OXYGEN

23 Aug – Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Holy One Of God
Today, as we celebrate the marriage feast of Christ with His Church, we consciously choose Him who is the Holy One of God.

- The Sunday Missal
____________________

Joshua 24:1-2.15-18

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem; then he called the elders, leaders, judges and scribes of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Then Joshua said to all the people: ‘If you will not serve the Lord, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.’

The people answered, ‘We have no intention of deserting the Lord our God and serving other gods. Was it not the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery, who worked those great wonders before our eyes and preserved us all along the way we travelled and among all the peoples through whom we journeyed. We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’
____________________

Ephesians 5:21-32

Give way to one another in obedience to Christ. Wives should regards their husbands as they regard the Lord, since as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife; and as the Church submits to Christ, so should wives to their husbands, in everything. Husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless. In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies; for a man to love his wide is for him to love himself. A man never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks after it; and that is the way Christ treats the Church, because it is his body – and we are its living parts. For this reason, a man must leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one body. This mystery has many implications; but I am saying it applies to Christ and the Church.
____________________

John 6:60-69

After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?

‘It is the spirit that gives life,
the flesh has nothing to offer.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit
and they are life.

‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. He went on, ‘This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him.’ After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.

Then Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’
____________________

…[M]any of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.

There are many moments when things do not happen for us easily and we have lost faith in our plans, we may have chosen to turn back than to take, perhaps, a more difficult route ahead of us. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I have come to junctures where I chose to turn back and give up on what is ahead despite knowing that there is possibility of being spiritually fulfilling. I would have been one of His disciples to have turned back.

It is not really about who stays or who goes, because in today’s Gospel, there is still the opportunity of betrayal among those who stayed with Jesus. There are also those who return to the Father, like the prodigal son. It is the spirit that gives life… the words spoken by Jesus is both spirit and life! What truly matters to the Lord is the spirit, the internal presence of our heart to Him, not our physical presence. To receive such graces and life-giving spirituality, we turn to the Word.

In the second reading, St. Paul writes about the unity and mutual respect between husbands and wives. It is much about how the love between husbands and wives foreshadows the love of our Father to the Church. The generosity of a husband’s love for himself is being extended to his wife and the spirit of his love is being expressed outwardly by the physical expression of the two bodies. This further emphasizes that the spirit is indeed the one that gives life.

As we enter into a new week, let us build the spirit in ourselves and not be weakened by the flesh. Place our hearts in the spirit of the Gospels, and it will bring us life. We put our faith in the Lord and serve Him well; may we never betray Him. And, for some of us who have turned our backs on Him, turn around and follow Him for we, as His children, will always be welcome in His embrace.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Austin Leong)
____________________

Prayer: Almighty Lord, my spirit is willing, the flesh is useless. Build my spirit and make me stronger so I too may give life to all around me.

Thanksgiving: I know I am weak sometimes, but I thank You Lord for the self control, the perseverance for me to be hanging in there, because without Your works, it will not be possible.

Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 24 Aug – Apocalypse 21:9-14; John 1:45-51; Feast of St Bartholomew, Apostle
Tue, 25 Aug – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 23:23-26; Memorial for St Louis of France, Married Man; Memorial for St Joseph Calasnz, Priest, Religious Founder
Wed, 26 Aug – 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23:27-32
Thu, 27 Aug – 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13; Matthew 23:42-51; Memorial for St Monica, Married Woman
Fri, 28 Aug – 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Matthew 25:1-3; Memorial for St Augustine, Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Sat, 29 Aug – Jeremiah 1:17-19; Mark 6:17-29; Memorial of the Beheading of St John the Baptist
Sun, 30 Aug – Deuteronomy 4:1-2.6-8; James 1.17-18.21-22.27; Matthew 7:1-8.14-15.21-23; Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time