Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 10 Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 10 Thường Niên

Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu nói rằng bất cứ ai giận dữ anh em hay chị em mình thì người đó sẽ phải chịu phán xét trước mặt Thiên Chúa. Chúa đã định nghĩa việc tức giận tương đương với tội giết người. Điều này tự nhiên sẽ làm cho chúng ta đặt ra một câu hỏi trong chúng ta là : có phải đây là một chuyện bất thường khi con người chúng ta tức giận. Chắc chắn tất cả chúng ta ai cũng có cái cảm giác tức giận đã được cấy vào lòng của chúng ta. Nhưng chúng ta cần phải biết rõ lý do khi biểu lộ sự tức giận.

Trong các bài Tin Mừng chúng ta được thấy là Chúa Giêsu cũng đã tức giận trong hai lần. Qua Tin Mừng Mathêu, Chúa Giêsu đã giận dữ đánh đưởi những buôn bán và đổi tiền trong đền thờ (Mt 21: 12-13) và trong Tin Mừng Marcô, Chúa Giêsu đã tức giận với các vị giáo sĩ và biệt phái do thái trong một hội đường, trong lúc Ngài chữa lành cho người đàn ông bị liệt.(Mc 3: 5).

Sự tức giận của Chúa Giêsu là sự tức giận để chống lại những sự bất công, tham nhũng và đạo đức giả của những người Giáo sĩ và Luật sĩ Do Thái. Sự tức giận của chúng ta cũng phải là sự tức giận trong việc nên Thánh, trong việc thúc đẩy việc bảo vệ phẩm giá và sự tư do của mọi người, vì họ đều là con cái của Thiên Chúa, trong việc chống lại nạn đói, nạn bất công và lạm dụng tình dục phụ nữ và trẻ em. Còn không thì những sự ức chế và giận dữ vô lý sẽ dẫn chúng ta đến bạo lực đối với bản thân mình và những người khác.

Hôm nay chúng ta được Chúa mời gọi để cùng nhau xây dựng mối quan hệ con ngưòi và mang lại sự hòa giải với nhau và với Thiên Chúa. Lạy Chúa, xin ban cho chúng con có được sự kiên nhẫn vì đó món quà của Chúa Thánh Thần để giúp chúng con có thể vượt qua tất cả mọi sự sự tức giận.

Thursday 10th Week in Ordinary Time.

In our daily life we face many broken relationships, regrets, misunderstanding and so on. A careful analysis would reveal the underlying reason; anger or rage. Anger may drive a person to forget all giftedness, graces and even one’s humaneness.

In the Gospel Jesus says that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister is liable to judgment. He is almost equating anger with murder. This raises a natural question in us whether it is unnatural for human persons to get angry. Definitely we all have the feeling of anger implanted in us. But we need to know the right reason to express it.

The Gospel narratives tell us that Jesus, too, got angry on two occasions — in the temple at the people who were selling things (Mt 21:12-13) and in the synagogue while curing the man with a withered hand (Mk 3:5). His anger was against injustice, corruption and hypocrisy. Our anger should be divinely spurred to protect the dignity of people as children of God against starvation, exploitation of the helpless and abuse of children or else our suppressed and unjustified anger would lead to violence against oneself and others. Today we are called to build relationships and bring reconciliation with one another.

Lord, grant me patience, the gift of the Spirit, that I may overcome anger.

Opening Prayer:

God, you are the just judge, and you are also full of mercy. Thank you for teaching me in your way of justice and mercy. Help me to fulfill your greatest commandment and love others as you have loved me (cf. John 13:34).

Encountering Christ:

1. Perfecting the Law: Jesus fulfills and completes the Torah, the Mosaic law, with love. He perfects the law; he does not abolish it (Matthew 5:17). The new law is fulfilled by love (cf. Romans 13:10). The scribes and the Pharisees lived by the old law and held to a theology of retribution. This means they believed salvation was earned by following the strict Levitical laws, and that God would bless them if they did so and curse them if they did not (cf. Deuteronomy 28). Jesus changed all this, replacing this legal striving for salvation with his grace. He perfected and united the law in his love. He did not abolish the law; in fact, he made it even more important. This is why he told his disciples that their faith would need to be greater than the scribes and Pharisees. Their faith was transactional: God would bless or curse them according to their adherence to the law. Jesus was saying that not only did they need to follow the law, but that it must be perfected in their hearts by loving. The old law says, “You shall not kill.” The new law goes a step further and says you must love your brother so much that you do not harbor any anger against him. This requires forgiveness and reconciliation. Thankfully, we do not have to forgive on our own. We can count on our Lord to guide us in his merciful way.

2. God’s Name Is Mercy: The new law in Christ is a convergence of justice (truth and law) with mercy (love and peace): “Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss” (Psalms 85:11). Justice does not disappear because mercy is present. Christ, the perfectly just judge is also kind and merciful: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalms 103:8). The Catechism teaches that “justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor” (CCC 1807). God is truly just, and he is also “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4). In fact, the name of God is mercy. God revealed his name to Moses after Israel sinned by creating and worshiping the golden calf after the Exodus: “And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation’” (Exodus 34:5-7). That is a long name! His name is so long because it communicated something new to Moses about his identity. God is merciful and loving because he is forgiving. He is also just because he does not allow sinners to remain in their sin or commit sinful acts without consequences. What loving father would allow his children to continue to sin or do things that hurt themselves without consequences to discipline them? We can be instruments of Christ’s merciful justice in our homes and places of work by focusing on being fair, forgiving, and gentle while remaining firm in our convictions and focused on the truth.

3. Settle Out of Court: The last lines of today’s Gospel are a bit tricky. Why should you settle with your opponent on the way to court? The answer is because in this scenario you are the one on trial. Your opponent has a case against you, not the other way around. You are the one who owes a debt, because your opponent will have you thrown into prison for not paying him back. Also, your guilt is not in dispute. You know you have wronged the other person, because you are willing to “settle out of court” and pay him what you owe to avoid the greater punishment of prison. Jesus is teaching us to seek out forgiveness from others in a timely fashion. This passage is telling us if we know we have wronged someone, we should not put off apologizing and paying back our debt to the person. Jesus asks us to take responsibility for our actions and humbly admit our faults. Admitting our sins and seeking forgiveness applies to our relationship with God as well as our human relationships. When we have sinned–especially in the case of mortal sin–it is important to receive the sacrament of reconciliation in a timely manner.

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, thank you for being our merciful and just judge. How blessed am I that you, my mediator, will also be my judge at the end of my days (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5-6). Thank you for all the times you have forgiven me for my sins, and for all the times yet to come. Please teach me how to imitate your virtues of justice and mercy in my life as a reflection of your goodness.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will prayerfully consider if I need to ask one of my brethren for forgiveness.

10th Week in Ordinary Time

Comment: Fr. Julio César RAMOS González SDB (Mendoza, Argentina)

If you are not righteous in a much broader way (...), you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven

Today, Jesus invites us to go beyond what any reliable law-abiding person can go. Even, without falling into any evil deeds, routine quite often hardens the desire of seeking sanctity, by comfortably adapting ourselves to the habit of just a good behavior, and nothing else. St. John Bosco used to say: «The good is the enemy of the best». It is there, where the Master's Word reaches us, inviting us to be righteous in a “much broader” way (cf. Mt 5:20) that starts from a different attitude. Bigger things that, paradoxically, look lesser and smaller. To get angry, to scorn and disown your brother are not the right things for the disciple of the Kingdom who is supposed to be —nothing less but— the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-16), as of the applicability of the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-12).

With authority, Jesus changes the interpretation of the negative precept “Do not kill” (cf. Ex 20:13), by the positive meaning of the deep and radical demand of reconciliation, which, for additional emphasis, is put in relationship to the cult. Thus, no offering is valid when «you remember that your brother has something against you» (Mt 5:23). This is why it is so important to settle any dispute as, otherwise, the invalidity of your offering will be turned against you (cf. Mt 5,26).

All this can only be attained through a great love. «Indeed —St. Paul will say—: the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet’, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. Love does no wrong to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law» (Rm 13:9-10). Help us beg to be renewed in the gift of charity —to the minimum detail— towards our neighbor, and our life will be the best and most authentic of all our offers to God.

REFLECTION

We have always been told to put God first in our lives. But sometimes it seems that even in scripture, God comes second. Notice the order of things? Jesus said that before you make your offering to God, first be reconciled with someone who has something against you. That seems a bit odd. We have always been taught that God come first in a Christian's life. We do not give God the leftovers and scraps of our crops or flocks or money or time.

When it comes to worship, our heart, mind, and soul should be focused only on God and on giving God honor and glory. God comes first, especially in worship. But Jesus is saying that there is at least one circumstance, even during worship, when God comes second. The circumstance is simple. When anger drives a wedge between you and someone else, it is more important for you to be reconciled with that person than for you to present your offering to God. Jesus says that reconciliation is more important than any offering.

But what if we are the injured party? It works the same way. Either way, reconciliation between two people who are at odds with each other is more important to God than any amount of offering because reconciliation cuts off the path that leads to bitter anger and violence. This should not really surprise us. God is all about reconciliation and so is Jesus. So, when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. This is when God comes second.

REFLECTION

Forgiving others is indeed a prerequisite to attain the forgiveness of God for our sins. Jesus said, "If you are about to offer your gift at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with him, and then come back and offer your gift to God. This is the kind of holiness our Lord is asking of us when he said, "I tell you, then, that if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."

There were two brothers whose property was adjacent to each other. One day, there was a misunderstanding between brothers. One morning a carpenter knocked on the older brother's door and asked for work. The brother thought of putting up a high fence between the properties. After providing the carpenter with the materials, he left for other business. The next day, the brother was surprised to see the work of the carpenter. There was no fence but a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other. Then he saw the younger brother coming toward him with his arms outstretched saying: "You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."

Jesus must be the carpenter who builds a bridge for us if we are afraid and hesitant to reach out to our brothers. Forgiveness takes faith to believe God's words and forgive rather than cling to our anger and bitterness. It takes faith to believe that peace will eventually come to our troubled heart and soul after we forgive; to trust that vengeance is the Lord's, if necessary, rather than ours; and to truly love and forgive as Jesus loves and forgives us.

Thursday - Matthew 5, 20-26

The buzz word these days is “spirituality.” But you do not find that word readily in the Gospels. There, on the mouth of Jesus, the operative word is righteousness or holiness. My holiness must exceed all the theories and techniques of spirituality. Prayer must begin with the hunger for holiness. Holiness is sharing in God's life. Blessed are those who hunger for holiness, righteousness, justice, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. My prayer will always be this consent to the work of God who brings me into the holiness of Christ. My holiness is never farther than the depths of my heart in its intentions of love. My holiness is never farther than the presence of another—any person who comes into the sound of my voice, the glance of my face, the action of my hands. Not only am I commanded not to murder or dismember these neighbors, but never to afflict them with my anger or meanness. God's wrath is set against our anger. God's mercy demands we imitate Him in our behavior. The depth of my prayer, of my holiness is measured by the quality of my relationships. According to the Gospel of Christ it's as simple as that.

Meditation:  Be reconciled to your brother

Are you ever driven by anger, rage, or revenge? The first person to hate his brother was Cain. God warned Cain: Why are you angry? ..Sin is couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:6-7). Sin doesn't just happen to us; it first grows as a tiny seed in our heart. Unless it is uprooted, by God's grace, it grows like a weed and chokes the vine and all its fruit. Jesus addressed the issue of keeping the commandments with his disciples. The scribes and Pharisees equated righteousness with satisfying the outward observance of the law. Jesus showed them how short they had come. Jesus points to the heart as the seat of desire and choice. Unless evil and forbidden desires are eradicated, the heart will be corrupted. Jesus points to forbidden anger with one's brother. This is a selfish anger that broods and is long-lived, that nurses a grudge and keeps wrath warm, and that refuses to die. Harboring anger in the heart as well as anger in speech and action are equally forbidden by God.

What is the antidote to anger and rage? Mercy, kindness, and forbearance spring from a heart full of love and forgiveness. God has forgiven us and he calls us to extend mercy and forgiveness towards those who cause us grief and harm. In the cross of Jesus we see the supreme example of love and forgiveness and the power of goodness for overcoming evil. Only God's love and grace can set our hearts and minds free from the tyranny of wounded pride and spiteful revenge. Do you harbor any anger towards another person? And are you quick to be reconciled when a rupture has been caused in your relationships? Ask God to set you free and to fill your heart and mind with his love and goodness. Paul the Apostle reminds us that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). Through the grace and help of the Holy Spirit we can overcome malice with good, hatred with kindness, and injury with pardon.

"May I be no man's enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I never quarrel with those nearest me: and if I do, may I be reconciled quickly. May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good. May I wish for all men's happiness and envy none. May I never rejoice in the ill-fortune of one who has wronged me. When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends. May I win no victory that harms either me or my opponent. May I reconcile friends who are angry with one another. May I never fail a friend who is in danger. When visiting those in grief may I be able by gentle and healing words to soften their pain. May I respect myself. May I always keep tame that which rages within me. May I accustom myself to be gentle, and never be angry with people because of circumstances. May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, but know good men and follow in their footsteps." (Prayer of Eusebius, 3rd century)