Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật 5th Easter (Gioan 13,31-33a.34-35)
"Điều răn mới": "Hãy sống trong Chúa Giêsu và hãy hành động như Chúa Giêsu"
Hôm nay, sau khi Giu-đa phản bội Chúa bỏ đi, Chúa Giêsu mời gọi các môn đệ một lần nữa là hãy rửa chân cho nhau, "nếu Thầy là Chúa, là Thầy, mà còn rửa chân cho anh em, thì anh em cũng phải rửa chân cho nhau.´"(Ga 13:14). Những gì bao gồm trong sự đổi mới của điều răn mới?
Sự đổi mới của điều răn mới được thể hiện bằng câu "hãy yêu thương nhau, như Thầy đã yêu thương anh em", có nghĩa là, như một hậu quả của nỗ lực luân lý khắc nghiệt. Tuy nhiên sự đổi mới thực sự của điều răn mới không phải là bao gồm những sự đòi hỏi luân lý nâng cao. Sự cần thiết trong những lời này là "bản thể" của một đấng đã được ban cho chúng ta. việc đổi mới chỉ có thể đến từ sự hiệp thông với Chúa Kitô, sống trong Ngài. chỉ khi chúng ta cho phép chúng ta được rửa chân một lần và một lần nữa, nếu chúng ta cho phép chúng ta được "thanh lọc" bởi chính Chúa, chúng ta có thể học được cách hành động, cùng với Ngài, những gì Ngài đã hành động nơi cúng ta.
Để con người chúng ta được sống và được hành động trong Ngài. Thánh Phaolô đã nói trong thư viết cho Galata như sau "Tôi sống, nhưng không còn phải là tôi, mà là Đức Ki-tô sống trong tôi." (Gl 2:20) - là những gì thật sự mới trong điều răn mới
Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C
Opening Prayer: Lord, thank you for these consoling verses of Scripture. Penetrate my mind and heart as I read and meditate on these words today.
Encountering Christ:
0. We Will Dwell With You: The way of a Christian can be difficult—full of doubt, questions, sacrifice, and persecution. But our struggle to keep the word of God is never fought alone. Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit dwell in a soul that keeps the Father’s commandments. This indwelling of the Trinity brings with it unique and beautiful gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. It’s a spiritual reality that is not as perceptible as human accompaniment, but it is infinitely more powerful. St. Teresa of Avila offers this encouragement: “I only beg you to test it (by interior recollection), even at the cost of a little trouble. I assure you…you will find him within you.”
1. The Peace of Christ: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Our Lord promises us peace, but not the world’s version. This heavenly peace can calm a soul in the midst of suffering or grief, not necessarily by taking away the emotional pain but by bringing awareness to the suffering soul that Christ is present. To feel his closeness, his love and affection for us, and his compassion for our sorrow and pain, is a balm no human remedy can match. Our Lord, in his parting words, could have offered any number of blessings, but he showered his disciples with peace and urged them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” When we are worried or anxious, the peace of Christ is available to us for the asking as beloved sons and daughters of the Father.
2. Please Believe: These lines of Scripture contain some of the most beautiful promises Our Lord made to his disciples (and to us). He tells us the Trinity dwells in obedient souls. Christ wants to leave his peace with us. The Holy Spirit has come as an advocate, teacher, and reminder of all Christ has taught. Jesus chose this moment to share so much about the coming of the Holy Spirit with the disciples for one reason: so that they would believe. Jesus became incarnate, lived anonymously in Nazareth, preached for three years, suffered, died, and rose from the dead for our redemption—he wants that much for us to believe in him. Lord, increase my faith!
Conversation with Christ: Lord, it is the Easter season and we are a resurrection people! Help me to live very deeply the peace you showered on your disciples. I believe that the Trinity dwells within me and by your power and might, I can live life to the fullest. “Man fully alive is the glory of God” (St. Irenaeus).
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will confidently ask for your peace every time my emotions get the best of me.
(Homily for Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C)
Message: Love is to will the good of the other - that he will become a citizen of the New Jerusalem.
Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: love one another." We hear a lot about love, but we often do not know what the word really means. We tend to think of love as good feelings toward others. For sure, love includes positive emotions - and it harnesses them. But love - as Jesus describes it - involves much more than feelings.
Love resides in the will. St. Thomas Aquinas defined love as "to will the good of the other."* Love means to desire what is best for the other person. Your neighbor - your spouse, your child, your co-worker - might need a lot of things, but what the best, what is the greatest thing you can will for your neighbor?
We have the answer in today's reading from Revelation. St. John envisions a day when this world will be no more. All the houses, stores, universities, hospitals, theaters - they will all vanish. At that moment, John says, "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem come down out of heaven." That city, unlike Monroe or Seattle or New York, will last forever.
I want to belong to that city and I want you with me. That's the greatest good I can wish for you: to belong to the new Jerusalem. Everything on earth pales in comparison to the new Jerusalem. The best image we have is the beauty of a bride. That's why St. John says the heavenly Jerusalem will be like "a bride adorned for her husband."
The physical beauty of the bride should to point to inner beauty. That's what all of us strive for by making our lives, our homes, our society beautiful. We do it here in the parish by keeping up our buildings and grounds. We want them to attract and inspire - so we can become beautiful inside, by God's grace.
Something similar applies as we join with other parishes in Western Washington - which is a good lead-in to the Annual Catholic Appeal and our parish renovation project. They are expressions of love: willing the good of the other that they will belong to the Church in heaven - the New Jerusalem. Amen.
Homily for Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C)
Bottom line: Jesus' new way of love fulfills the heart's deepest need.
Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: Love one another - as I have loved you..."
An incident from the life of Blessed Mother Teresa illustrates this new way of love: Once a journalist accompanied her as she made her rounds, caring for the dying. One of the men had a wound that oozed decay and gave off a foul odor. Mother Teresa calmly washed the wound, all the while speaking softly to the man.
After Mother Teresa finished and they were walking away, the journalist said, "I wouldn't do that for all the gold in the world." Mother Teresa replied, "Neither would I." She did it for something - or someone - worth more than all the world's gold. Her strength and love came from the time she spent before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament - an hour or more each day.
You and I are not Blessed Mother Teresa - but Jesus may call us to a similar love. One of my friends is caring for his elderly father. His dad always said that, more than anything else, he feared two things: dementia and incontinence. Now, both those afflictions have befallen him. His children, including my friend, take turns caring for their dad, one or two days a week.
"I give you a new commandment: Love one another - as I have loved you."
This weekend we are called to support those who care for the needy in our name. Besides formation of seminarians, youth ministry, the marriage tribunal and other vital programs, the Annual Catholic Appeal supports those who reach out to the poor on our behalf. Last year Catholic Community Services prepared and served over a million meals. They helped 78,073 clients and tutored 429 children. In addition, the Annual Catholic Appeal supports hospital and prison chaplains - including the chaplain at the correctional centers here in Monroe. The Annual Catholic Appeal enables us to do our part in Jesus' new commandment: Love one another - as I have loved you.
Jesus' new way of love fulfills the heart's deepest need. I hope you won't think I am over-sentimental if I conclude with popular song from a few decades back.* Don't worry, I won't sing it, but please listen carefully. It does reflect an aspect of Jesus' self-giving love:
Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower, and you it's only seed.
It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance.
It's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes a chance.
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give.
And the soul, afraid of dyin', that never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
**********
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