OXYGEN

27 Jan – Memorial for St. Angela Merici, virgin
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St. Angela Merici (1474-1540) became a Franciscan tertiary at the age of 15. She received a vision telling her that she would inspire devout women in their vocation.

In Crete, during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she was struck blind. Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going on, visiting the shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if she had her sight. On the way home, while praying before a crucifix, her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost.

In 1535, she gathered a group of girl students and began what would become the “Institute of St. Ursula” (the Ursuline Sisters), founded to teach children, beginning with religion and later expanding into secular topics; her first schools were in Desenazno and Brescia.

- Patron Saint Index
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Samuel 7:4-17

The word of the Lord came to Nathan:

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I say to any one of the judges in Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of Israel my people: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ This is what you must say to my servant David, ‘The Lord of hosts says this: I took you from the pasture; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet I will not withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.’”

Nathan related all these words to David and this whole revelation.
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Mark 4:1-20

Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them, “Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seed fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold. ” And he said, “Listen, anyone who has ears to hear.”

When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive, may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.

He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.
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I’ve been with you on all your expeditions

I was on my way home and passed by a school site which once stood my primary school. It is now an office building belonging to the government tax department. I had a sense of nostalgia as I recalled the years when I played games and catch garden lizards on the fields. The school block is no longer there and the tax building is being erected on the once lizard-infested field.

I have been through both failures and success in my education and today I am equipped with a profession and skill that will be able to make a living for myself. There are those moments where failures seem to be the end, but turning to God for the hope and support indeed made me realise how He has been with me through it all. This is the assurance God wanted Nathan to convey to David. The Lord was there with the people and fulfilling His promises, and He will continue to do so then and now.

In today’s gospel, it reminds us of how we respond to the Word of God. Just like how we have shaped ourselves after years of education. Some could have taken good advice and learnt good habits, turning out to be good and loving individuals. However, there are those who never take advice seriously thus never learning from mistakes.

Are we listening to God these days? Or is His Word falling on deaf ears? He will be you in all that you do, when you fall and when you rise. Let us pay a little more attention to Him, so that we benefit a hundredfold.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Austin Leong)
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Prayer: O Lord, there are many times when the seeds fall on rocks, and not planted on good soil. Nurture me to be someone of good soil so I may share Your Word with others.

Thanksgiving: Thank You for being there and walking with me all these times.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 28 Jan – 2 Samnuel 7:18-19. 24-29; Mark 4:21-25
Fri, 29 Jan – 2 Samnuel 11:1-4a. 5-10a. 13-17; Mark 4:26-34
Sat, 30 Jan – 2 Samuel 12:1-7a. 10-17; Mark 4:35-41
Sun, 31 Jan – Jeremiah 1:4-5. 17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13; Luke 4:21-30