Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần 23 TN- Luke 6:39-42.

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần 23 TN- Luke 6:39-42.

Trong Tin Mừng ngày hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta phải biết cách sống trong mối quan hệ với những người khác. Nhiều người trong chúng ta có xu hướng là thích phán xét người khác, thích tỉm kiếm những lỗi lầm hoặc thiếu sót của người khác để sửa sai họ, những lại không chịu nhận ra những cái sai lầm của chính mình. Có những lần hoặc nhiều lần chúng ta có thể đã muốn sửa sai người khác trong âm thầm, nhưng cũng có lúc bốc đồng, có những người trong chúng ta có thể đã thể hiện sự phán xét hay phán đoán người khác một cách công khai để gây sự chú ý cho mọi người biết tới những giới hạn của những người khác và để tỏ cho họ thấy sự thông minh của mình.

Hôm nay Chúa Giêsu kêu gọi chúng ta nên phải biết sống khiêm nhượng, từ tâm và bác ái hơn. Chúng ta phải luôn luôn nhớ rằng chúng ta không thể biết được những gì đang xảy ra trong lòng hay trong trí tuởng của người khác, nên chúng ta không thể biết và hiểu được họ đang nghĩ gì, và biết đâu họ có thể có những sự giải thích, hợp lý và thích đáng đằng sau cho những cái hành động của họ. Chúng ta không nên vội xét đoán và làm nô lệ cho những cái phản ứng bốc đồng của chúng ta. Thay vào đó, chúng ta cần thông cảm, hiệp thông với những người khác trong tình yêu thương và lòng nhân hậu của Chúa Giêsu, người mà hằng mong muốn được thu hút tất cả chúng ta vào nơi chính Ngài.

REFLECTION

In today's gospel Jesus is teaching us a way of living in relation to others. Perhaps we all have the experience of teaching others well because we have learned something ourselves. We cannot teach others what we have not learned ourselves. When we do have something to teach others, we still have to exercise caution. Many of us have a very human tendency to judge others, noticing their faults, mistakes, or shortcomings. We may have time and again did this in our hearts, but those of us who are impulsive may express this judgment by openly calling attention to the limitations of others.

Today Jesus asks us to be more charitable. We must always remember that we do not know what is going on in another person's heart, that we often do not have complete information, and that there may be a good explanation behind another person's actions. Let us not be slaves to our impulsive reactions. Instead, let us relate to others with the loving kindness and mercy of Jesus, who desires to draw all of us into himself.

Friday 23rd Ordinary Times

Opening Prayer: Come Holy Spirit. Open my heart and mind to your inspirations in this moment of prayer. Help me to know you better, love you more, and follow you more closely today.

Encountering Christ:

· Letting Christ Be Our Eyes: Christ has a way of asking questions that tap gently (or sometimes knock heavily) upon our heart’s door and open it to deep ponderings. “Can the blind person guide a blind person?” he asked his disciples. Of course, both will fall into a pit. But what does the deeper “knocking” of that question suggest to us? Perhaps it is an invitation to ask ourselves: “Who is leading me?” Are we being led by our own blindness or that of others? Christ wants to be our eyes. He wants us to learn to see what he sees in others, in circumstances, in our own selves, in God’s action in life, and in the world. Let’s linger in this moment of prayer and ask him where he wants to heal our blindness.

· Splinters and Beams: No student is superior to his teacher, but how fortunate if he can be like his teacher. What a grace to be just a bit more like Christ today, to see a bit more as he would, to respond a bit more as he would, to receive others with the mercy and kindness he would show. That classic phrase is actually a strikingly profound one: What would Jesus do? Or in other words, What does Jesus see here that I am missing? Perhaps the best way to differentiate between splinters and beams is to recognize our own “beams” before fixating on others’ splinters by letting Christ be our eyes, letting him inform and renew our vision.

· Removing Beams and Splinters: Since we are all children of God the Father, we are brothers and sisters with Christ as well. Christ is the only brother who can rightly say to us, “Let me take the beam from your eye,” because he knows us more perfectly than anyone else. He knows beams from splinters and can extract either with precision, causing us the least amount of pain and the most complete healing. Let us surrender to our Divine Physician, trusting in his gentle care for our soul.

Conversing with Christ: Christ, I open my heart before you. You see the beams that keep me from seeing what you see, and you are the Brother who has the power to remove them. Enlighten my mind and strengthen my heart to act on what you show me in this moment of prayer and in the circumstances of my life. I ask you for the grace to see with your eyes and heart.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will strive to focus on promptly answering what you’re asking of me, following your inspirations with a purity of intention.

REFLECTION

In the first reading, Paul writes that he certainly did not deserve to be in the presence of the Lord nor be in His service because he was "a blasphemer, a persecutor and a rabid enemy"; but, Jesus had mercy on him and changed his heart on the road to Damascus. Jesus gifted him with faith and love, making him trustworthy to be in his service. The same theme can be seen in today's gospel. A disciple of Jesus is one "who is not above the master, but when fully trained, he will be like his master." As true disciples, we are to behave like our Master. We are to conform our hearts to the heart of Jesus who is not critical of us and accepts us as sinners. Jesus encourages us to look into ourselves instead of judging those around us. So that we may follow his teachings more closely, we need his grace and his strength, as Paul says. We cannot do this on our own but only through God's gracious permission. We pray that one day, our character may mirror that of Jesus.