Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần 27 Thường Niên

  Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần 27 Thường Niên 

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa đã nhấn mạnh cho chúng ta thấy sức mạnh của lời cầu nguyện và sự cần thiết trong việc phải kiên trì trong sự cầu nguyện. Khi chúng ta cảm thấy rằng Thiên Chúa không nghe hoặc không đáp lại những lời cầu xin của chúng tai, có lẽ chúng ta phải nhớ rằng cách của Thiên Chúa làm việc không phải là cách làm việc của con người chúng ta và có lẽ Thiên Chúa đã có kế hoạch khác cho chúng ta, và có khi kế hoạch đó còn tốt hơn là những gì chúng ta đã xin. 
Khi Chúa dạy các môn đệ cầu nguyện, Ngài cũng nhắc nhở chúng ta qua Tin Mừng là hãy nhớ cầu nguyện luôn. Chính vì trong khi cầu nguyện, chúng ta đã mở lòng với Thiên Chúa. Chính vì trong lời cầu nguyện mà chúng ta đã xác tín được sự tin tưởng của chúng ta ở nơi Thiên Chúa. Và chính vì trong lời cầu nguyện mà chúng ta xác tín được sự chân thành và thẳng thắn của chúng ta với Thiên Chúa. 

Reflection: 
Today's Gospel strongly emphasizes the power of prayer and the need to be persistent in prayer. When we feel that God is not listening or answering our prayers, perhaps we must remember that God's way is not man's way and perhaps the Lord has other plans for us. As the Lord taught his disciples to pray, he also reminds us through the Gospel to remember to pray. It is in prayer that we open ourselves to him. It is in prayer that we confirm our trust in him. It is in prayer that we confirm our sincerity and frankness with him. 

Opening Prayer: Lord, I know that you listen to me, I know that you love me, and that you will always provide for me exactly what I need. I trust in you; help me to trust you more. 

Encountering Christ: 
1. A True Friend: Ask anyone what they look for in a friend, and more likely than not they will say, “someone I can count on,” or “someone I can trust.” While we are able to trust our friends with our material goods, or to pick us up from the airport, we might fear what they would say if they saw the hidden, perhaps less flattering side of us. And, there are still things in our lives that we are afraid to entrust to anyone, especially things deep within us—hopes, fears, desires, conflicts, etc. Jesus wants to befriend us—all that is good in us, all that is hidden, and all of our weaknesses. No matter what we ask of him, no matter what we reveal, he will listen and help. He is completely trustworthy. 
2. The Ultimate Dad: Jesus has revealed to us that God the Father is the ultimate father. Or perhaps it is even better to say the ultimate Dad. If even human dads, who are clearly imperfect, are capable of true sacrifice, even heroic sacrifices out of love for their children, just how much more does God the Father, God the Dad, love us? He loves us so much that he has promised the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. The Holy Spirit bears gifts and fruits that are essential to our spiritual well-being. God knows that, no matter what circumstances we face, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are our remedy! 
3. Learning to Trust: It’s beautiful to think about God the Friend and God the Father, but it does not always seem like he hears us when we ask, seek, or knock. We pray for peace, and the family keeps bickering. We pray for patience, and turn around and lose our temper. We pray for a cure, but our loved ones don’t get better. Of course, we all know the intellectual answers deep in our hearts—that God knows what’s best for us, that God speaks through circumstances, that God’s time is not our time—but we continue to suffer. Evil–sickness and suffering–is a mystery. Our lives may feel scary or even hopeless at times, but Christ remains the light of the world, and the darkness cannot overcome him. Our faith, which is exercised in times of trial, tells us that God is truly a friend and truly a Father—let’s pray for the grace to trust him as a true friend, to love him as a Father. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I trust in you. You are my friend. Thank you for this time of prayer, for working in my heart, although perhaps I am not always able to feel it. Give me the grace of persistence and patience as I endure the large and small trials in my daily life. I want to glorify you. 
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will offer up some little sacrifice that you present to me, and reflect on how it is a gift from you. 

Meditation: 
What can we expect from God, especially when we recognize that he doesn't owe us anything and that we don't deserve his grace and favor? Jesus used the illustration of a late-night traveler to teach his listeners an important lesson about how God treats us in contrast to the kind of treatment we might expect from our neighbors. 
The rule of hospitality in biblical times required the cooperation of the entire community in entertaining an unexpected or late-night guest. Whether the guest was hungry or not, a meal would be served. In a small village it would be easy to know who had baked bread that day. Bread was essential for a meal because it served as a utensil for dipping and eating from the common dishes. Asking for bread from one's neighbor was both a common occurrence and an expected favor. To refuse to give bread would bring shame and dishonor because it was a sign of in-hospitality - showing a lack of friendship and generosity. 
God awakens us from sleep that we may ask and receive 
If a neighbor can be imposed upon and coerced into giving bread in the middle of the night, how much more hospitable is God, who, no matter what the circumstances, is generous and ready to give us what we need. Augustine of Hippo reminds us that "God, who does not sleep and who awakens us from sleep that we may ask, gives much more graciously." 
Ask, seek, knock - and it will be given 
When you are in need who do you turn to for help? Jesus tells us that God is always ready to answer those who seek him and call upon him with expectant trust in his mercy and kindness. Jesus states very clearly and simply what we must do: Ask, seek, knock. God our heavenly Father waits upon us. Like a table waiter or friend who comes in the middle of the night, he is always ready to hear our plea and to give us what we need. Do you ask the Father with expectant faith and confident trust in his goodness? Do you seek his guidance and help in your time of need? Do you knock with persistence at his door of mercy and favor? If we treat our heavenly Father with indifference or neglect to ask with confident trust, we may miss the opportunity we have been given to receive his grace and favor and merciful help. 
God gives more than we can ask or expect 
In conclusion Jesus makes a startling claim: How much more will the heavenly Father give! The Lord is ever ready to give us not only what we need, but more than we can expect. He gives freely of his Holy Spirit that we may share in his abundant life and joy. Do you approach your heavenly Father with confident trust in his mercy and kindness? 
Heavenly Father, you are merciful, gracious and kind. May I never doubt your mercy and love nor hesitate to seek you with confident trust in order to obtain the gifts, graces, and daily provision I need to live as your beloved child and constant friend. 

REFLECTION 2019 
In the first reading the Prophet Malachi clearly tells us that God will reward the good, all those who obey him, and punish the evildoers and those who disobey him. In the Gospel reading our Lord praises perseverance in prayer: "he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need." He also assures that, because God is our Father, he will answer all our prayers. As the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he reminds us today to be persistent and truly trusting in our prayer. It is in prayer that we open ourselves to God. It is in prayer that we profess our trust in the Father. 

Reflection: 
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you." This is a very often-quoted verse, and its appeal is not so surprising. Imagine, a God who gives you anything you want as long as you keep asking. Or so we, with our often misguided desires, would like to believe. But going back to the verse, Jesus did not initially say what it was. Did he really mean that God will grant us anything we ask of Him? Knowing Christ in His wisdom, it's highly unlikely that he meant it that way. As we read on, it becomes a little more evident what He did suggest. 
At the end of the gospel passage, Jesus said, "Even you evil people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more then will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Here, He sets the parameters to what God will willingly and lovingly grant us: the Holy Spirit. We might ask for things that we believe we want or need, but these might not reflect our deepest desires, and will probably do us more harm than good. Sometimes, what we seek becomes muddled by the superficial priorities of the world, that we forget about what it is we truly seek. When we stop for a while to step back and get a glimpse of the deepest recesses of our hearts, there lies our true desire to know and love God with our whole being. But it is only in asking Him and seeking His infinite wisdom that we may receive this blessing.