OXYGEN

13 Mar
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Hosea 5:15-6:6

The Lord says this:
They will search for me in their misery.
‘Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;
he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;
after a day or two he will bring us back to life,
on the third day he will raise us
and we shall live in his presence.
Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;
that he will come is as certain as the dawn
his judgement will rise like the light,
he will come to us as showers come,
like spring rains watering the earth.’

What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with you, Judah?
This love of yours is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that quickly disappears.
This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,
since what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not holocausts.
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Luke 18:9-14

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’
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… what I want is love, not sacrifice

Have you ever participated in a competition and discovered that just as you were about to complete the race with a high chance of winning a medal that your closest rival suffers from an injury or suddenly loses control of his actions? What was your action and how do you feel about it?

I know of somebody who decided not to help his rival and until today he still regrets his decision. While nothing untoward happened to the fellow competitor, he is still wondering why he had let selfishness consume him and denied compassion to a fellowman. This is the crux of the matter; do we treat each other as fellowmen or as competitors out to prove a point? The latter is similar to a fight between predator and prey in the jungle. The latter has to embark on various methods and strategies to evade the tactics of the former which will be merciless in his actions in order to get his target.

As human beings we need to learn to demonstrate true humility that is not at a superficial level. This means that we cannot afford to become like the Jews in the time of prophet Hosea who decided to turn back to God only when they are in misery. I am sure that if we will certainly detest people who turn to us only when they are in need and ignore us when we are no longer of use to them. What more for God who sees our superficial humility and bargaining to get things our way without even listening to what His will is for us.

There is something good in emulating the example of the repentant tax collector in today’s Gospel. His prayer is one of humility and true contrition; he refuses to boast of anything but his sinfulness. Yet his actions have made him right with God. As we come to the end of the week, let us remember that we have nothing to be proud of except of our sinfulness.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nicholas Chia)
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Prayer: Lord, we pray for the courage to admit our failures.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for the gift of hope.

Upcoming Readings:
Sun, 14 Mar – Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; John 9:1-41; Fourth Sunday of Lent