Suy Niệm thứ Tư Tuần thứ 33 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm thứ  Tư Tuần thứ 33 Thường Niên-

      Trong thế giới của chúng ta ngày nay, mọi người dường như ai cũng nghĩ tới lợi nhuận trong việc buôn bá, hay lợi tức trong vièc đầu tư. Hầu hết chúng ta dành thời gian của chúng ta làm việc, tĩm cách đầu và lúc nào cũng muốn co thêm lợi nhuận nhiều hơn. Chúng ta muốn có lợi tức to lớn sau khi chúng ta ơã bỏ ra một số vốn dù lớn hay nhỏ, lợi càng nhiều càng tốt cho chúng ta. Thậm chí chúng ta còn muốn nhận lãn suất nhiều hơn những gì chúng ta đã bỏ ra.

      Thật vậy, dụ ngôn hôm nay Chúa muốn nói với chúng ta rằng Thiên Chúa đòi hỏi chúng ta phải biết dùng những năng khiếu và tài năng mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng để phát triển và sinh lời cho Nước Chúa. Thiên Chúa muốn chúng ta được hạnh phúc và được sống cuộc sống thật đầy đủ với những gì chúng ta đã bò công lao sức lực tài năng của chúng ta để đầu tư vào cuộc sống đời sau. Điều quan trọng là chúng ta phải nhận thấy và đánh giá cao những gì chúng ta đã đầu tư. Những ân sủng, tài năng của Thiên Chúa đã trao ban cho chúng ta một cách tự do và với tình yêu thương thật sự và vĩ đại: chúng ta phải nên cảm tạ, biết ơn và vui vẻ đón nhận và sử dụng món quà, những năng khếu của chúng ta một cách đứng đắn, với mục đích vinh danh Thiên Chúa qua việc giúp ích cộng đồng hay những người thiếu may mắn khác.

  Sau hết,, chúng ta hãy cầu nguyện cho nhau, cho những ai đã cầu nguyện cho chúng ta và cho những ai cần đến những lời cầu xin của chúng ta nhiều nhất.

 

Reflection:

     In our world today, everyone seems to be concerned about profit or return of investment. Most of the time we prefer to receive than to give. We want a return for what we have put in. We may even want to receive much more than what we have put in. In today's Gospel parable, is God teaching us about the importance of profit and return of investment?

     Indeed the parable tells us that God demands that we make good use, the best use, of gifts and talents given to us. God wants us to be happy and live our lives to the fullest with what we have been given. It is important that we see and appreciate what we have been given. His gifts have been given to us freely and with great love: we should be grateful and joyful in our use of them not only for ourselves but also for others.

 Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

 

Wednesday 33^rd Ordinary Time 2022

 Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, increase my faith. Grant that I may participate more fully in building your Kingdom in my heart, home, and society.

Encountering Christ:

1.      Which King to Serve?: In this parable, the disposition of the appointed king’s compatriots was one of rejection, disdain, and pride. They could not accept that this man of noble birth from a foreign country would rule over them. Pride blinded them to the possibilities of participating in the development of their own kingdom. But if they did not serve this new king, who would they serve? Themselves? This is the question we should ask ourselves: which king do I serve? The “temporal king” who may promise immediate gratification or an eternal King who invites a privileged participation in the building of his Kingdom?

2.      Investment: Notice how the king offered ten servants a quantity of money to invest while he was away. His command was simple, “Trade with these, until I get back.” It was not even their own money. That is stewardship. We need to recognize that all we receive is a gift to be invested in building up the Kingdom of God. What is the attitude of our heart in relation to our possessions? Do we receive and give them as gifts to be wisely used for an intentional purpose? Do we hoard anything out of fear of losing it? Do we gratefully recognize that we are stewards of all that we possess and thus joyfully participate in the great task of the King to reign over all with charity and mercy? In the end, stewardship is rewarded justly. 

3.      Going Up to Jerusalem: After Jesus spoke these words he went up to Jerusalem. “Up” is both a literal and figurative movement. To get to Jerusalem, from whichever direction you enter, you have to go up due to the city’s altitude. But figuratively, Jesus also went up in the sense of moving toward the Father’s will. He was a steward of a Kingdom, and his investment was to be his life. He set his face toward that destiny and intentionally went to meet it. His full participation in the life and desire of the Father brought about a true establishment of the eternal Kingdom here on earth. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, may your Kingdom come through my collaboration in the gifts with which you bless me. Help me to be a wise investor of my time, talents, and treasure. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will reflect upon the use of my time as a talent given to me to build your Kingdom.

 

Wednesday 33^rd Ordinary Time 2021

Opening Prayer: My Lord and my God, I come into your presence for this time of prayer. I believe that you have something you wish to say to me today and I open my heart before you to receive your word. Increase my faith that I may welcome you, my hope that I may cling to you even when you seem to delay, and my love, that you may live in me more and more each day. 

Encountering Christ: 

·         The Value of Time: This passage puts us in the proper context for the upcoming Solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday of the liturgical year, and the last days before Advent begins. To prepare for his coming in the manger, we recall that he also reigns from the throne of his cross, where redemption was won. In this passage, Christ presents himself as this nobleman who goes off to obtain the kingship for himself and will one day return. His mission is to redeem his children, as Universal King. Our mission is to receive this great gift and to cooperate with him in making his Kingdom present. Each Christian should consider him or herself counted among these ten servants, charged with the care of “talents” in the service of our King. 

·         The Coin: What is the “talent,” the coin given by the king? It must mean more than human qualities or characteristics, which we usually refer to as talents. The ending of the passage hints at an answer: These coins could represent the life of grace, the dwelling of God in the soul. This sanctifying grace comes from Baptism, we know; it is wounded by sin but grows with every act of openness and surrender, of trust and self-giving to God. In a word, love causes this life to grow, because God is love. And all authentic love comes from him. Fear, doubt, clinging to one’s own insecurities—these can make us like the fearful servant, unwilling to take the risk of love. 

·         Great Love: Jesus’ words at the end of this passage may seem strong to us—a grave admonition we find it hard to swallow. But if we dig a bit deeper, we can hear the heart of the King—a King whose heart would soon be pierced open to wash his children clean in the blood of the Lamb (c.f. Revelation 7:14). From the depths of the heart of God, he longs for all to be saved. How often our response to God’s invitations can be hesitation, fear, or the desire for control or perfection. But what he desires is faith, hope, and love. So great is his desire, and often so great our hardness of heart, that he speaks this strongly, hoping we will understand and heed his warning. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I place myself at your feet. You are my King and King of the whole world. You invite me to share in your mission, to make present your Kingdom here, within my own life, home, family, school, office, circle of influence. This is a great mission and you know that sometimes I am afraid, I hold back, and I feel I don’t know what you want from me. Open my heart to greater trust in you so that I may keep giving myself to others with love, as you do, every day. In this way, may your grace, your life, increase in me. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will seek to strengthen the life of grace in my soul by getting to Confession as soon as I can.