Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Suy Tôn Thánh Giá Ngày 14/9 - Thứ Tư Tuần 24 TN,

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Suy Tôn Thánh Giá Ngày 14/9 John 3:13-17

Tại sao những người tốt lành phải chịu đau khổ? Thiên Chúa đã không cho chúng ta được một câu trả lời nào thỏa đáng cả. Nhưng một điều mà ai trong chúng ta biết là Thiên Chúa là Đấng đã yêu chúng ta vô bờ, vô bến vì chính Ngài đã chấp nhận mặc lấy thân phận con người như chúng ta, và để chia sẻ cuộc sống đau khổ trần thế với chúng ta, Ngài sẵn sàng chịu chết, chết một cách nhục nhã cho chúng ta trên cây thập giá. Thiên Chúa chắc chắc là không bao giờ vui thích chiến tranh, không bao giờ muốn có sự cướp bóc và bóc lột giã man, không thích khi thấy lũ lụt và bão táp, ung thư và bệnh tật.

Chúng ta sẽ không bao giờ có thể hiểu được những bí ẩn, là tại sao những người ăn ngay, ờ lành như chúng ta, như những người thân yêu cũa chúng ta lại phải gánh chịu những đau khổ hay phải chết, tại sao lại có bao nhiêu người đang đau khổ trong bệnh viện, người nghèo đói trong các công viên. Nhưng những gì chúng ta có thể làm được bây giờ là dâng lên cho Thiên Chúa những sự đau khổ của chúng ta như là những của lễ hy sinh cao cả và đừng bao giờ để những đau khổ đó trở nên lãng phí trong tuyệt vọng..

Bằng cách nào đó chúng ta hãy cố gắng biến đổi những đau khổ của chúng ta có thành những hy sinh. Đó một sự khác biệt. Hy sinh là đau khổ có mục đích. Thế giới con người của chúng ta đã học được một bài học đau khổ đã từ lâu: Sự hiệp nhất hoàn hảo với một ai đó hoặc một cái gì đó thân yêu; con người với con người, nam hay nữ, già, hay trẻ, kiến ​​thức, hay nghệ thuật, có thể đạt được trong điều kiện tự hiến cũng chỉ vì tình yêu.

Trong mầu nhiệm của Đạo thánh Chúa Kitô, tình yêu tự hiến đã được nêu gương trong sáng bởi chính Chúa Giêsu qua đoạn Tin Mừng thánh Luca: "Ai muốn theo ta, phải từ bỏ chính mình, vác thập giá mình hằng ngày mà theo."(Lk 9:23). Một cái NẾU rất to: Nếu chúng ta muốn theo Chúa Giêsu Kitô, nếu chúng ta muốn trở thành môn đệ của Ngài, nếu chúng ta yêu Ngài thật sự và dám chịu nhận những đau khổ vì Ngài như Ngài đã bị đau khổ, bị khạc nhổ vào mặt, bị khinh bỉ, bị đánh đòn và bị đóng đinh cho chúng ta.

REFLECTION

Why do good people suffer? God does not give any satisfactory answer. But this much we know. A God who loved me enough to take up a human body to share my life, to die shamefully and willingly for me on a cross - this God does not take pleasure in earthquakes, and war, in floods and volcanic eruption, in cancer and massacres. We cannot unravel the mystery; why our near and dear ones, why good people die. Why all the suffering people in our hospitals. What we can do is to keep our suffering from becoming sheer waste.

How? By transforming suffering into sacrifice. There is a difference. Sacrifice is suffering with a purpose. Our world has long since learned a painful lesson: Perfect oneness with someone or something beloved - man, woman, or child, music or medicine, knowledge or art - can be achieved only in terms of self-giving, only in terms of love. In the Christian mystery the self-giving love was summed up by Jesus in today's Gospel: "If you want to come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow in my steps."(lk 9:23) A big if: If you want to come after him, if you want to be his disciple, if you love him enough to suffer for him as willingly as he was crucified for you.

EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

"Let what was seen in Christ Jesus be seen in you," (Phil 2: 5) provides the proper context to the second reading: Have the same attitude, have the same mind of Christ Jesus. And that is to empty oneself of the ego, of self-referential thoughts and feelings: hence to be humble and obedient to the Father, even to the point of shedding blood and dying on the Cross.

Have you ever noticed how our mind is so often cluttered with many thoughts and how many feelings, often negative ones, piggy-back on those thoughts? This cluttered mind and bruised feelings have often and frequently left our soul in disarray and confusion.

A spiritual writer has suggested to focus on one word, e.g. "love," or "surrender," and gently sit quietly with the word. When other thoughts come, let them go. Picture life as a river, as a stream of water sailing by and as one thought occurs, imagine putting that thought on a boat and letting the boat sail away with it.

This method has been considered prayer because at the heart of it is all is the emptying of ourselves of all thoughts and feelings and surrendering them to the Father. It is emptying, kenosis in Greek, very much like the emptying that Jesus did when he was on this earth. It was dying every day in the physical, spiritual and emotional dimensions of his life. It was dying because he turned his thoughts, his feelings, his body and ultimately his will in utter and complete surrender to the Father.

Practice this method for twenty minutes twice a day. The more you practice it, the more it will bear fruit. And what is the fruit? Have the same attitude, the same mind as Jesus Christ!

It is a difficult practice. And it is difficult indeed because in the final analysis it is dying, like Jesus on the Cross.

The EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS 2022

Opening Prayer: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you because by your cross, you have redeemed the world.

Encountering Christ:

1. The Son of Man: “No one has gone up to Heaven except the one who has come down from Heaven, the Son of Man.” This language may seem strange to our ears, but Nicodemus, a learned Pharisee, clearly understood Jesus. To scholars like Nicodemus, “Son of Man” had two meanings. The first is human, mortal. The second is a prophetic king as described in the Book of Daniel (7:13-14): “As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of Heaven one like a son of man. When he reached the Ancient of Days (Old Testament term for God) and was presented before him, he received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples, and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.” Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he is this Son of Man, King of an everlasting dominion, and he then revealed how he would achieve his victory.

2. The Seraph Serpent: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” We look for context in this case to Numbers 21:4-9: “[…] the people’s patience was worn out by the journey; so the people complained against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!’ So the Lord sent among the people seraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses: ‘Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover.’ Accordingly, Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered.” The etymology of seraph is “fiery one” which can mean Satan, the evil one. The people, we hear, complained against both Moses (the one God gave the Israelites to lead them out of slavery) and against God himself. By telling Moses to lift the bronze serpent on the pole, he was lifting their sin in front of their eyes. This visible sign of their sinfulness caused them to repent. Jesus takes two well-known Scripture passages to explain to Nicodemus that the true enemy of the people is not their outside oppressors; it is the sin that dwells within their own hearts. What an impact these words of Jesus must have made on the heart of Nicodemus. From the Gospel of John (19:39), we know that Nicodemus became a disciple and helped take Jesus’ body from the cross.

3. The Cross: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross commemorates the Holy Cross on which our Lord, Savior, and King, Jesus Christ, was crucified. The history of this feast is explained, “Early in the fourth century, St. Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ’s life. She razed the second-century Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Savior’s tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher on that spot. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman. The cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century, according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus’ head: Then “all the people pass through one by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the cross, they move on.” To this day, the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica’s dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, fifteen years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim (Franciscan Media).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, in this encounter with Nicodemus, you spoke to him in ways that his scholarly mind could accept, understand, and embrace. He became your disciple. By your grace, help me, like Nicodemus, come to you, ask you questions, and follow you even in my confusion.

Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will pray using the Gospels and spend time questioning and pondering the words so that I can grow in my faith.

REFLECTION

In the liturgy of Good Friday there is a public adoration of the Holy Cross where the Cross is uncovered, "Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world," and venerated by the faithful.

This Feast echoes the same celebration, "We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered."

Adoration of the Holy Cross is adoration of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our salvation. The Cross symbolizes for us the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.

Because of what it represents, the Cross is the most powerful and universal symbol of Christian faith and love. The sign of the Cross invokes the Triune God and is used at all blessings:

The first reading tells us about the bronze serpent Moses made at the instruction of Yahweh: "Whenever a man was bitten [by a fiery serpent], he looked toward the bronze serpent and he lived." Jesus on the cross is our salvation.

Jesus refers to the bronze serpent in his conversation with Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." In the reading from Paul's letter to the Philippians, Paul tells us how God has glorified Jesus for his obedience, "He humbled himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross."

St. Ignatius of Loyola recommends that, as we contemplate Jesus on the Cross, we ask: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What ought I do for him?"

Suy Niệm Tin MừngThứ Tư Tuần 24 TN,

Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu lên tiếng chống lại những việc làm xấu xa và sự ngoan cố của các nhà lãnh đạo người Do Thái. Sự ngoan cố là một phần của sự kiêu ngạo. Vì ngoan cố khăng khăng làm theo ý riêng của mình. Ngoan cố không thể chấp nhận những sự thật trong thực tế, vì sự kiêu hãnh làm chúng ta nghĩ rằng chúng ta phải thông minh hơn người và những kế hoạch của chúng ta bao giờ cũng tốt và cũng đúng hơn bất cứ những kế hoạch nào của người khác. Sự ngoan cố làm chúng ta đi ngược lại chân lý và sự thật. Hãy tự hỏi: đã có bao nhiều lỗi lầm mà chúng ta đã chưa sửa đổi? Và đã bao lần chúng ta đã được nhắc nhở? Nhiều khi thay vì biết ơn những lời nhắc nhở của người khác, có lẽ chúng ta đã không vui và còn tỏ ra có thái độ hay cố tìm cho mình những lời bào chữa.

Chúa Kitô mời gọi chúng ta sống trong một cuộc sống thánh thiện để chúng ta có thể đạt được sự hoàn hảo một cách dễ dàng hơn. Chúa Kitô đã so sánh những người Do thái sống trong thời đại của Ngài cũng giống như những đứa trẻ lang thang chơi ngoài phố hay có tâm trạng thay. Người ta đã đôi xử với Chúa Kitô theo cách như vậy. Họ cho rằng Gioan Tẩy Giả là quá khắt khe. Tuy nhiên, họ phản đối về Chúa Kitô, và các môn đệ là những người phá chay tịnh, và thậm chí còn làm việc, chữa lành người đau bệnh trong ngày Sa-bát. Họ muốn bệnh tật của họ được chữa lánh, nhưng họ cũng khư khư quá nghiêm ngặt của ngày Sa-bát, thậm chí họ quý trọng cái luật của họ nhiều hơn là họ muốn Chúa ban phát tình yêu và cứu chữa cho mọi người.

Có lẽ nhiều người trong chúng ta cũng giống như người Do Thái trên. Chúng ta từ chối lời khuyên bảo và sự giúp đỡ của người khác hay các Linh Mục. Chúng ta không chịu nghe lời chỉ dạy một cách nghiêm trọng mà chỉ biết phàn nàn vì chúng ta đang bị người khác sửa sai. Nếu không có sự sữa sai, hay điều chỉnh lại cuộc sống, thì chúng ta lại nói rằng chúng ta đã bị bỏ quên hoặc không được ai quan tâm đến. Chúng ta cần phải sống trung thực và chân thành để làm tất cả những gì Thiên Chúa đã dậy cho chúng ta, ngay cả khi Ngài cho chúng ta biết ý của Ngài qua những người khác.

REFLECTION

In today's Gospel Jesus lashes out against the perversity of the leaders of the Jewish people. Perversity is part of pride. Perversity insists on doing our own will. It is not concerned with the fact that someone else may have a better plan or that our own way is obviously wrong. It is the opposite the truth and remains that way. How many uncorrected faults do we carry within ourselves? How often have we been reminded about them? Instead of being grateful for the reminder, perhaps we even find reason to defend the fault. Christ calls us to a holy life in order that we may more easily attain perfection. Christ compared the people of his time to the changeable moods of children.

The people treated Christ in such a way. They claimed that John the Baptist was too strict. Yet they protested about Christ who did not fast with his disciples and who even cured on the Sabbath. They wanted cures but they also wanted the overly strict observance of the Sabbath even more than they wanted the cure.

Perhaps many of us are like them. We refuse advice and spiritual help. We fail to listen seriously and then complain because we are corrected. If there is no correction, we say we are neglected or that no one cares about us. We need to be honest enough and sincere to do all that God points out to us, even if he tells us his will through other people.

Wednesday 25th Ordinary Time

In his great hymn on love in his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul extols the greatness and supremacy of love, now and forever.

We can test ourselves on what Paul wrote: Do we act out of love? Have we forgiven offensive people or remarks? Have we been kind at home to the family? Have we been grateful to and loving of God?

In the Gospel reading Jesus compares the people to little children who would not dance to dance music nor cry with funeral songs: they could not understand John the Baptist who neither ate nor drank and yet they complained about Jesus for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.

We need wisdom to properly understand and interpret the actions of people. John the Baptist led a life of penance and austerity: he was not possessed by an evil spirit. The Son of Man ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners: he was neither a glutton nor a drunkard; as missioned by his Father, he sought out sinners to save them from their sins. Lord, give us the gift of wisdom to properly discern, interpret and understand the complex world and people around us.

Reflection Scripture: Luke 7:31-35

John the Baptist lived a simple and hard life. He ate only bread and abstained from wine. Yet, his message of repentance was rejected. Jesus mixed with the poor and marginalized. He ate and drank with them. He too was rejected. It seems as though nothing pleased the Jewish leaders, the “men of this generation”. They found one set of excuses to reject John, and an opposite set of excuses to reject Jesus. They thought themselves wise enough to know the truth.

As such, they were not willing to open themselves to God’s action of salvation which was taking place in their midst through the message of John, and then through Jesus. Like stubborn children, the Jewish leaders were not willing to cooperate in any way with God’s action. In doing so, they closed themselves to the truth, and to the One who is himself the Truth. They failed to repent and as a result, did not become “children of wisdom”.

Often, in our own faith journey, we too can become like stubborn children. We may be aware that we have certain shortcomings and need to experience conversion. However, we are constantly giving excuses. We blame God, others and circumstances for our own sins, and as a result, remain closed to the call of Christ to repentance. Truly, God’s action of salvation is taking place daily in our lives. He calls us to repentance and transformation. Do we listen and obey? Or do we think we know better?

Lord, help me to be open to Your truth.