30 Jan
St. Francis’ Spirit
Shortly after his priestly ordination, Francis Xavier was assigned to work in a hospital in Venice. The hospital was crowded with people suffering from incurable diseases. One of these was the dreaded “French disease” or syphilis, the body of the patients covered with sores full of pus causing a nauseating stench.
One day a syphilis patient whom Francis was tending asked the saint to scratch his back. Suddenly, a crippling fear seized Francis. What if he became infected with the disease from the pus? For a moment, Francis remained frozen. In a flash, he thought of Jesus and the commitment he had made to Him. Any job done to fulfil His mission would entail risks. Francis plucked up courage. He not merely scratched the patient’s back, but when the task was done, he put his fingers into his own mouth and sucked them.
That night, he dreamed that he had been infected with the sickness in his throat and kept coughing and spitting the whole night. The following day he realised that there was no sign of any sickness. From then on he lost his sense of repugnance and fear of contagion.
– What thoughts, feelings, occurred to you while you went through the story?
– What do you think is the ‘moral’ of the story?
– taken from “Persons Are Gifts”, by Hedwig Lewis, SJ
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2 Samuel 7:4-17
The word of the Lord came to Nathan:
‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I say to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of Israel my people: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” This is what you must say to my servant David, “The Lord of hosts says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet I will not withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’
Nathan related all these words to David and this whole revelation.
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Mark 4:1-20
Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them, ‘Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seed fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear.’
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.’
He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundred fold.’
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When Jesus came, He came to build a house – a kingdom in which He reigns. His kingdom is His house with all of us in it.
In the Gospel reading, we can also see our hearts as houses for seeds that are the word of God. Can our hearts allow these seeds to grow and produce fruit for His kingdom? If not, how can we ensure that they become good environments for these seeds to grow?
God is fruitful. A heart in which He dwells will be fruitful. Thus, to nurture the seed that is the Word, we have to let God into our hearts.
Let us look beyond ourselves. Do we let God into our relationships? God’s Word can also be sown and grown in relationships with friends and family, where He can also be fruitful. Let us ask Jesus to come into our hearts and relationships today, so that our lives and the lives of others are fruitful.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Regina Xie)
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Prayer: Lord, come into our hearts to help us bear fruit for Your kingdom.
Give thanks to the Lord for: His sovereignty.
Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 31 Jan – 2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29; Mark 4:21-25; Memorial for St. John Bosco, priest, religious founder
Fri, 01 Feb – 2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17; Mark 4:26-34
Sat, 02 Feb – Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Sun, 03 Feb – Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a; Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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OXYGEN 