Suy niệm Tin Mừng thứ Bẩy Tuần 11 Thường Niên

Suy niệm Tin Mừng thứ Bẩy Tuần 11 Thường Niên

Trong các Tin Mừng Chúa Giêsu thường hay khuyến khích chúng ta siêng năng và chịu khó làm việc, và Ngài ca ngợi những kế hoạch khôn ngoan và sắc sảo liên quan đến tương lai của con người. Tuy nhiên, điểm chính của Chúa Giêsu muốn dạy chúng ta trong bài dụ ngôn hôm nay, là "đừng lo lắng." Ngài nhắc tới câu này bốn lần để nhắc nhở chúng ta và muốn chúng ta chắc chắc là không bỏ lỡ cơ hội. Thay vì lo lắng, Ngài muốn chúng ta đặt niềm tin vào Thiên Chúa, Hãy tìm kiếm Nước Trời của Ngài trước hết và đạt niềm tin tưởng vào Ngài nhiều hơn.

Chúa Giêsu muốn chúng ta làm việc, nhưng không muốn chúng quên đi sự hiện diện Thiên Chúa và sự quan tâm của Thiên Chúa. Chúa Giêsu cũng muốn chúng ta bồi đắp xây dựng cho tương lai, nhưng không phải vì thế mà chúng phải dành hết sức quan tâm hay quá mức lo lắng vì các việc thế gian này.

Một điểm chính được biểu lộ một cách sống động trong dụ ngôn này là ý nghĩa hoàn toàn về sự chết. Thiên Chúa là một Thiên Chúa nhân từ dù Ngài luôn ban nguồn lương thực cho các loài chim nhưng một số chim vẫn phải chết cóng. Một Thiên Chúa chăm sóc cho màu sắc nơi các loài hoa lộng lẫy ngoài đồng nội, nhưng những bông hoa sau cùng rồi cũng tàn héo và chết đi. Vì thế, Thiên Chúa cũng là một người Cha yêu thương biết tất cả các nhu cầu cần thiết của con người và sẽ ban cho chúng ta tất cả, nhưng chúng ta cũng phải chịu những khổ đau, và đương đầu với cái chết, nhu các loài thụ tạo khác.

Có phải đây là những mâu thuẫn? Không phải tất cả như thế! Tất cả đó là một lời mời gọi chúng ta đến với đức tin, một niềm tin vào một Thiên Chúa và Ngài sẽ cho chúng ta nhiều hơn những gì chúng ta có thể đang thấy bây giờ. Đó là một lời mời gọi đến với niềm tin vào một Thiên Chúa, và cuối cùng chúng ta sẽ được khôi phục nhiều hơn là những gì chúng ta đã đánh mất. Đó chính là một cuộc mởi gọi đến với niềm tin vào một Thiên Chúa, để rồi cuối cùng, chúng ta sẽ giành lại những chiến thắng trong sự chiến thắng hoàn toàn của chúng ta khi Chúa Kitô đã sống lại từ cõi chết.

Lạy Chúa Giêsu, xin giải phóng chúng con khỏi những sự lo lắng không cần thiết và giúp chúng con biết đặt niềm tin vào Chúa để chúng con có thể biết quan tâm việc đầu tiên và duy nhất của chúng con là vinh danh sự an bình và sự công lý trong Nước Trời của Chúa. Xin giúp chúng con biết sống mỗi à ngày và mỗi thời điểm trong sự tin tưởng và lòng biết ơn đối với sự thương yêu chăm sóc của Chúa đã dành cho chúng con.

Reflection

In the Gospel reading Jesus teaches us about the necessary "balancing act" in our lives, a very hard, if not among the most difficult, act in our lives. You may want to call it by other names, e.g. my "choices," "my priorities," or "whom shall I serve?" or "what shall I do?"

Jesus does not deny the reality of human needs. Big Mac, anyone? A weekend in Macau or HongKong perhaps? He forbids that they become objects of severe anxiety, making us their slaves.

"Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God and all these things will also be given to you. Does not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself?" Plainly stated, focus not on the gift s, but solely on the Giver, and why?, Because the Lord will provide all our needs, especially if we trust in him.

Saturday 11 Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I praise you and I adore you. Forgive me for being so concerned about worldly things. Thank you for the greatest gift of your Holy Spirit. Help me to place all my needs and worries into the loving hands of our heavenly Father. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever. Amen.

Encountering Christ:

1. God and Mammon: “No one can serve two masters.” To those whom Jesus preached, being a slave, the property of another, was easily understood. For centuries the Jewish people had been enslaved by many powerful nations. For most of us today, being a slave is not a possibility—or is it? Jesus states that it is not a matter of if we serve but who we serve, either God or mammon (Aramaic word meaning wealth or property). Where we put our hearts, minds, and efforts—that’s who we serve. Slaves to mammon serve wealth, social status, and power. This service may bring worldly privileges and prestige; our cages may be velvet and our shackles made of silk, but we are trapped nonetheless, by the burdens of “keeping it up” or fears that we will lose everything.

2. Worry: “Do not worry about your life.” Worry can come from within: “to torment oneself with disturbing thoughts.” Worry can come from without: “to harass by repeated biting, snapping, etc.,” which is how the evil one places troubling thoughts into our minds. Whether we bring worry upon ourselves, or we suffer temptations, worrying brings us no good. As Jesus said, “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?” Instead, chronic worry reduces the length of our life. At every Mass, we are blessed so as to reduce our worry: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” These are not just words; they contain the power of what they say. It is up to us to receive the peace that God offers us.

3. The Importance of Man: “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?” The Catechism states, “We believe that God needs no preexistent thing or any help in order to create, nor is creation any sort of necessary emanation from divine substance. God creates freely ‘out of nothing’” (CCC 296). It continues, “The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the ‘image of the invisible God,’ is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the ‘image of God,’ and called to a personal relationship with God… for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him” (CCC 299). With this understanding, we are called to praise God for the great gift of creation, trust him to provide for all we need and serve him confidently and unafraid as stewards of creation.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, you entrusted Adam and Eve to serve you in the Garden of Eden by tending it and having dominion over it. They forfeited this privilege. But through you, our care of the Father’s creation is restored. Help me, Jesus, to be a good steward of your creation, over which you gave me dominion. May I confidently serve you.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will pay attention to how I treat your physical creation and do my part to be a good steward.

Saturday 11 Ordinary Time - Scripture: Matthew 6:24-34

Opening Prayer: Lord, your teaching is clear in this passage, yet it can be very hard not to worry. Please help me to receive the peace you intend to give me as I contemplate your promises in Scripture today.

Encountering Christ:

· No Worries: “If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient," St. Therese of Lisieux said, "but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to second-guess the future.” Even in a quiet convent, this saint struggled not to worry about what was going to happen, so it's understandable that you and I would battle the temptation to be anxious even more than she did. But maybe humans haven't changed that much. People in Jesus's time also worried about having enough food, clothing, or money to provide for the future. To those around him two thousand years ago and to us now, Jesus says, "Do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' … Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself." God wants us to be prudent, to plan, and to pay our bills. But Jesus never guaranteed that we would be well-fed, well-dressed, or well-provided for. In fact, he promised blessings to "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." His disciples preached wearing just one ragged tunic and were told by Jesus not to "bring a second tunic.” He said, "Blessed are the poor." Many saints grew in holiness when they suffered hunger, disgrace, or poverty. Although he didn’t promise us all the material goods we could ask for, Jesus did promise that we would be fed with the Bread of Heaven. He promised that our robes would one day be washed white in his blood. He promised that we would never be tested beyond our strength, that we would be provided with enough grace to overcome whatever temptation came. What more do we need?

· Who Is Our Master?: Today's Gospel challenges us to ask ourselves, “Who is our master: God or mammon?” If we worry too much about money, we will miss out on God’s action in our lives. If we concern ourselves with God, we may lack money, but we will never lack the graces we need. Wealth is not a measure of our spiritual standing. There are poor people who lived for money or popularity. And there are wealthy people for whom God was their one love, their joy, and their trust. Detachment from mammon is a matter of the heart.

· Putting God First: If you're reading this, it's easy to assume that God comes first in your life, not a mammon of material worries. However, putting God first is not a “one and done” proposition, even for the holiest among us. Putting God first in our lives is the highest form of spiritual combat. But what do we do if we find we just can’t abandon ourselves to God? Jacques Phillippe, quoting Marthe Robbins, says, “Abandon yourself anyway!” He adds, “Abandonment is not natural. It’s a grace to be asked of God” (Searching for and Maintaining Peace, p. 40).

Conversing with Christ: Lord, it is a giant struggle within me to try to detach from material goods and put you first in all things. I can do this only with your grace. Please protect me from self-sufficiency and help me to rely only on you to provide what really matters in life.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will trust in you with all my heart when anxiety threatens to disturb my peace.

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Introductory Prayer:

Lord, as I begin this day, I trust in your unfailing providence. You are the deepest desire of my heart. In this moment of prayer I want to please you alone. Even though I might be tired or uninspired, even though I might only experience dryness, may this be my prayer: I offer you all I am and all I have.

1. Why Worry?

What can be added to Christ’s beautiful images in the Gospel, urging us to trust in the loving providence of our heavenly Father? All that is necessary is to ponder how God feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and to let the reality of his fatherly care for these ephemeral creatures sink deeply into our soul. How much more will he not care for us, the crowning work of his hand, his sons and daughters, for whom he is willing to send his only begotten Son to die on the Cross? Christ penetrates to the real cause of our worries and anxieties, our anxious concern that often overwhelms us in life: we have little faith. Little faith and even less trust in the goodness of our heavenly Father. Let us thank him for his patience and allow his fatherly goodness to penetrate to the depths of our spirit.

2. Stay Focused:

Our worries and concerns about the material needs of our daily life make us lose sight of the one thing that is truly necessary: striving for holiness, for the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in our own lives and the lives of those around us. If only we would allow Christ to set our hearts on fire with the consuming passion of zeal for souls, how our lives would change! We would become driven by the mission, constantly urged on by it — and all of our former worries and anxieties would fade into insignificance. Then we, too, could exclaim with Christ, “I have come to light a fire on the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!” (Luke 12:49)

3. Simplicity of Heart:

One virtue that helps us trust God more and grow in apostolic zeal is simplicity of heart. When you grow in simplicity of heart, you will never demand of God that he explain your vocation or your sufferings. Thanks to simplicity of heart, you will always see God’s holy will in everything, and everything, even pain, becomes wells and rivers of peace and joy. Thanks to simplicity of heart, you will be able to understand people and their misery and give them a helping hand. Thanks to simplicity of heart, you will never harbor hate, an evil wish, a grudge, or an evil thought in your heart. Everything brings you to God.

Conversation with Christ:

Lord, help me through this prayer to grow in simplicity of heart, to recognize everything in my life as coming from your loving hand.