Thursday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time
Wis 7:22–8:1
Lk 17:20–25
“The coming of the Kingdom of God does not admit of observation and there will be no one to say, ‘Look here! Look there!’ For, you must know, the kingdom of God is among you.”
A few weekends ago, I decided to go for my parish feast day procession partly as thanksgiving after a trying week at home and work, and partly out of curiosity, since I’d never participated in a procession before. By Murphy’s law, it started raining just a few moments after I left home, but I told myself to take it in my stride and was relieved to see that the rain had dwindled to a drizzle by the time I arrived at the church.
Murphy didn’t let up though; just as the procession began, issues with crowd control and the portable microphone system led to everyone shuffling forward in slightly bewildered silence, so I tried my best to keep pace. But once the technical issues were resolved, enabling us to join in the recitation of the Glorious mysteries of the Rosary, I gradually fell into rhythm with the others around me. It felt communal, even comfortable, to be able to walk together even though I only recognised some familiar faces around me, and we were even able to ‘enjoy the sights’ of my parish church lit up for the occasion with painstakingly-assembled formations of tea lights spelling out the word ‘Hope’, or forming Catholic symbols. It was also slightly thrilling to notice residents of the surrounding neighbourhood watching us, and remember that we were walking with our icon of our Mother.
When we re-entered the church, I felt a sense of peace (and relief for the organising committee) and was unexpectedly moved to see the priest reverently place the crown on the icon. Even though I’d already known what to expect from watching similar events online, even though I saw the icon every week, it still felt quite surreal to finally watch a crowning ceremony in person, and appreciate how it was a simple, yet striking, way to convey our praise and thanksgiving to our Queen and Mother.
Aided by the closing words of the celebrant, I realised that the procession served as a mini reflection of my own pilgrim journey, even if it lasted just about an hour and didn’t exactly lead to a ‘life-changing’ or transformative experience (in fact I hastened to get home as soon as possible since I had a busy week ahead). We journeyed together in community, perhaps occasionally getting on one another’s nerves (like when I felt rather uncomfortable about the heat at my shoulder from the candle held by the person right behind me) but always looking out for one another (especially for relatively senior parishioners). There were times we had to trudge carefully up and down rain-dampened slopes and times we could stop and admire our surroundings. Though we were in semi-darkness, we could always make out our icon of Mary ahead of us and keep praying to her (even though there were times I was simply mumbling through the Rosary decades). And at the end of our journey, with God’s grace and mercy, we will be able to run into our Mother’s arms in joy and praise. Though I hadn’t really had anything in mind when I first impulsively decided to go for the procession, our Lord had used it as an opportunity to show me how His kingdom was already among us…as long as I remained open to His direction.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Jaclyn Lam)
Prayer: Lord, grant us the gift of faith to discern how you can use every situation to reach out to
us. Help us to stay open to You.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Mother Mary, for being our Queen and for protecting and providing
for us. Thank you for being our Mother and for being here for us. Help us to stay close to you
always.
OXYGEN 
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