Suy Niệm Bài Đọc thứ Tư Tuần thứ 15 Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm Bài Đọc thứ Tư Tuần thứ 15 Thường Niên

Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay cho chúng ta một cơ hội để hội nhập, có thể nói, với cấu trúc khôn ngoan của Thiên Chúa, Người đang ở giữa chúng ta, Có lẽ Ngài sẽ không thích được làm quen với những bí ẩn kỳ lạ của cuộc sống? Có nhiều điều bí ẩn mà những nhà khoa học gia nổi tiếng vẫn không thể nào tìm ra được nguyên nhân. Tuy nhiên đứng trước những bí ẩn đó, chúng ta “không có gì mà có thể giấu kín được mãi (...); cũng không có một cái gì mà có thể dấu mãi được sự bí mật” (Mc 4:22). Đây là mầu nhiệm của Con Người, đấng đã tự gọi mình là "Con Thiên Chúa", bởi vì Ngài đã nói về chính mình: “Mọi sự đều đã được Cha Ta trao phó cho Ta” (Mt 11:27) Bản chất Con người của Chúa Giêsu, qua sự hợp nhất trong Chúa Ba Ngôi đã được Ngôi Lời của Thiên Chúa đảm nhận: chính là Ngài, nói cách ngắn gọn, Ngôi Hai Thiên Chúa Ba Ngôi đã có trước khi mà bóng tối chưa có và do đó, ban đêm còn sáng hơn giữa ban ngày.

Một câu tục ngữ của Ả Rập có câu: “Nếu trong bầu trời đen tối, một kiến đen trèo lên trên một bức tường màu đen, Thiên Chúa nhìn thấy nó”. Không có gì có thể giữ được bí mật trước mặt Thiên Chúa. Cho dù có những điều thật là bí ẩn đối với chúng ta, nhưng không có gì là bí ẩn với Thiên Chúa vì trước mặt Ngài, tất cả những quá khứ, hiện tại và tương lai đều được mở rộng và được tỏ bày.

Chúng ta có thể khá hài lòng, vì Chúa nói hôm nay: "Lạy Cha là Chúa trời đất, Con xin ngợi khen Cha, vì Cha đã giấu các điều ấy với hạng khôn ngoan thông thái, mà đã mạc khải ra cho những kẻ bé mọn.” (Mt 11:25). Thật vậy, bởi vì không ai có thể biết hết được những điều bí ẩn, thậm chí cũng không thể đưa chúng ra khỏi bóng tối, cho dù đã phải dầy công nghiên cứu, hay phải dùng đến sự khôn ngoan.

Một người phụ nữ già, không có một kinh nghiệm hay học thức, nhưng bà luôn luôn có ý thức về những bí mật sâu sắc của cuộc sống hơn là các nhà khoa học đã từng theo học ở những trường đại học có uy tín và mắc tiền. Một số khoa học có thể đạt được sự thành công qua đức tin trong nội tâm, sự khiêm tốn và đơn sơ. Clement of Alexandria rất nổi tiếng đã viết: “ Ban đêm là điều kiện rất thuận lợi cho những bí ẩn; đó là khi linh hồn chúng ta chăm chú và khiêm tốn để biến đổi bản thân trong khi cân nhắc cho thân phận chính mình; và đó là khi tâm hồn của chúng ta tìm thấy Thiên Chúa “.

Reflection on Wednesday 15th Ordinary Time

Today, the Gospel offers us the opportunity to accede, so to speak, to the very structure of the divine wisdom. Who, amongst us, would not love to become acquainted with the unfathomable mysteries of life? There are enigmas the world's best team of investigators would not even dream of detecting. There is One however before which «there is nothing hidden, (...); nor is anything secret» (Mk 4:22). This is the mystery of who calls himself the “Son of man ”, inasmuch He says about himself: «All things have been handed over to me by my Father» (Mt 11:27). His human nature —through the hypostatic union— has been assumed by the Person of the Word of God: He is, in short, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, before which darkness does not exist and for which, night is more luminous than broad daylight.

An Arab proverb says: «If a pitch black night a black ant climbs over a black wall, God sees it». There are neither secrets nor mysteries for God. There are mysteries for us, but not for God, before whom, past, present and future are open and dug into, to the last comma.

Quite pleased, the Lord says today: «Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I praise you, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to simple people» (Mt 11:25). Indeed, because no one could pretend to know these or similar hidden secrets, not even by bringing them out of the darkness through exhaustive studies, or as the wisdom should. A little old aged woman, without any school experience, will always be more aware about the deep secrets of life than the pretentious scientist that has spent an awful lot of money at reputed universities. Certain science can be achieved through inner faith, humility and poorness. Clement of Alexandria very well wrote: «Night is favourable for mysteries; it is then when our soul —attentive and humble— turns on itself while pondering over its condition; it is then when it finds God».

Wednesday 15th Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, reveal yourself to me that I may know you more deeply, love you more profoundly and follow you more faithfully.

Encountering Christ:

The Power of Testimony: Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. She was a Mohawk laywoman who converted and later joined a Jesuit mission, taking a vow of chastity around the age of twenty-two. Even before her conversion, she had refused to marry. After her conversion, she is said to have expressed her decision to “marry Jesus'' and “be his wife.” She is remembered for her purity as a virgin whose heart was given to the Lord. How was her gift of self possible, if not for the missionaries who risked their lives among the native peoples for the sake of converting them to the Christian faith? The Lord revealed himself to this young woman in and through the testimony of a few brave missionaries.

The Pure of Heart: The purity of heart of Kateri reflects a childlike openness to the Lord. Through her desire to please the Lord she also discovered his desire to make her his own through a spiritual espousal. Her name, Kateri, is Mohawk for Catherine, after Catherine of Siena. Catherine is another great saint, who in her childhood, received a vision and calling from the Lord to dedicate herself to him in a spousal relationship. While we may not be called to such a life, we are called to be pure of heart according to our state of life. As Jesus said on the Mount of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure, for they shall see God.” The pure of heart are simple. They know “the one thing necessary” for their life: Jesus Christ.

Reveal Yourself: To become a saint may seem like a childish ideal. But we are never too “grown-up” to learn from them. Their openness to who Jesus was and his invitation, reminds us that we are called to be childlike of heart. Through simplicity and single-mindedness, we recall who we are: children of a heavenly Father. Living according to this identity sets us free to be more fully who we are called to be. Let us ask Jesus to reveal himself to us and reveal the Father to us, so we may be more solidly rooted in our true identity as God’s beloved children.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, reveal yourself to me that I may know you and the Father. Help me to live solely focused on who you are to me, so that I may live according to my identity as a beloved child of God.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace, in the complexities of life, I will recall the simple truth of who I am and who is God.

Meditation: "Heavenly things revealed to infants"

Do you want to know the mind and thoughts of God? Jesus thanks the Father in heaven for revealing to his disciples the wisdom and knowledge of God. What does Jesus' prayer tell us about God and about ourselves? First, it tells us that God is both Father and Lord of earth as well as heaven. He is both Creator and Author of all that he has made, the first origin of everything and transcendent authority, and at the same time he shows loving care and goodness toward all his children. All fatherhood and motherhood is derived from him (Ephesians 3:14-15).

Pride and inordinate love of self

Jesus' prayer also contains a warning that pride can keep us from the love and knowledge of God. What makes us ignorant and blind to the things of God? Certainly intellectual pride, coldness of heart, and stubbornness of will shut out God and his kingdom of peace, joy, and righteousness. Pride is the root of all vice and the strongest influence propelling us to sin. It first vanquishes the heart, making it cold and indifferent towards God. It also closes the mind to God's truth and wisdom for our lives. What is pride? It is the inordinate love of oneself at the expense of others and the exaggerated estimation of one's own learning and importance.

Simplicity of heart

Jesus contrasts intellectual pride with child-like simplicity and humility. The simple of heart are like "infants" in the sense that they see purely without pretense and acknowledge their dependence and trust in the one who is greater, wiser, and more trustworthy. They seek one thing - the "summum bonum" or "greatest good," who is God himself. Simplicity of heart is wedded with humility, the queen of virtues, because humility inclines the heart towards grace and truth. Just as pride is the root of every sin and evil, so humility is the only soil in which the grace of God can take root. It alone takes the right attitude before God and allows him, as God, to do all. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6). Only the humble in heart can receive true wisdom and understanding of God and his ways. Do you submit to God's word with simple trust and humility?

Jesus reveals the Father to us

Jesus makes a claim which no one would have dared to make - he is the perfect revelation of God. One of the greatest truths of the Christian faith is that we can know the living God. Our knowledge of God is not simply limited to knowing something about God, but we can know God personally. The essence of Christianity, and what makes it distinct from Judaism and other religions, is the knowledge of God as our Father. Jesus makes it possible for each of us to personally know God as our Father. To see Jesus is to see what God is like.

In Jesus we see the perfect love of God; a God who cares intensely and who yearns over men and women, loving them to the point of laying down his life for them upon the Cross. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God - a God who loves us completely, unconditionally, and perfectly. Jesus also promises that God the Father will hear our prayers when we pray in his name. That is why Jesus taught his followers to pray with confidence, Our Father who art in heaven..give us this day our daily bread. Do you pray to your Father in heaven with joy and confidence in his love and care for you?

"Lord Jesus, give me the child-like simplicity and purity of faith to gaze upon your face with joy and confidence in your all-merciful love. Remove every doubt, fear, and proud thought which would hinder me from receiving your word with trust and humble submission."

“Lord help us to listen attentively to the call of God in our daily life so as to treasure the experiences of living out the Paschal Mystery with our suffering brethren throughout the world.”

Reflection:

The Lord Jesus came to reveal God his Father to us. He did this through his life, words and deeds. In the Gospel reading Jesus tells us that "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

We get to know the Father through the Son. It is through his gift of the Spirit that we get to know the Father. At our baptism we became adopted children of the Father and began to share by his grace in his divine life. At our baptism we became members of Christ's Church and were given a share in Christ's mission through the Church. By faith we get to know the Father and to listen to Christ's revelation of his Father. We are then called to make God's presence and revelation shared with others.

Each one of us is called to be perfect, as the Father is perfect. Each of us is also called to bring and share God's love and care to those who are discouraged and downtrodden, depressed and discriminated upon. Each of us is called to proclaim God's mercy and love, kindness and care for all.

The Gospel reading confirms for us the necessity of getting to know, love and follow Jesus if we wish to get to know the Father.