OXYGEN

07 Mar – Memorial for Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs

Perpetua (d. 203) was a lay woman born to a noble pagan family. She was a convert, a wife and a mother. She was martyred with her maid, friend, and fellow convert Felicitas. In centuries past, their story was so popular that St. Augustine of Hippo warned against giving it the weight of scripture.
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Wisdom 2:1, 12-22

The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning:

“Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us
and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our breaches of the law
and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a son of the Lord.
Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
his way of life is not like other men’s,
the paths he treads are unfamiliar.
In his opinion we are counterfeit;
he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth;
he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy
and boasts of having God for his father.
Let us see if what he says is true,
let us observe that kind of end he himself will have.
If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part
and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture,
and thus explore this gentleness of his
and put his endurance to the proof.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death
since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.”

This is the way they reason, but they are misled,
their malice makes them blind.
They do not know the hidden things of God,
they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded,
they can see no reward for blameless souls.
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John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him.

As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, after his brothers had left for the festival, Jesus went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself.

Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:

“Yes, you know me and you know where I came from.
Yet I have not come of myself:
no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him,
and you do not know him,
but I know him
because I have come from him
and it was he who sent me.”

They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.
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Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking.

Throughout the history of humanity, good people have always been persecuted by bad people. Bad people fear the good people and what they say, and are always trying to prove them wrong. Why? Is it simply because bad people are bad, which is why they do this? Or is there a deeper reason behind their actions? Today’s first reading sheds some light on this, and perhaps it is also our own experience of being persecuted by others.

The reason why the good are put to the test by the bad is because of what they believe in. Why is there this fear? Is it a fear of their fate that bad people torture the good? It is more than that. It is the fear that if the good people are indeed right, then that means that the bad people will have to change their lifestyle.

This is the message that Jesus brings, and indeed all Christians are called to bring to the world – repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. This season of Lent is a season of repentance, a turning away from our own evil behaviour and turning towards good. Let us resolve to spend the remaining weeks of Lent working on repenting from one evil behaviour and cultivating one good habit.

(Today’s reflection by Daniel Tay)
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Prayer: Dear Lord, reveal to us one way in which our behaviour is evil, and help us to repent from this behaviour and turn to You. Amen.

Thanksgiving: Give thanks to the Lord for those who know their sinful ways and repent.

Upcoming Readings:
Sat, 08 Mar – Jeremiah 1:18-20; John 7:40-53
Sun, 09 Mar – Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45; Fifth Sunday of Lent
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