Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần thứ 20 Thường niên

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần thứ 20 Thường niên Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14

Tiệc cưới được đề cập trong Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta về lời mời gọi của Thiên Chúa và lời mời gọi đó vẫn đang tiếp tục mời gọi chúng ta ở đây, và hôm nay. Bởi vì chúng ta vẫn còn có thể thấy giao ước giữa tình yêu và cuộc sống. Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta rằng Chúa Giêsu lập Bí Tích Thánh Thể cho tất cả những ai sẵn sàng lắng nghe và thực hành lời dạy của Ngài. Chúa Kitô cho phép tình yêu của Ngài sắp sẵn và đến với tất cả mọi người. Nhưng vấn đề là ở nơi mỗi người chúng ta và sự lựa chọn của mỗi người; chúng ta có sẵn sàng mở rộng tâm hồn để đón nhận tình yêu của Chúa đem đến cho chúng ta? Hay chúng ta vẫn kép kín trái tim của chúng ta.

Mỗi khi chúng ta được Chúa mời gọi đến cùng thăm dự vào bàn với Ngài, chúng ta nên chấp nhận lời mời của Ngài với một tâm hồn cởi mở và một trái tim rộng lượng. Hãy giữ tâm hồn của chúng ta được trong sạch như chiếc áo cưới mới được mặc lên người mỗi khi chúng ta đến tham dự tiệc với Chúa Giêssu trong Thánh Thể. Chúng ta đã biết là phải tự trọng, chuẩn bị về thể xác, bên ngoài mỗi khi chúng ta được mời và tham dự ăn tiệc với những khách quý, vì thế chúng ta cũng phải biết chuẩn bị, làm sạch tâm hồn và lòng trí của chúng ta mỗi khi chúng ta đến tham dự bàn tiệc với Ngài trong Thánh Lễ. Qua bí tích Thánh Thể mà chúng ta có thể được chia sẻ, canh tân tinh thần với tình yêu của Thiên Chúa đối với chúng ta. Vì thế, chúng ta cũng phải nên biết lắng nghe lời của Ngài.

Chúng ta phải chuẩn bị cho bản thân và tâm hồn của chúng ta như thế nào để mỗi khi chúng ta tham dự và nhận lời mời gọi của Chúa Kitô trong mỗi thánh lễ?.

REFLECTION

The wedding banquet mentioned in today's Gospel reminds us of God's invitation and calling because it is here where we can encounter the covenant between love and life. Today's Gospel reminds us that Jesus established the Eucharist for everyone who is willing to listen and practice his teachings. He allowed his love to be available to all. It's a matter of choice; it's a matter of heart.

However, when we are called and invited to his table, we should accept his invitation with an open mind and an open heart. It is similar to wearing a clean wedding garment when we attend a banquet. We must prepare ourselves physically when we attend an invitation, but we must also cleanse our hearts and our minds when we accept the invitation to His banquet. It is through the Eucharist that we can share spiritual renewal not only because of God's love for us, but also by listening to his word.

How do we prepare ourselves when we accept his invitation?

Opening Prayer: 

Jesus, I want to respond to every invitation you extend to me. I know that your gifts are worthy of being esteemed above all else in my life and that to turn away from them for anything else, or to put anything in the way, would be foolishness. I know also that you are constantly reaching out to me, even though I am small and unworthy. Yet you choose me. Help me to be ready to hear your call to me this day, as I listen to your words.

Encountering Christ:

1. Rejecting a Gift: In today’s Gospel, we have two groups of people. The first are those who were given the first opportunity to enter into God’s kingdom, the wedding feast par excellence, the eternal feast of God’s kingdom. They should have dropped everything in order to participate in it. They didn’t realize that they were rejecting the greatest possible gift, the one thing that matters. We fall into this category when we sin. We settle for inferior things that leave us spiritually empty.

2. “Invite Whomever You Find”: The parable took a surprising twist when Christ put these words in the king’s mouth. Jesus said the guests could be good or bad; it mattered not. What must the apostles have thought? They might have been thinking to themselves “This is exactly what Jesus did with me. I wasn’t one of the learned ones. I wasn’t supposed to be God’s ‘first choice’ for a disciple. But he chose me.” It was at once a confirmation of their exaltedness and a reminder of their humility. He has chosen us, too, unworthy and ordinary as we are, to be his apostles.

3. No Wedding Garment?: Although we are no one extraordinary, humanly speaking, Our Lord wants us to take seriously the invitation we’ve received to participate in the wedding feast—the kingdom of God. As chosen friends of Christ, we are not to be presumptuous. The value of the kingdom cannot be underplayed; it must be respected and honored. We are called to do our part to always be prepared, with our lamps lit (Matthew 25:1-13). Our fidelity to daily prayer, the sacraments, and service to others will assure we are well-dressed for the feast.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, I am in awe that you choose me to be a part of your kingdom and feed me with the richest blessings. And you promise me this banquet for eternity. Save me from the pride of presumption, and help me to always guard my soul so that I may be a good apostle for your glory.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will make an act of humility, resisting the temptation to see myself as better than anyone else.

Suy niệm

Trong những năm tháng thời non trẻ của chúng ta, chúng ta có thể đã có kinh nghiệm tham gia tụ tập đông người, chúng ta đã không mặc trang phục thích hợp. Đó là đáng xấu hổ như chưa được mặc quần áo đúng. Như chúng ta đã lớn tuổi chúng ta đã học như thế nào và khi nào để ăn mặc cho một dịp.\

Trong dụ ngôn Tin Mừng mà là để "ném ánh sáng trên thiên đàng," vua trừng phạt những người đàn ông tại bữa tiệc đám cưới, người không mặc quần áo đúng. Nhà vua cảm thấy bị sỉ nhục mà một khách không mặc quần áo đúng cách tại đám cưới của con trai mình. Làm thế nào các khách nhận được vào bữa tiệc không mặc quần áo đúng cách? Đã trợ của nhà vua không cung cấp cho ông các hàng may mặc theo phong tục thuộc về ngày lể? Anh ấy đã từ chối mặc những gì được cung cấp?

Mỗi người chúng ta được mời đến bữa tiệc trên trời của Đức Chúa Trời. Chúng ta đã được ban cho ân tứ đức tin khi chúng ta đã được rửa tội; trong Giáo Hội Thiên Chúa của chúng ta được ban các bí tích và khác giúp để được tham gia xứng đáng tại bữa tiệc của Thiên Chúa.

Làm thế nào có chúng ta trả lời để chào của Thiên Chúa? Chúng ta đã sống lời thề rửa tội của chúng ta? Chúng ta đã đánh giá cao các bí tích của Thiên Chúa và giúp cho chúng ta? Chúng ta đã sống ra cuộc sống của chúng ta như vậy mà chúng ta trở thành khách xứng đáng để có mặt tại bữa tiệc tuyệt vời của Chúa?

Reflection:

In our younger years we may have experienced attending gatherings where we did not wear the proper attire. It was embarrassing not to have been properly dressed. As we grew in age we have learned how and when to dress for an occasion.

In the Gospel parable which was to "throw light on the kingdom of heaven," the king punished the man at the wedding banquet who was not properly dressed. The king felt insulted that a guest was not properly dressed at the wedding of his son. How did the guest get into the banquet not properly dressed? Did the king's assistants not offer him the customary festal garment? Did he refuse to wear what was offered?

Each one of us is invited to God's heavenly banquet. We were given the gift of faith when we were baptized; in God's Church we are given the sacraments and other helps to be worthy participants at God's banquet.

How have we responded to God's offers? Have we lived out our baptismal vows? Have we appreciated God's sacraments and helps to us? Have we lived out our lives such that we become guests worthy to be at the great banquet of the Lord?

Meditation: They would not come to the feast!

What can a royal wedding party tell us about God's kingdom? One of the most beautiful images used in the Scriptures to depict what heaven is like is the wedding celebration and royal feast given by the King for his newly-wed son and bride. Whatever grand feast we can imagine on earth, heaven is the feast of all feasts because the Lord of heaven and earth invites us to the most important banquet of all - not simply as bystanders or guests - but as members of Christ's own body, his bride the church! The last book in the Bible ends with an invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb - the Lord Jesus who offered his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and who now reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! (Revelations 22:17). The Lord Jesus invites us to be united with himself in his heavenly kingdom of peace and righteousness.

Whose interests come first - God or mine?

Why does Jesus' parable of the marriage feast seem to focus on an angry king who ends up punishing those who refused his invitation and who mistreated his servants? Jesus' parable contains two stories. The first has to do with the original guests invited to the marriage feast. The king had sent out invitations well in advance to his subjects, so they would have plenty of time to prepare for coming to the feast. How insulting for the invited guests to then refuse when the time for celebrating came! They made light of the King's request because they put their own interests above his. They not only insulted the King but the heir to the throne as well. The king's anger is justified because they openly refused to give the king the honor he was due. Jesus directed this warning to the Jews of his day, both to convey how much God wanted them to share in the joy of his kingdom, but also to give a warning about the consequences of refusing his Son, their Messiah and Savior.

An invitation we cannot refuse!

The second part of the story focuses on those who had no claim on the king and who would never have considered getting such an invitation. The "good and the bad" along the highways certainly referred to the Gentiles (non-Jews) and to sinners. This is certainly an invitation of grace - undeserved, unmerited favor and kindness! But this invitation also contains a warning for those who refuse it or who approach the wedding feast unworthily. God's grace is a free gift, but it is also an awesome responsibility.

God invites each of us as his friends to his heavenly banquet that we may celebrate with him and share in his joy. Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table? "Lord Jesus, may I always know the joy of living in your presence and grow in the hope of seeing you face to face in your everlasting kingdom."

Reflection: by Fr. David AMADO Fernández (Barcelona, Spain)

Today, the evangelic parable speaks of the banquet of the Kingdom. It is a recurrent example in Jesus' preaching. It has to do with that wedding feast that will happen at the end of time and that will be the union of Jesus with his Church. She is Christ's spouse that walks in our world but which will finally espouse his Beloved forever and ever. God Father has prepared that feast and He wants all men to be present. This is why He says to all of us «come to the wedding feast!» (Mt 22:4).

Notwithstanding, the parable has a tragic development, as many «paid no attention and went away, some to their fields, and others to their work...» (Mt 22:5). This is why, every day, God's mercy is, more often, addressed to the most distant persons. This is like the groom going to get married and invites his family and friends. But they do not wish to go; in view of what he decides to call his acquaintances and co-workers, but they come out with excuses; so finally, he calls the first persons he meets, because he has prepared a banquet and he wants to have guests at his table. Something very similar happens with God.

But the different characters appearing in the parable may also be images of the different states of our soul. Thanks to the grace of baptism we are God's friends and inheritors along with Christ: we have a place reserved for us in this banquet. If, however, we forget our condition of sons, God proceeds to treat us as acquaintances while maintaining his invitation. If we let the grace within us to die, then we become people found in any crossroad, just passers-by without a penny in matters of the Kingdom. Yet, God keeps on calling us. His call may reach us any time. It is by personal invitation. Nobody has any right to be there. It is God who finds us and tells us: «Come to the wedding!». And we have to receive this invitation with words and facts. This is why that guest who was not properly dressed is thrown out: «Friend, how did you get in without the wedding garment?» (Mt 22:12).

Reflection:

For those who love to eat, it's difficult to imagine anyone passing up a good meal, let alone an invitation to a feast fit for royalties. God invites everyone to His heavenly banquet. He excludes no one. But we must behave like invited guests and not as gate crashers. Even if God's invitation does not exclude anyone, we must honor it with our behavior of faith. In today's gospel, Jesus tells us that it is the Father that decides whom He will call, and only the Father chooses who will stay at the feast. As His servants, we have now become his friends because of Jesus. He welcomes all who choose to answer His call. The generosity of our King knows no bounds. God is a gracious King who wants to bless all of us, and bless us abundantly. All that He asks is that we accept His invitation, and that we "dress" for the occasion - by learning to live and to love like Christ. It is our choice. May we learn to hear His call to celebrate, to accept His blessings, to welcome those that the Lord sends our way in order to prepare us with our meeting with our King.