Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật Tuần 14 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật Tuần 14 Thường Niên

Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay tường thuật về việc Chúa Giêsu sai bảy mươi hai môn đệ ra đi và rao giảng Tin Mừng của Ngài. Qua Tin mừng này chúng ta theo Chúa thì cũng phải có nhiệm vụ như mười hai môn đệ đó. Giống như Mười Hai Tông đồ hay bảy mươi hai môn đệ được giao nhiệm vụ rao giảng trên cánh đồng truyền giáo cách thực thi quyền lực Chúa ban để chống lại ma quỷ, chữa khỏi bệnh và rao giảng Nước Trời của Thiên Chúa. Chúa Giêsu cũng nói cho họ biết trước là họ phải ra đi với bàn tay trắng: không ví, không được đem theo bất cứ thứ gì, việc ăn, ở Chúa sẽ lo liệu.

    Các môn đệ ra đi nhẹ nhàng vì Chúa muốn họ tập trung vào nhiệm vụ là rao giảng về Thiên Chúa và Nước Trời của Thiên Chúa. Để trở thành những người rao giảng Tin mừng có hiệu quả, họ cũng phải là nhân chứng, làm gương cho một lối sống đơn sơ và khổ hạnh. Là những người tin vào Chúa Kitô phục sinh, tất cả các chúng ta được mời gọi để tham gia vào sứ mệnh của Chúa Kitô: "Hãy đi khắp cả thiên hạ rao giảng tin mừng cho mọi làm được những phép lạ như chữa khỏi bệnh tật, làm sạch phong cùi và thậm chí làm cho người chết được sống lại gồm một cách kỳ diệu. Nhưng lời mời gọi của chúng ta là rao giảng về nước Trời của Thiên Chúa thì vô hạn định. Người Kitô hữu chúng ta có nhiệm vụ truyền bá Tin mừng qua các cuộc sống hàng ngày, qua công việc từ thiện để mang Thiên Chúa đến những người chung quang nhất là những người bần cùng, đói khổ, bệnh tật. Nhiều khi công việc chúng ta làm qua nguyên tắc, hay chỉ làm để lấy tiếng, để được ca ngợi mà không mang được hiệu quả gì cho phần tâm linh của chúng ta.

    Chúa luôn luôn nhắc nhở chúng ta là người Kitô hữu, chúng ta có bổn phận đem nước Chúa đên với mọi người. Nhưng người ta chỉ có thể đón nhận Tin Mừng Chúa Kitô nếu chúng ta thật sự biết hiến thân rao giảng Tin Mừng Chúa Kitô và Nước Trời của Thiên Chúa với lòng khiêm tốn, với tấm lòng nhân hậu và biết thương yêu và tha thứ, biết rộng lượng và tử bi... Trọng tâm của sứ mệnh là Trái tim của Thiên Chúa không bao giờ ngừng nghỉ ban phát tình yêu của Ngài cho con người như chúng ta.

Sun 9th July 2017 - 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Gospel narrative is Luke's account of the missioning of the seventy-two disciples. This account

follows the missioning of the twelve apostles. Like the Twelve, the seventy-two are tasked to labor in the field by exercising power over demons, curing the sick and preaching the kingdom of God. Jesus also gives them other directives for their mission: no purse, no extra provisions, lodging and food where they find them.

    The disciples travel light to focus on their task of proclaiming the kingdom of God. To be effective preachers of the Good News, they are also to be witnesses of a simple and ascetic life-style. As believers in the risen Lord, all Christians are summoned to participate in Christ's mission: "Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation." (Mk 16:5) Proclaiming the Good News today may not include miraculously curing the sick, cleansing lepers, and even bringing the dead back to life. But the Christian's call to proclaim the kingdom of God never ceases. Contemporary Christians are tasked to spread the Good News through charitable lives and acts which bring God to the least, the lost and the last. Too often the work may be truly taxing and disappointing in not bearing any fruit. But the Christian is constantly reminded that the giving of oneself and preaching the kingdom of God is possible only because one has been a recipient of God's tremendous goodness.

At the heart of mission is the heart of God who never ceases to give.

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2022:

Opening Prayer: Lord, let me ponder deeply these words of Scripture and have them enter both my mind and my heart. Grant me the grace to be courageous in responding to your call, certain that you protect your lambs, especially when we are sent out among wolves.

Encountering Christ:

1. Appointed as Emissaries: Thirty-six pairs of the Lord’s followers were sent to multiply the impact of John the Baptist, who had previously been singularly called by God the Father to “Prepare the way for the Lord” (Mark 1:3). Jesus had been cultivating quite a following, and he assessed that many of them were ready to be his hands, feet, and voice in the world. Jesus stated that their destinations were all places he intended to go. We don’t know from the historical record whether Jesus himself ever made the trek to each of these towns. Perhaps this would prove unnecessary, as Christ was spiritually making these visits through his disciples. These emissaries effectively served as the “body of Christ” of which St. Paul would later speak (1 Corinthians 12:27). We rejoice in the hope that these members of Christ’s body are now part of the “cloud of witnesses” that prays for those who continue this evangelizing work.

2. The Abundant Harvest: Jesus assured his disciples that the mission fields into which they would travel were ripe for a harvest; many hearts would be thirsting to be exposed to the Gospel message of mercy, and many bodies and souls would be yearning to be healed. If anything, the mission fields have only further ripened over the years. In 1990, St. John Paul II wrote in Redemptoris Missio: “The number of those who do not know Christ and do not belong to the Church is constantly on the increase. Indeed, since the end of the Council it has almost doubled. When we consider this immense portion of humanity which is loved by the Father and for whom he sent his Son, the urgency of the Church's mission is obvious.” May we have the grace and courage to be an effective Christian witness in our home and in our workplace, overcoming any fear of being a lamb among wolves.

3. The Dearth of Laborers: When Jesus told the seventy two that the “laborers are few,” he instructed them to “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers.” Prayers for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life continue to be sorely needed in all parts of our modern world, and some of the mission fields that need the most urgent attention are areas that saw some of the earliest spread of Christianity. As a response to this urgent need for laborers, and two years before writing Redemptoris Missio, St. John Paul II implored all lay Catholics to play their part in revealing Christ’s love to those who haven’t yet had a meaningful encounter with the Word made flesh. His Apostolic Exhortation entitled Christifideles Laici states: “You go too. The call is a concern not only of pastors, clergy, and men and women religious. The call is addressed to everyone: lay people as well are personally called by the Lord, from who m they receive a mission on behalf of the Church and the world. In preaching to the people, St. Gregory the Great recalled this fact and commented on the parable of the laborers in the vineyard: ‘Keep watch over your manner of life, dear people, and make sure that you are indeed the Lord's laborers. Each person should take into account what he does and consider if he is laboring in the vineyard of the Lord.’”

    Conversing with Christ: Lord, I want to be your voice in this hungry and thirsty world as a lay person, and I pray that more men and women will hear your call to the priesthood and consecrated life. By your grace, may I be an effective witness to my family members, neighbors, and those in my social circle with my words and example.

    Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will pray for vocations with a prayer I know, or with this one: “Lord Jesus, eternal Shepherd, in your kindness look with mercy on your beloved flock. We cry out to you as orphans: Lord, grant us vocations! Call many of our young people to be holy priests and consecrated men and women. We ask you this through the intercession of Mary, your tender, holy Mother.”

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time: We Are the Seventy-two

The Seventy-two returned, shouting with joy, “Lord, even the demons were subject to us.” Jesus joined their enthusiasm, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from the sky. I have given you power, but do not rejoice because evil spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Who are the Seventy-two? And why did Jesus send this number, Seventy-two?

In the Book of Numbers, chapter 11, Moses is told to gather Seventy elders who will be given a share of the Spirit that Moses has to help govern the people. Two men, Eldad and Medad, also received a share of the Spirit, thus Seventy-two. Jesus sent out Seventy-two disciples giving them all a share in his Spirit. I would think that the Twelve were part of this number. The other Sixty must have been disciples very close to the Lord. The Seventy-two were to bring the Good News to those in their immediate world. They brought the message that Jesus was transforming the world. They showed that evil was being defeated by curing the sick and expelling demons. When they returned, wild with joy, Jesus joined right in, rejoicing with them. The victory of the Father had begun.

Who are the Seventy-two?

We are the Seventy-two. We are the people who proclaim that the Great Hope of Mankind has become a reality. Jesus Christ has conquered evil Jesus Christ has died for us. Jesus Christ still lives with us. We have experienced the Lord and have become the joyful evangelizers of the Kingdom. But, we may ask, where is this Kingdom?

    There is much pain and suffering in the world occasioned by man’s in humanity towards man. There are always wars being waged throughout the world. The innocent are wars first victims. Closer to home, how do we proclaim the Kingdom among our own children who no longer go to Church and who haven’t even had their children, our grandchildren baptized?

    How are we to deal with these, our own children, who reject God? How do we deal with those who have left Catholicism to worship somewhere where there are far less demands on morality?

    In giving instructions to the Seventy-two before he sent them out, Jesus told them to enter a house and say, “Peace to this house.” If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest upon him. If not it will return to you. The Lord is telling us to look carefully for the good within all and nurture this good, We are to be positive.

    St. Francis de Sales, the gentleman saint said, “You can catch more flies with honey then with vinegar.” Benjamin Franklin put this in Poor Richard’s Almanac, but Francis de Sales lived over a hundred years earlier.

    St. Francis de Sales wrote this as part of the effort of the Church to return those who had left for the Church back to Roman Catholicism. If we emphasize with great care and great kindness that which we have in common, then perhaps others will be encouraged to search for other aspects of life we have in common. Let me flesh this out. After spending a great deal of time, effort and even money to raise your children Catholic, one or more of them no longer practice the faith.

    The vinegar approach will not get you anywhere. Telling them that they are going to burn in hell is not going to convince them to come to Church. But the honey approach will have legs. If you emphasize that they are certainly good parents, doing all they can for their children, and they know you respect them as parents, you are a small step from convincing them that there is infinitely more for their children that only the Lord can provide. You can talk about baptism as being life giving and communion as being spiritual nourishment. Most importantly, let them see your words in how you live your lives.

    Perhaps, perhaps in God’s time, not necessarily your time, a change will come and you will join the Seventy-two in rejoicing. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps you will be told to stay out of their affairs. Don’t lose you peace. Let it come back to you, and keep praying for your children. It is the same regarding the immorality in the nation and in the world.    We need to be calm. We need to let our peace return to us. At the same time, we need to take stands for the truth. And we need to pray for all those supporting immoral positions. We cannot allow the reactions of others to our proclaiming the Kingdom determine whether or not we will continue to evangelize. Instead, we need to remember the reaction of the Lord to the Seventy-two when they returned home with such palpable enthusiasm. He joined in with their joy. And he joins in with our joy, when we do our best to serve him.