Suy Niệm thứ Tư Tuần thứ Sáu Thưòng Niên.

Suy Niệm bài đọc thứ Tư Tuần thứ Sáu Thưòng Niên. (Mk. 8:22-26)

Việc dùng nước miếng trong thời ỳ nào cũng bị cho là việc làm mất vệ sinh và quái lạ. Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu đã dùng các phương tiện và phong tục trong thời của mình. Việv này không phải là Chúa Giêsu nhất thiết tin vào hiệu quả của những thứ bẩn thỉu này Ngài muốn giành được sự tin tưởng của người mù này và Ngài đã làm điều này cũng giộng như các bác sĩ thời bấy giờ cũng làm như thế.

Ngày nay việc chữa bệnh phụ thuộc vào niềm tin của bệnh nhân cũng như vào sự chẩn đoán của bác sĩ và các loại thuốc được biến chế đễ chữa trị. Chúng ta tin rằng việc Chúa Giêsu đặt tay để chữa lành vẫn có sức mạnh cổ xưa của nó.  Chúng ta hãy nhớ mỗi lầ Chúa hỏi chúng ta”: Con có tin thật lòng không?

Trong Cựu Ước Ông Nô-ê tin vào Thiên Chúa. Sau khi trái đất được giải thoát khỏi trận lụt đại hồng thuỷ, việc đầu tiên mà ông Nô-ê đã làm là dựng lên một bàn thờ để thờ phượng Thiên Chúa.

 Lạy Chúa xin Giải thoát chúng con thoát khỏi những thảm họa thiên nhiên, chiến tranh, bệnh tật, hoả hoàn,chết chóc.  Là  người Kitô hữu xin cho chúng con biết tạ ơn Thiên Chúa.

Lạy Chúa, Chúng con tin. Chúa là Thiên Chúa của chúng con và Chúa của chúng con. Chúng con xin cảm tạ Chúa vì Chúa đã giải cứu chúng con thoát ược khỏi nanh vuốt của kẻ ác.

Wednesday after 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Gospel, the use of spittle seems to us unhygienic and very strange. Jesus was using the methods and customs of his time. It was not that he necessarily believed in the efficacy of these but he had to win the confidence of the man and he did this by doing what they expected a doctor to do.

Today healing depends on the faith of the patient as much as on the diagnosis of the doctor and the drugs prescribed. We believe that Christ’s touch has still its ancient power. We do well to remember how often Christ asked a sick person: ‘Do you believe’?

Noah of the Old Testament believed in God. After the earth was delivered from the flood, the first thing that Noah did was to erect an altar for God.

Deliverance from natural disasters, from war, from death, from illness, from fire, the Christian should immediately give thanks to God.

Wednesday after 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Gospel, the use of spittle seems to us unhygienic and very strange. Jesus was using the methods and customs of his time. It was not that he necessarily believed in the efficacy of these but he had to win the confidence of the man and he did this by doing what they expected a doctor to do.
Today healing depends on the faith of the patient as much as on the diagnosis of the doctor and the drugs prescribed. We believe that Christ’s touch has still its ancient power. We do well to remember how often Christ asked a sick person: ‘Do you believe’?
Noah of the Old Testament believed in God. After the earth was delivered from the flood, the first thing that Noah did was to erect an altar for God.
Deliverance from natural disasters, from war, from death, from illness, from fire, the Christian should immediately give thanks to God.
The writer of Psalm 43, following on his escape from death, says, ‘I shall go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy’.

Lord, I believe. You are my Lord and my God. Thank You, Lord, for delivering me from the clutches of the evil one.

Reflection:
     Jesus always shows compassion on the sick and has done countless miracles, healing them of their diseases. In today's Gospel, he again is moved with pity on a blind man. He performs this miracle outside the village, away from the crowd, so as not to attract attention to himself, not to be admired, not to be glorified by the people.  But Christ performs a miracle to increase the faith of the people especially of the person who receives the healing.

     Do not think that Christ came mainly to heal our illnesses. Often, he does heal us when we are sick but this is only a sign of the power he has over any kind of evil. For there is a more serious illness than that of the body and that is the illness of the spirit, meaning sin. We are all quick to ask Christ to heal us when we are physically ill, but we rarely ask him to heal us of our sinfulness. Maybe we are comfortable with our sins and do not seriously want to change. But if we do want healing, we need only to approach Christ and beg for his healing.

     It is interesting to note that Christ uses his spittle in this healing. The spittle comes from the mouth where speech comes from, where the word comes from. Today, Jesus heals our wounds of sin with his Word. That is why it is so vital for us to listen to his Word when it is proclaimed. Listening to Christ's Word has the power to heal us.

     In several of his healings, Christ touches the sick. We may think that it would have been amazing if we had lived in Christ's time so we could touch him physically, but this does not have to be. We are in fact more fortunate than those who actually saw Christ because now we do not need to touch him physically to be healed. As long as we have faith in Christ, we are already touching him. Let us allow him to hold our hand as he did with this blind man and lead us to salvation from our sins.