Aug 16 – Memorial for St. Stephen of Hungary
When he succeeded his father as chief of a group of people, Stephen adopted a policy of Christianisation in Hungary for both political and religious reasons. He suppressed a series of revolts by pagan nobles and welded the Magyars into a strong national group. As king, Stephen established a system of tithes to support churches and pastors and to relieve the poor. Out of every 10 towns, one had to build a church and support a priest. He abolished pagan customs with a certain amount of violence, and commanded all to marry, except clergy and religious. He was easily accessible to all, especially the poor.
- Patron Saint Index
Deu 34:1-12
Mt 18:15-20
“…have it out with him alone, between your two selves.”
I was queuing up for ice cream at a road-side vendor one day when a couple came up and waited behind me. A few minutes later, a lady also came by. However, rather than join the queue, she stood by my side and ‘joined’ the line, cutting behind me and in front of the couple.
Soon, I could hear the couple grumbling to each other, about how this lady had wrongly cut in front of them. I waited for both of them to tell the lady to queue behind (which never happened). In the end, I asked the vendor to serve the couple first, as they were rightly next. I turned to the couple, who looked relieved.
Brothers and sisters, it is the same for many of our relationships. In our interactions with each other, there is bound to be unhappiness in how we all handle our opinions or how we do things. For many of these situations, rather than speak with the other party, we choose to lament and complain to others. We play the victim, and the more we talk about what has happened, we end up becoming angrier. Our relationships become estranged and far less authentic.
In the Gospel of today, our Lord Jesus instructs us not to fall into this trap. Instead of holding it in our hearts, we are to go to our brothers and sisters and address the issues head-on. Reconciliation is the goal, but Jesus does talk about what to do in the case where one cannot find a resolution to the problems.
What surprised me in this passage is not the face-to-face discussion, but the fact that our faith is not only a vertical one (i.e. between an individual and God) but also a horizontal one (i.e. between an individual and his/her community). I used to think that my faith was just a private one between myself and God. This passage clearly shows my previous understanding to be limited and short-sighted!
Brothers and sisters, may we always have the courage to speak truthfully and candidly with each other. Let us interact with each other as a stable and cohesive Christian community.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Paul Wee)
Prayer: We pray that we will be able to shed the trappings of our secular world. Help us Father, to be encouraging and loving with each other and without malice. Help us to grow in love for our community.
Thanksgiving: Thank You Jesus, for teaching us that we need to be with each other authentically and lovingly.
OXYGEN 
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