Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần 11 TN

Suy niệm Tin Mừng  Thứ Ba Tuần 11 TN

Thật là không phải dễ cho chúng ta để có thể yêu thương kẻ thù và cầu nguyện cho những kẻ bắt bớ và hãm hại chúng ta, Nhưng chúng ta cũng không thể phàn nàn hay thắc mắc những gì mà Thiên Chúa muốn dạy chúng ta làm. Chúng ta hãy để tâm, nghiệm xét những hành động mà chính Chúa đã làm cho chúng ta, hôm nay chúng ta  nghe được những bài giảng của Chúa Giêsu trên núi, Chúng ta cũng thấy được những tấm gương hoàn hảo, sống động trước mắt chúng ta đó là những việc Chúa đã làm và chứng minh cho chúng thấy những hình sống động trong bài giảng của ngài. tất cả những thứ ấy chính là những động lực giúp chúng ta có nghị lực can đảm, anh dũng trong việc biết yêu thương những kẻ ghét chúng ta và biết tha thứ cho những kẻ thù của chúng ta.
            Để yêu một kẻ thù là một quyết định nhất quyết không để cho sự thù nghịch của người khác có thể kiểm soát những phản ứng của chúng ta và làm chủ tâm hồn chúng ta, Đó chính là Tình yêu nhân độ, Yêu thương kẻ thù là chúng ta nhất quyết hỗ trợ những người thù nghịch với chúng ta trong nhiều cách khác nhau để chúng ta có thể đem họ đến gần với ánh sáng cứu độ của Chúa hơn. 
            Nếu chúng ta thật lòng yêu mến Chúa, chúng ta cũng phải có thái độ từ tâm với anh chị em chúng ta bằng những hành động rộng lượng, biết tha thứ và khiêm tốn vì Chúa Thánh Thần luôn luôn hiện diện trong tâm hồn của chúng ta sẽ giúp đỡ và hướng dẫn chúng ta trong từng giây, từng phút trong cuộc đời để chúng ta không bao giờ phải sa ngã, nóng giận và làm mất lòng Chúa..

            Tình yêu đối với những người khác, đặc biệt là những người khó chịu, thù hằn, người ích kỷ và vô ơn đối với chúng ta, phải được chứng tỏ và đánh dấu bằng sự tha thứ, tử tế cùng với lòng độ lượng, Vì đấy là lòng thương xót của Chúa đã thể hiện ra cho chúng ta,  Sau cùng, chúng ta đều là những người tội lỗi và có thể trong một lúc nào đó, chúng ta cũng đã có những thái độ cau có, khó chịu, dữ đằn, ích kỷ và vô ơn đối với người khác, Chúng ta hãy nhớ rằng Thiên Chúa yêu thương chúng ta, mặc dầu có những lúc chúng ta đã làm Ngài thất vọng.

Meditation:

What makes the disciples of Jesus different from others and what makes Christianity distinct from any other religion? It is grace - treating others, not as they deserve, but as God wishes them to be treated - with loving-kindness, forebearance, and mercy. God is good to the unjust as well as the just. His love embraces saint and sinner alike. God seeks our highest good and teaches us to seek the greatest good of others, even those who hate and abuse us. Our love for others, even those who are ungrateful and selfish towards us, must be marked by the same kindness and mercy which God has shown to us. It is easier to show kindness and mercy when we can expect to benefit from doing so. How much harder when we can expect nothing in return. Our prayer for those who do us ill both breaks the power of revenge and releases the power of love to do good in the face of evil.

How can we possibly love those who cause us harm or ill-will? With God all things are possible. He gives power and grace to those who believe and accept the gift of the Holy Spirit. His love conquers all, even our hurts, fears, prejudices and griefs. Only the cross of Jesus Christ can free us from the tyranny of malice, hatred, revenge, and resentment and gives us the courage to return evil with good. Such love and grace has power to heal and to save from destruction. Do you know the power of Christ’s redeeming love and mercy?

Was Jesus exaggerating when he said we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? The original meaning of  "perfect" in Aramaic is "completeness" or "wholeness - not lacking in what is essential." God gives us every good gift in Jesus Christ so that we may not lack anything we need to do his will and to live as his sons and daughters (2 Peter 1:3). He knows our weakness and sinfulness better than we do. And he assures us of his love, mercy, and grace to follow in his ways. Do you want to grow in your love for God and for your neighbor? Ask the Holy Spirit to change and transform you in the image of the Father that you may walk in the joy and freedom of the gospel.

            "Lord Jesus, your love brings freedom and pardon. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and set my heart ablaze with your love that nothing may make me lose my temper, ruffle my peace, take away my joy, or make me bitter towards anyone."

REFLECTION

     One of the memorable homilies I remember was from our school head before we graduated from High School, "Go, make money and be rich!"      It was just before our graduation. He paused a few moments to let his words sink in. "Magpakayaman kayo," he reiterated. We were not quite sure what he was saying, what he meant. Why was our school head urging us to become rich, rather than to live simple lives?  Having caught our attention, he then explained that wealth was both boon and bane. With it we could live good lives; but it could also corrupt us. Too much attention and desire for wealth could lead us to sin. The challenge, he continued, was to have financial capacity not only for ourselves but more for the marginalized. Every peso we earned could help those who needed it. Give abundantly when we could. With this generous mindset we avoid the temptation of wanting more just to have more.

      It is not bad to aspire for a comfortable life. But as we work for it, especially as we achieve it, let us not ignore our brothers and sisters who do not have the capacity or opportunity or resources to have the same. It is our responsibility to share with others cheerfully and generously so that they do not get left behind.

 Reflection SG 2017

Sometimes giving can seem like a burden, and we can get tired of constant appeals from charities and collections. But Paul challenges us — giving (wisely, not carelessly) is an honour, privilege, and a source of joy and blessing. We take part in the works for which the money is collected — we are a needed support. Give generously — and not only money, but time and energy — and you will receive much more in the sense of peace and joy. 
            Loving our enemies sounds weird and even impossible, but Jesus was insistent. Anyone can love their friends and those who love them — that’s easy! But when we love our enemies and persecutors — well, that shows that we are extraordinary, even godlike. For that is how God loves — without distinction or conditions. He loves the wicked and the good, the holy and the sinners. God has no enemies, and neither should we. If we are able to love in this fashion, people will know that we are the ‘real thing’ — children of the Most High God. 
            There will also be the satisfaction of knowing that we are taking part in the healing of the world. Pray for the most difficult and unlovable — it is a holy work and pleasing to God. After a while, it will even become pleasing to us, for we will be transformed in the process.

Lord, help me to love even the most difficult.

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Opening Prayer: Lord, you cared enough about me to come to this world and reveal your plan of salvation. You cared about me enough to make me–through baptism–a temple where you dwell. You cared enough about me to pour the gift of your Holy Spirit into my heart, especially through the sacrament of confirmation. As I come before you today, I ask you for the grace to increase my faith in your love for me, to increase my hope in your hopes for me, to increase my trust and confidence in your wise and all-powerful providence as it guides me towards the fulfillment and fruitfulness for which I yearn.

Encountering Christ:

1. What God Sees: When God looks at sinners, even stubborn sinners, he doesn’t see unredeemable devils. Rather, he sees his beloved children who have gone astray. He never condones or ignores the sin, but sees the deeper identity of the sinner, who was created in his image and has the potential to become a saint by being open to and cooperating with God’s grace. God never gives up on any of us. God never stops loving us. He never turns his back on us. That is what Jesus is getting at by likening God’s love to the sun and the rain, gifts necessary for life, gifts that God never holds back from anyone, even from seemingly irreformable sinners. When Jesus exhorts us to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” he isn’t requiring us to somehow become immaculate. Rather, he is encouraging us to believe in this love God has for everyone, and to echo it and imitate it in our own lives. Loving our enemies doesn’t mean approving of their sins, it just means believing that God created them with a good purpose in mind, and that God’s redeeming grace is meant for them as well as for us. 

2. Making Excuses: One of the most concrete ways we can love others as God loves us is by making excuses for them. We do this for ourselves all the time. If I happen to be late to an appointment, I naturally forgive myself, because I know that my tardiness is due to factors outside my control, or at least due to factors that are reasonable and acceptable. On the other hand, when someone else is late to an appointment with me, I have a very different reaction. I get angry, self-righteous, judgmental, impatient. I start throwing the other person under the bus and thinking the worst about them. Why the double standard? Why do I so easily make excuses for myself but so rarely make excuses for others? This is part of our heritage of original sin. Our minds are darkened and our hearts are twisted. Jesus is pointing that out in this passage. He wants us to recognize that everyone around us is, in God’s eyes, our brother and sister. We are meant to connect with others and give them the benefit of the doubt. That’s how we create an environment in which we can all live peacefully and prosperously. And if Jesus is commanding us to adopt this attitude, this point of view, it must really be possible for us to do so. Indeed, with his help and guidance, we can do many things that remain out of reach when we just try harder and harder with our own strength. As St. Paul put it: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

3. God’s First Book of Revelation: So many times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses phenomena from the natural world to illustrate his lessons. In this case, he points out how the sunshine and the rain reflect God’s attitude towards us, his goodness, and his love. If even the sun and the rain can teach us about God and reveal him to us, then everything in the natural world simply must be able to do the same. What is more mundane, more everyday-normal-undramatic than sunshine and rain? St. John Paul II used to say that the Bible was God’s second book of revelation; the natural world was his first one. How attentive am I to God’s fingerprints in creation? How sensitive am I to the beauties and the harmony built into this natural world that God has given to be our home and our arena of spiritual growth? Postmodern culture often talks about the importance of preserving the environment, but very rarely talks about the spiritual meaning of the world as God created it. As we transition into summer, what can I do to better receive the instruction and inspiration that God wants to give me through his magnificent creation?

Conversing with Christ: Lord, you know me better than I know myself. You know that so often my heart is like a porcupine, bristling at others and isolating myself from them. I have so little patience with people’s flaws and failings, even with their idiosyncrasies! I am so unlike you, who make the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike. But I can see and taste the interior freedom that would come from keeping my heart open to others, even to those who disrespect me or don’t like me. I want to learn to be perfect as you are perfect. I want to spread your grace wherever I go. I want to embody in my life the goodness that continually flows from your heart. Please teach me and guide me, Lord, and make my heart more like yours.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will pay special attention to negative or accusatory thoughts and attitudes that come up in my relationship with other people. When I notice them, I will look up and think about the sunshine and rain that you pour out on the good and the bad alike, and I will ask you for the grace to “be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect.”