Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 25 TN

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 25 TN 

Những lời nói của Chúa Giêsu trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay có thể đã gây sốc mạnh cho những người sống trong một truyền thống tôn kính và vinh danh cha mẹ và gia đình như những người Á đông chúng ta. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đã không quay lưng lại với gia đình của Ngài; trái lại, Ngài đã mở rộng cái gia đình đó. Ngài đã xây dựng một gia đình vĩ đại bao là gồm tất cả nhân loại. Ngài nhấn mạnh: Từ nay trở đi, không còn giới hạn tình yêu của chúng ta, mà tất cả thân nhân anh em ruột thịt của chúng ta trong Thiên Chúa. Tất cả những ai đáp lại lời gọi và tiếp nhận Tin Mừng của Thiên Chúa, được coi như là người thân trong gia đình của chúng ta. Trong một nghĩa nào đó, gia đình của chúng ta đã phát triển và rất to lớn. 
Những lời dạy của Chúa Giêsu là một thách thức cho chúng ta, để chúng ta biết phải mở rộng tấm lòng và tâm trí của chúng ta và để chúng ta có thể biết chấp nhận nhiều hơn không phải chỉ có những người gần gũi và thân yêu của chúng ta không mà thôi. Chúng ta hãy nhìn xung quanh chúng ta, Ai là những người thân cận trong gia đình của chúng ta? Nếu chúng ta làm được như vậy, liệu chúng ta có thay đổi thái độ và hành vi khi chúng ta đố xử với họ? Vũ trũ và thế giới này là nhà của chúng ta và tất cả mọi người trong nhân loại đều là những anh chị em hân nhân tiềm năng trong gia đình của chúng ta. 
- Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa đừng để bất cứ hàng rào, ngăn cách nào có thể cản ngăn tình yêu của chúng con. 

Meditation: 
The words of Jesus sound a little harsh to our ears. He seems to dismiss them as he proclaims that those who do the will of God are his mother and brothers. The words must have been shocking to those living in a tradition that revered and honored parents and family. But Jesus was not turning his back on his family — on the contrary, he was expanding it. He came to build all of humanity into one family. From now on, he insisted, don't confine your love just to your blood relatives. All who respond to God can be counted as our family. In a sense, our family has grown enormous. 
The words of Jesus are a challenge to broaden our hearts and minds and embrace more than just those who are near and dear to us. Let us look around — who can we count among our family? If we do so, will our behavior towards them change? The world is our home and all humanity is our potential family. 
Lord, may there be no barriers to my love for others. 


Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I love you and I thank you for calling me to the spiritual family of the church. I trust in you and I believe that you are my good and provident Father. As I reflect on your words, I humbly ask for the grace to see all as my brothers and sisters in the faith and to love them as members of my own family. 

Encountering Christ: 
1. The Father: Jesus was attentive to God the Father’s will and fulfilled it perfectly. And Jesus told us that those “who hear the word of God and act on it” become his family members. We are as important to Jesus as his own mother, his flesh and blood. In fact, he loves us so much he willingly died to save us from our sins. How grateful are we to God for our status as adopted sons and daughters? 
2. The Family of the Church: At a papal audience in Rome, a World Youth Day, or similar event, participants often experience the church’s vibrancy and diversity. Being in the presence of hundreds or thousands of fellow believers gives the sensation of belonging to a huge family. It is peaceful, energizing, and strengthening. It helps us remember that when we are weak, we are supported spiritually by many others. When we are strong, we offer support to many others. “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another” (Romans 12:4-5). 
3. Family Inheritance: Family members share a common inheritance. As family members of the church, we have been promised eternal life with God in heaven. The saints, our brothers and sisters who have gone before us, have this to say about heaven: “Today I was in heaven, in spirit, and I saw its inconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God...This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures” (Sister Faustina). “There, good will shall be so ordered in us that we shall have no other desire than to remain there eternally” (St. Augustine). “My crown in heaven should shine with innocence and its flowers should be radiant as the sun. Sacrifices are the flowers Jesus and Mary chose” (St. Bernadette Soubirous). “Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal” (St. Thomas More). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord, thank you for calling me to the family of the church. Increase my awareness of the spiritual bond I share with fellow believers, and may my actions reflect your love. Help me to prepare myself one day for eternity with you and the rest of my family. 
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will reach out to a member of my faith community in whichever way I feel you inviting me to do so. 

REFLECTION 
The first reading tells us of the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the return of the people of Israel from exile in Babylon to the Promised Land. During this period of exile, with the guidance and teaching of prophets, Israel somehow learned more about their God who had promised to be always with them. 
In the Gospel reading Jesus calls all of us to be his family, his mother, brothers and sisters, provided we "hear the word of God and do it." 
When we have problems and difficult situations in our lives, we may feel we are in "exile," like the Jewish people driven away from their land and brought to Babylon. Being "in exile," we can reflect upon and hopefully realize what are our true values and our true homeland.. While in this valley of tears, we are indeed in a journey to our true home in heaven, to be with God our Father and Jesus our brother and redeemer. 

Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 8:19-21 
Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus identifies his disciples as his family. I want to say something about our becoming disciples in his family. Once we make the decision to follow Jesus then every other claimant to supremacy must fall away. As I’ve argued many times before, every one of us has something or some set of values that we consider greatest. 
Perhaps it is money, material things, power, or the esteem of others. Perhaps it is your family, your kids, your wife, your husband. 
None of this is false, and none of these things are bad. But when you place any of them in the absolute center of gravity, things go awry. When you make any of them your ultimate or final good, your spiritual life goes haywire. When you attach yourself to any of them with an absolute tenacity, you will fall apart. 
Only when we make Christ the cornerstone of our lives are we truly ready for mission. Keep in mind that every encounter with God in the Bible conduces to mission, to being sent to do the work of the Lord. If we try to do this work while we are stuck to any number of attachments, we will fail. Period..