OXYGEN

09 Mar – Memorial for St Frances of Rome, Religious

St. Frances (1384-1440) was an aristocrat by birth. She married at the age of 12, and her marriage lasted 40 years. She was a mother of three before becoming a widow. She joined the Benedictines, and was the foundress of the “Oblates of the Tor de’ Specchi” (Collatines). She is said to have been guided by an archangel only she could see. She spent her life and fortune, both as a laywoman and a religious, in the service of the sick and the poor, including the founding of the first home in Rome for abandoned children. She dictated 97 “Visions”, in which she saw many of the pains of Hell.

On her feast day, priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and drivers. Frances certainly never drove, but legend says that when she went abroad at night, her guardian angel went before her lighting the road with a headlight-live lantern, keeping her safe in her travels.

Prayer to St. Frances
Dear Frances, you were an exemplary wife, ever faithful to your husband. After his death, you founded and governed the Congregation of Mount Olivet, revealing your great devotion to our Lord’s Passion. Your faith in Angels was rewarded by frequent visions of them. Please pray for Catholics in our day that they may be as dedicated to God as you were. Amen.

- Patron Saint Index
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Daniel 3:25.34-43

Azariah stood in the heart of the fire, and he began to pray:

Oh! Do not abandon us for ever,
for the sake of your name;
do not repudiate your covenant,
do not withdraw your favour from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your friend,
of Isaac your servant,
and of Israel your holy one,
to whom you promised descendants as countless as the stars of heaven
and as the grains of sand on the seashore.
Lord, now we are the least of all the nations,
now we are despised throughout the world, today, because of our sins.
We have at this time no leader, no prophet, no prince,
no holocaust, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense,
no place where we can offer you the first-fruits
and win your favour.
But may the contrite soul, the humbled spirit be as acceptable to you
as holocausts of rams and bullocks,
as thousands of fattened lambs:
such let our sacrifice be to you today,
and may it be your will that we follow you wholeheartedly,
since those who put their trust in you will not be disappointed.
And now we put our whole heart into following you,
into fearing you and seeking your face once more.
Do not disappoint us;
treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle
and very merciful.
Grant us deliverance worthy of your wonderful deeds,
let your name win glory, Lord.
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Matthew 18:21-35

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.

‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’
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Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?

Driving on the roads is not a pleasant experience for most of the drivers I speak to. They tell me that they have to resort to ‘offensive’ driving in order to overtake the car in front of them and this entails much behaviour that would probably put a Formula One driver to shame. Yet I have seen many cases of courtesy demonstrated on the roads that affirm the notion that defensive driving is the way to go and that kindness begets kindness.

The readings of today speak to us as the actions to be taken after we have determined what our limitations in life are through prayer and reflection. The action to take is grounded in mercy. The prophet Daniel asked that God be merciful to the Jewish exiles in Babylon as they have lost all semblances of religious institutions that make it difficult for them to embark on the rituals of their faith. It is my belief that rituals are meaningless without a humbled and contrite heart.

The prophet Daniel also knows that the absence of sacrifice can be replaced with the genuine desire for the Jewish people to want to get closer to God. This is the main reason why they were exiled; they forgot that they had to totally rely on God for their daily needs. Instead, in the time before the exile, the offering of numerous animal sacrifices in elaborate and ornate rituals were sufficient to appease their duty of God.

A humbled and contrite heart can only be found in a person to whom mercy has been shown. The person needs to be humbled in one way or another either through the presence of a stronger person or the realisation that his actions pale in significance to those of another person. This was why the master of the two servants in the parable today was angry with the uncharitable servant. Just as we have been shown mercy by God, we are duty bound to shown mercy to the people whom we meet.

All our Lenten sacrifices will be in vain if we fail to curb the excesses of the flesh such as gossip or indulge in pleasures that would clearly make us deviate from the goal of total reliance on God. This includes the use of uncharitable words in our daily lives including driving. Perhaps by showing courtesy to the road user as either a vehicle driver or pedestrian we will make the day of another person. Our actions will reflect the disposition of our spirit.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nicholas Chia)
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Prayer: Lord, we pray for the humility to show Your love to all around us.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for the gift of forgiveness.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 10 Mar – Deuteronomy 4:1.5-9; Matthew 5:17-19
Thu, 11 Mar – Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11;14-23
Fri, 12 Mar – Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34
Sat, 13 Mar – Hosea 6:1-6; Luke 18:9-14
Sun, 14 Mar – Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; John 9:1-41; Fourth Sunday of Lent