Monday of Week 1 in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 1:1-8
Mk 1:14-20
“…Why so sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
I have always found the story of Hannah in the first reading challenging. How could Hannah have consecrated her son to God just a year after giving birth, especially after enduring the suffering and mockery described in today’s passage? I lack understanding of the historical context and attitudes toward children at that time, but if I had been in Hannah’s place I would have wanted a few more years (or ten, or twenty-one!) with my child before surrendering him to the Lord.
But maybe this is how our Father wishes us to approach the blessings He has bestowed on us, the blessings we receive only through His love and generosity and through no merit of our own. We are meant to cherish them, to cultivate them and ultimately to use them according to God’s will in love and service. After all, we just celebrated Christmas, where God gave us His only son to save us from ourselves, and we have many saints both official and ‘unofficial’ who willingly gave their time, talents, treasures and even lives for others. It is an approach I find inspiring yet intimidating, because it runs counter to my (only too human) scarcity mindset and aversion to loss. Though I have been blessed with incidents where the time and effort I gave led to me receiving much more in return — a recent example was when I joined the neighbourhood group to go carolling at a nursing home — I know it will be a continuous struggle to be more other-oriented (perhaps especially, though ironically, towards my own loved ones amid ‘the incessant provocations of daily life’ as C.S. Lewis put it).
But I just have to keep trying and offering my two-steps-forward-one-step-back attempts to our Lord, trusting that He knows me better than I know myself and meets me where I am at. One detail which I noticed in today’s passage, for the first time, was Elkanah’s devotion to Hannah despite her barrenness (though part of me also wonders why he didn’t stand up for her when she was bullied?).
A priest I knew said, “God loved us first.” When we think of our Father’s encompassing and eternal love for us, how can we not try to love Him and those around us a little more?
(Today’s OXYGEN by Jaclyn Lam)
Prayer: Lord, help us to appreciate the gifts you have bestowed on us. Grant us the generosity and courage to use them according to Your will.
Thanksgiving: Thank you Lord, for loving us first.
OXYGEN 
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