Sep 27 – Memorial for St. Vincent de Paul, Priest
St. Vincent (1581-1660) spent four years with the Franciscan friars getting an education. He was taken captive by Turkish pirates and sold into slavery, then freed when he converted one of his owners to Christianity. He started organisations to help the poor, nursed the sick, found jobs for the unemployed, etc. With Louise de Marillac, he founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. He also instituted the Congregation of Priests of the Mission (Lazarists).
- Patron Saint Index
Zec 2:5-9,14-15
Lk 9:43-45
“The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.”
Today’s gospel scene takes place shortly after the Transfiguration and the account of Jesus healing the boy with a demon. We are told that ‘everyone was full of admiration for all he did’ and can imagine them still basking in the afterglow of what they had seen and heard. Jesus chose this very moment to shift their focus with words that must have sounded both bewildering and shocking as he declared, ‘The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.’ He even prefaced his announcement by urging them to ‘… have these words constantly in your mind.’ What is clear is that the path ahead was going to take a dramatic turn towards the waiting cross. Suffering was imminent, even for God-made-man. How does that remind us also of parallels in our lives?
Just this week, I received unexpected news that a friend was recently diagnosed with a rare but fatal disease just after National Day (9 August). It came as a complete shock as she is young, very fit and literally at the peak of her life, looking forward to her two children graduating. Life has been very good, until this unexpected turn of events. The disease is so debilitating that she has already started losing her capacity to speak and eat – all in less than a month. It feels completely unreal and speaks of a kind of ‘groundless’ suffering that has afflicted them most unfairly. The family’s life has come to a standstill as everyone grapples with their grief, confusion and deep, unspeakable fear about the imminent future.
I often wonder what my own response would look like if I had to suffer — whether in body, mind or spirit. Suffering is a universal part of being human and most of us try to avert it at all costs.
Perhaps God gives us our particular crosses not because he feels we deserve it, but because in His perfect wisdom and plan, he invites us to walk specific, difficult, and painful journeys on which our redemption might be experienced in a tangible way. Whatever the cross – a debilitating illness, addiction, financial ruin, betrayal of a friend etc – that same experience is where we surrender the present and future into God’s hand and ask, very simply, for enough grace to learn obedience through what we suffer (Hebrews 5:8).
As a priest once said in his homily, suffering teaches us to release our hold over life – especially the illusion that we can have it unfold in the way we wish. I remember he had proposed that perhaps it is to God’s favoured children that He gives crosses as it is a way to teach us humility and trust as our ego is broken, so that we learn to depend entirely on God’s grace and become child-like once more, to enter the kingdom of heaven. I remember also, a friend commenting afterwards – ‘Wow, I was tempted to say to Jesus, please don’t love me too much if it guarantees me a cross to bear.’ Yet, we hear also of how suffering can be redemptive. Jesus’ crucifixion and death on the cross shows us all how an act of innocent suffering willingly accepted can redeem man from sin. For us, we will do good to remember that our own sufferings — even the daily, persistent irritations – can be joined to Christ’s and become our personal way of spiritual participation in Christ’s redemptive act. We can offer it up for specific intentions, particularly for the conversion of hearts. This way, whatever suffering comes our way does not remain as a painful mystery, but transforms the whole experience into a prayer and sacrifice of love, for the sake of others. Then only will we be able to embrace suffering and deny Satan the pleasure of winning us over to dark despair.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Corinne Cheok)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I offer you this cross I am carrying and ask for the grace to embrace it, not as a burden, but as a share in Your cross. Unite my suffering with Yours on Calvary, as I offer it for the conversion of sinners and sanctification of souls. Amen.
Thanksgiving: We thank you, Lord, for the gift of St Vincent de Paul who, in devoting his life to serving the poor, has modelled for us virtues that seek to uphold the dignity of every human person; especially the last, the least and the lost.
OXYGEN 
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