Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 33 TN.

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 33 TN.

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta hãy tự hỏi? Chúng ta sẽ phản ứng ra sao hay là sẽ phải làm những gì nếu Chúa Giêsu gõ cửa nhà của chúng và nói, "Ta phải lưu lại nhà ngươi hôm nay!" Chúng ta có thể vui mừng hay xấu hổ? Chúa Giêsu thường đến thăm chúng trong những lúc thật bất ngờ " những lúc không mời mà đến" người nghèo, người què, thậm chí tội lỗi công khai như Gia kêu là người thu thuế! (Người Thu thuế lúc bấy giờ thường được xem như hạng người phản bội, gian giảo nên bị đối xử như người ngoại bang không có thành thật vì họ làm giàu trên xương máu của người khác).

Ông Gia kêu là một người thu thuế trưởng và bị rất nhiều người thù ghét. Ông cần tình yêu thương xót của Thiên Chúa và trong cuộc gặp gỡ với Chúa Giêsu, ông ta đã tìm thấy lòng hương xót và tình yêu nơi Chúa Giêsu nhiều hơn những gì ông có thể tưởng tượng. Ông đã cho thấy sự ăn năn thống hối thật tình của mình bằng cách quyết định dâng cúng một nửa số gia tài của mình cho người nghèo và sử dụng một nửa khác đền bù thiệt hại cho những ai mà ông ta có sự gian lận. Những việc ông ta đã làm đẵ làm chứng còn nhiều hơn là những lời ông ta nói. Sự thay đổi tâm hồn của ông ta dẫn đến một sự thay đổi của cuộc sống, một sự thay đổi mà cả cộng đoàn có thể trải nghiệm chân thật.

Chúa luôn luôn sẵn sàng đến để làm niơi trú ngụ của Ngài trong chúng ta, măc dù chúng ta có tội lỗi nhiều đi đến đau năm, nếu chúng ta có lòng quyết tâm hối cải và biến đổi như Gia kêu, thì chúng ta phải dành chỗ cho Ngài trong tâm hồn, trong trái tim và trong gia đình của chúng ta, Và nhờ đó mà Ngài sẽ sống với và trong chúng ta mãi mãi.

Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa đến và ở lại với chúng con, xin Chúa khỏa lấp nhà chúng con với sự hiện diện của Chúa và lấp đầy tâm của chúng con với lời khen ngợi Chúa. Xin Chúa giúp chúng con biết thể hiện lòng tốt và lòng thương xót đến với mọi người, ngay cả những người chúng con không ưa thích và cà những người đã gây ra thiệt hại cho chúng con.

Reflection (SG)

What would you do if Jesus knocked on your door and said, “I must stay at your house today?” Would you be excited or embarrassed? Jesus often “dropped-in” at unexpected times and he often visited the “uninvited” — the poor, the lame, even public sinners like Zacchaeus, the tax collector! Tax collectors were despised and treated as outcasts, no doubt because they accumulated great wealth at the expense of others. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and was much hated by all the people.

Zacchaeus needed God’s merciful love and in his encounter with Jesus he found more than he imagined possible. He shows the depth of his repentance by deciding to give half of his goods to the poor and to use the other half for making restitution for fraud. Zacchaeus’ testimony included more than words. His change of heart resulted in a change of life, a change that the whole community could experience as genuine. The Lord is always ready to make his home with us. We have to make room for him in our hearts and in our home, so that he lives with us forever.

Lord, come and stay with me. Fill my home with your presence and fill my heart with your praise. Help me to show kindness and mercy to all, even those who cause me harm.

Tuesday 33rd Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: Good Jesus, I believe that you desire to spend this time with me much more than I know. I also wish to be with you, to open my heart to you, to receive your word, and to let you find and make your home in me. I trust in you. I love you. Come Holy Spirit, help me to pray.

Encountering Christ:

· A Seeker: There seems to be a contradiction in the first few lines of this passage. First, the evangelist Luke told us that Jesus “intended to pass through the town.” Then, “when Jesus reached the place,” he stopped. The reason his plans changed had a name: Zacchaeus. This little man with a great heart had the power to “change” Jesus’ course, to catch his eye. What was it in Zacchaeus’s heart that drew Jesus to him? Or was it the other way around—what was it about Jesus of Nazareth, a poor carpenter-turned-rabbi, a young but charismatic miracle worker, that attracted wealthy and preoccupied Zacchaeus? This passage expresses the timeless dynamic of the utter attraction of God to the soul who seeks him. Zacchaeus was a seeker, and no obstacle, not even the hustling crowds or his short stature, would keep him from that search.

· Zacchaeus Sought Jesus: Faith is kept alive not only in spiritual dispositions. It takes flesh and grows through concrete actions, daily choices. Zacchaeus sought Jesus in the midst of the crowd; he persevered through the difficulties and sought to overcome them. He saw where Jesus was going, ran ahead, and scurried up the tree, perching himself among the branches both to see and, probably, to be seen. What could Zacchaeus’s story have been had he never chosen and taken these actions? The Lord forever invites, never forces his invitation. Zacchaeus’s proactivity opened his heart to receive the Lord as he passed by.

· Jesus Sought Zacchaeus: None of Zacchaeus’s efforts were lost on Jesus. What must have been in Jesus’ heart as he set out on the road that day, knowing he would meet Zacchaeus? Did he see him running ahead, finding just the right sycamore tree to hold him up and let him see? How did he respond to Zacchaeus’s utter delight and surprise–almost defiance before the incredulity of the crowds–insisting that his conversion was real, that he was willing to amend his life and live his newfound faith with authenticity? This is the faith that draws the heart of God to the sinner, to the child in need—that was Zacchaeus and that is you and I.

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, you affirmed to Zacchaeus that you had come to seek and to save the lost. You speak this truth to my heart, too: you never tire of going out to seek me. I wish to seek you, too. Strengthen me by your grace to take daily, concrete actions which will open my heart and help me to receive your invitations. And may my faith, sincere though feeble, draw you to me, too. I need you, Lord, and I need you to never tire of seeking me out.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will look for and take concrete actions that will strengthen my faith and openness to you.

Reflection:

Eleazar's courage and faithfulness in the face of death as he refused to abandon the God of Israel and the prescriptions of the Law are the core of love of God: "voluntarily and valiantly for the sacred and holy laws, he gave himself over to death."

We can only give praise to God for such love and loyalty.

Seeing Zaccheus' great desire to see him as the sign of repentance and reform, Jesus invites himself to the house of a tax-collector, a sinner in the eyes of many, "Salvation has come to this house today, for he is also a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost."

As a response to Jesus' saving kindness, Zaccheus gives to the poor, "The half of my goods, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much."