Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai tuần Thứ tư Thường Niên.
Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay cho chúng ta thấy một người bị quỉ ám sống trong những ngôi mộ rất hung dữ có có sức mạnh vô thường chân tay có thể bẻ gẫy cã những xích xiềng. Thánh Phaolô cũng có nói về người bị quỷ ám với nghĩa khác. Đó là người bị hoàn toàn cai trị bởi những ham muốn của cải riêng mình về thể chất và ý tưởng, những người chỉ biết và thích sống một cuộc sống gợi cảm, "họ đầy bất chính, xấu xa, tham lam, độc ác đủ thứ; nào là ganh tị, giết người, cãi cọ, mưu mô, thâm hiểm; nào là nói hành nói xấu, vu oan giá họa. Họ thù ghét Thiên Chúa, ngạo ngược, kiêu căng, khoác lác, giỏi làm điều ác, không vâng lời cha mẹ," (Rom. 1: 29-30).Chúa Kitô cho chúng ta biết rằng người bị quỷ ám chính là bản tính tự nhiên trong tâm hồn của chúng ta nếu chúng ta "Vì từ bên trong lòng người mà phát xuất ra những ý định xấu như: tà dâm, trộm cắp, giết người, ngoại tình, tham lam, độc ác, xảo trá, trác táng, ganh tỵ, phỉ báng, kiêu ngạo, ngông cuồng. Tất cả những điều xấu xa đó, đều từ bên trong xuất ra, và làm cho con người ra ô uế." (Mc 7: 21-23).
Đây là tình huống đáng thương của sự yếu đuối con người chúng ta và cũng vì tình yêu bao la của Thiên Chúa đối với chúng ta mà Ngài đã sai Con Một của Ngài, là Chúa Giêsu Kitô đến để cứu chúng ta và cho chúng ta có khả năng mới để biến đổi cuộc sống của chúng tôi. Chúng ta có thể được mặc với Chúa Thánh Thần và những ý thức hệ của chúng ta được hướng về Thiên Chúa và tha nhân.
REFLECTION Monday 4th Week in Ordinary Time
The gospel presents a demoniac who lived in the tomb and could not be shackled.
St. Paul said to us that the demonic is the person who is ruled entirely by his own physical desires and ideas, who only lives sensual lives, as the letter to the Roman said that "men steeped in all sorts of depravity, rottenness, greed and malice, and addicted to envy, murder, wrangling, treachery and spite, without love, pity and honor" (Rom. 1: 29-30). Jesus himself tells us that this is the situation within our heart "evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. This is what makes man unclean" (Mk 7: 21-23). This is our pitiable situation that is why out of immense love of God for us, He sent His only Son, Christ to save us and give us the new possibility to transform our lives. We can be clothed with the Holy Spirit and our senses directed towards God and our neighbor.
Monday 4th Week in Ordinary Time (B) : 1st February 2021
Faith is the most powerful force in the world. It can ‘move mountains’ and give people incredible courage and endurance. Without faith, which is closely related to hope, we wither and die spiritually and psychologically. But faith is not belief in doctrines and dogmas. One can be correct in theology but totally lacking in real faith. Faith is absolute trust in the power, fidelity, love, and guidance of God — even when everything appears otherwise. With God, all things are possible, but our faith is essential in making things happen.
The worst part of severe illness or disability is often the loss of human community. The demon-possessed man whom Jesus encountered lived among the tombs, denied human companionship. Jesus insisted on the demon’s name, for to know someone’s name was to exercise power over them. They were many, but that did not stop Jesus — he commanded them to leave the man.
The man was restored to his normal state and could rejoin the human community. Loneliness and isolation are the plagues of our age, but there is much that we can do about it. One of the kindest and most healing things we can do for someone is to welcome them into community and companionship.
Lord, help me to reach out to those that are lonely and isolated.
Opening Prayer:
Lord, please allow me to draw from this powerful story some inspiration for the day ahead. You are powerful and mighty, you conquer evil, you love me. Help me to trust in you.
Encountering Christ:
1. God Is Stronger: The humanity of the possessed man had been conquered by evil, which tortured him “night and day” and roamed the tombs unrestrained. But that evil prostrated itself before Our Lord and begged. We can draw great consolation from the image of Legion kneeling and pleading before the Lord. The Catechism teaches, “The power of Satan is … not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries—of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature—to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him (Romans 8:28).” (CCC 395.)
2. Jesus Came to Gentiles: The presence of swine indicated that Jesus had come to gentile territory. He exercised his ministry in the same way among the Gentiles as he had among the Jews—exorcising devils and restoring humanity. Not until St. Paul later preached and traveled did the early Church acknowledge that the Gospel message was for everyone, but here Jesus showed by his actions that he made no distinction among peoples. He is Lord for all! As his followers, we are called to see everyone as a brother or sister–Greek, Jew, American–everyone.
3. These Gentiles Failed: Wherever Jesus went, the individuals he encountered had to decide: “Is he the Son of God, a prophet, or an imposter?” The Gentiles from the Gerasenes also had to decide. Was this man who cast devils into a huge herd of swine who Legion said he was—or not? As these people approached Jesus, they saw the possessed man fully sane and restored. They witnessed the swine dead in the sea, yet they did not prostrate themselves before Jesus. They begged Jesus to leave. They failed to realize that “the kingdom of heaven” was at hand. Were they blinded by fear or angry at their financial losses? Either way, they rejected the graces God had in store for them, and instead chose to banish the Son of God from their midst.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, with hindsight it’s easy to call the Gentiles from the Gerasenes foolish for rejecting you. They failed to perceive your power over evil, your compassion for the sinner/possessed, your benevolence in coming to their territory—and so much more. I am just as blind, deaf, and dumb every time I choose to sin. Please, Lord, “lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil.”
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will say a decade of the rosary asking for forgiveness for my sins and the sins of the whole world. “For the sake of your sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world” (Divine Mercy Chaplet).
Faith is the most powerful force in the world. It can ‘move mountains’ and give people incredible courage and endurance. Without faith, which is closely related to hope, we wither and die spiritually and psychologically. But faith is not belief in doctrines and dogmas. One can be correct in theology but totally lacking in real faith. Faith is absolute trust in the power, fidelity, love, and guidance of God — even when everything appears otherwise. With God, all things are possible, but our faith is essential in making things happen.
The worst part of severe illness or disability is often the loss of human community. The demon-possessed man whom Jesus encountered lived among the tombs, denied human companionship. Jesus insisted on the demon’s name, for to know someone’s name was to exercise power over them. They were many, but that did not stop Jesus — he commanded them to leave the man.
The man was restored to his normal state and could rejoin the human community. Loneliness and isolation are the plagues of our age, but there is much that we can do about it. One of the kindest and most healing things we can do for someone is to welcome them into community and companionship.
Lord, help me to reach out to those that are lonely and isolated.
Opening Prayer:
Lord, please allow me to draw from this powerful story some inspiration for the day ahead. You are powerful and mighty, you conquer evil, you love me. Help me to trust in you.
Encountering Christ:
1. God Is Stronger: The humanity of the possessed man had been conquered by evil, which tortured him “night and day” and roamed the tombs unrestrained. But that evil prostrated itself before Our Lord and begged. We can draw great consolation from the image of Legion kneeling and pleading before the Lord. The Catechism teaches, “The power of Satan is … not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries—of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature—to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him (Romans 8:28).” (CCC 395.)
2. Jesus Came to Gentiles: The presence of swine indicated that Jesus had come to gentile territory. He exercised his ministry in the same way among the Gentiles as he had among the Jews—exorcising devils and restoring humanity. Not until St. Paul later preached and traveled did the early Church acknowledge that the Gospel message was for everyone, but here Jesus showed by his actions that he made no distinction among peoples. He is Lord for all! As his followers, we are called to see everyone as a brother or sister–Greek, Jew, American–everyone.
3. These Gentiles Failed: Wherever Jesus went, the individuals he encountered had to decide: “Is he the Son of God, a prophet, or an imposter?” The Gentiles from the Gerasenes also had to decide. Was this man who cast devils into a huge herd of swine who Legion said he was—or not? As these people approached Jesus, they saw the possessed man fully sane and restored. They witnessed the swine dead in the sea, yet they did not prostrate themselves before Jesus. They begged Jesus to leave. They failed to realize that “the kingdom of heaven” was at hand. Were they blinded by fear or angry at their financial losses? Either way, they rejected the graces God had in store for them, and instead chose to banish the Son of God from their midst.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, with hindsight it’s easy to call the Gentiles from the Gerasenes foolish for rejecting you. They failed to perceive your power over evil, your compassion for the sinner/possessed, your benevolence in coming to their territory—and so much more. I am just as blind, deaf, and dumb every time I choose to sin. Please, Lord, “lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil.”
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will say a decade of the rosary asking for forgiveness for my sins and the sins of the whole world. “For the sake of your sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world” (Divine Mercy Chaplet).
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