Suy Niệm Thứ Sáu Tuần 33 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Thứ Sáu Tuần 33 Thường Niên

Các bài đọc hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta về việc chuẩn bị và sẵn sàng tâm hồn chúng ta. Chúa Giêsu đã thanh tẩy Đền Thờ vì Đền thờ là ngôi nhà của Chúa Cha, cha Ngài, là một nơi dành cho việc cầu nguyện, tế lễ để vinh danh Thiên Chúa, chứ không phải là chỗ đễ cho các việc kinh doanh buôn bán, bóc lột. Chúa Giêsu thanh tẩy đền thờ và giờ đây Ngài cũng muốn chúng ta phải thanh tẩy đền thờ trong tâm hồn chúng ta, vì mỗi người chúng ta là đền thờ riêng cho Chúa ngự trị.

Trong một bồi cảnh gợi nhớ đến sự dâng hiến đền thờ Solomon ban đầu của  800 năm trước (1 Các Vua 8), Dân Chúng thời Tiên tri Maccabees  tái cung hiến Đền Thờ và họ đã hân hoan, ăn mừng ngày lễ trong tám ngày. Cho đến này, Mặc dù đền Jerasalem không còn nữa, nhưng mỗi năm, người Do Thái vẫn còn nhớ đến kỉ niệm ngày cung hiến đền thờ này khi họ ăn mừng lễ Hanukkah trong tám ngày. Chúng ta cũng là đền thờ của Chúa Thánh Thần, Trong cuộc sống hàng ngày, chúng ta phải tự nhắc nhở và nhớ rằng Thiên Chúa đang ở trong chúng ta. Cách mà giúp chúng ta được thanh tẩy là hãy đến với Chúa trong bí tích Hoà giảì, để chúng ta làm hoà với Thiên Chúa để chúng ta được thánh tẩy và thánh hoá tâm hồn của chúng ta, nơi mà Thiên Chúa hằng ngự trị mỗi ngày trong cuộc sống của chúng ta.  Lạy Chúa, xin hướng dẫn lời nói và việc làm của chúng con ngày hôm nay và mỗi ngày trong đời của chúng con để chúng con có thể dâng lên Chúa những lời ngợi khen, tôn kính và phục vụ.

 

Reflection:   Lk. 19:45-48)

 For what do you prepare in life — an important exam, the start of a new year, the birth of a child? Today’s readings are about preparation. Jesus cleanses the Temple. The Temple is his Father’s house  a place meant for prayer and not for business. Jesus cleanses the Temple at this time because he is about to teach there. His teachings are received most deeply when they become part of our prayer.

    In the first reading, the Jewish Maccabees retake control of Judea from the Seleucid Empire. They arrive at the Temple and see that this sacred place has been neglected and desecrated. The people are disturbed by this sight but they purify the site, build a new altar and eventually make the Temple a place where God is worshipped again. In a scene that is reminiscent of the original dedication of the Temple by Solomon 800 years before (1 Kings 8), the Maccabees now rededicate the Temple. The people rejoice for eight days.

       Each year, Jewish people still remember this rededication as they celebrate Hanukkah for eight days. We are also a Temple of the Holy Spirit. In daily life, what or who helps us to remember that God dwells within us? Is there anything from which we desire to be cleansed?

Lord, guide my words and deeds today so that I may give You praise, reverence and service.

 

Friday 33^rd Ordinary Time 2022

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, increase my faith in you. Grant that I may not treat your house of prayer like a bandit’s den, but rather a place of true worship. 

Encountering Christ:

1.      A Brief History: Long before King Solomon had built the Temple, God had instructed the people to construct a Tent of Meeting to hold the Ark of the Covenant. According to tradition, the Ark contained two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of manna. The Ten Commandments are God’s spoken law engraved in stone. Aaron’s rod represents the fruitfulness of the tribe of Levi, the tribe dedicated exclusively to the priesthood. The manna is the bread that came down from Heaven to sustain the Israelites in their forty years of wandering the desert when they fled slavery from Egypt around the 13th century B.C. All this is a reminder of the covenant that God established with his chosen people, to preserve true worship so as to be a light for the nations. Three centuries later, King Solomon would finally build a permanent home for the Ark—the Temple. 

2.      A Place of Prayer: As we have seen on previous days, the Temple was the central place of worship for the Jewish people. But above all, it was a place where souls could go to be sure that their heartfelt prayer to God would be heard. Upon installing the Ark in the Holy of Holies, King Solomon, by his testimony of prayer, revealed theTemple as a place of heartfelt prayer to God, that he may continue to dwell among them (1 Kings 8:27-30): “But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even Heaven, the highest Heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built. Yet regard the prayer and plea of your servant, O LORD my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying before you today. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you may hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May you hear from Heaven, your dwelling place. May you hear and forgive.”

3.      The Whole People Hung on His Words: Jesus saw how the house of the Father was being abused. Its use was being thwarted, and when Jesus corrected those who detracted from its purpose, they wanted to lash out and “do away with him.” But animosity cannot thwart the purpose for which God comes to dwell among us. Thanks to his redemptive death, the Holy Spirit established the Church where God’s presence dwells among us through his true Presence, the “manna” come down from Heaven. This is thanks to the new priesthood instituted by Christ himself. He also dwells among us in his word proclaimed in the holy liturgy. We gather in the temple of the Church to worship and to “hang onto” Jesus’ word so that he continues to dwell among us through faith and in grace. By this testimony, all nations will know that Jesus is Lord. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you dwell among us in your Eucharist and your word. Send your Spirit to increase our faith in you. Hear our prayer as we cry out for those who do not believe in you. May our faith, prayer, and worship be a testimony for all nations. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will reflect on my participation in the Church’s mission of prayer for the salvation of all nations. 

 

Friday 33^rd Ordinary Time 2021

Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, your Son Jesus pleased you by safeguarding the sacred place of the temple. I also am a living temple of the Holy Spirit. I believe that by the grace of your Baptism you dwell within me. Help me to enter into this moment of prayer and speak with you who live within me, heart to heart. 

Encountering Christ: 

·         Jesus Dwells in the Temple: Why would one go to the temple? It was a sacred palace, unique and set apart, the place where God dwelt in the Holy of Holies, and a place of worship and sacrifice to God. As a young boy, Jesus called it “my Father’s house” (Luke 2:49). With that same affirmation in his heart, Jesus came to the temple to drive out those who were desecrating its purpose, those who would use the things of God in their own name and for their own gain, those who would misrepresent the face of God upon the earth. Jesus came to drive them out, for his very mission was to reveal the face of the Father—the Father’s authentic face, not how others would imagine him to be. 

·         Driving Out Our Inner Thieves: In our own day, Jesus wishes to purify our image of the Father, to “drive out” of the temple of our hearts images of God that are misconstrued. There are thieves in our interior which attempt to rob the faith, hope, and love that give it light, life, and a future. Invoking the light of the Holy Spirit, we can ask him: Are there fears or doubts which tug at my heart, keeping me from “letting go and letting God”? Are there insecurities which make me believe I must earn my worth before God and others, that my own perfection makes me worthy of him? Is there a second-guessing in my heart which makes me think I must make myself loveable, disbelieving that it is God himself who makes me loveable? 

·         The Temple of Our Hearts: Just as every day Jesus was in the temple area, so every day he dwells anew in our hearts to cast out the thieves and the robbers and reveal the face of the Father. He awaits the acceptance of those who see him. The scribes and the Pharisees were looking for a way to put him to death. His overturning of tables was too threatening for them; it came too close to undoing their self-made world order. But perhaps we can find our place among the crowd, hanging on his every word. His words are spirit and life (Psalm 19); may we allow them to speak truth and grace into our sacred, inner temple—our heart, which is his preferred dwelling place.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, just as you came into the temple with passion and enthusiasm to defend and claim what was your Father’s, remember also that I am yours and come to my defense before the lies and doubts which can sometimes plague me and those I love. You reveal that the name of God is mercy, that his face is love and forgiveness and life. I wish to welcome this grace into my life. Come, Holy Spirit, and speak your truth in these places where I need it most. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will put my headphones aside and renew some of my interior headspace for God.