Aug 27 – Memorial for St. Monica, married woman
St. Monica was distressed to learn that her son had accepted a heresy and was living an immoral life. For a while, she refused to let him eat or sleep in her house. Then one night she had a vision that assured her Augustine would return to the faith. From that time on she stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him. In fact, she often stayed much closer than Augustine wanted.
When he was 29, Augustine decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica was determined to go along. One night he told his mother that he was going to the dock to say goodbye to a friend. Instead, he set sail for Rome. Monica was heartbroken when she learned of Augustine’s trick, but she still followed him. She arrived in Rome only to find that he had left for Milan. Although travel was difficult, Monica pursued him to Milan, where she became a leader of the devout women there.
- Patron Saint Index
1 Ths 2:9-13
Mt 23:27-32
“You who are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside…”
As an actively passive user of social media, I am sometimes intrigued by how celebrity couples could be posting happy pictures of family outings one day, and announcing their divorce the next. Or how a TV personality could be well-known for spreading messages of kindness and positivity, only to be exposed as a fraud overnight. To be fair, one can hardly expect true authenticity when it comes to social media and celebrities, but they do illustrate how appearances can be very deceiving.
Following up from yesterday’s gospel reading, in today’s gospel Jesus continues his tirade against the scribes and Pharisees, comparing them to whitewashed tombs. In those times, the Jews considered it impure to come into physical contact with graves, and would have tombs painted white so that they would be easier to avoid. The whitewash also gave the tombs a beautiful appearance, masking the decay within. It was quite damning for Jesus to liken the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees to rotting corpses and skeletons, but this stark imagery clearly drives home the message that living a life defined by such pretense is unacceptable for Christians.
To some extent, I would say that everyone could be a walking whitewashed tomb at some point(s) in our lives. We could be harbouring deep-seated resentment against a family member while appearing as if everything is fine and good, or be outwardly friendly to a co-worker while spreading malicious gossip about them. All of us carry some kind of darkness deep within, something that brings us shame and guilt. We might be able to hide this from others, but it is impossible to hide the darkness from God. To paraphrase the lyrics of an enduring hymn based on today’s psalm, God searches us and knows us, all our thoughts lie open to His gaze. He knows our resting and our rising, He discerns our purpose from afar. Although His Spirit may be upon us, still we search for shelter from His light. But there is nowhere on earth we can escape Him, for even the darkness is radiant in His sight. Let us find the courage to confront this darkness and bring it to the Lord.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Edith Koh)
Prayer: We pray that we can discern our own hypocrisy and strive to seek healing from the darkness within our souls.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks for the inspiring example of Saint Augustine, son of Saint Monica, whose memorial we celebrate today. May we find strength in reflecting upon the transformation of those who commit themselves fully to the Lord.
OXYGEN 
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