Sep 12 – Most Holy Name of Mary
This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3); both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters. The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and, in 1671, was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church.
- Patron Saint Index
1 Cor 8:1-7,11-13
Lk 6:27-38
“…because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”
Anyone who thinks that Christianity – true Christianity, is an easy Sunday morning stroll in the park (or a pleasant 10-minute nap in a pew), will know after reading today’s Gospel, that it is anything but easy.
Like the Beatitudes, Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel continue to challenge, confound, confuse and throw into upheaval, the very essence of humanity. They go against the very core of what it means to be human. They go against the very instinct of being human – the natural human propensity towards revenge, unforgiveness, deceit, malice, denial, betrayal, falsehood and self-preservation.
“A man must be superhuman or simply mad, if he is to ever be able to live up to the demands of the Gospel!”. If you thought that as well, then you have probably hit the nail on the head. But I think, that is probably exactly the reaction that God intended for us to have. That we needed to get this shock to our system in order for a crack to be made, which will then allow the light of faith to penetrate. And with this light, the mustard seed of faith, lying dormant, in the darkness of sin within us, can start to come to life.
You know God. He loves to turn the world upside down. Just because something is crazy difficult to achieve does not, however, mean that it is impossible to achieve. Yes, it requires superhuman effort to live the values of the Gospel. This superhuman effort is called Divine Grace. And with this grace, the impossible becomes possible. Yes, you need to be a little off kilter mentally, to live out the values of the Gospel. But in Corinthians 1:25, we are told: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength”. We sometimes (often?) forget that the world we live in is very much a fallen world. That this world belongs not to Christ, but to the prince of this world. And it is in the nature of the evil one to deceive, pervert, corrupt, divide, delude, lull into a false sense of security, of social normality, of popular acceptance, values that are antithetical to the Gospel. Against the real folly and stupidity of this world, the wisdom of the Gospel is foolish and stupid. The Gospel values that lead the way to salvation are an unnecessary and inconvenient detour from worldly values, leading us down the pleasant and easy road to perdition. Today, the world is still in its stupor of foolish arrogance, pride, selfishness, hypocrisy and indifference. It is still unable to work together against a common enemy, still unable to think more of the other than of oneself, still unable to work for the common good than for selfish interests of the few and the privileged. It continues to wallow in its sorry pit of self-destruction, merrily singing the tune of its own beat, whilst dancing and prancing towards its own damnation and self-destruction. As shared in one of my earlier reflections – I can still imagine God looking down upon us, with a loving, but deeply sorrowful heart, saying to us: “When are you going to wake up? When are you going to care?”, “When are you going to finally wake up from your stupor of sin, selfishness and stupidity?” Looks like He has still got some waiting to do. Thank God, at least He is infinitely patient.
Unlike God, I would long have given up on this world. I would long have stopped making any human effort, let alone divine effort, to make a difference or to make this world a better place. I would long have gone into a cave somewhere, locked myself inside and thrown away the key, than to have to continue to face the folly and stupidity of this world. And of my own folly and stupidity.
Thank God I am not God.
And thank God, that He is God.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Justus Teo)
Prayer: Father, help us. Give us the grace to be delivered from the lies and deceitfulness of the evil one. Give us divine wisdom and fortitude to continue defending, uplifting and living the values of the Gospel.
Thanksgiving: Father, thank you for your most holy presence. Save us from a world and from ourselves, so sinful and indifferent to sin; from our imprudence and thoughtlessness, from our agitation and wastefulness. Make your presence penetrate deeply into us into the depths of our soul. And we will be saved.
OXYGEN 
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