Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Bẩy Tuần 29 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ bẩy tuần 29 Thường Niên

Trong một lúc nào đó trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, có lẽ chúng ta cũng đã giống như cây vả mà Chúa Giêsu đã nhắc tới trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay. Chúng ta cũng thế, chúng ta đều có nguy cơ bị từ bỏ, và bị coi như là thứ vô dụng. Nhưng với tình yêu thương của Thiên Chúa, Ngài đã thương xót chúng ta, và Ngài đã cho chúng ta có một cơ hội khác để sử đổi. Do đó, bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, kêu gọi tất cả chúng ta hãy tỏ lòng biết ơn Thiên Chúa một cách sâu sắc hơn vì Ngài đã cho chúng ta có được cơ hội thứ hai. Đây cũng là một phần đòi hỏi sự quyết tâm thật tình của chúng ta trong nhưng việc làm hầu chúng ta có được cái cơ hội thứ hai.

Chúng ta sẽ hành động như thế nào ? Có phải là chúng ta sẽ vẫn giữ cái trạng thái trong sự lười biếng thiêng liêng? Thiên Chúa luôn yêu thương và sẽ giúp chúng ta, nhưng Ngài sẽ không ép buộc chúng ta vào thiên đàng. Chúng ta cần phải thay đổi cách sống của chúng ta. Chúng ta cần phải chấp nhận, tin tưởng và trông cậy vào sự giúp đỡ, và sự yêu thương của Thiên Chúa. Chúng ta cần phải sản xuất những hoa quả của những việc làm tốt trong sự ăn năn, trong sự khiêm tốn và trong tình yêu thương. Với thời gian, không bao giờ là quá muộn hay quá trễ để chúng ta bắt đầu thay đổi cuộc sống của chúng ta để chúng ta được trở nên tốt hơn hay thánh thiện hơn. Chúng ta đừng để Chúa Giêsu Kitô phải thất vọng vì chúng ta, Ngài đã phải hạ mình, từ Thiên Chúa đã xuống làm người, một con người thật hèn hạ để ban cho chúng ta thêm một cơ hội thứ hai là để cứu chuộc chúng ta.

REFLECTION LUKE 13:1-9

At some point in our lives, many of us were like the fig tree. We, too, were in danger of being rejected as useless. But in his mercy, God took pity on us. We were given another chance. Today's Gospel, therefore, calls forth from us deep gratitude to God for the second chance he has given us. It also calls for a deep determination on our part to make the most of our second chance.

How shall we act? Shall it be with the same spiritual laziness? God will help us but he will not force us into heaven. We need to change our ways. We need to accept the loving help of God. We need to produce the fruit of good deeds in repentance, humility and love. It is never too late to begin to change our lives for the better. Let us not disappoint Jesus who allowed himself to be cut down to give us a second chance to redeem ourselves.

Satursday 29th Ordinary Time 2022

Opening Prayer: Father, you call me to not only believe but to act. You call me not only to keep the Ten Commandments but to serve. As I enter into this prayer, I offer you my whole self. I believe that you are showing me what it means to live for you day by day. I trust that you will give me the grace I need to live in fidelity to what you ask of me. I offer you my love and ask that you help me deepen that love. God, help me keep my focus on loving you and living your holy will out of that love.

Encountering Christ:

1. Whose Fault Is It?: Jesus was firm in his teaching regarding suffering: those who suffered were no different than those speaking with him. He said something similar when he and the disciples passed a man blind from birth, and the disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned...it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (John 9:3). Jesus was rejecting the people’s notion that sin causes suffering. We misunderstand if we think that our crosses are a punishment from God. On the contrary, there is great spiritual power in suffering for God’s glory, even when we don’t suffer “perfectly.” “Suffering is the very best gift he has to give us. He gives it only to his chosen friends” (St. Therese of Lisieux).

2. Bear Fruit: Each of us has a personal vocation that only we can fulfill. By using our gifts and talents, we give glory to God. St. John Paul II wrote, “God with his call reaches the heart of each individual, and the Spirit, who abides deep within each disciple, gives himself to each Christian with different charisms and special signs. Each one, therefore, must be helped to embrace the gift entrusted to him as a completely unique person, and to hear the words which the Spirit of God personally addresses to him” (Pastores Dabo Vobis, 1992). A good way to discern if we are fulfilling God’s will and bearing fruit is to practice a daily Examen.

3. God’s Patience: God provides grace to help us to bear fruit through the sacraments, Scripture, the teachings of the Church, and the examples of the saints. He is patient, “not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), but there will come a reckoning. We will be held accountable for that which we have done or failed to do in our lives. Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Now is our opportunity to put our faith into action so that our lives bear the fruit God asks of us.

Conversing with Christ: My Father, you are the source of my life. You created me, and each and every minute I want to live a life that radiates your love and goodness. I want to bear fruit that draws others to you. I want to find joy in the gift of being able to participate in your ongoing action in the world. Father, help me grow in my commitment to building your Kingdom both within myself and in the world around me.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will recall at least one instance in which I have felt your call and have responded faithfully, and will consider with gratitude the fruit that resulted.

REFLECTION

The parable of the fig tree tells us that there is still hope; there is still a time of grace; there is still time for us to repent. The first step towards this conversion may very well be the conviction that conversion makes sense. It is not true that we are sometimes powerless to change a wrong situation. When we begin to change the way we live, if we do what we can, others will join us. The whole world can begin to become better if we begin with ourselves.

A second step towards conversion could be that we be honest to ourselves. We often denounce abuses but what do we do about them? Perhaps we waste electricity, water and other natural resources. We use our car when we don't really need it. We don't bother about people in need. We shout that society has to change but we do nothing to remedy the situation. In this respect, we have to change our way of thinking by looking first at what we have to do to carry out the changes that are difficult for us.

The third step towards conversion is to allow God to occupy first place in our life. Do we take the time to pray, to ask God what His Will is for us? Do we realize that God needs us to make this world a good place to live in? Are we willing to contribute towards peace and justice and care for God's creation? If we do these things, our little conversion will ripple and make this world a better healthier place.

Saturday 29th

Opening Prayer: Jesus, thank you for meeting me here in this time of prayer. I give you thanks for your love for me, for your mercy, and for your forgiveness. I believe that you are with me in every moment of my day. I hope in your goodness and your provision of all that I need. I love you, Lord, and desire to love you above all else. Help me embrace all that you ask of me with great confidence in you.

Encountering Christ:

1. A Heart on Fire: What is the fire Christ brought to earth and desires to see blazing? It is the fire of charity. The image of the Sacred Heart shows this flame coming from Christ’s heart. In the Catechism, the Sacred Heart is described as “the chief sign and symbol of that…love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings without exception” (CCC 478). Some holy cards have the inscription, “Here is the heart that loved men so much,” and a traditional ejaculatory prayer is “Sacred Heart of Jesus, burning with love of us, inflame our hearts with love of you.” Knowing that Christ’s heart burns with a passionate love for every person, we desire to burn with that same love

2. The Earth: By his purifying fire, Christ redeemed not only mankind but all of creation: “For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God…in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now…” (Romans 8:19-22). And as creation awaits the fullness of redemption, it witnesses to God. “Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos–which both the child and the scientist discover–‘from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator,’ ‘for the author of beauty created them’” [Wisdom. 13:3, 5] (CCC 2500). We are invited to encounter God and celebrate his glory in the beauty of his creation.

3. A Contradiction: Jesus is the Prince of Peace, yet in this passage, we are told that he came not to establish peace but division. The peace Christ brings is the fruit of knowing the truth, living in that truth, and accepting his love. When people reject truth, conflicts and divisions occur. Some of the divisiveness is relational, as described in this passage, but we can also experience restlessness and anxiety interiorly. As St. Paul wrote, “For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. ... For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want” (Romans 7:15, 19). Whether we battle interior or exterior division, our challenge is to embrace all that Christ calls us to through Scripture and the teachings of his Church, and to strengthen ourselves through the sacraments so that we can be his peacemakers in the world.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, your burning love is the source of peace. I want to open my heart to your love so that I can be inflamed with love for you. The more I love you, the more I will follow your commandments and do your will peacefully and joyfully. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. Transform my heart and make it like yours.

Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will spend five minutes reflecting on some aspect of nature that draws me closer to you, and I will share this with a family member, a friend, or someone I meet today.