Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Sáu Tuần thứ 25 Thường Niên
Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta thử hỏi, nếu Chúa Giêsu cũng hỏi chúng cùng một câu hỏi “còn các con, các bảo Thầy là ai? ”, có lẽ chúng ta sẽ trả lời: “Thầy là Đức Chúa Trời, là Đức Chúa Con, là Ngôi Lời nhập thể làm người, là Đấng Tạo Hóa và Đấng Cứu Thế của chúng con, là Con một của Chúa Cha, là Chúa Đức Kitô, và là Thiên Chúa thật cũng là người thật ”. Không giống như các tông đồ trong thời của Chúa, bổn phận chính của chúng ta bây giờ là phải rao truyền tất cả những điều ấy tới tất cả mọi người để họ cùng nhận biết Chúa. Các tông đồ đã không chắc chắn Chúa Giêsu là ai. Họ biết được Ngài là ai, là Đấng nào sau khi chứng kiến cái chết và sự phục sinh của Người. Tất cả các tông đồ, trừ Thánh Gioan đã chết một cái chết vì đạo như Chúa Giêsu.Bây giờ chúng ta thực sự đã biết Chúa Giêsu là ai. Cuộc sống, cái chết và sự sống lại của Ngài đã chứng minh cho chúng ta. Chúng ta được chúc phúc vì Thiên Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta những ân sủng để chúng ta biết điều này. Chúng ta cẩn phải nhận ra tầm quan trọng về những kiến thức này cho chúng ta; sự sống đời đời của chúng ta đều phụ thuộc vào những kiến thức đấy.
Chúng ta phải biết rằng "từ nguyên thuỷ (khởi đầu) đã có Ngôi Lời, Ngôi Lời ở trong Thiên Chúa, và Ngôi Lời là Thiên Chúa;. Ngài đã ở cùng Thiên Chúa. Và qua Ngài mà tất cả mọi sự đã được thực hiện và Mọi sự đã nhờ Ngài mà thành sự và không Ngài thì không gì đã thành sự." (Ga 1: 1-3)
Dự định ban đầu của Thiên Chúa là ban sự sống đời đời cho con người chúng ta , nhưng vì sự bất tuân và niềm tự hào của con người, của tổ phụ con người cúng ta là Adong và Eva mà cúng ta đã đánh mất cái quyền lợi đấy. Vì vậy, để cứu rỗi cho chúng ta, Ngôi Lời đã trở nên Con Người phàm tục như chúng ta và Ngài đã sống giữa chúng ta, để chuộc lại cho chúng ta sự sống đời đời mà đã bị mất.
Chúng ta biết rằng Chúa Kitô đã chịu đau khổ và chịu chết trên thập giá cho chúng ta để chúng ta đạt được ơn cứu chuộc này. Chúng ta phải rao truyền tất cả những gì mà chúng ta đã biết được cho tất cả mọi người để họ sẽ không bị từ chối cuộc sống vĩnh cửu mà Đức Chúa Giêsu Kitô đã cứu chuộc cho chúng ta.
Reflection:
Today's Catholics, if asked the same question by Jesus, would probably answer: "God, God the Son, Our Creator, Our Lord and Savior, Our Redeemer, the Word Made Flesh, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, the son of Mary, the Christ, true God and true Man" - for all these, he truly is. Unlike the apostles of his time, our strict instruction now is to tell this to everyone.
The apostles were not sure who Jesus was. They learned who he was only much later, after witnessing his death and resurrection, and they proclaimed who Jesus was to all the nations so that they would be saved, even at the cost of their own lives. All the apostles, except St. John, died a martyr's death. Now we know who Jesus really is. His life, death and resurrection proved this to us. We are blessed because God gave us the grace to know this. We must realize how important this knowledge is to us; our eternal life depends on it. We know that " in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing came to be." (Jn 1:1-3) God originally intended eternal life to our first parents, but because of disobedience and pride, they lost it. So for our salvation, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, in order to redeem for us the eternal life which was lost. We know that he suffered and died on the cross for us in order to achieve this redemption. We must tell what we know to everyone so that they would not reject this eternal life redeemed for us by Jesus Christ.
Opening Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I seek you in the solitude of my heart, and I hope to find you and accompany you in your suffering. Grant me the grace to understand the mysteries you came to reveal. Open my heart to discovering you in unexpected ways.
Encountering Christ:
1. Solitude: This passage states that the disciples were with Jesus, yet Jesus was praying in solitude. It is possible to enter within oneself and encounter God, even in the presence of others, as Jesus did. With his recollected senses, Jesus made himself attentive to the promptings of his conscience and the Holy Spirit. We practice meditation to be able to put aside the world and focus on being present to God. Through the daily “spiritual exercises” of recollection, prayer, and meditation, we seek solitude to make room in our busy minds and hearts for Jesus.
2. Prayer: Peter recognized that Jesus was more than an extraordinary man or a prophet. He knew that Jesus was the Messiah of God. How did he know? Maybe Peter had been praying alongside Jesus in those moments just before the question arose. Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:17, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” The Father had inspired Peter directly to know Jesus was the Messiah. When we want to know the truth about something, prayer is our best recourse.
3. Suffering: Jesus’s message of redemption included suffering. No one avoids suffering in this life, but by following Jesus’s example, our suffering can be an act of unconditional, self-giving love. What a blessing! Whether we choose to suffer (as in a fast or practice of virtue) or whether it falls upon us unwillingly, suffering is always an opportunity to love as Jesus did. We signify our willingness to suffer whenever we make the sign of the cross. “When suffering comes, the sign of the cross is a sign of acceptance. It remembers that Jesus became a man and suffered for us and that we participate in Christ's suffering. The sign of the cross says, ‘I am willing to embrace suffering to share in Christ's suffering’” (November 22, 2004, ZENIT).
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I am grateful that you have sanctified suffering, giving my little sacrifices and offerings eternal merit. Come and be with me in all of my painful experiences and strengthen me with the comfort of your loving presence.
REFLECTION
In the first reading we are told that everything happens in God's time.Whenever we are down, worried or troubled, we cannot hear enough about how bad things are. When we finally get out of the woods, we always agree that God's time is always perfect and only then do we understand why what happened happened. Jesus did tell us that whatever we ask in his name we will receive but he did not say when or how. The truth is that Jesus is the Messiah: so he knows what is best for us. He desires nothing more than for us to have good lives and achieve success. Our troubles and problems arise from our selfishness and sinfulness.
In Christian life, faith is key. If we have faith, we continue to pray and trust in God's timing. We take trials with open arms and worry less because we are confident that in his time and in his way we will receive the blessings we asked for.
Encountering Christ:
1. Solitude: This passage states that the disciples were with Jesus, yet Jesus was praying in solitude. It is possible to enter within oneself and encounter God, even in the presence of others, as Jesus did. With his recollected senses, Jesus made himself attentive to the promptings of his conscience and the Holy Spirit. We practice meditation to be able to put aside the world and focus on being present to God. Through the daily “spiritual exercises” of recollection, prayer, and meditation, we seek solitude to make room in our busy minds and hearts for Jesus.
2. Prayer: Peter recognized that Jesus was more than an extraordinary man or a prophet. He knew that Jesus was the Messiah of God. How did he know? Maybe Peter had been praying alongside Jesus in those moments just before the question arose. Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:17, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” The Father had inspired Peter directly to know Jesus was the Messiah. When we want to know the truth about something, prayer is our best recourse.
3. Suffering: Jesus’s message of redemption included suffering. No one avoids suffering in this life, but by following Jesus’s example, our suffering can be an act of unconditional, self-giving love. What a blessing! Whether we choose to suffer (as in a fast or practice of virtue) or whether it falls upon us unwillingly, suffering is always an opportunity to love as Jesus did. We signify our willingness to suffer whenever we make the sign of the cross. “When suffering comes, the sign of the cross is a sign of acceptance. It remembers that Jesus became a man and suffered for us and that we participate in Christ's suffering. The sign of the cross says, ‘I am willing to embrace suffering to share in Christ's suffering’” (November 22, 2004, ZENIT).
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I am grateful that you have sanctified suffering, giving my little sacrifices and offerings eternal merit. Come and be with me in all of my painful experiences and strengthen me with the comfort of your loving presence.
REFLECTION
In the first reading we are told that everything happens in God's time.Whenever we are down, worried or troubled, we cannot hear enough about how bad things are. When we finally get out of the woods, we always agree that God's time is always perfect and only then do we understand why what happened happened. Jesus did tell us that whatever we ask in his name we will receive but he did not say when or how. The truth is that Jesus is the Messiah: so he knows what is best for us. He desires nothing more than for us to have good lives and achieve success. Our troubles and problems arise from our selfishness and sinfulness.
In Christian life, faith is key. If we have faith, we continue to pray and trust in God's timing. We take trials with open arms and worry less because we are confident that in his time and in his way we will receive the blessings we asked for.
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