Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 29 Thường Niên 2019

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 29 Thường Niên 

Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay cho chúng ta biết rằng Chúa Kitô đã đến "để mang lửa đến với trái đất". Ngài đã đến để truyền cho chúng ta tình yêu của Thiên Chúa và tình yêu của con người những người chung quanh. Ngài đã đến để biến đổi chúng ta để chúng ta trở thành những người con thương yêu của Thiên Chúa chứ không phải là những con người chỉ biết sống với xác thịt và thế giới vật chất. Trong ngày Đức mẹ dâng Chúa Giêsu trong Đền thờ, tiên tri Simeon đã cho Đức Mẹ và Thánh Giuse biết trước rằng "Ngài có mệnh làm cớ cho nhiều người bổ nhào và chỗi dậy trong Israel, và làm dấu gợi lên chống đối " (Lc 2: 34 - 35)

Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, Thánh Phaolô nói với chúng ta rằng chúng ta phải có sự lựa chọn hoặc là vì Chúa và sự sống hay là vì tội lỗi và sự chết, chúng ta không thể đứng trung dung: chúng ta hoặc sống với Chúa hay là chống lại Thiên Chúa và Chúa Giêsu Kitô con Chúa. Chúng ta có thể sống cuộc sống trong tội lỗi trong thế giới này hay là chúng ta sống với Thiên Chúa và trong ân sủng của Ngài đã chuẩn bị sẵn cho chúng ta với kho báu không bao giờ rỉ sét đời đời trên thiên đàng.

Khi theo Chúa Kitô, chúng ta có thể bất hòa và xung đột với người khác, ngay cả gia đình và bạn bè thân quyến của chúng ta. Vì Chúa Giêsu đã nói với chúng ta rằng chúng ta phải biết ưu tiên cho Thiên Chúa và Nước Trời của Ngài trên tất cả, trên cả những người khác và trên tất cả mọi thứ ở trên trần gian này. Chúng ta có thể sống trong tình yêu và ân sủng của Thiên Chúa và dành cả cuộc đời để truyền bá Tin Mừng về tình yêu và đem hòa bình của Người đến với mọi người.

REFLECTION

The Gospel reading tells us that Christ has come "to bring fire upon the earth." He has come to inflame us with love of God and love of neighbor. He has come to transform us so we would be men and women of God rather than men and women of the flesh and of the world. At the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Simeon told his parents that Jesus will be "for the rise or fall of the multitudes of Israel. He shall stand as a sign of contradiction." (Lk 2: 34 – 35)

In the first reading Paul tells us that we are either for God and life or for sin and death. There is no middle ground: we are either for or against God and his Christ. We lead our lives in sin and in this world or for God and his grace preparing treasure for heaven which will not rust.

In following Christ we may be at odds and in conflict with others, even our own family and close friends. Jesus tells us we should give priority to God and his kingdom above all others and above everything. May we live in God's love and grace and spend our lives spreading his message of love and peace.

Thursday 29th Ordinary Time

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.

Reflection: (2018)

Many people think that Jesus came to preach a soft gospel. They think that as Christians they can live an untroubled and peaceful life by fulfilling certain religious obligations and rituals. To them, values such as forgiveness and peace are readily given and require no effort on their part.

In today’s Gospel, however, Jesus reminds us that there is a side to his message that demands Christians to do more than fulfill obligations or participate in rituals. He demands that we commit our lives totally to him. This means that we have to decide whether we are for him or against him. It is not enough to be a Christian by name. To be a Christian means that we forsake everything and everyone who stands in the way of our total commitment to Christ.

This is why Christian discipleship is costly. The choice that we make for Christ may even cause divisions and conflicts in the family and community. In the face of these, a Christian needs to hold on to a clear set of gospel values and priorities. This commitment to Jesus is not based primarily on human kinship but on hearing and doing God’s word.

o are we totally for Jesus? If we have not committed ourselves totally to Jesus, then there is still time for a decision, warns Jesus. He has already come to set the earth on fire. And by sending the Holy Spirit, he has started to separate the wheat from the chaff. So do not wait too long. Because before we know it, the time for judgement will be upon us. Lord, help us to commit ourselves to You totally.