Sep 9 – Memorial for St. Peter Claver, Priest
St Peter Claver was born in Catalonia and studied at the University of Barcelona. He became a Jesuit; and while he was studying philosophy in Mallorca, the door-keeper of the college, Alfonso Rodríguez, saw that his true vocation was to evangelize the New World, and encouraged him to fulfil that vocation. (Rodríguez was later canonized on the same day as Peter Claver himself).
He arrived in Cartagena (in what is now Colombia) in 1610, and after his ordination six years later, he became ‘the slave of the Negroes forever’, labouring on their behalf for 33 years, attending to both their spiritual and material needs. The slave trade was repeatedly condemned by the Popes; but it was too profitable to be stopped and, on the whole, the local church hierarchy kept quiet about it, much as they did in North America in the 19th century.
He brought fresh food to the slave ships as they arrived, instructed the slaves and baptized them in the faith, followed their progress and kept track of them, even when they were sent to the mines and plantations, defending them as well as he could from oppressive slave owners. He organized teams of catechists who spoke the many languages spoken by the slaves. He worked in hospitals also, looking after lepers among others, and in prisons.
Naturally he made himself unpopular by his work. As his superior said, ‘unfortunately for himself, he is a Catalan — pig-headed and difficult’. Opposition came from both within the Church and outside it, but there were always exceptions. For instance, while many fashionable ladies refused to enter his city churches because they had been profaned by the presence of the blacks, a few, such as Doña Isabel de Urbina, became his strong and lifelong supporters.
At the end of his life, he fell ill with a degenerative disease and, for four years, he was treated neglectfully and brutally by the servant whose task it was to look after him. He did not complain but accepted his sufferings as a penance for his sins.
– Universalis
Col 1:21-23
Lk 6:1-5
“The Son of Man is master of the Sabbath.”
Have you ever asked yourself why you attend Sunday Mass? Do you see it as an obligation so as not to violate the third commandment? Or do you see it as a weekly opportunity to spend time with the Lord and grow with him?
In the past, I used to go for Sunday Mass because I saw it as an obligation to not only avoid sinning the third commandment, but also to spend time with my family.
However, after a crisis I went through, I started enjoying my weekly trip to the Sunday Mass. No matter how grumpy, angry or frustrated I was when I enter into the Lord’s house, my negative emotions never fail to dissipate by the end of the Mass. Perhaps it could be because of my favourite reading or song. But I know that deep in my heart, my soul longs to encounter Jesus and Mother Mary after a long week at work. My heart brightens up when I encounter the Lord in His delightful presence, even more so when I spend 15 minutes after Mass in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Sometimes, it may be difficult for us to enjoy the meaning of the Mass when our weekends are replete with parties, drinking and other fun outings. We may feel that Mass is boring. However, if we change our perspective by seeing the Mass as just one hour to spend time with the Lord and spiritually recharge ourselves, we may begin to see that our mere acts of attending the Mass and spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament fill us more completely and wholly than any other activity. So, let us try to spend more time with the Lord from tomorrow onwards, before it is too late.
(Today’s Oxygen by Brenda Khoo)
Prayer: Dear Lord, please open up our minds and hearts to see and hear our soul’s longing to meet you during Sunday Mass. Amen.
Thanksgiving: Dear Lord, thank you for giving us the Sabbath so that we can spend time with you and only you, no matter how busy our lifestyle is. Amen.
OXYGEN 
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