Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Bẩy Tuần thứ Hai Mùa Chay
Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu đã dậy cho chúng ta một Dụ ngôn về người con hoang đàng, đây là một trong những câu chuyện Kinh Thánh hay có ý nghĩa nhất cho chúng ta. Vì câu chuyện này rất dễ hiểu cho nhiều người, và ít nhất là trong một mức độ nào, Chúng ta có thể suy ngẫm và để xác định chính mình và tự so sánh mình với người con hoang đàng những khi chúng ta suy niệm về những nhu cầu cần thiết vể sự ăn năn và sự tha thứ. của chúng ta.
Tuy nhiên, trong thực tế, hầu hết chúng ta ai cũng có xu hướng và hành động như con cả. Chúng ta không từ bỏ Thiên Chúa như là con thừ trẻ tuổi bị bỏ rơi cha mình, trù ẻo cha mình chết để lấy phần gia tài.. (theo phong tục và tập quán Do thái, Việc chia gia tài chỉ được thực hiện khi ngưòi cha đã chết, khi người cha còn sống mà người con đòi chia gia tài thì người đó là đứa con bất hiếu vì nó trù hay muốn cha mình chết để có quyền lấy phần gia tài của mình nơi người cha) . Chúng ta không đến nỗi bất hiếu như thế, chúng ta cũng không sống một cuộc sống phóng đãng. đồi truỵ và hoang sài tiền của phung phí. Hầu hết chúng ta là những người tử tế hết sức bình thường, chúng ta không phải là thánh sống và chúng ta cũng không những người đầy tội lỗi. Lỗi lầm và khuyết điểm của chúng ta đã biến chúng ta giống như con cả trong bài dụ ngôn là chúng ta ở lại ngay bên cạnh Chúa, chúng ta rất đạo đức, ngoan đạo, đọc kinh, đi dự lễ mỗi ngày hay mỗi Chúa nhật và chúng ta thực hành đức tin của chúng ta đầy đủ, nghĩa là cũng giữ chay, xưng tội rước lễ thường xuyên, nhưng đôi khi chúng ta quá gói ghém chính mình trong chính cái vỏ ốc của mình mà quên sự từ tâm và quên luôn cà sự biết cám ơn hay niết tri ơn những gì Thiên Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta.
Tội lỗi của người con cả là tội vô ơn và sự vô nghĩa đối với Cha của mình và tội ghen tương, ích kỷ đối với người em của mình. Qua bài dụ ngôn này, Chúa Giêsu muốn chúng ta phải biết thay đổi cách sống dưng dưng của chúng ta đối với người khác, không phải là chỉ biết ăn năn, nhưng chúng ta cũng phải biết tha thứ, cũng phải có tấm lòng tri ơn người khác, những ai đã giúp chúng ta dù ít hay nhiều, nhưng điều quan trọng nhất là chúng ta phải tỏ lòng biết ơn đối với Thiên Chúa, và cũng phải có lòng từ bi nhân hậu hơn đối với những người đi lạc lối, phản nghịch cùng chúng ta.
Lạy Chúa, Xin thương giúp chúng con mỗi khi chúng con phạm tội phản nghịch củng Chúa và người những người thân yêu chung quanh chung con như người con hoang đàng kia, xin Chúa hướng dẫn ban cho chúng con được ân sủng của sự ăn năn, biết can đảm tìm về với Chúa. Lạy Chúa xin giúp đánh động tâm hồn chúng con và đem đến với chúng con sự vui mừng, biết rộng lượng, tha thứ và lòng biết ơn mỗi khi tâm hồn của chúng con trở nên eo hẹp nhỏ mọn, vì sự ghen tỵ, ích kỷ đã biến chúng con thành kẻ vô ơn, bất nghĩa, không còn sự thông cảm cho người khác như người con lớn trong bài dụ ngôn,
Saturday 2nd Week of Lent
Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the greatest Biblical stories. It is easy for many people, at least in some degree, to identify themselves with the Prodigal Son as they reflect on their need for repentance and forgiveness. In reality, however, most of us rather tend to be like the elder son. We do not abandon God as the younger son abandoned his father. We do not live dissolute lives and or end up in a total mess. Most of us are very ordinary decent people — neither great saints nor great sinners. Our faults and failings mostly make us like the elder son: we stay with God, we are true to our religion and we practise our faith, but sometimes we are too wrapped up in ourselves and do not always appreciate what God gives us. The elder son’s sins were ingratitude and ungraciousness towards his Father and self-centred righteousness towards his younger brother. Praying over the parable from this perspective may lead us towards greater gratitude to God, and a greater compassion for those who do go astray.
Heavenly Father, when we are no better than the Prodigal Son, grant us the grace of repentance. When our narrowness of heart and our ingratitude make us unsympathetic to others, touch our hearts with gladness and gratitude.
Reflection:
In this parable the father represents our Lord God who is ever forgiving of our wrongdoings. He offers us mercy and allows us to repent so we may be able to receive His grace. The younger son has everything, and yet he chooses to live on his own. In the end when everything goes wrong and he has nowhere to go to and nothing to eat, he realizes his mistake. He lowers his pride and in words of a layman, he says, "Sorry." On the other hand, the elder son obeys and works for his father. Seeing his younger brother come back and his father accepting him with open arms maddens him. How come his hard work has not proved to have any reward to bear fruit, and yet his younger brother who has not even bothered to work received such rewards?
Sometimes some of us do not understand how God works. He gives blessings to those who have gone and come back and nothing to those who stay by His side. But is it really nothing? No. We work in order to give back what He has given us, and He has given us so much, even His only begotten Son. In verse 31, the Father voiced out that everything He has is ours and He is glad that we are by Him. This is the reward, of being by His side and being saved from sin.
Not only does this story apply in the family, but also in relationships, friends or in a stressful work area. Which characters are we in the story? Do you see yourself as the younger son, or as the elder son? We may already have heard this story countless times, but there will always be a new way to look at it.
Meditation:
How can you love someone who turns their back on you and still forgive them from the heart? The prophets remind us that God does not abandon us, even if we turn our backs on him (Micah 7:18). He calls us back to himself – over and over and over again. Jesus' story of the father and his two sons (sometimes called the parable of the prodigal son) is the longest parable in the gospels. What is the main point or focus of the story? Is it the contrast between an obedient and a disobedient son or is it between the warm reception given to a spendthrift son by his father and the cold reception given by the eldest son? Jesus contrasts the father's merciful love with the eldest son's somewhat harsh reaction to his errant brother and to the lavish party his joyful father throws for his repentant son. While the errant son had wasted his father's money, his father, nonetheless, maintained unbroken love for his son. The son, while he was away, learned a lot about himself. And he realized that his father had given him love which he had not returned. He had yet to learn about the depth of his father's love for him. His deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed on the husks of pigs and his reflection on all he had lost, led to his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father. While he hoped for reconciliation with his father, he could not have imagined a full restoration of relationship. The father did not need to speak words of forgiveness to his son; his actions spoke more loudly and clearly! The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet symbolize the new life – pure, worthy, and joyful – of anyone who returns to God.
The prodigal could not return to the garden of innocence, but he was welcomed and reinstated as a son. The errant son's dramatic change from grief and guilt to forgiveness and restoration express in picture-language the resurrection from the dead, a rebirth to new life from spiritual death. The parable also contrasts mercy and its opposite – unforgiveness. The father who had been wronged, was forgiving. But the eldest son, who had not been wronged, was unforgiving. His unforgiveness turns into contempt and pride. And his resentment leads to his isolation and estrangement from the community of forgiven sinners. In this parable Jesus gives a vivid picture of God and what God is like. God is truly kinder than us. He does not lose hope or give up when we stray. He rejoices in finding the lost and in welcoming them home. Do you know the joy of repentance and the restoration of relationship as a son or daughther of your heavenly Father?
"Lord Jesus, may I never doubt your love nor take for granted the mercy you have shown to me. Fill me with your transforming love that I may be merciful as you are merciful."
Reflection:
In this parable the father represents our Lord God who is ever forgiving of our wrongdoings. He offers us mercy and allows us to repent so we may be able to receive His grace. The younger son has everything, and yet he chooses to live on his own. In the end when everything goes wrong and he has nowhere to go to and nothing to eat, he realizes his mistake. He lowers his pride and in words of a layman, he says, "Sorry." On the other hand, the elder son obeys and works for his father. Seeing his younger brother come back and his father accepting him with open arms maddens him. How come his hard work has not proved to have any reward to bear fruit, and yet his younger brother who has not even bothered to work received such rewards?
Sometimes some of us do not understand how God works. He gives blessings to those who have gone and come back and nothing to those who stay by His side. But is it really nothing? No. We work in order to give back what He has given us, and He has given us so much, even His only begotten Son. In verse 31, the Father voiced out that everything He has is ours and He is glad that we are by Him. This is the reward, of being by His side and being saved from sin.
Not only does this story apply in the family, but also in relationships, friends or in a stressful work area. Which characters are we in the story? Do you see yourself as the younger son, or as the elder son? We may already have heard this story countless times, but there will always be a new way to look at it.
Meditation: Satiurday 2nd Week of Lent
I shall get up and go to my father. (Luke 15:18)
Imagine for a minute that you are the prodigal son. You have taken off with your father’s money and now have nothing to show for it. What you’ve done with it, you can’t mention out loud. You’re so deep in debt you can’t feed yourself, so you’re starving. Your life is so complicated that you can’t see any way out.
Mercifully, not many of us get to that point. And yet, some of us have had experiences we can’t mention in public. Some of us have squandered God’s grace recklessly or foolishly. Some of us are spiritually starving for God’s love and affection, forgiveness and affirmation.
If that’s you, do what the prodigal son did! Go to your heavenly Father, and tell him the truth about your life as only you know it. Tell him the worst that you know about yourself, and start a conversation with him. Yes, it can be frightening and humbling. The prodigal son probably struggled with those feelings, too. Say whatever occurs to you, or use the prodigal’s words, “Father, I have sinned and don’t deserve to be called your child.”
When you go to God like this, you’ll likely be amazed at his response. He won’t deal with you according to your sins! He is outrageously rich in mercy, love, and compassion. His kindness and goodness are limitless. And they are for you. So start the conversation this Lent. What have you done? What have you failed to do? What do you lack? What do you need? Get up and go to your Father, however ill-equipped or unprepared you feel. Go ahead and confess your sins. Celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and leave your sins at your Father’s feet. Then, let God meet you with the same joyful, generous, and kind welcome that the father in today’s reading had for his younger son. The psalmist tells us, “As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us” (Psalm 103:12). As parents feel for their children, God feels right now for you. He is waiting to take you in his arms and shower you with love!
“Father, I have sinned. Let me tell you about it today so that I can feel your love and kindness.”
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