Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần thứ Ba Mùa Chay (Mk: 12-28-34)
Nhiều
người trong chúng ta đang rơi vào trong cùng
một cái bẫy của ma quỷ trong xã hội này. Nhiều khi chúng
ta đã đồng ý về những
khái niệm chính của Kitô giáo nhưng chúng ta lại đưa ra một
cái nhìn khác về Giáo Hội hay chống đối lại những
tín lý của Giáo hội để chúng ta có thể tự do thoả mãn những ước muốn, những
tham vọng cá nhân riêng của chính mình, hay chúng ta chỉ muốn sống xu thời với
cái xã hội thực tại ngày hôm nay, tự do ly dị, rồi kết hôn với người khác, kết
hôn với người đồng tính, tự do ngừa thai
và phá thai để khỏi phải bận lòng… còn một số khác trong chúng ta không
đến nỗi tệ lắm, nhưng cũng có lúc chúng ta tự quay mình theo chiều gió mỗi khi
chúng ta phải đương đầu với các vấn nạn
thực tại của thế giới.
Ví dụ phổ biến nhất là hành vi của chúng ta trong
Thánh Lễ Chúa Nhật. Chúng ta có thể tìm thấy chính mình gật đầu đồng ý với các
bài đọc và các bài giảng trong Thánh Lễ Chúa Nhật
nhưng chúng ta lại có những hành động ngược
lại những điếu ấy trong phần còn lại của mỗi tuần.
Những
điều răn mà Chúa Giêsu dạy cho chúng
ta trong Tin Mừng hôm nay thực sự có cơ
sở căn bản cho đức tin của chúng
ta. Yêu mến Thiên Chúa với tất cả tấm lòng và tâm hồn của
chúng ta bằng cách lắng nghe Thiên
Chúa bằng tất cả tấm lòng, trái tim và linh hồn của chúng ta. Yêu
thương những người chung quanh ta
là bắt đầu việc tạo
dựng cá tính người Kitô hữu
của chính mình để chúng ta có thể trở
thành người tốt hơn, để chúng ta
có thể giúp đỡ cho những người khác nhiều hơn và có hiệu quả hơn.
REFLECTION
Many of us fall into that same trap. We would agree on the
major concept of Christianity but we would show a different side of ourselves
when real world issues confront us. Perhaps the most common example is our behavior
during Sunday Mass and the rest of the week. We may find ourselves nodding in
agreement to the readings and the Sunday homily but find ourselves acting the
opposite during the rest of the week.
The
commandments we read today are indeed the bases of our faith. But our Christian
character is not complete just because we have the commandments as our
foundation. The commandments can only have meaning when we motivate ourselves
to learn and practice the ways and teachings of Jesus. Loving God with all our
heart and soul starts with listening to God with all our heart and soul, loving
our neighbor starts with building our Christian character to be better people
so that we can do more for others.
Opening
Prayer: My Jesus, I love you
above all things and want to love others as you have loved me. Open my heart to
hear your word and let it penetrate the good soil there, take root, and bear
fruit that will last, which is love alone.
Encountering Christ:
·
The
Law of Love: Earlier in the week,
the Mass readings focused on Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and the
prophets. Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to do away with it (cf. Matthew
5:17). This Gospel teaching is the summation of the entirety of Mosaic law.
Love is the new law. St. Paul teaches us, “Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). Love is the law of
Christ’s kingdom. St. John Paul II wrote, “Jesus sums up the whole law,
focusing it on the commandment of love (cf. Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 10:25-28).
Before leaving his disciples, he gave them a ‘new commandment’: ‘Love one
another; even as I have loved you’ (John 13:34; cf. 15:12). Jesus's love for
the world finds its highest expression in the gift of his life for mankind (cf.
John 15:13), which manifests the love which the Father has for the world (cf.
John 3:16)” (Redemptoris Missio, 15).
·
Loving
God: Jesus tells us that
the first thing we must do to fulfill the law is to love God with all that we
have: our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Loving God is primarily about being
receptive to his love and friendship through a life of grace through prayer and
the sacraments. We love God with our hearts and souls when we place him first
in our lives by faithfully attending Mass and keeping his commandments (1 John
5:3). We love him with our minds when we seek to be intellectually formed in
Christ. Spiritual reading, attending formation events, and reading Gospel
reflections like this one are all ways to deepen our knowledge and friendship
with Christ. Finally, we love God with all our strength when we seek to be
conformed to Jesus Christ’s perfect humanity, namely by imitating his virtues.
St. Paul teaches us that God desires that we are remade in the image of
Christ’s humanity: “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers”
(Romans 8:29).
·
Loving
Our Neighbors: The second thing we
must do to fulfill the law is to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is
important to realize that we cannot love others well without fulfilling the
first part of the commandment, which is to love and be loved by God: “We love
because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). What does loving our neighbors look
like in our everyday lives? St. Paul teaches us that love is patient and kind.
It is not jealous, pompous, inflated, rude, self-seeking, quick-tempered, or
resentful. It seeks the truth and bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things.
It never fails (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8). After reading that list, each of us
could choose at least one thing to work on in order to love our neighbor
better.
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, after reading the list of St.
Paul’s picture of love, I know that I can still grow in many of these areas. I
can be impatient, unkind, rude, self-centered, and ill-tempered at times.
Increase the love and mercy in my heart and conform me to your image. May I die
to myself and my preferences so that it is no longer I who lives, but you who
lives in me (cf. Galatians 2:20).
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will choose one aspect of love
to focus on, and seek to conform myself to you by imitating your virtues.
Friday, March 12, 2021, Hold Nothing Back
Friday of the Third Week of Lent
“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.” Mark 12:29–30
Why would you choose anything less than to
love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, with ALL your
mind, and with ALL your strength? Why would you choose anything less? Of
course, we do choose many other things to love in life, even though Jesus is
clear with this commandment.
The truth is that the only way to love others,
and even to love ourselves, is to choose to love God with ALL we are. God must
be the one and only focus of our love. But what’s amazing is that the more we
do this, the more we realize that the love we have in our lives is the kind of
love that overflows and overflows in superabundance. And it is this overflowing
love of God that then pours forth on others.
On the other hand, if we try to divide our
loves by our own effort, giving God only part of our heart, soul, mind and
strength, then the love we have for God cannot grow and overflow in the way God
wants. We limit our capacity for love, and we fall into selfishness. Love of
God is a truly amazing gift when it is total and all-consuming.
Each one of these parts of our lives are worth
pondering and examining. Think about your heart and how you are called to love
God with your heart. And how does this differ from loving God with your soul?
Perhaps your heart is more focused on your feelings, emotions and compassion.
Perhaps your soul is more spiritual in nature. Your mind loves God the more it
probes the depth of His Truth, and your strength is your passion and drive in
life. Regardless of how you understand the various parts of your being, the key
is that every part must love God in fullness.
Reflect, today, upon the beautiful commandment
of our Lord. It’s a command of love, and it is given to us not so much for
God’s sake but for ours. God wants to fill us to the point of overflowing love.
Why would we ever choose anything less?
My loving Lord, Your love for me is infinite
and perfect in every way. I pray that I will learn to love You with every
fiber of my being, holding nothing back, and to daily grow deeper in my love of
You. As I grow in that love, I thank You for the overflowing nature of that
love, and I pray that this love of You will flow into the hearts of those
around me. Jesus, I trust in You.
REFLECTION
In the first reading we are invited to return to Yahweh. We
must return to Yahweh, though we have sinned against him. We return to Yahweh
in humility, the creature to his Creator. We return to God by praising him for
his compassion and forgiveness.. And we resolve that our only God is Yahweh,
not any of the many false gods. And Yahweh promises to love us in return.
In the Gospel
reading Jesus re-affirms the commandments, "The first is: Hear; Israel!
The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.
And after this comes another one: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these two." (Mk 12: 29- 31)
God is a
jealous God: he cannot allow other gods. Love of neighbor is a necessary extension
of love of God: after all, love is simply putting others before ourselves and
the readiness to give ourselves for the good of others.
No comments:
Post a Comment