OXYGEN

13 Jul – Memorial for St Henry II

Henry II (972–1024) was the son of Gisella of Burgundy and Henry II the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria. He was educated at the cathedral school in Hildesheim by Bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg. He became Duke of Bavaria himself in 995 upon his father’s death, which ended Henry’s thoughts of becoming a priest. He ascended to the throne of Germany in 1002, and was crowned King of Pavia, Italy on 15 May 1004. He married St. Cunegunda, but was never a father. Some sources claim the two lived celibately, but there is no evidence either way.

Henry’s brother rebelled against his power, and Henry was forced to defeat him on the battlefield, but later forgave him, and the two reconciled. Henry was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1014 by Pope Benedict VIII; he was the last of the Saxon dynasty of emperors. He founded schools, quelled rebellions, protected the frontiers, worked to establish a stable peace in Europe, and to reform the Church while respecting its independence.

He fostered missions, and established Bamberg, Germany as a centre for missions to Slavic countries. He started the construction of the cathedral at Basel, Switzerland; it took nearly 400 years to complete. Both Henry and St. Cunegunda were prayerful people, and generous to the poor.

At one point he was cured of an unnamed illness by the touch of St. Benedict of Nursia at Monte Cassino. He became somewhat lame in his later years. Following Cunegunda’s death, he considered becoming a monk, but the abbot of Saint-Vanne at Verdun, France refused his application, and told him to keep his place in the world where he could do much good for people and the advancement of God’s kingdom.

- Patron Saint Index
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Exodus 1:8-14.22

There came to power in Egypt a new king who knew nothing of Joseph. ‘Look,’ he said to his subjects ‘these people, the sons of Israel, have become so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us.we must be prudent and take steps against their increasing any further, or if was should break out, they might add to the number of our enemies. They might take arms against us and so escapt out of the country.’ Accordingly, they put slave-drivers over the Israelites to wear them down under heavy loads. In this way they built the store-cities of Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the more they were crushed, the more they increased and spread, and men came to dread the sons of Israel. The Egyptians forced the sons of Israel into slavery, and made their lives unbearable with hard labour, work with clay and with brick, all kinds of work in the fields; they forced on them every kind of labour.

Pharaoh then gave his subjects this command; ‘Throw all the boys born to the Hebrews born into the river, but let all the girls live.’
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Matthew 10:34-11:1

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.

‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me.

‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man because he is a holy man will have a holy man’s reward.

‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.’

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.
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We must be prudent and take steps against their increasing any further.

Have you ever encountered spiritual warfare? What is it like for you? For me, I realized that whenever I am about to write for the Lord, there is always bound to have distractions. There seems to be an attack from all areas, and at times it can be pretty draining.

Take for instance, doing this batch of reflections for this week: Just as I was about to complete the last two reflections, the file which the articles were saved had some problems. I couldn’t open the file and accidentally had it deleted. I had to redo my reflections.

On other occasions, there could be family or work issues that I was facing, and somehow I was not at peace to write, hence I have to put aside the writing. I will always pray for the Lord’s grace and to be still to listen to His voice. Whenever I finish writing the articles, I am amazed by the content that is written and I thank the Lord for the grace to write.

In the reading today, as the Israelites were seen to be more numerous and stronger then the Egyptians, the latter tried to take precautions by making their lives difficult with forced labour and showed no mercy to them. This also applies to our journey with the Lord. As we grow close to Him, the evil one will use means and ways to test us and to distract us from doing the Lord’s work. Usually the people closest to us are the ones who will be used to distract us from serving the Lord.

In moments like this when we are being distracted, take time off from the work we are doing for the Lord. Spend some quiet moments with the Lord in prayers and read the Bible. Listening to praise and worship songs and mediating on the Word of God are ways of resisting the spiritual attacks.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Patricia Ang)
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Prayer: Lord, protect us and fill us with Your Spirit as we serve You in our respective ministry. Whenever we are distracted, allow us to focus on You and to rely on Your grace and love.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks to the Lord for always being there for us. We thank Him for being patient with us and for guiding us.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 14 Jul – Exodus 2:1-15; Matthew 11:20-24; Memorial for St Camillus de Lellis, priest
Wed, 15 Jul – Exodus 3:1-6.9-12; Matthew 11:25-27; Memorial for St Bonaventure, bishop and doctor of the Church
Thu, 16 Jul – Exodus 3:13-20; Matthew 11:28-30; Memorial for Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Fri, 17 Jul – Exodus 11:10-12:14; Matthew 12:1-8
Sat, 18 Jul – Exodus 12:37-42; Matthew 12:14-21
Sun, 19 Jul – Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34; Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time