OXYGEN

23 May
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Acts 18:23-28

Paul came down to Antioch where he spent a short time before continuing his journey through the Galatian country and then through Phrygia, encouraging all the followers.

An Alexandrian Jew named Apollos now arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, with a sound knowledge of scriptures, and yet, though he had been given instruction in the Way of the Lord, and preached with great earnestness and was accurate in all the details he taught about Jesus, he had only experienced the baptism of John. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak bildly in the synagogue, they took an interest in him and gave him further instructions about the Way.

When Apollo thought of crossing over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote asking the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived there he was able by God’s grace to help the believers considerably by the energetic way he refuted the Jews in public and demonstrated from scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
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John 16:23-28

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I tell you most solemnly,
anything you ask for from the Father
he will grant in my name.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.
Ask and you will receive,
and so your joy will be complete.
I have been telling you all this in metaphors;
the hour is coming
when I shall no longer speak to you in metaphors,
but tell you about the Father in plain words.
When that day comes
you will ask in my name;
and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you
because the Father himself loves you
for loving me
and believing that I came from God.
I came from the Father and have come into the world
and now I leave the world to go to the Father.”
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The Father himself loves you for loving me and believing that I came from God

Sometimes when I pray, I am not sure who to direct my prayer to. Should I address Jesus, God the Father, or the Holy Spirit? This often confuses me; hence, leaving me to tell Jesus that I am addressing all of them though I mostly call out on only Jesus’ name.

As Christians, we believe that our God consists of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. They are all separate beings and yet, they are the one same God. This is a mystery that we, as humans, will never fully understand.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that when we love Him and believe in Him, the Father Himself would also love us. I think the best way to conceptualize this is to reflect on our own family contexts. When someone loves our parent/child/sibling, when someone praises those who are in our immediate family, we typically feel a great sense of warmth and love for that person because he/she is able to love what we love. He/she is able to see what we see in our loved ones.

Therefore, when we are able to love Jesus and to see and desire to be as beautiful and holy as Him, I believe that God the Father would also feel a great sense of love, warmth and affection for us. The same goes for how Jesus would feel towards us when we love His Father or the Holy Spirit. With this in mind, we should not worry about which of the Holy Trinity we should address. For when we love one part of it, the rest of it is equally loved and glorified. The most important thing we can do is to love our God’s heart and to strive towards having a heart like our Lord.

Extending slightly from this, since all human beings are created by God, our daily interactions with each other present us with ample opportunities each day to bring our God much joy, love, warmth, and affection.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Jean Cheng)
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Prayer: Lord, help me to love my neighbours because I believe that they are created by You and loved by You. In loving them, I believe that I would be glorifying You and pleasing You.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks to those who are able to love their enemies.

Upcoming Readings:
Sun, 24 May – Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; 1 John 4:11-16; John 17:11-19; Seventh Sunday of Easter; 43rd World Communication Sunday