Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần 31 Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thừ Sáu Tuần 31 Thường Niên. Luke 16:1-8.

Có một câu chuyện kể rằng, Ở làng nghèo xứ đó, có hai mẹ con sống với nhau trong cảnh nghẻo túng, Khi người con trai lớn lên, anh đã yêu một người phụ nữ, nhưng người phụ nữ này không tha thiết với anh ta lắm. Vì thế có một lúc anh ta đã nói với cô ta rằng: anh sẽ làm bất cứ điều gì cô ấy muốn nếu cô ấy đồng ý kết hôn với anh ta. Cô ta nghe thế mới nói đùa với anh ta la: "Tôi sẽ chỉ đồng ý kết hôn với anh nếu anh móc trái tim của mẹ anh ra và mang đến cho tôi. Chỉ bằng cách này, anh mới có thể chứng minh được tình yêu của anh " Thế rồi tối hôm ấy, trong bóng tối của màn đêm anh chàng trai này đã vào phòng của mẹ anh, lấy dao nhọn và đâm vào long ngực mẹ mình, anh ta cắt trái tim của mẹ mình, cầm trái tim rên tay với bàn tay vấy máu và chạy tới nhà của người phụ nữ anh yêu. Nhưng trong khi chạy với trái tim của mẹ anh trong tay, anh vấp ngã. Trái tim của mẹ anh đã nói với anh: "Hãy cẩn thận, con trai của mẹ."

Người con trai si tình đã nghĩ sai khi tin rằng nếu anh ta có thể có được trái tim của mẹ mình, anh ta sẽ giành được chiến thắng và chiếm được trái tim của người phụ nữ anh yêu. "Hãy cẩn thận con trai của mẹ..." mẹ của anh dường như đã nhẹ nhàng nhắc nhở anh: rằng " Hãy cẩn thận con ơi, Tìm cho đúng nơi để đặt trái tim của con, con trai của mẹ. "

Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, ông chủ ca ngợi người quản lý không phải vì sự bất trung, xảo quyệt của người đầy tớ, nhưng vì sự thận trọng, biết tính toán tương lai của anh ta. Qua 2 câu chuyện, Chúa Giêsu đã dạy chúng ta ngày hôm nay là nếu chúng ta muốn trở nên con cái thực sự và đáng yêu của sự sáng, chúng ta cần phải đoán quyết, biết sáng tạo và khôn ngoan trong việc xử dụng thời gian và nỗ lực của chúng ta trong việc theo chân Chúa khi chúng ta thực hiện các hoạt động và sinh hoạt trần thế của chúng ta.

Friday 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time Rom. 15:14-21; Lk. 16:1-8

Once there lived a poor mother and her son. When he grew up, he fell in love with a woman who was not serious about him. He told her he would do anything she ask if only she would marry him. Half in jest, she told him: “I will only marry you if you cut out your mother’s heart and bring it to me. Only in this way can you prove your love.” In the darkness of the night he went into his mother’s room, took from his belt a knife and plunged it into her breast. He cut her heart and run with bloodstained hands towards the home of his loved one. As he ran with the heart of his mother in his hands, he stumbled and fell. His mother’s heart said to him: “Be careful, my son.” The son wrongly believed that if only he could get the heart of his mother he would win the heart of the woman he loved. Be careful my son…” It was as though his mother was gently reminding him: “”be careful where you put your heart, my son.”

In today’s gospel, the master praises the steward not for his dishonesty but for his prudence.

Jesus is teaching us today that if we are to be real and effective children of light we need to be decisive, creative and wise in spending our time and effort in following God’s as we carry out our worldly activities.

Friday 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: Lord God, thank you for this day. Thank you for creating and redeeming me. I praise you for your goodness, wisdom, and beauty. Help me to grow more like you through my prayer today.

Encountering Christ:

· The Lure of Money: This unusual passage is part of a chapter-long discourse concerning money which is unique to Luke’s Gospel. In tomorrow’s Gospel, we will hear how one cannot serve both God and money, and at the end of the chapter, we hear the poignant story of the rich man and Lazarus. In Luke 16:14, the center point of the chapter, we learn who Jesus had in mind during this discourse: “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him.” Of course, God created us all, and he knows exactly how each one of us feels about money, whether we have a lot or very little. Let’s pray with transparency about the treasures with which Our Lord has entrusted us, asking what he would have us do with them. He calls us to use our treasures prudently, to put them to good use here on earth so as to reap eternal dividends.

· I Know What to Do: We are struck by the steward’s acute situational analysis. “What shall I do?... I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. [But] I know what I shall do…” We envy him for this ability to put his finger on the problem and choose a fitting solution. Our lives, on the other hand, can be filled with doubt, and sometimes with sin. We ask: “What shall I do, now that my sin has distanced me from God? I am not strong enough to stop sinning, and I am ashamed to beg for help. I don’t know what to do!” In this passage, the Lord encourages us to act and to act shrewdly. We are not to remain indecisive, but to step away from sin and act as a child of the light. Let us summon our strength–aided by grace–in order to right our ship and restore our friendship with God through the sacrament of Confession.

· Right Stewardship: It is interesting to note the crisis which set the parable in motion: “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property.” Why would a prudent steward, one capable of “dealing with those of his own generation” and “finding welcome in their homes,” be so careless as to squander his master’s property? Perhaps he squandered his master’s property to make his own life easy and comfortable. Let us always remember that all that we have belongs to God. We are custodians of creation and of souls he has put in our care. If we are careless with his “property,” God one day will call us to account for our carelessness. But if we cherish and guard the things of God and the people he has put in our life, we are really cherishing and guarding our own happiness and security in Christ.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, grant me the grace of true prudence—the kind of prudence which seeks first the Kingdom of God. I know that you will give me everything else besides. Teach me to live as a child of the light.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will trust in you and the graces you wish to give me so that I can take up the habit of tithing.

Friday 31st

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord, I come before you asking to grow in faith, hope, and love. Grant me the grace to know and love you just a little more today. May I listen to your words attentively so that I can respond with deliberate obedience. Lord, I trust that you will give me what I need to fulfill your holy will.

Encountering Christ:

1. “The Children of This World Are More Prudent”: We note a tinge of sadness in Our Lord’s comment, “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.’’ In other words, people strive more intensely for the things of this world than his followers do in pursuit of the kingdom of God. The children of the world engage their intellect, will, and imagination to gain wealth, popularity, power, and comfort. They know what they want and they pursue it. While the object they pursue is ephemeral, the intensity with which they pursue it is admirable. Our Lord wants to see his followers live with that same intensity. In the Book of Revelation he says, “I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

2. Want the Kingdom of God: As Christians we believe in the primacy of grace; therefore, we must principally rely on prayer and the sacraments to help establish God’s kingdom in our hearts and in the world. However, it is a frequent temptation to equate confidence in grace with indolence. St. James writes, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?... Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works” (James 2:14,18). Activism is relying too much on our work without grace. Our faith should spur us to action. To be obedient to God is to do what he asks, to take action. This does not preclude that at times we must wait; however, eventually we must act. Docility to God’s will and passivity are not the same thing; a race horse can be docile to the jockey running at full speed.

3. Creativity Born of Desire: The church and the world need Christians proactively seeking to serve where need is greatest. The saints have been eloquent models of such initiative. St. John Bosco saw the displaced boys in the streets due to the industrial revolution, so he started an orphanage and trade schools. Dr. Moscati served his community as a medical doctor and researcher. St. Katharine Drexel saw the struggles of African-Americans and Native Americans, so she founded schools for them. St. Teresa of Calcutta saw the homeless dying unloved in the streets, so she created homes for the dying. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through prayer and Scripture, but also through our talents and the needs around us. We must prayerfully discern to see where and how God is asking us to serve.

Conversing with Christ: Dear Lord Jesus, you have created me to know, love, and serve you. You have given me the skills, experiences, and opportunities to serve. Open my eyes and heart to discover those souls whom you choose to touch through me, whether it be through corporal or spiritual works of mercy—or both. May I one day, after a lifetime of service, hear you tell me “Well done, my good and faithful servant…Come, share your master’s joy” (Matthew 25:21).

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will take sometime today to reflect prayerfully on my mission to serve. Am I serving where I ought? Should I keep the course or make some changes? What are some of the unmet needs I see around me where I might be useful?

Friday 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Rom. 15:14-21; Lk. 16:1-8)

We do not know how the administrator in the gospel parable was failing to perform his duty for his master. Perhaps he had gotten lazy or had gotten complacent and had stopped giving his best effort and so was merely negligent or perhaps was actually incompetent. Whatever he had done or had failed to do, it cost him his job. He does not seem surprised that his poor performance has merited his termination. The really sad part is that it is his notice of termination that prompts him to be creative, to be astute and to finally get to work. If he had been this creative and diligent all along, he probably would not have lost his job!

The scriptures call us to not get lazy or complacent or to rest on our past achievements. All of us have a task to do, a part to contribute towards the coming of God’s reign and this work is ongoing throughout the whole of our lives. We cannot ever think we’ve completed our part and deserve to rest in the sweet praises of what we once had accomplished no more than we can delay until the approaching termination of our days on earth to spark us into action. We are called to make good use of the things of this world without becoming tainted by having used them, always remembering that things are not what are most important and they are always ultimately left behind. Lord, with Your grace and wisdom may we make good use of the blessings we receive in this life to benefit ourselves and our brothers and sisters.

Meditation:

Do you make good use of your money and possessions? Jesus seemed to praise a steward (a manager entrusted with his master's goods) who misused his employer's money. What did the steward do that made Jesus praise him? The steward was responsible for managing his wealthy landowner's property. The steward very likely overcharged his master's tenants for their use of the land and kept more than his fair share of the profit. When the landowner discovers the steward's dishonest practice he immediately removes him from his job, leaving him penniless and ashamed to beg or do manual work. Before news of his dismissal becomes public knowledge, the shrewd steward strikes a deal with his master's debtors. In discounting their debts he probably was giving up his generous commission. Such a deal won him great favor with the debtors. Since he acted as the landowner's agent, such a deal made his master look very generous and forgiving towards those who owned him money. Surely everyone would praise such a generous landowner as the town hero! Since the master could not undo the steward's cancellation of the debts without losing face and making his debtors resent him, he praises the steward for outwitting him as a generous and merciful landowner.

Jesus obviously thought that the example of a very clever steward would be a perfect illustration for a spiritual lesson about God and how God treats those who belong to his kingdom! What's the point of Jesus's parable? The dishonest steward is commended not for mishandling his master's wealth, but for his shrewd provision in averting personal disaster and in securing his future livelihood. The original meaning of "shrewdness" is "foresight". A shrewd person grasps a critical situation with resolution, foresight, and the determination to avoid serious loss or disaster. Jesus is concerned here with something more critical than a financial or economic crisis. His concern is that we avert spiritual crisis and personal moral disaster through the exercise of faith and foresight. If Christians would only expend as much foresight and energy to spiritual matters which have eternal consequences as much as they do to earthly matters which have temporal consequences, then they would be truly better off, both in this life and in the age to come.

Ambrose, a 4th century bishop said: The bosoms of the poor, the houses of widows, the mouths of children are the barns which last forever. True wealth consists not in what we keep but in what we give away. Possessions are a great responsibility. The Lord expects us to use them honestly and responsibly and to put them at his service and the service of others. We belong to God and all that we have is his as well. He expects us to make a good return on what he gives us. God loves generosity and he gives liberally to those who share his gifts with others. The Pharisees, however, had no room for God or others in their hearts. The gospel says they were lovers of money (Luke 16:14). Love of money and wealth crowd out love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus makes clear that our hearts must either be possessed by God's love or our hearts will be possessed by the love of something else. What do you most treasure in your heart?

"Lord Jesus, all that I have is a gift from you. May I love you freely and generously with all that I possess. Help me to be a wise and faithful steward of the resources you put at my disposal, including the use of my time, money, and possessions."

WAU- Meditation: Romans 15:14-21 - 31st Week in Ordinary Time

I myself am convinced … that you yourselves are full of goodness. (Romans 15:14)

Have you ever seen a giant sequoia tree up close? As the largest, oldest, and fastest-growing trees, a sequoia can grow as tall as a twenty-six-story building. Standing next to one, you can’t help but be overwhelmed by its immensity and majesty.

Did you know that these massive trees grow from a seed the size of a flake of oatmeal? But not every seed that is germinated turns into such a towering piece of art. In fact, there is a one-hundred-year-old sequoia whose trunk is no bigger than a fifty-cent piece! So how can some sequoias grow so big, while others stay so small?

One key is a nurturing environment. Trees that get good food and plenty of light are more apt to grow to their full size. Given the right environment, a tree that is already two thousand years old will grow faster than a younger tree.

The other secret is fire. Scientists used to try to keep fire away from the old sequoias, but they discovered that the trees actually needed occasional fires in order to fully open their seeds and clear the forest floor so that they could take root and grow. In today’s first reading, Paul tells the Romans that God has filled them with goodness, knowledge, and the ability to help one another on the road to holiness. He tells them that their seeds can grow into something big if they build the right environment amongst them. In other places, he tells them that even the “fire” of challenges can help them grow (Romans 5:1-5).

How about you? Are you going to be the sequoia that soaks in the soil and sun and prospers? Or will you be the little one, filled with all kinds of potential, but never really making the most of it? In prayer today, let the Lord show you all the potential you have. Let his light and his living water nourish you. Let him burn away the weeds that hinder you. Yes, you are full of goodness! Turn to the Lord, and let that goodness grow and grow and grow.

“Lord, help me recognize all the goodness and knowledge that you have already given me. Help me use these gifts to grow into the person that you want me to become.”

Reflection

In the first reading, St. Paul insists on the need to preach the Good News to those who have not heard of it yet. This is because he knew, as we also know, that many people live in darkness and are full of problems, and they do not know the solutions to these problems. The Good News answers them and gives them hope – hope of change, hope of salvation and hope of a new life in Christ. The Good News tells us simply that true life and happiness is in experiencing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The gospel is a bit tricky. It seems the steward is causing his master to lose money just so he makes friends with his master's debtors. But when the master hears of what he has done, he was not angry and he even praised his steward for his astuteness. Obviously the master is not concerned about the loss of some of his money. For him, if we can give up some money to gain friends, why not? Therefore, money must not be worshipped or hoarded endlessly. Instead it should be used by us to gain friends and so generosity is the order of the day. The master is very wise because he knows the real purpose of money – to be shared and used properly for the benefit of others.

REFLECTION

The shrewd manager in Luke was a source of disappointment to his master. He did not take care of his master's resources. He succumbed to temptations of evil. As a result, he lost the trust of his master and his stable job. To move on, the manager made use of his available resources wisely to start all over again. He gave away what he could profit from debt collection in exchange friendship and `amor' from others. Like the shrewd manager, we always have decisions to make that affect our life and the life of others. Our decisions may bring us up or down. Our actions may be a source of inspiration or desperation for others.

Making decisions in today's world is more challenging as ever. With the evolution of the latest information technologies, many have access to immense data. It presents many options that make our life complicated, our decision making process more difficult. We follow the trend, what is "in" and what is popular. But, do these bring us genuine peace and joy? St. Paul's letter to the Phillippians is timeless. It reminded the early Christians to stand firm in the Lord. To imitate and follow what is right. To live a life centered in Christ. It is a reminder for us also. With the life of Christ, we have standards on how to make decisions in life.