Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần I Thường Niên.

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần I Thường Niên. (Mark 1:40-45 )

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay chúng ta thấy người phong cùi đã tới gần Chúa Giêsu và cầu xin ngài chữa lành. Anh ta đã rụt rè khiêm tốn và chỉ dám đề nghị với Chúa rằng "Nếu Ngài muốn, Ngài có thể làm cho tôi sạch!" anh ta không dám năm nĩ xin Chúa Giêsu chữa anh ta, nhưng anh ta chỉ có ý là anh xin được theo như ý Chúa muốn mà thôi. Cũng vì cử chỉ khiêm tốn và lòng vững tin đó mà Chúa Giê-su đã động lòng thương xót, Ngài đã sốc vì cái sự rụt rè và khiêm tốn của người cùi này. "Tất nhiên Ta muốn, anh hãy nên sạch!"

Đôi khi những nỗi sợ hãi và những cảm xúc tiêu cực của chúng ta đã nhốt khoá chính mình trong bóng tối để không thể nhận ra Chúa và nhận ra được những ơn lành và long thương xót nơi Thiên Chúa. Chúng ta cần phải thực tâm và vững tin nơi lòng thương xót và từ bi của Thiên Chúa. Thiên Chúa luôn có sẵn lòng thương xót, và luôn sẵn sàngvgiúp đỡ chúng ta trong những nhu cầu riêng của chúng ta, nếu chúng ta biết phó thác và đạt niềm tin nơi Ngài. Một phép lạ cần phải có cả hai đối tượng để thực hiện đó là: Thiên Chúa và chúng ta ! Lạy Chúa, xin gia tăng đức tin của chúng con.

Thursday 1st Week in Ordinary Time

The leper was so used to having people run away in disgust and fear that he was afraid to even ask Jesus for healing. He timidly suggested that Jesus could heal him — but only if he wanted to! Jesus, moved with compassion, was shocked at the man’s timidity. ‘Of course I want to, be healed!’ Sometimes our own fear and negative feelings about ourselves blocks us from receiving help and healing from God. We need to really believe in our heart of hearts that God is compassionate, merciful, and eager to help us in our need. It takes two to make a miracle — God and us! Lord, increase my faith.

Thursday 1st Week in Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: Lord, how I need your healing in my own life! Today I kneel before you, and I beg, that if you wish, I may be made clean.

Encountering Christ:

Kneeling and Begging: Leprosy was a dreaded disease, and in the time of Jesus lepers were considered unclean and had to live segregated from society. The pain and discomfort of their illness were made even worse by the loss of the comfort they needed from other human beings. This leper was truly in a sad state. It took tremendous courage to break the societal rules isolating lepers and seek out Jesus. He prostrated himself and begged to be made clean. Even though this was a life or death matter for the leper, he didn’t demand healing from Jesus. Instead, he told Jesus that he knew his healing would occur only if Jesus wished it. Is this our posture when interceding with the Lord for blessings, conversion, healings, etc.? Do we beg in the words Jesus taught us during his Agony in the Garden, “yet, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39)?

Healing Touch: The leper’s bravery, faith, and humility were richly rewarded. Jesus did the unthinkable for a man of his time. He reached out and touched the leper, this man with a dreadful and highly contagious disease. Moved with pity, Jesus had not let the human revulsion and fear of contagion stop him from his healing mission. As “other Christs” we are called to reach out to the disenfranchised in much the same way Jesus did. Pope Francis calls all members of the church to be “welcoming those who do not think as we do, who do not have faith or who have lost it. Welcoming the persecuted, the unemployed. Welcoming the different cultures, of which our earth is so richly blessed. Welcoming sinners...” (Pope Francis, July 12, 2015).

Can You Keep a Secret?: Did Jesus know that it would be almost impossible for the leper to keep this healing a secret? Perhaps the leper tried to keep the secret—but how could he explain the fact that he had been deathly ill and was now the picture of health? As his amazing story spread throughout the region, Jesus and his followers felt the consequences. They couldn’t enter a town openly because of the crowds. As we will see later in the Gospels, the crowds still came to Jesus, so his ministry wasn’t thwarted by this man’s disobedience. Truly, God is never limited by our actions. But he desires our faithfulness and fidelity for our own good.

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, please make me aware of my deep need to be made clean. I place my mind, body, and soul into your care.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will make an act of faith, asking for healing of mind, body, and soul, if you will it.

Thursday 1st Week in Ordinary Time Mark 1:40-45

The poor leper was probably used to being rejected or viewed with fear and disgust. He timidly approached Jesus and said, ‘If you choose, you can heal me!’ Jesus was almost indignant ‘of course I choose, be healed!’ But Jesus did something unusual and unheard of he touched the man. He did not view him with fear or disgust, and he was not afraid of impurity or pollution by touching him. This acceptance, affirmation, and physical touch was a major part of the healing power of Jesus. We too heal by affirming and accepting others, as well as by willingness to reach across boundaries. Only fear holds us back, but as with Jesus, we can choose. Lord, may I be accepting and affirming of others.

Thursday 1st Week in Ordinary Time Mark 1:40-45

Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank you for this time together. I need you in my life and the life of my family. It is easy to let activities overwhelm me so that I lose track of you. You fade into the distance, and sometimes sin grows closer. But I know you are always there for me with your unconditional love. Thank you. I love you and long to put you first in my life.

Petition: Lord, wash me from my sins and help me to be detached from them.

1. If You Choose: A leper approaches and falls before Jesus. “If you choose, you can make me clean.” This leper couldn’t free himself from his disease any more than we can free ourselves from our sin. Leprosy was a fatal disease. It separated a man from his family and drove him outside his village to lonely places. Leprosy is a symbol of sin. Sin separates us from God and others. We need to approach Jesus with that same humility and trust we see in the leper. This story is for us, to show us Christ’s heart. It reveals his love and his desire to free us from sin. Am I convinced of the ugliness of all sin and how it defaces our souls?

2. I Do Choose: Jesus chose to heal the leper. Not only did he heal him, but he also touched him. He reached out to the loneliness of that man, and he touched his life to cure him of the disease. This reveals Christ’s heart so beautifully. Our sin never drives him away from us. He is always ready and willing to come to our aid if only we would cry out for his help. Am I capable of opening all of the inner wounds of my sins to Our Lord so that he can heal me, wash me clean and make me whole again?

3. Jesus Wants Us Free: Sin keeps us from being who we were meant to be. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Jesus was free from sin and so was free to love and serve others. He wasn’t compelled by greed or anger. He wasn’t moved by pride or impeded by laziness. He was free to love, and he loved to the extent of dying on a cross. Sin closes us in on ourselves. We get absorbed in ourselves, and others take the back seat – or no seat at all. How often do we say “no” to others and turn a blind eye to their needs? Isn’t it sin that blinds us and selfishness that impedes us from loving others as Christ loves us? Christ can free us from sin so that we are empowered to love as he loves.

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, I want to be free, but I need your help. Without you, I can do nothing. Help me to trust you and to turn to you. Don’t let me go off on my own as if I could keep fighting without you. Free me to love you. Free me to love others.

Resolution: I will pray Psalm 51 for myself and my loved ones.