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Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần 18 TN
Trong cuộc sống
thường ngày, chúng ta hãy nghi ngờ vào sức mạnh và tình yêu thương của Thiên
Chúa, vì trong cuộc sống của chúng ta đôi khi phải gặp những sự khốn khó và thử
thách, chúng ta đã quên đi tất cả những lúc khi chúng ta đã được Thiên Chúa
thương yêu, phù hộ và giúp đỡ, để rồi chúng a đi vào sự tuyệt vọng và danh mất
niềm tin nơi Thiên Chúa
Chúng
ta phải có thái độ giống như
người phụ nữ Canaan trong phúc âm,
bà đã kiên nhẫn khiêm tốn hạ mình để cầu xin
Chúa Giêsu chữa lành con gái của bà.
Với sự nhẫn nhục, bà đã không nẳn
lòng, mất kiên nhẫn khi Chúa Giêsu đã ví bà chỉ đáng như
loài chó, Nhưng với một lòng
tin tưởng, với sự khiêm tốn thấp hèn, người phụ nữ
đã , nhẫn nhục quyết tâm và tiếp tục
cầu xin Chúa Giêsu cứu chữa con bà.
Với lòng tin và sự khiêm tốn của bà,
mà Chúa Giêsu
đã cảm động và đã chữa lành cho con
gái của bà.
Chúng
ta có nhẫn nhục, kiên nhẫn, thành tâm và xác tín như người
đàn bà xứ Canaan? Chúa Giêsu muốn giúp chúng ta mỗi khi
chúng ta gặp phải những khó
khăn, nhưng chúng ta phải đến với Chúa với lòng
tin tưởng, với sự chân thành, với sự khiêm
tốn và kính cẩn. Chúng ta phải cầu nguyện không ngừng
để ân sủng thiêng liêng mà Chúa Giêsu sẽ ban cho chúng ta,
nếu chúng ta có đủ kiên nhẫn và khiêm nhu.
Thiên Chúa muốn ban cho chúng ta mọi thứ trên trời, nhưng Ngài vẫn luôn hằng
mong đợi những tâm hồn có tấm lòng thực tâm mong
muốn cầu xin Ngài với một đức
tin chân thành.
Lạy Chúa Giêsu,
tình yêu và lòng thương xót của Chúa không có giới hạn. Xin cho chúng con có
thể tin tưởng vào Chúa luôn luôn và theo đuổi con đường của Chúa với sự bền bỉ
bất khuất như người phụ nữ trong Phúc âm hôm nay, Xin Chúa cho chúng con có
thêm lòng tin vào quyền năng cứu độ của Chúa, và giải thơát chúng con thoát
khỏi mọi sự dữ.
Reflection
Today,
we often hear the expression “faith has been lost”, and the same people who ask
our communities the baptism of their children or the catechesis for their
infants or the sacrament of marriage, say it. These words depict the world in a
negative way while trying to convince us bygone times were better and that we
are now at the end of an stage where there is nothing left for us to say or to
do. Evidently, these are basically young people who, in its majority, watch
rather sadly how the world has changed from their parents' times, who used to
live perhaps a more popular faith, which they have not known how to adapt to.
This experience leaves them unsatisfied and without any capacity of reaction
when, in fact, they might find themselves at the gates of a new stage they
could very well take advantage of.
This passage of the Gospel draws the attention to that
Canaanite mother that demands grace for her daughter by recognizing in Jesus
the Son of David: «Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is
tormented by a demon» (Mt 15:22). The Master is surprised: «Woman, how great is
your faith!” and He can do nothing but to act in favour of those persons: «Let
it be as you wish» (Mt 15:28), although this does not seem to fall within his
schedule. However, God's grace is manifested in human realities.
Faith is not a privilege of a few, nor is it the property
of those who thing they are so good or of those who have ever been good, and
have this social or ecclesial label. God's action precedes any Church's action
and the Holy Spirit is already acting upon persons we would have never
suspected could bring us a message from God, a request in favour of the needy.
St. Leo says: «My beloved, the virtue and wisdom of Christian faith are our
love of God and of our neighbour: it does not miss any obligation to any pious
works procuring to render God worship due to him and to help our brethren».
Meditation: "Great is your faith! Be it done
for you as you desire"
Do
you ever feel "put-off" or ignored by the Lord?
This passage (Matthew
15:21) describes the only occasion in which Jesus ministered outside of Jewish
territory. (Tyre and Sidon were fifty miles north of Israel and still exist
today in modern Lebanon.) A Gentile woman, a foreigner who was not a member of
the Jewish people, puts Jesus on the spot by pleading for his help. At first
Jesus seemed to pay no attention to her, and this made his disciples feel
embarrassed. Jesus does this to test the woman to awaken faith in her.
Jesus
first tests the woman's faith
What did Jesus mean by
the expression "throwing bread to the dogs"? The Jews often spoke of
the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as "unclean dogs" since the
Gentiles did not follow God's law and were excluded from God's covenant and
favor with the people of Israel. For the Greeks the "dog" was a
symbol of dishonor and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman.
There is another reference to "dogs" in Matthew's Gospel where Jesus
says to his disciples, "Do not give to dogs what is holy" (Matthew
7:6). Jesus tests this woman's faith to see if she is earnest in
receiving holy things from the hand of a holy God. Jesus, no
doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman
immediately responds with wit and faith - "even the dogs eat the
crumbs".
Seek
the Lord Jesus with expectant faith
Jesus praises a Gentile
woman for her faith and for her love. She made the misery of her child her own
and she was willing to suffer rebuff in order to obtain healing for her loved
one. She also had indomitable persistence. Her faith grew in contact with the
person of Jesus. She began with a request and she ended on her knees in
worshipful prayer to the living God. No one who ever sought Jesus with earnest
faith - whether Jew or Gentile - was refused his help. Do you seek the Lord
Jesus with expectant faith?
"Lord Jesus, your
love and mercy knows no bounds. May I trust you always and pursue you with
indomitable persistence as this woman did. Increase my faith in your saving
power and deliver me for all evil and harm. "
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe you want me to have faith in you, faith
that listens to your words without any second-guessing. I hope in your words,
not relying solely on my strength or reasoning. I love you. You continue to
astonish me by showing me that your ways are not my ways.
Petition: Lord, fill my heart with gratitude and trust even when those I
love suffer.
1. My daughter… “My daughter is tormented by a demon.” Sufferings of strangers
stir our compassion. But when a son or daughter suffers, anguish can reach a
fever pitch. Imagine the agony of the mother in this Gospel passage. Imagine
the near-physical pain she felt in the depths of her heart. However, her love
nourished her hope and propelled her to seek out Christ. When those we love
suffer, we need the same wisdom to seek the Lord.
2. Unfathomed Dimensions: Only a mother or father knows the depths of
his or her love for a child: “Words cannot express.…” We truly understand love
when it involves people we know and love. Contemplate the passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Imagine the false accusations, scourging, humiliations, and
crucifixion. Now imagine your son or daughter, or mom or dad or a loved one,
suffering the same fate. Christ’s passion takes on a new dimension.
3. Our Title to God’s Grace: "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the
scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Faith and humility move
Christ’s heart. How easily we adopt a spoiled-child mentality, believing that
we deserve more. “The earth doesn’t owe you a living,” a sage once said. “It
was here before you.” How much happier we are when we acknowledge our
littleness and unworthiness, when we recognize our status as creatures of God
who gives us life, breath, and every beat of our heart. All we possess is a
gift of his creative love. How happy we are when we are grateful and let him
know this a thousand times a day.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I will praise and thank you a thousand
times, and in a thousand ways for all you do for me. Even sufferings, I know,
come from your hand for my greater good, although I may not always perceive the
good at that moment. Give me the gratitude, faith, and trust to accept my cross
and rejoice in your creative love for me.
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