Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ Nhất Mùa Vọng

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ Nhất Mùa Vọng (Matthew 15:29-37)

Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, cho chúng ta thấy Chúa Giêsu đã có hai hành động mà cả hai hành động đó đều được đến qua lòng nhân hậu và từ bi của Thiên Chúa. Dân chúng và những người đang mang tất cả và đủ các thứ bệnh tật như bại liệt, xứt mẻ, đui mù, câm điếc và tất cả các thử bệnh khác…

Họ đến và ngồi dưới chân của Chúa Giêsu với lòng tin và hy vọng là Chúa sẽ cứu chữa họ được khỏi tất cả các bệnh tật. Những người này là những người đầy đau khổ, đau khổ vì tinh thần lẫn thể xác, họ đang cần những ơn lành của Chúa. Trái tim của Chúa đã cho họ, Ngài đã cứu chữa họ và ban cho họ những nhu cầu cần thiết riêng cho mỗi người, Ngài đã cho họ phục hồi sức khỏe trong thân xác lẫn tâm hồn. Họ đã ở lại với Chúa trong ba ngày mặc dù bị đói khát thực ăn phần xác, nhưng họ cảm thấy no đủ trong tinh thần vì họ đã có Chúa ở với họ. Họ không than thở với cơn đói khát của thân xác, Nhưng Chúa đã nhận thấy nhu cầu thân xác của họ và với lòng nhân từ của Ngài, nên ngài đã chủ động tìm cách ban phát của ăn thể chất để bồi dưỡng thân xác họ.

Hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu cũng đã nhận thấy những nhu cầu cần thiết cho thể xác và tâm hồn của chúng ta Như 2000 năm trước, Chúa Giêsu cũng có khả năng chữa lành tất cả những bệnh tật nơi chúng ta. Ngài có thể ban cho chúng ta những ơn phúc và những thứ cần thiết cho cuộc sống riêng của mỗi người tuỳ theo nhu cầu riêng của mỗi người chúng ta, Ngài cũng có thể tha thứ và cứu chữa chúng ta thoát khỏi được tất cả những tội lỗi và những mặc cảm tội lỗi đang khoả lấp trong linh hồn của chúng ta bằng hy vọng và niềm vui sống lại của Ngài, Chúng ta chỉ cần trở lại với Ngài trong niềm cảm tạ và biết ơn, trong tình yêu, trong đức tin, và sự mong muốn sức mạnh của lòng nhân hậu của Ngài sẽ tuân trào trên chúng ta để Ngài đem sức mạnh và niềm vui trọn vẹn của Ngài đến với chúng ta.

Hôm nay chúng ta đang sống trong Mùa Vọng. Chúng ta phải nên nhớ rằng Chúa Giêsu là Emmanuel, Thiên Chúa ở cùng chúng ta, và Ngài giúp ban cho chúng ta có được những nhu cầu cần thiết riêng cho mỗi người chúng ta.

REFLECTION

The incident described in this today's Gospel puts before us two of Jesus' acts, both of which flow from the deep sense of compassion that God has bestowed on him. The crowd that assembled about him had brought their sick, crippled, deformed, blind, mute and those beset with yet other diseases. They laid them at his feet and he cured them all. They were people suffering, people in need. His heart went out to them. He responded to their need, he gave them wholeness and health. The crowd had been with him for three days and had had nothing to eat. He then sees their need and his compassion moves him to take the initiative. He knows they are hungry and if he dismisses them now he knows they might grow faint on their way home. And so he moves to satisfy their need for nourishment.

Jesus is as compassionate and as loving today as he was during his public ministry. He is aware of our needs as he was of the crowds' needs 2,000 years ago. Today too, Jesus has the same healing powers he had when he walked this earth. He can provide us with the material blessings we need; he can also deliver us from sin and guilt and fill us with the joy of his risen life. We need only turn to him in thanksgiving, in love and in faith, and his eager, beneficent powers will flow over us, bringing us too wholeness and health. We are in the season of Advent. We must remember that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, helping us in our need.

Wednesday after 1st Sunday Of Advent

Opening Prayer: My Jesus, help me to sit and listen as you teach me, just as the crowds did on the mountain in Galilee all those years ago. Open my ears, mind, and heart that I might receive your word deeply. Feed me with the Bread of Life that I may never be hungry again (John 6:35).

Encountering Christ:

Superabundant Providence: The disciples collected seven loaves of bread and a few fish, but what was left at the end was exponential: seven baskets of leftovers, a basket for each loaf that was given. This is a wonderful demonstration of God’s superabundant providence. We give him what little we have and he gives it back to us in a much greater way. We sometimes resist giving God what we have because we think it is not enough. We hesitate even though we can recall the times when God has provided for us, often over and above what we needed. Why do we hold back?

Overflowing Abundance: Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” The multiplication of the loaves is an example of how Jesus came to share his abundant life with each one of us. Jesus came to give us eternal life, but also to give us a full, rich life of freedom in him here and now. This is the abundant life of which he spoke. By coming to the faith and “abiding,” or living, in Christ (John 15:4), we have a share in God’s divine life of grace. We can imagine ourselves there on the mountain sitting with Jesus, passing around the basket full of fish and bread. Like King David in today’s psalm, we look around and see all the good things that God has given us and exclaim, “my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).

Eucharist, Source of Life: When we pay attention to the meals or feasts in the Gospels, many of them point to the Eucharist. In the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to the people. Notice that the bread was specifically broken, which indicates dying. This is key to how it was multiplied. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The bread that was blessed, broken, and given is a biblical “type” of Eucharist. These are the same words that Matthew used to describe how Jesus instituted the Eucharist (Matthew 26:26). This is how the disciples on the road to Emmaus finally recognized him after his Resurrection: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:30-31). The Eucharist communicates Christ’s life, which is both abundant and eternal. One way to remain in Christ and receive life, both abundantly in this life and eternally, is to receive the Eucharist: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56).

Conversing with Christ: My Jesus, thank you for providing for me both when I have offered you my gifts and even when I have not. I am sorry for the times when I have held something back from you. Thank you for coming to give me a share in your abundant life. Help me abide in you by making my heart a place for you to abide in me.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace, I will consider what things I might be holding back from you and offer those things to you, trusting in your tender mercy.

Wednesday after 1st Sunday Of Advent

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, as I begin this prayer, I try to lift my heart up to you. I know you are delighted by my prayer today, and I will try to pray as best I can. That doesn’t mean I’m not lame or blind or hurting, but I’m fully confident that you will speak to me and even heal me, through the grace of prayer and the sacraments.

Encountering Christ:

1. Both Feet on the Ground: Advent lends itself to deep meditation on the Incarnation. Today, Jesus’s humanity comes out quite clearly. He walked along the seashore, as we like to do in moments of peace. He labored up a mountain, and probably sweat while doing it—as we toil when working. He felt the crush and smelled the crowd that pursued him, vying for his time and attention as our families vie for ours. Amidst our challenges, Christ does not forget us. Not only does his heart have compassion on us in our spiritual trials, but he takes into consideration our poor, beleaguered bodies as well. At times, he orders us to rest: “Just sit down!” he commanded the crowd.

2. Where in the World?: Like the crowd in the Gospel, we have also now been with Christ for these first three days of Advent. Perhaps we also feel that we have nothing to eat, that our efforts so far have been barren and that we might faint along the way to Christmas. The intense demands on our time and energy is so great that we can feel harassed or simply inadequate. With the disciples, we groan, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Our Lord doesn’t insist that we have all of our own resources to persevere. He simply works miracles with what little we freely give him.

3. Deep Satiety: Christ gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples in a manner heavily laden with Eucharistic symbolism. The Eucharist is the true food given us by God. It is existential food, which means that it gives meaning to our lives. When we eat bread, our stomachs are filled; when we eat Christ, all that we are and all that we desire is filled. The Eucharist is the solution to those persistent inner longings that we all have: longings for friendship, for love, for self-giving, for adventure, for meaning. As St. John Paul II said, “Jesus Christ is the answer to the question posed by every human life.”

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, help me to refocus on you and on the gift of your Body and Blood. Time and again I tiptoe around, tinkering with foolish things that will not satisfy my hunger for life, for truth, for meaning. Thank you for inviting me again to the mountaintop! Renew my desire to receive you in the Eucharist, so that I can feed those around me with your love.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will make a visit to you in the tabernacle, or if that’s not feasible, I will make a spiritual communion.