Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 25 TN

  Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 25 TN

Những lời nói của Chúa Giêsu trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay có thể đã gây sốc mạnh cho những người sống trong một truyền thống tôn kính và vinh danh cha mẹ và gia đình như những người Á đông chúng ta. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đã không quay lưng lại với gia đình của Ngài; trái lại, Ngài đã mở rộng cái gia đình đó. Ngài đã xây dựng một gia đình vĩ đại bao là gồm tất cả nhân loại. Ngài nhấn mạnh: Từ nay trở đi, không còn giới hạn tình yêu của chúng ta, mà tất cả thân nhân anh em ruột thịt của chúng ta trong Thiên Chúa. Tất cả những ai đáp lại lời gọi và tiếp nhận Tin Mừng của Thiên Chúa, được coi như là người thân trong gia đình của chúng ta. Trong một nghĩa nào đó, gia đình của chúng ta đã phát triển và rất to lớn.

Những lời dạy của Chúa Giêsu là một thách thức cho chúng ta, để chúng ta biết phải mở rộng tấm lòng và tâm trí của chúng ta và để chúng ta có thể biết chấp nhận nhiều hơn không phải chỉ có những người gần gũi và thân yêu của chúng ta không mà thôi. Chúng ta hãy nhìn xung quanh chúng ta, Ai là những người thân cận trong gia đình của chúng ta? Nếu chúng ta làm được như vậy, liệu chúng ta có thay đổi thái độ và hành vi khi chúng ta đố xử với họ? Vũ trũ và thế giới này là nhà của chúng ta và tất cả mọi người trong nhân loại đều là những anh chị em hân nhân tiềm năng trong gia đình của chúng ta.

- Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa đừng để bất cứ hàng rào, ngăn cách nào có thể cản ngăn tình yêu của chúng con.

Meditation:

The words of Jesus sound a little harsh to our ears. He seems to dismiss them as he proclaims that those who do the will of God are his mother and brothers. The words must have been shocking to those living in a tradition that revered and honored parents and family. But Jesus was not turning his back on his family — on the contrary, he was expanding it. He came to build all of humanity into one family. From now on, he insisted, don't confine your love just to your blood relatives. All who respond to God can be counted as our family. In a sense, our family has grown enormous.

The words of Jesus are a challenge to broaden our hearts and minds and embrace more than just those who are near and dear to us. Let us look around — who can we count among our family? If we do so, will our behavior towards them change? The world is our home and all humanity is our potential family.

Lord, may there be no barriers to my love for others.

Tuesday 25th - Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am grateful for the family you have given me. Thank you for the gift of baptism that introduces me to the faith community through spiritual regeneration. I praise you for the continual showering of your Spirit in my life journey as I grow in intimacy and familiarity with you in communion with the Church. Finally, I pray that nothing will separate me from your love revealed in Jesus Christ your Son (Romans 8:31). Amen.

Encountering Christ:

1. Jesus and His Family: As human beings, we value intimate relationships with family members. We typically derive much joy and pleasure from being with them even when we grow up and live apart. Most of our best memories, including the painful ones, come from these interactions. Through his Incarnation, Jesus also had a human family. Because we know he loved his human family, we may be slightly surprised by his reaction towards his mother and brothers in this Gospel. Jesus was not slighting his family but was instead welcoming all of us, his future followers, into the intimacy of his immediate family. How blessed we are to be called sons and daughters of God. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17).

2. The Family of God: Jesus, the Son of God, calls his Father Abba. Through Baptism, we became brothers and sisters in Christ. In the Church, priests are referred to as fathers, and there are religious brothers and sisters. Lay people are sons and daughters of the Father. Hence, believers now belong to a family that is not bound by blood but by faith and the sacraments. The spiritual family that unites us through the water of Baptism is more profound than blood ties. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are … Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-2).

3. Family Reunion: We may eagerly anticipate the moments of family reunions or meeting up with relatives, but the best family get-together takes place in Heaven. There we meet God our Father, Jesus our Brother, Mary our Mother, all the saints, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and hopefully our earthly relatives. We know by faith that this beatific family reunion will be an occasion of tremendous pleasure and delight. With our eyes on eternity, we patiently await this heavenly family reunion, knowing that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Conversing with Christ: Lord, transform me with the renewal of my mind so that I am no longer conformed to the world (Romans 12:2) but worthy to be called your child. Send forth your Spirit so I may grow in this new creation and meet the world with your sentiments. I ask Mary and the saints to intercede for me so I can eagerly anticipate my divine family reunion.

Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will purify my attachments to earthly things to better appreciate my natural and spiritual family with faith, hope, and love.

REFLECTION

The first reading tells us of the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the return of the people of Israel from exile in Babylon to the Promised Land. During this period of exile, with the guidance and teaching of prophets, Israel somehow learned more about their God who had promised to be always with them.

In the Gospel reading Jesus calls all of us to be his family, his mother, brothers and sisters, provided we "hear the word of God and do it."

When we have problems and difficult situations in our lives, we may feel we are in "exile," like the Jewish people driven away from their land and brought to Babylon. Being "in exile," we can reflect upon and hopefully realize what are our true values and our true homeland.. While in this valley of tears, we are indeed in a journey to our true home in heaven, to be with God our Father and Jesus our brother and redeemer.

Tuesday 25th - Ordinary Time - Luke 8:19-21

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus identifies his disciples as his family. I want to say something about our becoming disciples in his family. Once we make the decision to follow Jesus then every other claimant to supremacy must fall away. As I’ve argued many times before, every one of us has something or some set of values that we consider greatest.

Perhaps it is money, material things, power, or the esteem of others. Perhaps it is your family, your kids, your wife, your husband.

None of this is false, and none of these things are bad. But when you place any of them in the absolute center of gravity, things go awry. When you make any of them your ultimate or final good, your spiritual life goes haywire. When you attach yourself to any of them with an absolute tenacity, you will fall apart.

Only when we make Christ the cornerstone of our lives are we truly ready for mission. Keep in mind that every encounter with God in the Bible conduces to mission, to being sent to do the work of the Lord. If we try to do this work while we are stuck to any number of attachments, we will fail. Period..