SUy NIem Thứ Bẩy sau tuần thứ 7 Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm đoạn kết Tin Mừng thánh Gioan (John 21:20-25) , Thứ Bẩy sau tuần thứ 7 Phục Sinh

Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, chúng ta được thấy Phaolô đến Rome trong xích sắt . Trong khi ở đó, Phaolô tìm cách để gặp gỡ những người La Mã gốc Do Thái để giải thích trường hợp của mình với họ. Ngay cả trong hoàn cảnh khó khăn, Phaolô đã nắm lấy cơ hội để rao giảng Tin Mừng của Chúa Giêsu Kitô cho người Do Thái ở đó.

            Trong đoạn kết của Tin mừng theo Thánh Gioan hôm nay cho chúng ta thấy ông Phêrô nóng lòng muốn biết số phận của người mộn đệ Chúa yêu,  Nhưng Chúa Giêsu nói với Phêrô là đừng quan tâm việc đó, vì việc đó chẳng có liên quan gì tới ông ta cả, Việc của ông ta (Phêrô) là “hãy theo Chúa”.  Ông Phêrô và Phaolô cà hai đều là những Tông đồ cao cả của Chúa Kitô,  Nhưng hãy coi sự khác biệt giữa hai người:

            Phaolô gặp Chúa Kitô trên đường đến Damascus để bắt đạo, Ông đã hứa theo Chúa Kitô, Tất cả cuộc sống của ông đã mong muốn và dành cho việc rao giảng về Chúa Giêsu kitô và sự cứu rỗi của Ngài.

            Mặt khác, còn Phêrô lúc nào cũng lúng túng và loạng choạng trong những ngày theo làm môn đệ của Chúa.  Có những lúc chúng ta nghĩ rằng Phêrô làm được việc, nói đúng ý Chúa thì ngay lúc ấy ông lại nói sai hoặc làm điều làm mất lòng Chúa. Tuy nhiên, theo thời gian, nhờ ân sủng Chúa ban, Phêrô đã lớn lên và trưởng thành trong đức tin và trở thành vị lãnh đạo thực sự của Giáo Hội ban đầu theo như ý của Chúa.

            Là môn đệ của Chúa Kitô, chúng ta sẽ không bao giờ và không thế nào có thể giống nhau hoàn toàn,.Mỗi người chúng ta đều có cái độc đáo riệng, có mỗi cá tính và sự suỹ nghĩ riêng, khác nhau. Vì thế Đức Kitô mời gọi chúng ta theo Chúa vì cái bản chất riêng, hay năng khiếu riêng của mỗi người. Như vậy, chúng ta không nên có sự so sánh giữa mình với những người khác hoặc các sứ vụ và thiên chức của họ. Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta theo Ngài, theo kế hoạch riêng mà Ngài dành cho mỗi người chúng ta. Chúng ta phải dành nhiều thời giờ cầu nguyện để  xin ơn Chúa thánh thần soi sáng để biết thánh ý Chúa cho cuộc sống của chúng ta hơn là chúng ta phải quá bận tâm để so sánh hay phân bì về những gì người khác đang làm hoặc không làm cho Chúa.

Reflection John 21:20-25)- Saturday 7^th Easter

In the first reading, we read how Paul arrives in chains to Rome. While there, he makes an attempt to meet with the Roman Jews in order to explain his case to them. Even in difficult circumstances, Paul sizes the opportunity to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Jews. 

            In the Gospel passage, Peter is curious about the future of the disciple whom Jesus loves. Jesus tells Peter not to be worried about this. As far as Peter is concerned, he is to follow Jesus. Peter and Paul, the two great Disciples of Christ, Yet, how dissimilar they were; Once Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he committed himself totally to Christ. His whole life was consumed with the desire to proclaim Jesus and His message. Peter, on the other hand, fumbled and stumbled his way as a disciple. Just when we think Peter gets it right, he goes on to say or do something that upsets the Lord. However, over time, through grace, Peter grows in maturity in the faith and becomes the true leader he is meant to be.

            As disciples of Jesus, we are never the same. Each of us is unique because God calls us as we are.

            As such, we are not to compare ourselves with others or their ministries. Jesus calls us to follow Him according to the plan He has for us. We have to spend time discerning God’s will for our lives instead of being overly concerned about what others are doing or not doing for the Lord.

Reflection SG 2017

Today we read the ending of John’s Gospel. The writer tells us that “there are still many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.”
            Jesus did not teach his disciples in detail how to deal with every question of faith and morality which would arise in the Church in the ages after his Ascension. Thus, the early Church itself had to decide whether Gentiles had to keep the Mosaic Law in order to become Christians. Paul held the view that they did not while others inclined to the view that the Old Testament was binding on all. The social conditions of the early Jerusalem community, with Jews and Greek-speaking Gentiles, inspired the Apostles, to appoint deacons.
            The reality is that Jesus, in union with the Father, sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth. We must keep listening to the Spirit and discern how best to apply the teaching of Jesus which we actually possess to the realities of life. This is often a painful process and can cause deep divisions in the Church, as history has shown and still continues to show.  Holy Spirit, guide us into the fullness of salvific truth and teach us to be open to Your guidance.

Meditation: Why do we often compare ourselves with others? Do we envy those who seem more fortunate than ourselves? Why did Peter question Jesus about John's future? Jesus had predicted that Peter was to suffer and die as a martyr for his faith. What would John's fate be? Jesus seems to indicate that John would live a long life - in fact he outlived all the other apostles. While Peter and John were both called as disciples of Jesus, each was given a different task or function. When Peter questions John's role, Jesus retorts: "What is that to you? Follow me!" Peter's given task was to "shepherd the sheep of Christ", and in the end to die for Christ. John's role was preeminently to witness to Christ and to give his testimony to the gospel. John lived to long age and wrote the gospel as his testimony to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. John ends his gospel with an astonishing remark: "Human books cannot exhaust the person and work of Jesus Christ." His power is inexhaustible, his grace is limitless, his wisdom unfathomable, his triumphs are innumerable and his love is unquenchable. We can never say enough of the power, majesty and glory which belongs to him alone. Do you witness to others the joy of the gospel?

"May the power of your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven. Grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love, as you died for love of our love." (Prayer of Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226)

Saturday  John 21.20-25
Prayer gathers up the opposites in my life. Contradictions are woven together in the act of love in grace. Youth and old age, self-direction and submission, going where one wills and being constrained, my will and another's will. My death is the ultimate possibility of my glorifying God. The last weekday Gospel of the Paschal Season brings me back to the beginning of the season. Remember that you are dust and into dust you shall return. But now because of the complete and full mystery of Jesus my death is glory because my death is resurrection, in Christ Jesus, in the Spirit of Love, in the bosom of the Father, in the communion of the Church

Saturday 7^Th Easter

This is the closing scene of John’s gospel, and in it Peter is invited once again by Jesus, “Follow me!” Jesus had predicted that he would follow him: "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later" (13:36). That time has come. Peter is now in a better position to understand what following Jesus will involve. Jesus spells out the cost of that love that Peter has just professed three times (yesterday’s reading). In his youth Peter was able to follow his own sweet will, but now “you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (verse 18).  Peter has been given a leadership role in the community: “Feed (or tend) my sheep.” He can have no illusions about what that will entail. He will not lord it over others; instead, like the Good Shepherd, he will give his life for them. He was crucified during the persecution by Nero in the mid-sixties of the first century.

REFLECTION
Peter is the everyman of the Gospels; the sympathetic character whose shoes we often find would fit our own feet with ease. He makes bold proclamations often and is just as often rebuked by Jesus; in the Gospel reading today Peter almost seems to be engaging in gossip and we can almost imagine an exasperated Jesus giving a glib reply just so the apostle will settle down.  Yet in spite of his human failings, Jesus loved and trusted Peter so much that he made him the Rock on which the Church was founded. What defines Peter is not the fact that he fell so many times, but the fact that he got up each time and tried again. Peter is proof that the essence of being a Christian is not perfection, but a desire to follow in Jesus' footsteps, no matter how often we stumble or sink into the water.

Saturday 7^Th Easter

Today’s gospel passage is the end of John Gospel, in this closing scene of John’s gospel, Peter question Jesus about John's future, after Jesus had predicted that Peter would be suffered and died as a martyr for his faith. What would John's fate be?

            Jesus says to Peter: “Follow me” and, referring to John: “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me”... Let your action follow me, perfect and modeled on the example of my Passion; let the contemplation that has begun remain until my return: I will perfect it when I come again. For this persevering fervor that stands firm to the death is a following of Christ; and this knowledge that will then be manifested in fullness remains until the return of Christ. Here, in the country of mortal men, we must undergo the afflictions of this world; there, we shall contemplate the Lord's blessings in the land of the living (Ps 27[26],13) and Peter is invited once again by Jesus, “Follow me!” Jesus had predicted that he would follow him: "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later" (13:36). That time has come. Peter is now in a better position to understand what following Jesus will involve. Jesus spells out the cost of that love that Peter has just professed three times (yesterday’s reading). In his youth Peter was able to follow his own sweet will, but now “you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (verse 18).  Peter has been given a leadership role in the community: “Feed (or tend) my sheep.” He can have no illusions about what that will entail. He will not lord it over others; instead, like the Good Shepherd, he will give his life for them. He was crucified during the persecution by Nero in the mid-sixties of the first century.

            This is why . For this persevering fervor that stands firm to the death is a following of Christ; and this knowledge that will then be manifested in fullness remains until the return of Christ. Here, in the country of mortal men, we must undergo the afflictions of this world; there, we shall contemplate the Lord's blessings in the land of the living (Ps 27[26],13)...