7th Sunday of Easter
Acts 7:55-60
Apo 22:12-14,16-17,20
Jn 17:20-26
“I have given them the glory you gave to me…”
It has been an interesting couple of months for me — serving at our now-regular 2nd Saturday overnight vigils, especially juggling the timings in order to also get to my parish for 7am mass where my choir sings. Each month, our ‘Vigil Core Team’ group chat lights up as we approach the Friday prior, with thoughts/instructions being fed into the group and then disseminated to other members who do the setup in our hall after the Friday Growth session.
I also managed to take some time away to go on a ‘boy’s trip’ to Seoul. There, I attended mass in Myeongdong Cathedral (in Korean) and marveled at the packed sanctuary (something that is a bit of a rarity these days back home). By packed, I mean people standing 4 or 5 deep at the back of the sanctuary. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would take for our vigils to be similarly crowded. I know our beloved spiritual director, Msgr Peter, had a vision of a packed hall when he gathered a few of us last September and told us to do “20 vigils”.
And thanks to the Holy Spirit, as we approach the ‘halfway point’ next month, it appears that we will be continuing beyond the original number set by Msgr Peter. The attendance each month has remained constant at just around 150 (many of whom stay throughout from 11pm till the mass at 5am). Even Msgr Peter devotes the entire night to adoration and sits among us, even hearing confessions.
Recently, the Vigil Core Team gathered to discuss how to sustain this ongoing effort and I encouraged the ‘second line’ of volunteers who had joined us to not just step up and take over but to also start to look for ‘successors’ – members who had the heart and were willing to come forward and help. I said that it didn’t matter which ministry they were from, because all that was required was a humble heart to serve. For me, it is more important that all of us involved serve with one heart, focussed on Jesus. We also concluded that people are yearning even more for the touch of God and for some interior silence because the world has just become way too ‘noisy’.
Brothers and sisters, the world has been disrupted, and continues to be, by those who seek the advancement of their own interests. But can we blame them? After all, it is human nature to always want to ‘one up’ our neighbour, to get a better (insert whatever you value as a sign of success). But where is the ‘one-ness’ in this way of thinking? How can we all be as one if we are constantly bickering, constantly shoving one another aside (with our elbows, our cars and our words)?
As we approach Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, let us ask for the humility of heart to admit our failings, to put down our prideful nature, and to pray for the desire to open the eyes and ears of our hearts so that we can be more attuned to the spirit of God moving within. That somehow, He will spark in us a change in how we approach the realities of everyday life so that we can radiate the love of Christ to others.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Desmond Soon)
Prayer: Abba Father, we are weak and defenceless against the onslaught of sin and temptations of the material world. Help us to discern what is right and of you so that we will not be led astray by the forces of evil and the voices of secularism, relativism and materialism. Give us the grace to be kind, loving and merciful to others, especially those who have done us wrong.
Thanksgiving: Thank you Lord, for your unconditional love for us, and for those who hurt us.
OXYGEN 
Leave a comment