Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần 18 TN Matthew 15:21-28,

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần 18 TN- Matthew 15:21-28,

Trong cuộc sống thường ngày, chúng ta hãy nghi ngờ vào sức mạnh và tình yêu thương của Thiên Chúa, vì trong cuộc sống của chúng ta đôi khi phải gặp những sự khốn khó và thử thách, chúng ta đã quên đi tất cả những lúc khi chúng ta đã được Thiên Chúa thương yêu, phù hộ và giúp đỡ, để rồi chúng a đi vào sự tuyệt vọng và danh mất niềm tin nơi Thiên Chúa

Chúng ta phải có thái độ giống như người phụ nữ Canaan trong phúc âm, bà đã kiên nhẫn khiêm tốn hạ mình để cầu xin Chúa Giêsu chữa lành con gái của bà. Với sự nhẫn nhục, bà đã không nẳn lòng, mất kiên nhẫn khi Chúa Giêsu đã ví bà chỉ đáng như loài chó, Nhưng với một lòng tin tưởng, với sự khiêm tốn thấp hèn, người phụ nữ đã , nhẫn nhục quyết tâm và tiếp tục cầu xin Chúa Giêsu cứu chữa con bà. Với lòng tin và sự khiêm tốn của bà, mà Chúa Giêsu đã cảm động và đã chữa lành cho con gái của bà.

Chúng ta có nhẫn nhục, kiên nhẫn, thành tâm và xác tín như người đàn bà xứ Canaan? Chúa Giêsu muốn giúp chúng ta mỗi khi chúng ta gặp phải những khó khăn, nhưng chúng ta phải đến với Chúa với lòng tin tưởng, với sự chân thành, với sự khiêm tốn và kính cẩn. Chúng ta phải cầu nguyện không ngừng để ân sủng thiêng liêng mà Chúa Giêsu sẽ ban cho chúng ta, nếu chúng ta có đủ kiên nhẫn và khiêm nhu. Thiên Chúa muốn ban cho chúng ta mọi thứ trên trời, nhưng Ngài vẫn luôn hằng mong đợi những tâm hồn có tấm lòng thực tâm mong muốn cầu xin Ngài với một đức tin chân thành.

Lạy Chúa Giêsu, tình yêu và lòng thương xót của Chúa không có giới hạn. Xin cho chúng con có thể tin tưởng vào Chúa luôn luôn và theo đuổi con đường của Chúa với sự bền bỉ bất khuất như người phụ nữ trong Phúc âm hôm nay, Xin Chúa cho chúng con có thêm lòng tin vào quyền năng cứu độ của Chúa, và giải thơát chúng con thoát khỏi mọi sự dữ.

Reflection

Today, we often hear the expression “faith has been lost”, and the same people who ask our communities the baptism of their children or the catechesis for their infants or the sacrament of marriage, say it. These words depict the world in a negative way while trying to convince us bygone times were better and that we are now at the end of an stage where there is nothing left for us to say or to do. Evidently, these are basically young people who, in its majority, watch rather sadly how the world has changed from their parents' times, who used to live perhaps a more popular faith, which they have not known how to adapt to. This experience leaves them unsatisfied and without any capacity of reaction when, in fact, they might find themselves at the gates of a new stage they could very well take advantage of.

This passage of the Gospel draws the attention to that Canaanite mother that demands grace for her daughter by recognizing in Jesus the Son of David: «Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon» (Mt 15:22). The Master is surprised: «Woman, how great is your faith!” and He can do nothing but to act in favour of those persons: «Let it be as you wish» (Mt 15:28), although this does not seem to fall within his schedule. However, God's grace is manifested in human realities.

Faith is not a privilege of a few, nor is it the property of those who thing they are so good or of those who have ever been good, and have this social or ecclesial label. God's action precedes any Church's action and the Holy Spirit is already acting upon persons we would have never suspected could bring us a message from God, a request in favour of the needy. St. Leo says: «My beloved, the virtue and wisdom of Christian faith are our love of God and of our neighbour: it does not miss any obligation to any pious works procuring to render God worship due to him and to help our brethren».\

Reflection on Matthew 15:21-28

Opening Prayer: Loving Father, on this day I offer to you all my heart, all my soul, everything I have and do. Through the intercession of St. John Vianney, give me both the grace to pray well and conversion of heart so I love you more and more.

Encountering Christ:

· The Silence of Jesus: The experience of God's silence can be hard to understand. But we must know that Jesus is gazing at us, loving us. And when he finds love and faith in our hearts, we are able to receive not only what we need but all of the gifts he plans to give us. Silence is a language we must learn and practice. “In our prayers we often find we are confronted by God’s silence, we feel, as it were, let down; it seems to us that God neither listens nor responds. Yet God’s silence, as happened to Jesus, does not indicate his absence. Christians know well that the Lord is present and listens, even in the darkness of pain, rejection, and loneliness” (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, March 7, 2012).

· He Got the Best From the Canaanite: Jesus was not absent to this woman but was giving her a better gift because silence can work to purify us of our earthly thoughts, selfishness, vanity, human trust, and pride. By silence, he tests and strengthens us. What are we able to give him in return? A stronger faith? Patience? Abandonment?

· Oh, Son of David: The silence of God is never indifferent toward us, but full of love and compassion. He knows us much better than we can know ourselves. The woman, by using the phrase “Son of David,” a messianic title, made an act of faith. She surrendered to the Lord. Jesus read faith in her heart and in silence loved her. In love, he healed her daughter.

Conversing with Christ: I love you, O my God and my sole desire is to love you until the last breath of my life. I love you, O infinitely lovable God and I prefer to die loving you than live one instant without loving you (extract of “Act of Love” by St. John Vianney).

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will examine my conscience well and try to go to confession this week.

Meditation: "Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire"

Do you ever feel "put-off" or ignored by the Lord?

This passage (Matthew 15:21) describes the only occasion in which Jesus ministered outside of Jewish territory. (Tyre and Sidon were fifty miles north of Israel and still exist today in modern Lebanon.) A Gentile woman, a foreigner who was not a member of the Jewish people, puts Jesus on the spot by pleading for his help. At first Jesus seemed to pay no attention to her, and this made his disciples feel embarrassed. Jesus does this to test the woman to awaken faith in her.

Jesus first tests the woman's faith

What did Jesus mean by the expression "throwing bread to the dogs"? The Jews often spoke of the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as "unclean dogs" since the Gentiles did not follow God's law and were excluded from God's covenant and favor with the people of Israel. For the Greeks the "dog" was a symbol of dishonor and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman. There is another reference to "dogs" in Matthew's Gospel where Jesus says to his disciples, "Do not give to dogs what is holy" (Matthew 7:6). Jesus tests this woman's faith to see if she is earnest in receiving holy things from the hand of a holy God. Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith - "even the dogs eat the crumbs".

Seek the Lord Jesus with expectant faith

Jesus praises a Gentile woman for her faith and for her love. She made the misery of her child her own and she was willing to suffer rebuff in order to obtain healing for her loved one. She also had indomitable persistence. Her faith grew in contact with the person of Jesus. She began with a request and she ended on her knees in worshipful prayer to the living God. No one who ever sought Jesus with earnest faith - whether Jew or Gentile - was refused his help. Do you seek the Lord Jesus with expectant faith?

"Lord Jesus, your love and mercy knows no bounds. May I trust you always and pursue you with indomitable persistence as this woman did. Increase my faith in your saving power and deliver me for all evil and harm. "

Introductory Prayer: 

Lord Jesus, I believe you want me to have faith in you, faith that listens to your words without any second-guessing. I hope in your words, not relying solely on my strength or reasoning. I love you. You continue to astonish me by showing me that your ways are not my ways.

Petition: Lord, fill my heart with gratitude and trust even when those I love suffer.

1. My daughter… “My daughter is tormented by a demon.” Sufferings of strangers stir our compassion. But when a son or daughter suffers, anguish can reach a fever pitch. Imagine the agony of the mother in this Gospel passage. Imagine the near-physical pain she felt in the depths of her heart. However, her love nourished her hope and propelled her to seek out Christ. When those we love suffer, we need the same wisdom to seek the Lord.

2. Unfathomed Dimensions: Only a mother or father knows the depths of his or her love for a child: “Words cannot express.…” We truly understand love when it involves people we know and love. Contemplate the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine the false accusations, scourging, humiliations, and crucifixion. Now imagine your son or daughter, or mom or dad or a loved one, suffering the same fate. Christ’s passion takes on a new dimension.

3. Our Title to God’s Grace: "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Faith and humility move Christ’s heart. How easily we adopt a spoiled-child mentality, believing that we deserve more. “The earth doesn’t owe you a living,” a sage once said. “It was here before you.” How much happier we are when we acknowledge our littleness and unworthiness, when we recognize our status as creatures of God who gives us life, breath, and every beat of our heart. All we possess is a gift of his creative love. How happy we are when we are grateful and let him know this a thousand times a day.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, I will praise and thank you a thousand times, and in a thousand ways for all you do for me. Even sufferings, I know, come from your hand for my greater good, although I may not always perceive the good at that moment. Give me the gratitude, faith, and trust to accept my cross and rejoice in your creative love for me.