to be called by God to be his prophets: to take his words on our lips and proclaim them to the world. But the gift of prophecy is of no avail without the gift of love: a Christ-like love of the world which is proof even against the world’s rejection of us.

- the Sunday Missal
____________________

Judge Not
Adapted by David Woon

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
as I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the people in Heaven
who made me cannot tahan but complain -
the pirated CD vendors, the rude drivers, the illegal MP3 downloaders,
the shopaholics, the vain.

There stood the kid from primary school
who snatched my Gameboy twice.
Next to him was my old neighbour
who never said anything nice.

Mr I-got-5Cs-you-no-have, who I always thought
was rotting away in hell,
was sitting on an OSIM massage chair,
on cloud nine, looking incredibly well.

I asked Jesus, “How come ah?”
Faster explain and justify too.
How did all these sinners get up here?
God must have made a boo-boo.

“And why everyone so quiet,
so serious? Got any hints?”
“Shh… child,” said He, “they’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d be seeing you.”

- Memoirs of a Sojourner (http://sojournermemoirs.blogspot.com/)
____________________

Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19

In the days of Josiah, the word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
before you came to birth I consecrated you;
I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.
So now brace yourself for action.
Stand up and tell them
all I command you.
Do not be dismayed at their presence,
or in their presence I will make you dismayed.
I, for my part, today will make you
into a fortified city,
a pillar of iron,
and a wall of bronze
to confront all this land:
the kings of Judah, its princes,
its priests and the country people.
They will fight against you
but shall not overcome you,
for I am with you to deliver you -
it is the Lord who speaks.”
____________________

1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind: it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.
____________________

Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began to speak in the synagogue, “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.

They said, “This is Joseph’s son, surely?” But he replied, “No doubt you will quote me the saying, ‘Physician, heal yourself’ and tell me, ‘We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.’” And he went on, “I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

“There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.”

When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.
____________________

Many Catholics are apprehensive about speaking about their faith to non-Christians, but even more apprehensive are they about speaking about their faith to Christians and Catholics themselves… especially when we see or hear something that we know that is wrong.

Take for example when we know of a Catholic priest or nun or respected person in Catholic communities who is doing something that we know is wrong. We are more likely to ignore the situation, to not do anything about it and let it continue. Maybe we want to do something about it, but don’t know what to do about it. It is much easier to talk to non-Christians about the faith and the way it is supposed to be practised.

But when God is calling us to speak about our faith to these respected Catholics, we shy away. God is not asking us to change their hearts and ways. He is merely asking us to speak, to prophesy His Word to them. Whether they change their hearts and ways or not is simply beyond our power.

Often, however, we think that when we say something to them, it’s definitely going to make a difference, but we think too much of ourselves when we think like that. God is calling us merely to speak His Word to them and that’s about it. Whether that person listens or not is a matter between him and God, not ours.

In first reading, God is telling us to “stand up and tell them all I command you” and that he will “make you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze to confront all this land”. We see that even Jeremiah was called to prophesy to his own people. He was not called to change their hearts, but merely to prophesy the Word of God. Of course we know that Jeremiah was reluctant to do it because he knew how the people were going to react when they heard something that they didn’t want to hear. Still, he trusted in God, and he prophesied.

In the gospel reading, we see Jesus too prophesying to his own people, knowing full well how his people would react to something that they didn’t like to or want to hear. Still he prophesied and God preserved him from harm at their hands.

But how do we prophesy? Do we just go there and tell people what they are doing wrong? St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians tells us how – we prophesy with love. Sure, what we are telling the people we are called to speak to might be the truth, but telling the truth is meaningless if it is not done with love, if it is not done with the good of the other person in mind. Telling the truth merely because you want to tell the truth is not good enough; it must be done with love. Even if you are a priest with the power and authority of the Church to forgive sins in the confessional, it is not good enough; it must be done with love.

How do you know whether you are doing it out of love or not? St. Paul gives us a list to check it against. Are we doing it patiently, kindly, and not out of envy or jealousy? Are we doing it in a way that is not boastful or conceited or holier-than-thou? Are we doing it rudely or selfishly? Are we offended by that person’s behaviour or words that is why we are speaking to him resentfully or out of “just vengeance”? Are we expecting the other person to be ashamed of his behaviour so that we can feel triumphant over him, or are we more interested in bringing the truth to light so long it is not at the expense of the other person? Are we concerned about the other person’s suffering? Do we try to cause him as little pain as possible? Are we ready to give him the benefit of the doubt, to give him another chance, to believe that God’s spirit is at work in him? Are we ready to endure his retorts, or whatever persecutions we may face as a result of our act of prophecy?

It is not easy to prophesy God’s word to others, especially to God’s own people. But so long as it is done out of love and for God’s sake, not ours, it will be worth it, because we will be carrying out Jesus’ will and command for us – to love one another as he loves us.
___________________

Prayer:
Dear Father, we ask you to send your Spirit to fill us with the courage needed to prophesy in your name, that is, to speak your Word to your own people. Help us to put our faith in you, so that we can hope for your Spirit to work in us and those we speak to, that we may speak with love and that your message may be heard with love. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Those who prophesy to us with love.

Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 29 Jan – Hebrews 11:32-40; Mark 5:1-20
Tue, 30 Jan – Hebrews 12:1-4; Mark 5:21-43
Wed, 31 Jan – Hebrews 12:4-15; Mark 6:7-13; Memorial for St. John Bosco, priest
Thu, 01 Feb – Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24; Mark 6:7-13
Fri, 02 Feb – Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
Sat, 03 Feb – Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Mark 6:30-34; Memorial for St. Blase, bishop, martyr; Memorial for St. Ansgar, bishop
Sun, 04 Feb – Isaiah 6:1-21, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11; Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Saturday, January 27 – A Matter of Life and Death

27 Jan – Memorial for St. Angela Merici, virgin

If according to times and needs you should be obliged to make fresh rules and change current things, do it with prudence and good advice.
- Saint Angela Merici

St. Angela Merici (1474-1540) became a Franciscan tertiary at the age of 15. She received a vision telling her that she would inspire devout women in their vocation.

In Crete, during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she was struck blind. Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going on, visiting the shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if she had her sight. On the way home, while praying before a crucifix, her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost.

In 1535, she gathered a group of girl students and began what would become the “Institute of St. Ursula” (the Ursuline Sisters), founded to teach children, beginning with religion and later expanding into secular topics; her first schools were in Desenazno and Brescia.

- Patron Saint Index
___________________

Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. By faith he arrived, as a foreigner, in the Promised Land, and lived there as if in a strange country, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. They lived there in tents while he looked forward to a city founded, designed and built by God.

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and nomads on earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plaint hat they are in search of their real homeland. They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. he offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given Isaac back from the dead.
____________________

Mark 4:35-41

With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Master, do you not care? We are going down!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet now! Be calm!” And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, “Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and sea obey him.”
____________________

Obedience is not something that comes naturally for us. As children, we have to be taught to obey those who are in authority over us – our parents, our teachers, our grandparents, etc. As we grow up, we spent our growing years yearning for the age when we can finally shrug off these burdensome reins of authority, and to make our own choices. But when we finally reach adulthood, we come to realise that we’re still living in the shadow of even larger and more powerful authorities, ones that we will be under for the rest of our lives.

But true enough, as adults, we can indeed make our own choices. We can choose whether to submit to such authority or to rebel against it. The thing is, most of the time, when we choose to rebel against it, we set up another authority – our own – which makes us no different from the one that we rebelled against.

I once joined a group of Catholics who were “rebelling” against the authority that they believed was oppressing them. They wanted to be able to speak out freely about the issues that they were most concerned with in the Church, so they set up this group for that purpose. But when I spoke out against their motives, when I spoke out against the group itself, they clamped me down, proving themselves no different from the authority that they sought to be different from.

This is just an example, but it is true for all sorts of authorities that we seek to free ourselves from, and to set up one in their place. When that authority is ourselves, we often become even worse oppressors than the ones we seek freedom from. What, then, is the answer to this? Today’s readings show us that rather than setting up our own authority, we ought to strive to identify and choose which authority to follow and to trust in.

The figures in today’s readings all chose God’s authority as the authentic one and sought to follow his commands throughout their lives, even when the commands ran contrary to common sense, even when the commands ran contrary to what they were promised. They understood that God operates outside human rules, even those of life and death. They understood that God can do the impossible. This was why they entrusted themselves to him in the first place.

Sometimes we, like them, also entrust ourselves to God. But when God asks the impossible from us, we rebel. We refuse to subject ourselves to any more of God’s impossible requests… not that they are entirely physically impossible in themselves, but that they, as mentioned above, either run contrary to what we were promised, or that they ran contrary to common sense. So we rebel. We say to God, “You’re asking me to do the impossible. I don’t need authority like that. I remove you from your throne. From now on, I’ll be my own authority.”

And that’s exactly what Satan wants us to do, for he is in the business of getting other people to follow him. Not to treat Satan as their authority, but to remove themselves from under God’s authority, and to be their own authority, just like Satan did and is still doing.

But when we choose any other way other than God’s way, we end up heading towards death, because only God is the giver of life, and only God’s way leads to life. This is not a threat, or blackmail, for God lays down two choices before us always – life or death. We have the freedom to choose. Although God would want us to choose life and tells us so, the freedom to choose is still ours. And every choice that we make for or against God leads us further down that path of our own choosing.

Which path are you choosing to walk, based on your daily choices in life?
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to make daily choices for life by choosing your way over ours, life over death. Help us not just to follow your path, but to choose your path for ourselves, so that we might be brought to eternal life, which is to know the Father and you, whom he has sent. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The gift of the freedom to choose.

————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Friday, January 26 – Inner Peace

26 Jan – Memorial for Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops

Timothy’s father was a Greek gentile, his mother Eunice was Jewish. He was converted to Christianity by St. Paul around the year 47. He was a partner, assistant and close friend of Paul. He was a missionary as well, and became head of the Church in Ephesus. He was the recipient of two canonical letters from St. Paul, and was stoned to death in 97 for opposing the worship of Dionysius.

Titus (d. 96) was also a disciple of St. Paul and was the recipient of a canonical letter from him. He was the first bishop of the Church in Crete.
___________________

2 Timothy 1:1-8

From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus in his design to promise life in Christ Jesus; to Timothy, dear child of mine, wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

Night and day I thank God, keeping my conscience clear and remembering my duty to him as my ancestors did, and always I remember you in my prayers; I remember your tears and long to see you again to complete my happiness. Then I am reminded of the sincere faith which you have; it came first to live in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I have no doubt that it is the same faith in you as well.

That is why I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord, or shamed of me for being his prisoner; but with me, bear the hardships for the sake of the Good news, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy.
____________________

Luke 10:1-9

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. cure those in it who are sick, and say, ‘The kingdom of God is very near to you’”.
____________________

As I read today’s gospel reading, what strikes me immediately is that Jesus did not send out 72 people to go out and convert people. Rather, he sent them out to go and prepare the people to receive him. That is indeed what we, as disciples of Christ, are called to do. Our role as Christians is not to go out and convert people, as some Christians try to do. Rather, our role is to prepare people to receive Christ into their lives.

We can teach people all we want about Christianity, tell them the significance of Original Sin and baptism, tell them about heaven and hell, and so on, but if we do not reflect Christ to them, then all that we tell them is meaningless. This is why Jesus told his disciples to say, ‘The kingdom of God is very near to you’ rather than ‘The kingdom of God is here’.

In the gospel reading, we see Jesus telling the 72 disciples that they are to give a greeting of peace to any house that they enter. If a man of peace stays there, the peace that the disciples carry will go and rest on them. In English, the word “peace” is insufficient to describe the full meaning of the Hebrew word “shalom”. It means more than external peace, like the kind we have in Singapore. It also means “inner peace” – the kind a person has when his conscience is clean.

A man of such peace is a man of God, whether he knows it or not, because we are judged according to our conscience. If our conscience is clean, it generally means that we are free from sin, although this extends further than what is written in this reflection. The bottom line is that a man of such peace is one who is ready to receive Christ in their lives.

If Christ comes to a person who lacks this inner peace, this “shalom”, it is likely that the person will not be able to recognise Christ for who he really is, for Christ is the fulfilment of what that peace promises. It is easy to see then that when we are sinful, that is, when our conscience is not clean, we find it hard to receive Christ into our lives, especially in Holy Communion, because it will be hard to see Christ for who he really is.

If, however, we have Christ in our lives, then truly, the kingdom of God is here for us. Being a subject of the kingdom of God implies that we are God’s subjects, meaning that we do not do our own will, but we do God’s will. So long as the kingdom of God is not here for us, we are still our own kings, and we will therefore seek to do our own will instead of God’s.

So if you find that you are doing your own will instead of God’s, then it is an indication that Christ is not truly in your lives. It will be helpful to find out what is preventing God’s kingdom from reigning in us. This is also an indication that our conscience is not as clear as we think it to be. Our conscience doesn’t lie even though we sometimes lie to ourselves.

When we find what is bothering our conscience and we take care of it, we will then have inner peace. When we have inner peace, we will then be ready to receive Christ into our lives. When we receive Christ into our lives, it means that the kingdom of God is here for us. When the kingdom of God is here for us, we will do God’s will.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to examine our consciences and see what is obstructing us from having that inner peace that is rich soil to receive you into our lives. Grant us the courage to face within ourselves what it is that prevents us from surrendering our will to you. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Honesty, which is always painful, but necessary to obtain inner peace.

Upcoming Readings:
Sat, 27 Jan – Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Mark 4:35-41; Memorial for St. Angela Merici, virgin
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Thursday, January 25 – Waking Up Refreshed

25 Jan – Feast of the Conversion of Paul, apostle

St. Paul (3-65) was a Jewish Talmudic student and a Pharisee. He was a tent-maker by trade. Saul the Jew hated and persecuted Christians as heretical, even assisting at the stoning of St. Stephen the Martyr. On his way to Damascus to arrest another group of them, he was knocked to the ground, struck blind by a heavenly light, and given the message that in persecuting Christians, he was persecuting Christ. The experience had a profound spiritual effect on him, causing his conversion to Christianity. He was baptised, changed his name to Paul to reflect his new persona, and began travelling and preaching. He died a martyr for his faith.

Prayer to St. Paul
O Glorious Saint Paul, after persecuting the Church you became by God’s grace its most zealous Apostle. To carry the knowledge of Jesus, our divine Savior, to the uttermost parts of the earth you joyfully endured prison, scourgings, stonings, and shipwreck, as well as all manner of persecutions culminating in the shedding of the last drop of your blood for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Obtain for us the grace to labor strenuously to being the faith to others and to accept any trials and tribulations that may come our way. Help us to be inspired by your Epistles and to partake of your indomitable love for Jesus, so that after we have finished our course we may join you in praising him in heaven for all eternity. Amen.

- Patron Saint Index
__________________

Acts 22:3-16

Paul said to the people, ‘I am a Jew and was born in Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today. I even persecuted this Way to the death, and sent women as well as men to prison in chains as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify, since they even sent me with letters to their brothers in Damascus. When I set off it was with the intention of bringing prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.

‘I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when about midday a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I answered: Who are you, Lord? and he said to me, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.” The people with me saw the light but did not hear his voice as he spoke to me. I said: What am I do to, Lord? The Lord answered, “Stand up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what you have been appointed to do.” The light had been so dazzling that I was blind and my companions had to take me by the hand; and so I came to Damascus.

‘Someone called Ananias, a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there, came to see me; he stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind, testifying to what you have seen and heard. And now why delay? It is time you were baptised and had your sins washed away while invoking his name.”‘
___________________

Mark 16:15-18

Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and said to them, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison, they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’
___________________

Have you ever slept on the bus before? If the journey is a long one and there’s nothing to occupy the time, many of us have the tendency to take a snooze. Some short journeys find us catching some shut eye as well if we’re tired or bored.

Regardless, falling asleep means that there is the possibility of oversleeping and waking up after your stop. It can be an annoying experience as it can cause at least minor inconveniences such as walking back if it’s just a stop missed or crossing the road and taking another bus back. We end up at our destination later than we were meant to. I find though that this isn’t always such a bad thing.

Just yesterday I overslept one stop on my way home and had to take a slightly longer walk. On my way back I passed by a shop selling fried ice-cream. It was something I always wanted to try but never did. I figured since I had some time in walking back, I’d get one. Though a bit oily, it wasn’t too bad and all in all, a nice new experience. Detours like these can be quite refreshing, bringing places we haven’t seen before, finding new ways to get around, etc. At the very least, those extra moments of sleep are probably what your body needed and we can work a bit better after getting them.

What has oversleeping on a bus ride have to do with the feast of the conversion of Paul? Well, I’m sure we all know at least one convert to the faith. These folks enter the faith after cradle Catholics. One thing about them is the great zeal they show. Some cynics might even disregard what they testify and I’ve known folks to begrudge converts.

It is interesting because the converts are genuine in how they radiate the joy of Christ in their lives and yet this makes them appear holier-than-thou when they aren’t trying to. And it irritates people who either are really holier-than-thou or simply are not used to being so zealous in their own faith. I myself have been guilty of being annoyed at times as well.

It is just this zeal though that makes them so appealing to most others. Their testimonies of Jesus in their lives are truly powerful. Paul’s testimony to the Christian community is a prime example of this. Why is this the case? It is because of the slight delay they had in their faith journey. This delay allows them to experience things that many cradle Catholics do not encounter and such experiences are enriching, both for themselves as Christians and the Christian community at large. Perhaps a point to note is that converts need not always refer to non-Christians but also to lapsed Christians who have experienced a reawakening of faith. These always display like traits to the other group.

Paul came to know the Lord later than the rest of the Apostles and in this time he spent “oversleeping” he was actually very against the Church. However, would that Paul have been such a champion for the early Church if he wasn’t first her persecutor? Hard to say for sure but it is very probable that things would be very different. Imagine the shock of those in listening to Paul in the first reading. Imagine also how much they were affirmed of the power of our Lord by the whole situation.

Among other things, the conversion of Paul at Damascus teaches all us that we should not begrudge others who may be our “juniors” of sorts and yet have skills and gifts we don’t but rather seek to learn from what they bring to the mix. The conversion is a good illustration of what Christ meant in the Gospel reading of going out to the whole world and spreading the Good News. To do so requires gifts and experiences everyone brings, especially those of whom the Good News was spread to. So my sisters and brothers, for those of us who are converts or experienced a faith reawakening, let us share our experiences with others in our communities; for those who are not, let us be open to the lessons we can learn from them.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Aloysius Ting)
___________________

Prayer: Lord, continue to open our hearts and minds that we may see Your face in others.

Give thanks to the Lord for: Drawing us to Him.

Upcoming Readings:
Fri, 26 Jan – 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Mark 4:26-34 or Luke 10:1-9; Memorial for Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops
Sat, 27 Jan – Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Mark 4:35-41; Memorial for St. Angela Merici, virgin
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Tuesday, January 23 – Are You For Show?

23 Jan

High Wind, Big Thunder, No Rain!
Author Unknown

A Native American attended a Sunday morning worship service. The sermon contained very little in the way of spiritual food and had been delivered in rather loud tones. The Native American was a faithful Christian, but was not impressed with the preaching.

On the way out of church the minister asked him if he liked the sermon. His reply was, “High wind, big thunder, no rain!”

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
___________________

Hebrews 10:1-10

Since the law has no more than a reflection of these realities, and no finished picture of them, it is quite incapable of bringing the worshippers to perfection, with the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year. Otherwise, the offering of them would have stopped, because the worshippers, when they had been purified once, would have no awareness of sins. Instead of that, the sins are recalled year after year in the sacrifices. Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what he said, on coming into the world:

You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure on holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
“God, here I am! I cam coming to obey your will.”

Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
___________________

Mark 3:31-35

The mother and brothers of Jesus arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, “Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.” He replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.”
____________________

We are now four weeks into the start of 2007. Some of us are keeping quite well to our New Year resolutions, some of us have failed repeatedly to keep them. For some of us, it is our first time making those resolutions. For others, we have made that same resolution for many years, and still have not been able to change for the better. Why not?

It is important to look at what our goals or resolutions are. Are they purely goal-oriented? Are they purely about changing our behaviour? Or does the change go deeper into our very person? Do we desire a change of our external behaviour, that is, what we see and what other people see us as, or do we desire a change of our internal self?

It is of not much use, if any, for a smoker to say, okay for Lent I will quit smoking, and then once Lent ends, he goes back to smoking. Such a Lenten resolution has no lasting effect on the person, other than a sense of accomplishment that he can go without cigarettes for 40 days. That’s not what resolutions are supposed to be about. Resolutions are about perfecting oneself. They are about helping oneself to become better persons. As such, a resolution cannot be for a limited period alone, but a start of something which will help a person to become a better person.

But this can only take place when the change comes from within, not merely an external change. In today’s first reading, we see the author of the letter to the Hebrews telling the Hebrew people, the champions of making their external behaviour conform to the Law, that it is not good enough to make their behaviours conform to the Law.

In our context, it will be like saying, it is not good enough for a Catholic to go to Mass every Sunday, abstain from meat every Friday, pray a Rosary every night, say the Angelus at noon every day, attend Novena every Saturday, serve in a church ministry or two every week, etc. All that is not enough if it doesn’t effect a change of who we are as a person. If we do all this, and we still behave as we always do when we are not in church or in prayer, then in effect all this prayer and stuff is only for show. Maybe it is to make us feel better that we are behaving as good Catholics… maybe it is to show to others how “holy” and pious we are… whatever the reason may be, it is a lie, and lies have no place in the kingdom of God.

What then is good enough if amending our behaviour is not? Jesus tells us that we must do the will of God. What is the will of the Father then? Somewhere in John’s gospel, we read that the will of the Father is that we get to know the Son. By getting to know the Son, this does not mean we read up everything we can lay our hands on about the person of Jesus. It means that we must personally meet Jesus, to encounter him, and to experience him personally.

No one can meet Jesus and not be changed. Even the most hardened person, the most self-righteous person, can have his life changed by just one encounter with Jesus. Take Paul, for instance, whose conversion we will celebrate this Thursday. He was so fixed on carrying out his personal mission which he falsely believed was what God wanted him to do, but when he encountered the real Jesus in person, he changed from being a hardened self-righteous Pharisee into the greatest evangelizer that the Church has ever had.

Seek therefore not to do your own will of conforming to the Church’s laws, but to experience Jesus in person. Then when we live our lives according to the Church’s laws, it will be because we love Jesus and his Church, not because we want to be seen as good Catholics.
__________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, allow us to experience and encounter you in person. Help us to obey the Church out of love not mere obedience, for mere obedience makes us no different from trained animals. Help us to freely choose to obey the Church’s laws and your commandment to love one another as you have loved us. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: A personal conversion experience.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 24 Jan – Hebrews 10:11-18; Mark 4:1-20; Memorial for St. Francis de Sales, bishop, doctor of the Church
Thu, 25 Jan – Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Mark 16:15-18; Feast of the Conversion of Paul, apostle
Fri, 26 Jan – 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Mark 4:26-34 or Luke 10:1-9; Memorial for Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops
Sat, 27 Jan – Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Mark 4:35-41; Memorial for St. Angela Merici, virgin
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Monday, January 22 – Lying To Ourselves

22 Jan – Memorial for St. Vincent, deacon, martyr

There seems to be many St. Vincents that have today as their day of memorial. I think the one that we are supposed to remember in the liturgical calendar is St. Vincent of Saragossa (d. 304). He was a friend of St. Valerius of Saragossa in Spain, and served as his deacon. He was imprisoned and tortured in Valencia, some of it by burning on a gridiron, for his faith. He converted the jailer and was finally offered release if he would give up the sacred texts to the fire, but he refused. He was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian.

- Patron Saint Index

“To you has been granted in Christ’s behalf not only that you should believe in him but also that you should suffer for him. Vincent had received both these gifts and held them as his own. For how could he have them if he had not received them? And he displayed his faith in what he said, his endurance in what he suffered.

No one ought to be confident in his own strength when he undergoes temptation. For whenever we endure evils courageously, our long-suffering comes from him Christ. He once said to his disciples: “In this world you will suffer persecution,” and then, to allay their fears, he added, “but rest assured, I have conquered the world.”

There is no need to wonder then, my dearly beloved brothers, that Vincent conquered in him who conquered the world. It offers temptation to lead us astray; it strikes terror into us to break our spirit. Hence if our personal pleasures do not hold us captive, and if we are not frightened by brutality, then the world is overcome. At both of these approaches Christ rushes to our aid, and the Christian is not conquered.”

- from a sermon by St. Augustine of Hippo
__________________

Hebrews 9:15, 24-28

Christ brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant. It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf. And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the high priest going into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own, or else he would have to suffer over and over again since the world began. Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not b to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.
___________________

Mark 3:22-30

The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying: “Beelzebul is in him” and “It is through the prince of devils that he casts devils out.” So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last. And if a household is divided against itself, that household can never stand. Now if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he cannot stand either – it is the end of him. But no one can make hi way into a strong man’s house and burgle his property unless he has tied up the strong man first. Only then can he burgle his house.

“I tell you solemnly, all men’s sins will be forgiven, and all their blasphemies: but let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness: he is guilty of an eternal sin.” This was because they were saying, “An unclean spirit is in him.”
____________________

What is this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that Jesus speaks of which can never be forgiven? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. One who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is one who lies about Truth, and worse still, believes in his own lie.

There have been many influential thinkers and writers in the last couple of centuries that have shaped the way we ourselves think. As I read one of my Christmas presents “Architects of the Culture of Death”, I come to realise that there are a few common threads about the characteristics of these ‘architects’, some of whom you might have heard of before – Friedrich Nietzche, Ayn Rand, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Simone de Beauvoir, Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, Alfred Kinsey, Jack Kevorkian, and many more.

One of these common threads about all these people is that they form a philosophy that is greatly influenced by their background. Many of these first make a base assumption (for many, they assume that God doesn’t exist), and then through their thinking and background, they build up a case, a philosophy for their assumption. Following from there, they take their philosophy and apply it to other aspects of life and society, thus shaping the way other people think. But as many of their cases exclude the existence of God, they in turn place themselves on that empty throne. They become a new messiah who brings a revolution to the world. Ultimately, it becomes clear that their entire philosophy revolves around themselves and is actually their way of justifying or living with some of their experiences.

Many of us do the same in our lives. We are struggling to justify some of our experiences, and maybe some of our guilt. So we come up with all sorts of reasons and philosophies to justify our way of thinking. In so doing, we lie to ourselves and we’re such good liars that we actually come to believe our own lies. Believing our own lies, we then spread this ‘gospel’ to other people, convincing them to see things our way, convincing them to believe the lies we tell ourselves, so that when more and more people believe it, it will bolster our own belief of it as the truth.

One of those lies that we tell ourselves is that God sits on his throne, sees into people’s characters and decides who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Since we worship a God like that, we tend to take on his characteristics. We too become people who look at other people, decide who is sinful and who is saintly and we say so-and-so will go to heaven, or because so-and-so did this, he will go to hell. And then because God is supposed to be compassionate, and we should be like God, so we say, “I will pray for so-and-so that he may change his ways and not be condemned to hell.”

This is exactly what the scribes from Jerusalem did in today’s first reading. They came to see Jesus and they declared that he is the servant of Satan… probably because the things that Jesus was teaching made them feel guilty about their own behaviour. So they told this lie to themselves – that because Jesus makes them, the scribes, the leaders of the people, Jesus made them guilty, so what he is saying must be from the devil. They said these lies about Jesus to justify their own behaviour. And they believed their own lies so much that they told it to other people as well, to get them to believe in it, so that it will strengthen their claims.

When we look at the person of Jesus, we are, in fact, looking at God himself, for Jesus came to reveal the Father to all men. Our image of Jesus is supposed to be our image of God. If we see Jesus as a person who welcomes all people, regardless of status or sinfulness, then we too will see that image of God. And then we will begin to become like Jesus. On the other hand, if we see Jesus as the shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats, allowing the sheep to go to heaven and casting the goats into hell, then we will adopt that image of God for ourselves as well.

But today’s first reading shows us an appropriate image of Jesus as the one who bridges the gap between men and God, by offering himself as a sacrifice to bridge that gap. When we can truly see Jesus this way, we too will come to see ourselves like Jesus, to offer ourselves up to help bridge the gap between men and God. In this way, we are truly in communion with Jesus, working with him in his mission to be a true mediator between God and men. If, however, we are unable to see Jesus in this light, it is highly unlikely that we will ever be able to bring men to God in the way that we are called to.
___________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, please show us today how you are revealing yourself to us in our lives. Help us to see the real you, so that we may model ourselves after the real you instead of a false image, a lie that we tell ourselves to justify our behaviour. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Those who help to expose the lies we tell ourselves.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 23 Jan – Hebrews 10:1-10; Mark 3:31-35
Wed, 24 Jan – Hebrews 10:11-18; Mark 4:1-20; Memorial for St. Francis de Sales, bishop, doctor of the Church
Thu, 25 Jan – Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Mark 16:15-18; Feast of the Conversion of Paul, apostle
Fri, 26 Jan – 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Mark 4:26-34 or Luke 10:1-9; Memorial for Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops
Sat, 27 Jan – Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Mark 4:35-41; Memorial for St. Angela Merici, virgin
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.