Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần 11 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần 11 Thường Niên

Hãy đưa cái má bên kia cho chúng, không chống lại những người muốn làm hại chúng ta, Hãy đi thêm vài dặm đường, hãy tự hiến cho người khác một cách tự do;Những gì Chúa đã dạy chúng ta trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay thật là khó để chúng ta thực hiện. Vì những điều này không thực tế, vì bản tính tự nhiên của con người chúng ta là tìm cách kháng cự hay trả thù. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu hôm nay muốn dạy van ban cho chúng ta những công cụ để phá vỡ cái lòng ích kỷ, và bạo lực để sống chúng ta c thể được trong sự  an bình trong Thiên Chúa.

Trong căn bản, Chúa muốn chúng ta quên đi những sự báo thù hay việc ăn thua đủ. Bằng mọi cách, Chúng ta cần phải đứng lên để bảo vệ cho công lý và cho những gì là sự thật, là chân lý, nhưng chúng ta không dùng đến sự hận thù và bạo lực. Vi đấy là những cách của thế giới mà chúng ta đang sống.  Khi nhìn vào thế giới kinh hoàng mà con người chúng ta đã tạo ra! Khi chúng ta thấy  mình bị xúc phạm, hay bị ngược đãi, chúng ta phải biết cưỡng lại sự cám dỗ khi đáp ứng với lời nói hay những hành động hận thù bằng tấm lòng biết thương yêu, biết tha thứ để để đem hòa bình đến cho mọi người; Chúng ta hãy cầu nguyện cho những người quấy rầy, làm hại chúng ta nếu được như thế, chúng ta sẽ tìm thấy một sự khác biệt trong chính mình, và cuối cùng ở nơi những người khác nữa.  Lạy Chúa, giúp chúng con vượt qua khỏi mọi sự gian ác với lòng tốt và tử tế của chúng con.

 

Monday 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Often something becomes desirable only because we cannot have it or it belongs to another. If it were ours for the taking, perhaps it would not be as attractive to us. King Ahab wanted the vineyard of Naboth, and when Naboth refused to sell it to him, his burning desire to have it made him sick and depressed and eventually led to poor Naboth’s murder. We can find ourselves competing with others for possession, recognition, power, relationships — all because we want them as our own possession. This is at the root of much of the world's conflict. When we recognize this tendency within ourselves, we can begin to break the vicious cycle and become free.

Turn the other cheek — do not resist the evildoer - go the extra mile — give freely to others — these are some of the hardest words in the New Testament. They seem unrealistic, and we can think of so many situations that seem to call for resistance or retaliation. But Jesus was giving us the tools to break the cycle of violence and live in the peace of God.

Basically, he asked us to give up revenge and getting even. By all means, stand up for justice and what is right, but do not resort to hatred and violence. These are the world’s methods, and look at the terrible world they have created! When we find ourselves insulted, put down, or persecuted, resist the temptation to respond with hateful words and actions. Send out blessings of peace; pray for the other. You will find a difference in yourself — and eventually in others.

Lord, help me to overcome evil with kindness.

 REFLECTION

     In the first reading Paul praises the Corinthians for their generosity to help those in need and exhorts them to continue being generous, following the example of Christ: "You know well the generosity of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Although he was rich, he made himself poor to make you rich through his poverty."  The generous person enriches others with his help but is himself also enriched by being open-handed; and of course, he is repaid by God.

      In the Gospel reading we are enjoined to love our enemies. We have enemies because we may have offended them or others may be envious of our good fortune or the evil one may have provoked others to go against us. If, with God's grace, we are able to do good to our enemies, they mayeven be our staunchest supporters.      There may be others who are, for whatever reasons, simply evil and unjust, conceited and self-serving, who enjoy persecuting and destroying others: God calls us to love them and to pray for them. With God's grace, they may soften their hearts and reform. For indeed, with God's grace, nothing is impossible.

   

Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”

Opening Prayer: You have given me the gift of another day, Lord. I want to live it to the full! I want to give you glory by living my life abundantly! Teach me to pour my faith and my love into everything I do. Teach me to find you and your love in all the duties, encounters, and experiences of this day. I know you are always with me, thinking of me, leading and guiding me. As I come before you in prayer today, I humbly ask you to teach me how to see your presence and walk with you always and everywhere…

Encountering Christ:

1. Seeing Others as Christ Does: These words of our Lord are so familiar to us. Maybe too familiar. Turn the other cheek; go the extra mile; give to the one who asks… These are behaviors that flow from a way of seeing other people. Our fallen human nature sees other people as competitors, threats, obstacles, tools. And so we are always ready to defend, to take advantage, to outsmart. Jesus is inviting us to adopt a different perspective. He wants us to drop our shields and take off our masks. He wants us to discover the dignity and the worth of other people, regardless of their flaws and sins. He wants us to learn to see others as he sees them—as children of God and saints in the making. When we see others in that way, we unleash new strength in our own hearts. We are able to choose how we respond to insults (being struck on the right cheek implied a back-handed slap, the sign of an insult in Israel at the time of Jesus) and injustices (Roman soldiers could legally conscript local citizens to carry their loads for a mile at a time in Roman-occupied Israel). We can look past the brokenness of this world and the ugliness of our fallen nature to see the face of a brother even in strangers and opponents. This is Christ’s invitation. He believes in us so much that he actually invites and equips us to follow his own example: “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). As we learn to do this, to live our relations with other people on the level of the deeper truth of our common human nature and Christian vocation, we will also learn what it really means to be blessed: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

2. Being Freed from a Subtle Slavery: Some people have interpreted Christ’s injunction to “offer no resistance to evil” in a purely social way. This interpretation claims that we should never fight for what is true, good, and just. But that simply can’t be what Jesus really means. After all, Jesus also declared, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). Righteousness includes justice. Righteousness includes defending the defenseless against unjust attacks and exploitation. Righteousness includes pursuing and defending the common good by working for just laws, development, and peace. When Jesus invites us to “offer no resistance to evil,” he is not inviting us to ignore the forces of evil and to enable injustice. Rather, he is inviting us to master our self-righteous tendency to lash out at those who insult us on a person-to-person level. He is inviting us to leave behind the prisons of resentment and anger that we can be trapped in when people treat us unfairly. It is so easy to become a slave to anger in our personal lives. Jesus doesn’t want us to be a slave to anything. He wants us to learn to experience the “glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Have I experienced that? Would I like to experience it? Learning to curb our instinctual defensiveness and to understand and accept others even when they may not seem to deserve it—this can break the cycle of vengeance and build bridges of redemption. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

3. Ahab and Jezebel: Today’s first reading recalls the story of the corrupt King Ahab and how he and his queen, Jezebel, used lies and subterfuge to murder an innocent citizen, Naboth, and steal his family vineyard. That story from 1 Kings 21 vividly illustrates the destructive repercussions of selfishness. When we are self-centered, we tend to see other people as obstacles or tools in relation to whatever we want. Ahab was so self-centered that he became depressed when he couldn’t convince Naboth to sell him his family’s ancestral heritage. Though a grown man, his spirit was so self-absorbed that he behaved like a spoiled child when his whims weren’t heeded. Jezebel was even more self-absorbed. She not only coveted wealth and comfort, as Ahab did, but she reveled in the accumulation and exercise of power. For her, Naboth’s integrity and honor were a challenge. Was he strong enough to resist her machinations? She engaged the machinery of corruption and had him falsely accused and executed. She aggrandized herself and experienced a twisted pleasure by showing how powerful she was, regardless of the human and moral wreckage she left in her wake. We are all Ahab and Jezebel. We are all tempted to assert ourselves at the expense of others. Jesus is trying to convince us to follow a different path, a truer, and a more fulfilling path. When we treat other people–all other people–as the brothers and sisters that they truly are in God’s eyes, the world itself is transformed, and we become beacons of light and life in this world rather than agents of darkness and destruction. 

Conversing with Christ: You call me to such a high standard, Lord. You invite me to give, to lend, to go the extra mile, to forgive, to return good for evil… This is how you lived. This is how you redeemed the world and gave us hope for reconciliation with God and for eternal life. This is how I am meant to live. I want to follow your call; I want to learn to see others–all others–as you see them. I want to learn to live with the strength and freedom that come from being anchored in this deeper truth. But it is not easy! I need your help, Lord. Grant me your grace, so that I may learn to be generous and good always and everywhere, not just when I feel like it. Make me your ambassador in this dark world, so that through me your light can conquer and illuminate many hearts.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will become aware of myself whenever I feel anger or resentment and consciously choose to respond to those feelings and to deal with them as you would want me to, instead of being their slave.