Suy Niệm Thứ Tư tuần thứ Ba Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Thứ Tư tuần thứ Ba Phục Sinh

Qua bài đọc trong sách Công Vụ Tông đồ hôm nay cho chúng ta thấy sự lan truyền Tin Mừng , bắt đầu từ Jerusalem đến Roma và cả trái đất. Và chúng ta cũng thấy rằng với sự đàn áp và bạo hành đã được người Do thái áp dụng để ngăn cấm việc truyền bá Phúc Âm công khai chứ không phải là sự ngăn cấm thầm kín nữa. Và kết quả cuộc bức hại của Saulô (Thánh Phaolô), các Kitô hữu đầu tiên ở Jerusalem đã bị phân tán khắp nơi trong các khu vực của người Palestine, họ mang theo Đức Tin và sức mạnh Tin Mừng để cùng chia sẻ Tin Mừng cứu rỗi của Chúa Kitô với mọi người trong những thị trấn mà họ lẩn trốn tạm dung.

Thánh thần của Thiên Chúa đã làm việc qua các Tông Đồ, và những người tin theo các ngài. Thánh thần đã xuất hiện ngay cả những khi những kẻ thù của Tin Mừng có thể cho rằng họ đã thành công trong việc tàn phá Giáo Hội. Hôm nay chúng ta cũng phải tin tưởng rằng Thánh Thần là sức mạnh, mạnh hơn cả bất cứ một lực lượng nào của trần thế. Như chúng ta thấy, ngày nay Tin Mừng đã được lan rộng khắp nơi trên thế giới, ngay cả ở những quốc gia mà Giáo Hội vẫn tiếp tục bị bách hại.

Trong Tin Mừng, Chúa Giêsu đã tỏ mình cho mọi nguời biết Ngài là "Bánh hằng Sống". Việc hoá bánh ra nhiểu để nuôi 5.000 người là trọng tâm của tất cả bốn sách Tin Mừng, và đặc biệt nhất là Tin Mừng thánh Gioan đã nhấn mạnh ý nghĩa của nó, cả hai dấu chỉ như là một dấu hiệu cho thấy Đấng Cứu Thế đã đến ở giữa chúng ta, và cũng là một dấu hiệu để tiết lộ bản chất con người thật sự của Chúa Giêsu. Đây là lần đầu tiên thánh Gioan đã dùng các từ ngữ của ngôi thứ nhất (“Tôi”) để diễn đạt những lời của Chúa Giêsu phán trong Tin Mừng. Như bài đọc hôm nay Chúa Giêsu đã xác định: “Chính tôi là bánh trường sinh. Ai đến với tôi không hề phải đói, ai tin vào tôi, chẳng khát bao giờ?” (Jn 6:35). Chúa Giêsu đã đến để đem lại sự sống đời đời cho những ai tin vào Ngài.

Lạy Chúa, xin củng cố đức tin của chúng con, để chúng con luôn biết đặt niềm Tin của chúng con vào Chúa Giêsu để chúng con có thể được chia sẻ trong sự phục sinh với Chúa..

Reflection: SG 2016

The Acts of the Apostles relates for us the spread of the Good News, from Jerusalem to Rome and the whole earth. Today we see that even persecution has the effect of spreading the Gospel rather than suppressing it. As a result of Paul’s persecution, the early Christians of Jerusalem were dispersed throughout the Palestinian region and carried with them the Gospel and its liberating power, which they share with the people of the towns to which they flee.

God’s spirit is at work, even when appearances might suggest that the enemies of the Gospel were “laying waste to the Church.” Today we must also trust that the Spirit is stronger than any force that would try to crush it. We see today the spread of the Gospel, even in countries where the Church continues to be persecuted.

In the gospel reading, Jesus reveals himself as the “Bread of Life”. The feeding of the 5,000 is central to all four of the Gospels, and John’s gospel lays particular emphasis on its significance, both as a sign that the Messianic Age has arrived in our midst, and also as a sign revealing who Jesus really is. For the first time John places in the mouth of Jesus the grammatical formula “I am + (predicate)” — a formula which he will use continuously through the rest of his Gospel to reveal the various dimensions of Jesus identity. Today Jesus identifies Himself as that bread “which has come down from heaven,” to give eternal life to those who believe in him. Lord, deepen our faith in Jesus that we might share in His resurrection.

Wednesday 3rd Week of Easter

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, grant me simplicity of heart. Help me to know how much you love me and how much you desire for me to live with you forever.

Encountering Christ:

Believing: John 6, also called The Bread of Life discourse, is one of the most theologically complex chapters in the Gospel, and yet we must understand it to know who Jesus is! Jesus is the Father’s gift, the greatest gift. He sustains us in this life and makes eternal life possible. He invites us to feed on him, learn from him, and allow Him to transform our lives. In this passage, Jesus had just performed a great miracle by multiplying the loaves and fish to feed the five thousand (John 6:1-15). Then he walked on the stormy sea (John 6:16-21) where he declared I AM (John 6:20), harkening back to the stormy chaos of the beginning of the book of Genesis and the Exodus where God revealed himself to Moses as I AM. After a brief introduction (John 6:22-31), where the people were “seeking Jesus,” he began his most challenging sermon of all in John 6:35, where he declared, “I am the bread of life.” This teaching was not just philosophically challenging to first-century Jews—it was utterly disgusting. Their laws were clear. You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood (Leviticus 3:17). For us, more than two thousand years later, the teaching of the doctrine of the “Real Presence” can still be difficult, as is evidenced by the August 2019 Pew Research Study stating that just one-third of Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. Dismal statistics, indeed; yet, as Vatican II reminds us, “He is really, truly, and substantially present to us in the consecrated elements.” The Father works on people’s hearts and moves them to faith in Jesus. May he deepen our appreciation of the Eucharist.

Reconciling: St. Paul (Colossians 1:20) says that God’s whole purpose is to “reconcile all things” to himself. Jesus is the great gathering force for which the early Jews were waiting. He is the suffering servant, coming only to do his Father’s will, to defeat death, to open the gates of Heaven for us, to bring us home. Just as a hen gathers its chicks under its wings, Christ comes to set things right, to bring us back in line, or as the old song says, to “Gather Us In.” We can be confident when we pray and intercede for others that the Lord’s desires are even stronger than ours to “gather them in.”

Living: We’re all born with an immortal soul, which will live forever. Christ here helps us see with clarity what’s needed to gain eternal life and live forever with him: faith. That’s what he asked of Martha when she approached him after her brother Lazarus’s death. Jesus promises eternal life to those who believe. He, in his flesh, fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies. He is the Word, the wisdom of God, made flesh. He gives God a face. He makes the invisible visible. All this he does for us so that our faith will grow.

Conversing with Christ: Through faith in the Eucharistic mystery, help me to love and imitate you, to receive you Body and Blood reverently and frequently, and to boldly witness to the gift I have been given and the promise of eternal life.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace help me to grow in holiness and love, to make you the center of my life, by making the Eucharist the center of my life.

Reflection 2016

Jesus likened himself to bread, because it is a staple food. We all know that none of us could live very long without food. Without nourishment, our bodies would wither and eventually die. Just as food sustains our physical bodies, so does Jesus nourish our spirit.

In today's Gospel passage, when Jesus speaks of life, he means something more than mere physical existence. The life Jesus refers to is one connected to God the Father for all eternity. Jesus tells us that without him, no one can enter into a relationship with God.

"First he offers himself as spiritual food which produces the very life of God within us. Second, he promises unbroken friendship and freedom from the fear of being forsaken or cut off from God. Third, he offers us the hope of sharing in his resurrection. Those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior will be raised up to immortal life with Jesus when he comes again on the last day." (www.dailyscripture.net)

What are you feeding your spirit? Are you living to sustain your physical life, or are you nourishing your spirit with the love and light of Jesus?

Meditation: "I will raise you up at the last day"

Why did Jesus call himself the bread of life? The Jews understood that God promised them manna from heaven to sustain them on their journey to the promised land. Bread is the very staple of life. We could not live without food for very long. Bread sustains us. But what is life? Jesus clearly meant something more than mere physical existence. The life Jesus refers to is connected with God, the author of life. Real life is a relationship with the living God, a relationship of trust, love, obedience, peace, and joy. This is what Jesus makes possible for us - a loving relationship with God who created us for love with him. Apart from Jesus no one can enter that kind of life and relationship. Are you satisfied with mere physical existence or do you hunger for the abundant life which Jesus offers?

Jesus makes three claims here. First he offers himself as spiritual food which produces the very life of God within us. Second, he promises unbroken friendship and freedom from the fear of being forsaken or cut off from God. Third, he offers us the hope of sharing in his resurrection. Jesus rose physically never to die again. Those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior will be bodily raised up to immortal life with Jesus when he comes again on the last day. Do you know the joy and hope of the resurrection?

"Lord Jesus Christ, your death brought life and hope where there was once only despair and defeat. Give me the unshakable hope of everlasting life, the inexpressible joy of knowing your unfailing love, and the unwavering faith and obedience in doing the will of our Father in heaven."

Reflection: «Whoever comes to me shall never be hungry»

Today we see how much our hunger and our thirst concern God! How can we continue to think that God is indifferent to our sufferings? And yet, so often, we “refuse to believe” in the tender love that God has for each one of us. In hiding himself in the Eucharist, God manifests the incredible lengths He will go to in order to satiate our thirst and our hunger.

But what thirst and hunger are these? Ultimately it is the hunger and thirst for “eternal life”. Physical hunger and thirst is only a pale reflection of a deep desire each man has for a divine life that only Christ can give us. «This is the will of the Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall live with eternal life» (Jn 6,39). And what must we do to obtain this eternal life we so desire? Some heroic, superhuman feat? No, it is something much simpler for Jesus says: «Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away» (Jn 6,37). We simply have to turn up – to come to Him.

These words of Christ spur us to come to him daily in Mass. This is the easiest thing in the world: simply to turn up at Mass, pray and then receive his Body. Once we do this, we not only possess this new life, but we radiate it to others. Pope Francis, the then Cardinal Bergoglio, said in a Corpus Christi homily: «How beautiful it is, after receiving Holy Communion, to think of our lives as a prolonged Mass in which we bring the fruit of the presence of the Lord to the world of families, to the housing estates, to our study and work; thus we will also come to think of our life as a daily preparation for the Eucharist, in which the Lord takes everything that is ours and offers it once again to the Father».

«This is the will of the Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall live with eternal life»

Reflection:

Today Jesus reveals himself as the bread of life. At first sight, the definition He makes of himself is rather curious and paradoxical; but, when we dig into it a little further, we realize that with these words the meaning of his mission is clearly stated: to save man and give him a new life. «And the will of him who sent me is that I lose nothing of what He has given me, but instead that I raise it up on the last day» (Jn 6:39). This is why, to perpetuate his saving act of giving himself for us and his presence among us, Jesus Christ has become spiritual aliment for us.

God makes it possible for us to believe in Jesus Christ and get close to him: «Yet, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away. For I have come from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of the One who sent me» (Jn 6:37-38). Therefore, with our faith, let us get close to him who has decided to be our nourishment, our light and our life for, as Ignatius of Antioch affirms «faith is the principle of true life».

Jesus Christ invites us to follow him, to nourish ourselves through him, for this is what it means to see him and believe in him. At the same time, He shows us how to abide by his Father's will, just as He does. When teaching his disciples the prayer of the sons of God, the Lord's Prayer, He put together these two petitions: «Your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today the bread that we need». This refers not only to the material bread, but to Himself, as the bread of eternal life whom, day after day, we have to remain very close to with the profound cohesion the Holy Spirit provides us with.