Suy Niêm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư sau tuần 7 Phục Sinh - John 17:11-19
Những bài Tin Mừng trong ngày thứ thứ ba, thứ tư và thứ
năm trong tuần này (tuần thứ 7 mùa Phục Sinh) là những bài đọc hay nhất và đã được gộp lại với nhau. Những bài này được rút ra từ chương XVII trong sách Tin Mừng của Thánh Gioan, những bài Tin Mừng này đã cho chúng ta thấy được
sự chân thành trong
lời cầu nguyện, những mối quan tâm mà Chúa Giêsu hằng âm ỉ giữ mải trong
tâm khảm của Ngài khi Ngài biết rằng Ngài sẽ phải ra đi vào vườn Cây Dầu
và lên đường chuẩn bị lên núi Calvary.
Trong khi Ngài cầu nguyện cho
"tất cả mọi người", đặc biệt, Chúa Giêsu đã cầu
nguyện cho những người có đang mặt trong phòng Tiệc Ly
và tất cả những người
đã từng theo Chúa và cùng làm việc với Chúa trong việc làm cho Nước Chúa được hiện diện ở giữa những người trong thế kỷ thứ nhất tại
Jerusalem, Giuđêa và Galilê .
Điều đáng chú ý, tuy nhiên, Chúa Giêsu đã cầu nguyện một cách rõ
ràng cho những thế hệ mai sau,
cho những ai sẽ tin tưởng ở nơi Ngài qua những lời rao giảng của các môn đệ của Ngài và của người kế vị các Tông Đồ thay mặt Chúa giáo huấn cho mọi ngươì, Tóm lại, Chúa Giêsu đã cầu nguyện cho tất cả chúng ta, cho các tín hữu như chúng ta đang ở trong Người. Ngài cầu nguyện xin Thiên Chúa cho chúng ta mãi mãi được đoàn kết và đó điều rất là quan trọng trong thế
giới đang bị đầy rẫy những chia rẽ này. Ngài cũng cầu nguyện cho tất chúng ta là sẽ gặp và thấy riêng Ngài trong vinh quang Thiên Chúa trên thiên đàng. Đây phải là một ý nghĩ cần phải có trong tâm trí của
chúng ta mỗi ngày.
Khi chúng ta nói với bạn bè của chúng ta rằng chúng ta đang cầu nguyện cho họ để cho họ có được niềm vui và hạnh phúc. Chúng ta cũng sẽ vui mừng và an ủi khi chúng ta biết rằng họ
cũng đang cầu nguyện cho chúng ta. Thật là một thúc đẩy và hạnh phúc cho chúng ta khi chúng ta nhận biết
được rằng
Chúa Giêsu đã và đang cầu nguyện cho chúng ta. Không còn lời ca nào có ý nghĩa và đúng
như lời ca của bài bài
thánh ca, "Thật là một người bạn tốt
mà chúng ta đã có trong Chúa Giêsu"!
Reflection
SG:
The Gospel readings for Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday for this 7th week of Easter are best taken together.
They make up the seventeenth chapter of St John’s Gospel. They present us in
prayer form the concerns that were in the heart of Jesus as he was about to
leave the Supper Room for Gethsemane and Calvary.
While
he prayed for “all people” he prayed in particular for those present in the
Supper Room and all those others who worked with him in his mission to make
present the Kingdom of God among the men and women of first century Jerusalem,
Judea and Galilee.
Strikingly,
however, he prayed explicitly for those generations to come who would believe
in him because of the words of the disciples present in the room and of their
successors. In short he prayed for you and for me, believers as we are in him.
He prayed that we would be united and that is very important in this divided
world. He prayed too that we would see him clearly, personally in his glory in
heaven. What a thought to have in our minds for the day.
When
we tell our friends that we are praying for them they are happy. We are happy
and consoled when we know that they are praying for us. What a boost it is for
us when we realize that Jesus prayed for us and is praying for us. How true are
those words of the hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus”!
Dear Jesus, friend and
inspirer, help us to believe in your continuing, loving interest in us.
Opening Prayer: Lord, I come to this time of
prayer with a desire to know you better. I want to know your truth by knowing
your word. Fill me with the truth so I will be filled with joy.
Encountering
Christ:
·
In the Name of God: Jesus lifted up his heart, prayed to his
Father, and begged him on our behalf to “keep them in your name that you have
given me.” Jesus’s name is the one by which “God greatly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend (Philippians 2:9-10). The name of Jesus is different
from other names, for it is what it signifies: Jesus (Y’shua in Hebrew) is
“savior, deliverer”; he redeemed us and rescued us. When we whisper the Jesus
Prayer: “Jesus, son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” we invoke a
name that is powerful in protecting us from evil and darkness. We can whisper
this prayer, or simply his name, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” when we are afraid or
tempted.
·
Son of Destruction: Jesus referred to Judas as the
“son of destruction.” Jesus had called him, allowed him into his inner circle
of disciples, and treated him lovingly. What sorrow Jesus must have felt by
Judas’s betrayal. “Those who do wrong deserve our tears…For the covetous man
and the slanderer, and the man guilty of any other wrongdoing injure themselves
most of all […] Christ repaid the man who was going to betray him with just the
opposite. For example, he washed his feet, reproved him without bitterness,
censured him in private, ministered to him, allowed him to share in his table
and his kiss. Yet, though Judas did not become better because of these things,
Jesus himself persevered in his course of action” (St. John Crysostom). Jesus
knew Judas would betray him, but he did not give up on Judas or neglect him.
Jesus pursued him to the end, though eventually he was “lost.” What a beautiful
challenge Christ sets before us by the loving way he treated Judas.
·
Consecrated in Truth: Jesus desired that his disciples share
the fullness of his joy by sharing in his Trinitarian life, “because they do
not belong to the world.” Jesus called his disciples to follow him on a path
that renounced earthly goods. He knew that the world would hate them, for their
mission was to follow Christ and find their joy in him, and not in the
attractions of the world. Their joy was fulfilled in discovering their mission
to share Christ with others, and the early Christians did this as they “devoted
themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to the communal life, to the
breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Simple Christian living
in small community home churches spread through the whole world. We can imitate
their devotion by sharing our joy in Christ with others, especially those in
our parish and our neighborhood.
Conversing
with Christ: Lord,
I want to follow you with the authentic faith of the disciples. Help me find
joy in living my faith. Keep me close to you, with your name on my lips and
your joy in my heart.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will
rediscover the joy of the first Christians by inviting a friend to Mass.
Reflection
Do we know what our mission in life
is? Jesus' mission was to glorify his heavenly Father through obedience to His
will. In the Gospel, we see Jesus who has finished his mission on earth and
about to return to his Father in heaven.
Jesus' strength comes from the Father.
We who aspire to become disciples of Jesus must pray for strength from the Holy
Spirit. As his disciples, we are consecrated in God's truth and holiness. To
"consecrate" means "to be made holy or to set apart for
God". It also means to be equipped with the qualities of mind, heart and
character for a task or service. Just as Jesus was called by the Father to
serve in holiness and truth, so we too, are called and equipped for the task of
serving God in the world as his representatives. God's truth frees us from
ignorance and the deception of sin. It also reveals to us God's goodness, love,
and wisdom. Is our life consecrated to God?
May the Lord, take our lives and make
it wholly pleasing to him. May He sanctify us in His truth and may the Holy
Spirit guide us that we may follow Him faithfully wherever He may lead us.
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