Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy Tuần 25 TN

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy Tuần 25 TN Luke 9:43-45

Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu cho chúng ta sẽ biết rằng Chúa đang có một mối lo lắng và một gánh nặng rất to lớn, nếu như chúng ta chứng kiến được những lời cầu nguyện của Ngài trong khu vườn cây dầu vào đêm trước khi Ngài phải chịu nạn chúng ta có thể biết được Ngài đã phải mang cái gánh nặng này đã bao lâu rồi. Chúng ta có hai cách để đọc và suy nghĩ về bàiTin Mừng hôm nay.

1 - Chúng ta có thể đọc đó như là bài chia sẽ mà Chúa Giêsu muốn tâm sự. Ngài muốn chia sẻ gánh nặng này với những các môn đệ của Ngài và những ai muốn gần gũi với Ngài. Nhưng có lẽ họ không có đủ sức mạnh để hiểu và chịu đựng cái nỗi đau thương của Ngài.

2 - Chúng ta có thể đọc bài Tin Mừng hôm nay như là một lời cảnh cáo của Chúa Giêsu cho các môn đệ của Ngài biết rằng; Ngài muốn họ chuẩn bị tinh thần về sự đau khổ và cho cái chết của Ngài.

Trong những tháng năm cùng rao giảng tin mừng với các môn đệ, Chúa Giêsu có nói với các môn đệ nhiều lần rằng Ngài sẽ phải chịu đau khổ và sẽ bị giết. Nhưng có thể là họ không hiểu được những lời Chúa tiên báo này, họ chỉ mới nhớ lại những lời này sau khi Ngài đã chết đi và sống lại từ cõi chết và ghi nhớ lại những dữ kiện sau cái sự thực đau thương phũ phàng, với Thập Giá trong quá khứ, họ đã được biến đổi, và từ gánh nặng Thập giá đó họ sẽ có được sự mặc khải như bây giờ.

Chúa Giêsu biết những gì đang đến, sẽ đến và Ngài can đảm, cam kết sẽ thực thi theo ý muốn của Chúa Cha. Cho dù Ngài đã biết về sự đau khổ và phải chết trên Thập Giá nhục nhã trước khi Ngài đã tập đọc được những chữ cái đầu tiên hay Ngài chỉ biết được cái số phận của mình sau này, Ngài luôn luôn biết rằng Ngài sẽ làm theo ý Chúa Cha, mà không làm theo ý riêng mình. Lạy Chúa xin Giúp cúng con có can đảm để làm theo ý Chúa.

Reflection Saturday 25th Ordinary Time

I wonder when Jesus learned that he would die on the Cross, or if he always knew it. I mean to say, did he know it as a five-year-old boy or did he learn it at some point later in life? He was not taken by surprise: he teaches his disciples about the sufferings to come and he discusses the Cross with Elijah and Moses during the Transfiguration. We know that it was a great burden for him, as is clear from his prayers in the garden on the night before he died, but how long did he carry this burden?

It seems to me that there are two distinct ways to read the Gospel today. We could read it as Jesus trying to share this burden with those closest to him, but they are not strong enough to help bear it, or we could read it as Jesus, knowing that his disciples would not be able to bear the burden that he carried but also wanting to prepare his disciples for his death, tells them about the suffering and death to come, but prevents them from understanding.

In the year leading up to the Cross, Jesus told his disciples many times that he would suffer and die. They did not understand then, but after he died and rose from the dead they remembered these teachings. Remembering them after the fact, with the Cross in the past, they are transformed, from the burden they would have been, to the revelation they are now.

These words are a revelation because they teach us so much about Jesus Christ. Because of these words we know that he was fully aware of the death he would suffer, yet he does not say these words as a merely prescient person would. If you knew right now the death that awaits you, your first instinct would be to consider ways to avoid it, but Jesus does not begin planning ways to avoid his fate. He knows what is coming, and he is committed to doing the will of the Father. Whether he knew about the Cross before he learned his first words or if he did not know until the year before, he always knew that he would do the will of his Father, no matter what.

Saturday 25th Week in Ordinary

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I am grateful to have this time of prayer with you. Help me to grow in faith, hope, and love. Let me learn the lessons you wish to impart to me. I need your grace to renew, strengthen, and guide me in my discipleship. I also bring the souls entrusted to my intercession to you in this prayer.

Encountering Christ:

· They Were Amazed: It was easy to be amazed at the words and deeds of Jesus. He “taught them as one having authority” (Mark 1:22), and his miracles left people even more astounded, saying, “We have seen incredible things today” (Luke 5:26). Consequently, enlightened by grace, Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the “Messiah of God” (Luke 9:20). When Our Lord’s words inspired and his miracles cured countless people, it was easy to follow him. He was popular and admired, and some of his admiration would reflect upon his closest collaborators. They could feed off the excitement; they could bask in his glory. It is easy to follow Jesus when things are going well, when prayer brings us consolation, and when our ministry meets with success.

· The Son of Man Is to Be Handed Over: However, Our Lord warned his apostles on various occasions that his life would suffer an ignominious ending (Luke 9:22 and Luke 17:25). The willingness to suffer with and for Christ is an essential aspect of discipleship.“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). To “daily” take up one’s cross implies that denying oneself is a constant disposition, and not merely reserved for the end of life. There will be many sacrifices required of us when we choose to live like Christ. Self-denial goes hand in hand with living his precept of charity since it seeks to place the needs of others before our own comfort and preferences.

· They Did Not Understand: Christ’s teaching of self-denial is hard to understand and even harder to live. It goes contrary to our sinfulness, which seeks to affirm oneself at the expense of others. The Catechism states that sin is a “failure in genuine love for God and neighbor [which]… injures human solidarity” (CCC 1849). Therefore, to renew charity in our lives, grace will pull us against the current of our selfishness: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat” (John 12:24). However, it is in dying to self that we can produce “much fruit” (John 12:24). We can only understand this principle with grace and experience.

Conversing with Christ: Dear Jesus, throughout my life I have received countless graces from you, which have brought me great joy: consolation in prayer, answered prayers, protection from harm and assistance with many needs, blessings at work and in my family. Help me also to appreciate the blessings that are costly, that challenge my comfort and way of thinking. Let me realize in practice that “all things work for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28).

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will reflect on how some of the difficult moments in my life have brought blessings.

Saturday-25th Week in Ordinary 2013

Scripture frequently uses the image of a shepherd to speak of God’s protecting love and care for us, as in the passage from Jeremiah which serves as our responsorial Psalm today. People who have grown up with a religious life nourished by the word of Scripture have probably assimilated the image to such an extent that they find no problem with the image and are even moved to great devotion by singing “The Lord is my shepherd”.

Since, however, we mostly live in urban areas and not in a nomadic culture where actual shepherds do guide and care for their flocks of sheep, it is beneficial and at times even necessary for us to re-think the image of a shepherd and try to reach a real understanding of the truth which Scripture conveys to us. Many other biblical images are no longer part of our urbanized culture and social ambience and need to be re-thought.

Even Jesus’ disciples found it difficult to understand his message, partly because the notion of a suffering Messiah did not make any sense to them. So then, through prayer and reflection, we need to personalize our religion and cultivate a relationship with God that makes spiritual sense to us and strengthens our faith. Lord, bless us with the strengthening experience of Your protective love.

REFLECTION

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tries to convey to his disciples a correct view of his mission, but they simply do not understand. The notion of a suffering Messiah is just too much for them to grasp. They even hesitate to inquire more deeply about it. They could understand Jesus' miracles. They could understand the traditional Jewish concept of a conquering Messiah. But the idea of a Messiah who would be killed was totally foreign to them. It seemed like complete defeat.

After Pentecost, however, their eyes would be opened. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they would come "to understand fully the mystery, the plan God was pleased to decree in Christ to reconcile everything in his person both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross." With the Spirit they could see beyond the externals of life and religion, and see into the very heart of God. This heart is a heart of love. It is also a heart of mystery. It lives by dying for those it loves. It is glorified in being humbled for those it loves. It is given abundant wealth by becoming poor so that those it loves might share in its wealth. These things are all paradoxes. They are all mystery. Yet they all boldly and clearly proclaim the truth of God's love. This love was most dearly revealed in the death of God's Son, Jesus Christ.

Do we understand this mystery, or do we still seek a Messiah who will come in worldly victory? Do we really seek the action of the Spirit in our life so we might understand this mystery? Do we really allow ourselves to be daily born again in his love by coming to share in a daily death to selfishness and sin? As a Church we must not allow ourselves to remain in ignorance. We must be born again in the true sense of the word.