OXYGEN

19 Nov

Although today’s readings are not exactly that of the parable of the talents (in Matthew’s gospel), today’s quotes are on using talents:

“No one respects a talent that is concealed.” – Erasmus

“Talents are distributed unevenly, it is true: to one ten, and to another five; but each has one pound, all alike.” – R. H. Benson

“Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

“The real tragedy of life is not in being limited to one talent, but in the failure to use the one talent.” – Edgar W. Work

“There is a grea deal of unmapped country within us.” – George Eliot

“Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible is genius.” – Amiel

“If people knew how hard I have to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo

“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigours of the mind.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

“Talent is the capacity of doing anything that depends on application and industry; it is voluntary power, while genius is involuntary.” – Hazlitt

“Nature has concealed at the bottom of our minds talents and abilities of which we are not aware.” – La Rochefoucauld

“To do what others cannot do is talent. To do what talent cannot do is genius.” – Will Henry
____________________

Revelations 4:1-11

In my vision, I, John, saw a door open in heaven and heard the same voice speaking to me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, “Come up here: I will show you what is to come in the future.” WIth that, the Spirit possessed me and I saw a throne standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne, and the Person sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby. There was a rainbow encircling the throne, and this looked like an emerald. Round the throne in a circle was twenty-four thrones, and on them I saw twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white robes with golden crowns on their heads. Flashes of lightning were coming from the throne, and the soul of peals of thunder, and in front of the throne there were seven flaming lamps burning, the seven Spirits of God. Between the throne and myself was a sea that seemed to be made of glass, like crystal. In the centre, grouped round the throne itself, were four animals with many eyes, in front and behind. The first animal was like a lion, the second like a bull, the third animal had a human face, and the fourth animal was like a flying eagle. Each of the four animals had six wings and had eyes all the way round as well as inside; and day and night they never stopped singing:

“Holy, Holy, Holy
is the Lord God, the Almighty;
he was, he is and he is to come.”

Every time the animals glorified and honoured and gave thanks to the One sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders prostrated themselves before him to worship the One who lives forever and ever, and threw down their crowns in front of the throne, saying, “You are our Lord and our God, you are worthy of glory and honour and power, because you made all the universe and it was only by your will that everything was made and exists.”
____________________

Luke 19:11-28

While the people were listening, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they imagined that the kingdom of God was going to show itself then and there. Accordingly he said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to be appointed king and afterwards return. He summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds. ‘Do with these,’ he told them, ‘until I get back.’ But his compatriots detested him and sent a delegation to follow him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’

“Now on his return, having received his appointment as king, he sent for those servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made. The first came in and said, ‘Sir, your one poind has brought in ten.’ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ he replied. ‘Since you have proved yourself faithful in a very small thing, you shall have the government of ten cities.’ Then came the second and said, ‘Sir, your one pound has made five.’ To this one also he said, ‘And you shall be in charge of five cities.’ Next came the other and said, ‘Sir, here is your pound. I put it away safely in a piece of linen because I was afraid of you; for you are an exacting man: you pick up what you have not put down and reap what you have not sown.’ ‘You wicked servant!’ he said. ‘Out of your own mouth I condemn you. So you knew I was an exacting man, picking up what I have not put down and reaping what I have not sown? Then why did you not put my money in the bank? On my return I could have drawn it out with interest.’ And he said to those standing by, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the man who has ten pounds.’ And they said to him, ‘But, sir, he has ten pounds …’ ‘I tell you, to everyone who has will be given more; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

‘But as for my enemies who did not want me for their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence.’”

When he had said this he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
____________________

…you pick up what you have not put down and reap what you have not sown.

I feel sorry for the third servant in today’s Gospel whose gold coin was taken away from him until he had nothing left. Why? Because I identify with him. This third servant’s accusation of God resembles my own pride in wanting to claim credit for all my achievements. Although I know that we must always seek to glorify God and not ourselves, this is certainly not easy for me to do.

Many times, I feel indignant that I am unable to claim any credit for my hard work. After all, I was the one who worked hard, stayed up late, and suffered. Why does God get all the credit? What did He do? Even today’s first reading does not sit well with me. Reading about how these 24 elders and living creatures worship God all day long makes me does not make heaven look very appealing to me.

However, upon closer reading of the Gospel, I realize that the third servant was wrong to accuse the nobleman of reaping what he did not sow. After all, it was the nobleman who first gave each servant the gold coins. Without these gold coins, the servants would not have had anything to harvest and would not have had chance to even taste success. Therefore, if we have a tendency to feel indignant that God gets all credit for our achievements, perhaps we must first remember that we would never have been able to achieve anything without God first endowing us with our talents, gifts and even our lives.

Whenever we are tempted to claim credit for our achievements, let us remember that we first needed to receive our talents, character, and even our lives from God before we could embark on attaining success. Let us therefore pray for a humble heart to recognize that we would be nothing without God. Let us also give thanks to our God who recognizes our individual efforts and rewards us accordingly. On a concluding note, I do think that when we are truly able to know who God is (his love, mercy, grace, etc) and also recognize that we would be nothing without our loving God, we would gladly worship Him all day long and all night long.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Jean Cheng)
____________________

Prayer: Lord, please help me to live knowing that I would be nothing without You.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks to God for having mercy on our ignorance and pride.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu 20 Nov – Revelation 5:1-10; Luke 19:41-44
Fri 21 Nov – Zechariah 2:14-17; Matthew 12:46-50; Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sat 22 Nov – Revelation 11:4-14; Luke 20:27-40; Memorial for St. Cecilia, virgin, martyr
Sun 23 Nov – Ezekiel 14:11-12. 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26. 28; Matthew 25:31-46; Solemnity of Christ The King