Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ 11 Thường Niên.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ 11 Thường Niên.

Qua Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta nên quan hệ mật thiết với Thiên Chúa và sự liên hệ này sẽ phải là trung tâm cuộc sống của chúng ta. Điều này chỉ có thể có được khi chúng ta "khép kín cửa" lòng vỉ kỷ của chúng ta, khi chúng ta biết sống trong sự khiêm tốn, hạ mình trước những lời khen ngợi của người khác, biết chấp nhận những cái lỗi của mình và biết vui tươi với những lời chê bai của người khác, và cũng nên tìm những cái thất bại, những chê bai và lỗi xấu của mình mà ráng sửa đổi.

Chúng ta cần nên dành nhiều thời giờ với Thiên Chúa, dù chỉ có một vài phút mỗi ngày với Chúa, chúng ta sẽ thấy sự thay đổi. Chúa Thánh Thần sẽ giúp chúng ta sẽ từ từ nhận biết ra rằng việc tốt chúng ta làm vì danh Chúa chứ không phải làm để cho những người khác chú ý mà khen ngợi. Khi chúng biết dành thời giờ cho và với Thiên Chúa, chúng ta sẽ nhận biết được rằng chúng ta đang được Chúa yêu thương chúng ta một cách vô điều kiện, và để nắm được mối tình yêu này, Chúng ta cần phải bắt đầu biết lắng nghe những lời nói yêu thương, trìu mến một cách sâu đậm và chắc chắn của Thiên Chúa.

Nếu chúng ta cứ thích dựa vào lời khen, hay sự ca ngợi của những người khác gì như người khờ dại xây nhà trên cát. Vì như ông bà chúng ta có nói “mật ngọt thì chết ruồi..” người mà khen ngợi chúng ta, là người đang hại chúng ta, vì khi nhận những lời khen ngợi, con người chúng ta thường có cái khuynh hướng tự đắc, rồi sinh ra tự cao, ngạo mạn rồi đâm ra khinh người. Chính vì thế những khi chúng ta không được nhận những lời khen, chúng ta lại đâm ra thất vọng, buồn chán... cũng vì cái tạo tự cao và ngạo mạn của chúng bị xúc phạm! Đấy cũng là nguyên gây ra tội lỗi cho chúng ta.

"Lạy Chúa Giêsu, xin cho chúng con một đức tin sống động, một niềm hy vọng vững chắc, lòng bác ái nhiệt thành, và một tình yêu tuyệt hảo cho Chúa để chúng con biết sống nhiệt tình và trọn niềm vui trong những suy nghĩ và ân sủng của Chúa. Xin lấp đầy trái tim của chúng con với lòng từ bi đối với những người khác, đặc biệt là những người đang cần đến sự giúp đỡ và lòng quảng đại của chúng con.

Meditation: When you pray, fast, and give alms

Why did Jesus single out prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for his disciples? The Jews considered these three as the cardinal works of the religious life. These were seen as the key signs of a pious person, the three great pillars on which the good life was based. Jesus pointed to the heart of the matter. Why do you pray, fast, and give alms? To draw attention to yourself so that others may notice and think highly of you? Or to give glory to God? The Lord warns his disciples of self-seeking glory - the preoccupation with looking good and seeking praise from others. True piety is something more than feeling good or looking holy. True piety is loving devotion to God. It is an attitude of awe, reverence, worship and obedience. It is a gift and working of the Holy Spirit that enables us to devote our lives to God with a holy desire to please him in all things (Isaiah 11:1-2).

Communion 

What is the sure reward which Jesus points out to his disciples? It is communion with God our Father. In him alone we find the fulness of life and happiness, truth and beauty, love and joy. Saint Augustine, the great fourth century bishop of Hippo, wrote the following prayer in his Confessions: When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrows or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete.

The Lord rewards those who seek him with humble and repentant hearts. He renews us each day and he gives us new hearts of love and compassion that we may serve him and our neighbor with glad and generous hearts. Do you want to grow in your love for God and for your neighbor? Seek him expectantly in prayer, with fasting, and in generous giving to those in need.

“Lord Jesus, give me a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, and a great love for you. Take from me all lukewarmness in meditating on your word, and dullness in prayer. Give me fervor and delight in thinking of you and your grace. Fill my heart with compassion for others, especially those in need, that I may respond with generosity.”

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time -

Opening Prayer: “How great is the goodness, O Lord, which you have in store for those who fear you, And which, toward those who take refuge in you, you show in the sight of the children of men” (Psalm 31:20). Lord, teach me your Way. Bring me your Truth. Give me your Life so I may praise you, and only you, here on earth and with you for all eternity. I love you, my God!

Encountering Christ:

1. A Rewarding Life: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.” Jesus was teaching his disciples to consider their actions and notice subtle temptations to pride. In between our good intentions and acting on them, we can get tripped up by the snares of the devil. “Take care,” Jesus said, which means “be cautious; keep oneself safe.” To live a life devoted to God, we need to discern if we are trying to impress others, bring acclaim to ourselves, or glorify God in what we say and do. To receive recompense from God is to receive atonement for our sins. When our righteous deeds are done for of love for God, he gladly responds: “But if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Ezekiel 18:27-28).

2. Almsgiving: “But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Giving alms is not to be a matter of “checking off spiritual boxes” or lavishly giving so that we will be noticed by others. In this passage, Jesus was both revealing and calling his disciples more deeply into his hidden life with the Father. Almsgiving, Jesus tells us, is yet another invitation to “remain in me” (John 15:4).

3. Useless Fasting: “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Jesus was offering practical advice, for it only makes sense that we defeat the purpose of self-denial through fasting if we use the practice to call attention to ourselves. Works of charity, spiritual practices, and praying, if not centered on and offered to God, become nothing more than self-gratification. The Church offers a helpful way for us to discern who we are glorifying by doing a daily examination of conscience. We are invited to spend a couple of minutes at the end of each day to ask the Holy Spirit to shine light on our actions in the past twenty-four hours. Where we have succeeded in giving glory to God, we praise and thank him. Where we have failed to receive his grace, we ask forgiveness. We end by asking for all the graces we will need the next day to try again.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, I believe my righteous deeds are done for you, but you know me better than I know myself. Please reveal to me where I need to improve in my efforts to allow you to transform me. Thank you, Jesus. Mary, Mother of God, intercede for me.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will begin a daily examination of conscience.

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Opening Prayer: Lord, I am eager to spend this time with you in prayer today, trusting that you will bless me with the graces I need to please you in all I do.

Encountering Christ:

· Coveting “Likes”: We all want to be a little more liked. The different platforms of social media play upon our desire to be popular through likes, followers, friends, etc. In Jesus' day, the Pharisees wanted the same thing, just with a different platform: climbing their own pedestal. Jesus said they turned street corners into platforms when they gave alms or prayed with their arms spread wide out while chanting slowly so that everyone would see and hear. Whenever they prayed in synagogues, they stood, so all eyes were on them. In the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, there was one person who wasn't watching the Pharisee: God. Jesus said, "They have already received their reward." God's eyes were on the humble, quiet, repentant tax collector. "God looks upon the lowly, but watches the proud from a distance" (Psalms 138:6). "He has brought down the mighty from their thrones but lifted up the lowly" (Luke 1:52).

· Blessed Are the Lowly: The wonderful thing is that God longs to meet the lowly, the simple, the small. St. Andre Bessette said of himself, "God chose the most ignorant one. If there was anyone more ignorant than I am, God would have chosen him instead of me." Other saints said much the same thing, that they were chosen by God, precisely because they were the weakest, the smallest, the least educated. St. Paul himself said, "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27). God is drawn to humility like iron to a magnet. Or perhaps it would be better to say that God is the magnet, and when we are humble, our true mettle is shown, and we are lifted up towards him. When we are humble, he cannot take his eyes off of us. As St. John of the Cross said, "To descend is to ascend"—the more we humble ourselves, the more God will lift us up.

· A Secret Room: Many saints say the secret room is the one inside our hearts. Whether working or at home, we can enter that secret place where no one else can go, and our “Father who sees in secret" will reward us and join us, for he delights when little people like ourselves sequester to visit with him.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, I close my door to others' eyes, go to my secret room where no one else but you see me, and present myself small and lowly. Allow me to experience your delight at seeing me in secret. When my sins accuse me, saying I’m not good enough for you, I will acknowledge that truth and pray for forgiveness and an increase in humility.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will look for a way to serve others so as to humble myself in your eyes.

Reflection

The Gospel reading is part of the collection of teachings of Jesus put together by St. Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus tells us that we are to perform our acts of charity, our acts of penance such as fasting and our prayer not for show before people, but done in secret so that no one knows but our heavenly Father who will then reward us.

We should not do acts of charity in public so that others will praise us nor pray in the sight of all so that all may see us nor parade our fasting and acts of penance so others may know we are doing penance. If we do so, we would "have already been paid in full." What is much more important is that we are rewarded not by the praise and recognition of people but we are rewarded by our heavenly Father.

It is very significant to note how many times in the Gospel reading Jesus mentions our heavenly Father, "your Father," "who sees what is kept secret [and who] will reward you." We pray for this familiarity with and abiding confidence and trust in our heavenly Father.

Wednesday (11th TN): REFLECTION 2018

If we have a nice house, a new car, or a promotion in our job, do we find ourselves flaunting our good fortune? Why do we have to show off?

The Gospel reading today tells us not to perform our good deeds of helping the needy, of prayer and of fasting for other people to see. What we do should not be intended to be shown off, perhaps to impress others or to gain popularity. Rather our actions should be our response to God's love: "Your Father who sees what is kept secret will reward you."

Let us always check our motives. We should be conscious of our intentions: we pray because we wish to be close to God; we give alms because alms-giving is an expression of our love of God shown by love of neighbor; we fast for our purification and spiritual strength. We do not do any of these good deeds to impress others.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most..