Trong bài đọc thứ Nhất hôm nay, Thánh Phaolô nhắc nhở Giáo Đoàn Rôma rằng họ được cứu bởi vì họ có niềm tin vào Chúa Kitô và Tin Mừng. Thánh Phao lô cũng nói rằng chúng ta biết được Thiên Chúa là do bởi những công trình mà Chúa đã tạo ra trong thế giớ và trong cuộc sống của chúng ta..
Trong bài Tin Mừnh, Chúa Giêsu đã khiển trách những người Pharisêu vì lòng đạo đức giả của họ, họ thờ phượng Thiên Cha bằng môi miệng trong nhiều quy tắc: họ có hàng đống luật lệ như nhỡng toa thuốc vô tận về sự thanh tẩy và sự sạch sẽ của họ với những nghi thức bề ngoài như việc chuẩn bị thức ăn và cách ăn uống. Tuy nhiên, lòng của họ thì "đầy tham lam và ác độc."
Điều quan trọng thực sự chính là những gì chúng ta đang làm bằng tất cả trái tim, lòng nhiệt huyết và cuộc sống của chúng ta.
Lạy Chúa, xin giúp chúng con hiểu biết về Chúa nhiều ơn thêm và có ược tấm lòng quảng ại và từ bi. Xin Chúa giúp chúng con lạy Chúa, đừng bao giờ để con đi tìm lỗi của người khác nhưng giúp chúng biết yêu thương lại. Xin Chúa giúp chúng con biết thông cảm và không xét đoán người khác trong động cơ và hành động của họ. Xin Chúa dạy chúng con biết khiêm tốn và rộng lượng.
REFLECTION
In the first reading Paul reminds the Church in Rome that they are saved by their belief in Christ and the Good News. Paul also says that we know God from his works, the world he had created..
In the Gospel reading Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in their many rules: they have endless prescriptions about ritual purity and cleanliness, about preparing food and eating. Yet they are "full of greed and evil." What is truly important is what we are in our hearts and inmost being.
Lord, help me to become more understanding and compassionate. Help me, Lord, not to be a fault-finder but a loving person instead. Help me to be discerning and yet not judgmental of others in their motives and actions. Teach me to be humble and generous.
Introductory Prayer:
Lord, I believe you are present here as I turn to you in prayer. I trust and have confidence in your desire to give me every grace I need to receive today. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your immense generosity toward me. I give you my life and my love in return.
Petition: Lord, you call me not just to a conversion of exterior actions and ways of living, but to a conversion of heart, a conversion of always loving more. Grant me this grace of conversion.
3. Cleaning the Cup: “Charity covers a multitude of sin” (1 Peter 4:8). This is how St. Peter rephrased the words of Christ, “But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” The Law of love is the most important of all the commandments of the Lord. In Chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark, Christ responds to a scribe’s question about the first of all the commandments: “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Love of God and neighbor is both the source and the summit of the Law of the Old Covenant and of the New. Living these two greatest commandments purifies and cleanses our hearts—the inside of the cup. So, when Christ says to give alms, he is telling the Pharisees to love their neighbors. Then their hearts will be clean.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I want my heart always to be focused on you. I need your guidance, for I can’t do it alone. I need you to teach me how to love you, how to worship and serve you. The laws you give me free me and guide me toward you. Help me to see your hand leading me ever closer to you.
Resolution: If there is a rule or custom of the Church that I don’t understand or don’t practice, I will read up on it to better understand how it frees me and guides me in my relationship with Christ.
REFLECTION Tuesday 28TH ORDINARY 2018
In the first reading Paul reminds all that "in Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not: what matters is faith working through love." Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Church affirmed that all, Jews and Gentiles, were called to salvation through faith in Christ.
In the Gospel reading Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in their many rules: they have endless prescriptions about ritual purity and cleanliness, about preparing food and eating. Yet they are "full of greed and evil."
At times we too could be like the Pharisees, quick to judge others while we ignore our own failures and imperfections. I am reminded of a woman who from her kitchen window saw her neighbor's laundry hanging to dry in the yard. The woman was critical that her laundry was not properly cleaned and washed.
One day she was surprised to see the neighbor's laundry looking clean and spotless. She told her husband, "Finally, our neighbor has learned to wash her laundry properly." Her husband said, "You did not notice? Yesterday I found time to clean our kitchen windows."
Lord, help me to become more understanding of others. Help me, Lord, not to be a fault-finder but a loving person instead. Help me to be discerning and yet not judgmental of others in their motives and actions. Teach me to be humble and generous.
Tuesday 28TH ORDINARY
Đối với Thiên Chúa điều nào quan trọng hơn, bàn tay sạch bế ngoài hay cái sạch từ bên trong, trong tâm hồn của chúng ta. Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu quở trách những người Pha-ri-si đã chấp chứa những tư tưởng xấu xa mà làm cho ô uế cả tâm linh, như tham lam, kiêu ngạo, ghen ghét, hờn dận, tự kiêu, và ham muốn vật chất. Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta tha thứ là một việc bác ái tự đến từ tấm lòng nhân hậu, thuơng yêu. Có những người trong như có vẻ bề ngoài, phô trương nhưng đó chỉ là những thứ giả hình, mà không phải thật sự. Có những thứ giả hình nhìn bề ngoài chúng ta không thể nhận ra, nhưng nếu nhận xét từ bên trong lòng họ đầy những giả dối . Họ cố chấp và không bao giờ biết tha thứ. Do đó, họ không bao giờ tha thứ cho người khác. Tâm hồn chúng ta vẫn còn nặng thù hận, cố chấp, chưa biết tha thứ là được bắt nguồn từ những thói quen của chúng ta tự cho mình là trung tâm của vũ trụ. Khi chúng ta không thể nghĩ xa hơn chính chúng ta, chúng ta không
Reflection Luke 11:37-41
Which is more important to God? Clean hands or a clean mind and heart? In the Gospel reading today, Jesus chided the Pharisees for harboring evil thoughts that make us unclean spiritually such as greed, pride, bitterness, envy, arrogance, and the like.
Jesus didn’t care much for what people might say or what is politically correct, whether we like it or not. These are not criteria on which Christians should base their decisions. Jesus clearly condemns double morality, which clearly seeks convenience or deception, as He said in Gospel: “you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools” (Lk 11:39).
God's word, as usual, questions us about customs and habits of our daily life, when we end up converting trivia into “values”, to disguise our sins of arrogance, selfishness and conceit, while attempting to “globalize” morals with political correction in order to avoid being out of tune or being marginalized.
There is time our hearts are still bitter and heavy, tempt us want to revenge rather than forgive.
- Un-forgiveness is rooted in our habit of thinking self-centered thoughts.
- When we cannot think beyond ourselves we cannot forgive.
When we freely give and give generously to those in need we express love, compassion, kindness, and mercy. And if our heart is full of love and compassion, then there is no room for envy, greed, bitterness, and the like. Let us allow God's love to transform our heart, mind, and actions toward our neighbors and others.
Petition: Lord, you call me not just to a conversion of exterior actions and ways of living, but to a conversion of heart, a conversion of always loving more. Grant me this grace of conversion.
Encountering Christ:1. Law for the Law’s Sake: The Pharisees placed great emphasis on fulfilling the Mosaic Law down to its last iota. They also had many more customs and regulations to ensure that they were adequately fulfilling the Law—layer upon layer of laws to enforce laws. Their mental checklist of laws fulfilled and regulations completed was impressive and a source of pride and satisfaction that they were living as they were supposed to. But they were missing the point. The Mosaic Law was intended to free them for worship, delivering them from slavery to pagan gods and from slavery to sin. When the Law (and the added customs and regulations) became an end in itself, it was truncated and severed from the One to whom it was meant to lead. Today in the Catholic Church, there are enough laws, customs, and regulations to make even the most rigorous Pharisee proud. The danger is that we can fall into one of two traps. First, we can adhere to them with such vigor that we lose sight of the One they are freeing us to worship. We don’t allow our hearts and minds to be educated and formed by them; we just follow them blindly. We wind up cleaning the outside of the cup and stopping there, without going on to see God’s love and let it purify our hearts.
2. The Second Trap: The second trap we can fall into is at the other extreme: to give ourselves an easy pass by presuming that “if my heart is in the right place, I don’t need to worry about all these rules and such.” With a lax attitude we permit ourselves to ease up on fulfilling these laws which in truth will free us. “I know today is Sunday and I should go to Mass, but it’s vacation! God knows I’m a good person.” Yet it is in the Sunday Mass that we receive the many graces necessary toward our being that “good person”. The commandment to keep the Sabbath holy, as with any of the Ten Commandments and customs of the Church, is there to lead us to God. These free us from our often confused, subjective conclusions about how we should worship God and live our lives.3. Cleaning the Cup: “Charity covers a multitude of sin” (1 Peter 4:8). This is how St. Peter rephrased the words of Christ, “But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” The Law of love is the most important of all the commandments of the Lord. In Chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark, Christ responds to a scribe’s question about the first of all the commandments: “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Love of God and neighbor is both the source and the summit of the Law of the Old Covenant and of the New. Living these two greatest commandments purifies and cleanses our hearts—the inside of the cup. So, when Christ says to give alms, he is telling the Pharisees to love their neighbors. Then their hearts will be clean.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I want my heart always to be focused on you. I need your guidance, for I can’t do it alone. I need you to teach me how to love you, how to worship and serve you. The laws you give me free me and guide me toward you. Help me to see your hand leading me ever closer to you.
Resolution: If there is a rule or custom of the Church that I don’t understand or don’t practice, I will read up on it to better understand how it frees me and guides me in my relationship with Christ.
REFLECTION Tuesday 28TH ORDINARY 2018
In the first reading Paul reminds all that "in Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not: what matters is faith working through love." Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Church affirmed that all, Jews and Gentiles, were called to salvation through faith in Christ.
In the Gospel reading Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in their many rules: they have endless prescriptions about ritual purity and cleanliness, about preparing food and eating. Yet they are "full of greed and evil."
At times we too could be like the Pharisees, quick to judge others while we ignore our own failures and imperfections. I am reminded of a woman who from her kitchen window saw her neighbor's laundry hanging to dry in the yard. The woman was critical that her laundry was not properly cleaned and washed.
One day she was surprised to see the neighbor's laundry looking clean and spotless. She told her husband, "Finally, our neighbor has learned to wash her laundry properly." Her husband said, "You did not notice? Yesterday I found time to clean our kitchen windows."
Lord, help me to become more understanding of others. Help me, Lord, not to be a fault-finder but a loving person instead. Help me to be discerning and yet not judgmental of others in their motives and actions. Teach me to be humble and generous.
Tuesday 28TH ORDINARY
Đối với Thiên Chúa điều nào quan trọng hơn, bàn tay sạch bế ngoài hay cái sạch từ bên trong, trong tâm hồn của chúng ta. Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu quở trách những người Pha-ri-si đã chấp chứa những tư tưởng xấu xa mà làm cho ô uế cả tâm linh, như tham lam, kiêu ngạo, ghen ghét, hờn dận, tự kiêu, và ham muốn vật chất. Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta tha thứ là một việc bác ái tự đến từ tấm lòng nhân hậu, thuơng yêu. Có những người trong như có vẻ bề ngoài, phô trương nhưng đó chỉ là những thứ giả hình, mà không phải thật sự. Có những thứ giả hình nhìn bề ngoài chúng ta không thể nhận ra, nhưng nếu nhận xét từ bên trong lòng họ đầy những giả dối . Họ cố chấp và không bao giờ biết tha thứ. Do đó, họ không bao giờ tha thứ cho người khác. Tâm hồn chúng ta vẫn còn nặng thù hận, cố chấp, chưa biết tha thứ là được bắt nguồn từ những thói quen của chúng ta tự cho mình là trung tâm của vũ trụ. Khi chúng ta không thể nghĩ xa hơn chính chúng ta, chúng ta không
Reflection Luke 11:37-41
Which is more important to God? Clean hands or a clean mind and heart? In the Gospel reading today, Jesus chided the Pharisees for harboring evil thoughts that make us unclean spiritually such as greed, pride, bitterness, envy, arrogance, and the like.
Jesus didn’t care much for what people might say or what is politically correct, whether we like it or not. These are not criteria on which Christians should base their decisions. Jesus clearly condemns double morality, which clearly seeks convenience or deception, as He said in Gospel: “you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools” (Lk 11:39).
God's word, as usual, questions us about customs and habits of our daily life, when we end up converting trivia into “values”, to disguise our sins of arrogance, selfishness and conceit, while attempting to “globalize” morals with political correction in order to avoid being out of tune or being marginalized.
There is time our hearts are still bitter and heavy, tempt us want to revenge rather than forgive.
- Un-forgiveness is rooted in our habit of thinking self-centered thoughts.
- When we cannot think beyond ourselves we cannot forgive.
When we freely give and give generously to those in need we express love, compassion, kindness, and mercy. And if our heart is full of love and compassion, then there is no room for envy, greed, bitterness, and the like. Let us allow God's love to transform our heart, mind, and actions toward our neighbors and others.
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