Jul 15 – Memorial for St. Bonaventure, bishop, religious, doctor
St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) entered the Franciscan Order when he was 22. At the age of 35, he was chosen General of his Order and restored a perfect calm where peace had been disturbed by internal dissensions. He did much for his Order and composed The Life of St. Francis. He also assisted at the translation of the relics of St. Anthony of Padua.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=169
Isa 10:5-7,13-16
Mt 11:25-27
“I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.”
I was with my university Catholic group meeting and the presentation was on the history and background of the Divine Mercy chaplet. One of the most interesting historical facts was that Jesus revealed Himself and spoke to St Faustina Kowalska, who herself was an uneducated Polish nun. Yet, her diary revealed nothing of her illiterate background, which astounded me.
Even though St Faustina was not technically a child when Jesus revealed Himself to her, she was child-like in her trust in God. Likewise, we need not sigh over the fact that we cannot be children any longer, so we cannot receive any revelations from God. In fact, Jesus is asking us to be childlike in our faith, trust and love towards Him and our Father. We can constantly remind ourselves that God will always provide for us in times of crisis, loss and difficulties, especially during this COVID-19 outbreak.
Brothers and sisters, God is always there amongst us even though we may not see nor feel His presence. If we are willing to open our minds and hearts to Jesus’ or God’s soft whispering to us during prayer, we will eventually be able to hear from Him. It need not be an earth-shaking revelation, but God does tell us things. And we only need to listen to Him carefully in the silence.
(Today’s Oxygen by Brenda Khoo)
Prayer: Dear Lord, please help us to open up our mind and heart to listen to Your words when we pray to You. Please help us to accept the truths about ourselves and give us the grace to change ourselves for the better.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, thank you for speaking to us things that we might never have known about ourselves, and about the world around us. Thank you for always being by our side and providing for our needs during this difficult and trying time of the COVID-19 outbreak. Amen.
OXYGEN 
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