Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy Tuần 33 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy Tuần 33 Thường Niên

Tin Mừng hôm nay nói về sự sống lại của những người đã chết và cũng như những trạng thái của con người khi được sống lại ở trong thế giới bên kia. Qua bài Tin Mừng Chúa Giêsu đã nói cho chúng ta biết rằng trong sự sống lại của người ở trong Nước Thiên Chúa, không có sự kết hôn vì con người sẽ không bao giờ phải chết nữa. Lúc đo con người chúng ta cũng sẽ giống như các thiên thần và con cái Thiên Chúa Trên Thiên Đàng.

            Tin Mừng hôm nay mời gọi tất cả chúng ta hãy nhìn vào cuộc sống của chúng ta một cách nghiêm túc. Chúa Giêsu đề cập đến sự tồn tại của con người trên trái đất của chúng ta, những người mà Ngài so sánh, đối chiếu với "con cái của sự sống lại” là những người đã sống lại trong cuộc sống mới. Rõ ràng là chúng ta đã được mời gọi để tham dự và thống phần vào trong của sự sống lại với Chúa Giêsu. Nhưng trước khi đạt đến những sự hứa hẹn trong sự sống lại, con người phải trải qua một cuộc phán xét để xác định rõ trình trạng của mỗi người, để xem ai là người xứng đáng được sống lại với Chúa Kitô trong nước Trời, hay là sẽ phải là môt trong những người bị loại. 

Chúng ta cũng phải tập trung và chú ý vào sự sống lại của những người đã chết. Cuộc sống với Chúa Giêsu Kitô ở trên trời phải là mục tiêu hàng đầu của chúng ta. Điều đó cũng phải là trọng tâm trong các nỗ lực của chúng ta để được sống lại và được nâng lên làm con cái Thiên Chúa như Ngài đã hứa ban cho chúng ta. Mục tiêu này củng đã đem lại và giới thiệu cho chúng ta với một thách thức hết sức đầy gian nguy và to lớn, vì thế giới xung quanh đã đưa ra cho chúng ta một cách sống hoàn toàn khác biệt như việc hướng dẫn, nuôi dạy con cái: theo đuổi cái hạnh phúc trong thế giói hiện tại, sống một cuộc sống phải có đầy đủ những thừ vật chất và hưởng thụ mọi thứ đang hiện hữu trong thế giới hiện tại ở đây trên trái đất này.

       Cuộc chiến hàng ngày của chúng ta trong thế giới này chỉ có thể chiến thắng và đạt được qua những lời thành tâm cầu nguyện và với sự giúp đỡ của Chúa Thánh Thần là Đấng ban cho chúng ta sức mạnh, sự kiên trì và can đảm để tồn tại trong cuộc chiến và sự đấu tranh của chúng ta. Đây là những là tin tức thực sự tốt cho chúng ta để chúng tabiết rằng Thiên Chúa của chúng ta là Thiên Chúa của kẻ sống và Con của Ngài là ĐứcGiêsu Kitô đã vượt qua mọi sự cám dỗ và đã mở ra một con đường cho chúng ta đi theo

 

REFLECTION

This Gospel speaks of the resurrection of the dead and it gives us some inclination as to what the status of spouses will be in the next world. The Gospel says that in the resurrection of the dead people do not marry because they no longer die and are the same as angels and sons of God.

            Today's Gospel invites all of us to look at our lives seriously. Jesus mentions "the children of this world," referring, of course, to our existence on earth, whom he contrasts with the "children of the resurrection" - those who have risen to new life. Clearly, we are called to participate in the promise of the resurrection. But before reaching the promised resurrection there is judgment that will determine whether one is worthy or not of being a child of the resurrection. We must also focus their attention on the resurrection of the dead. Life with Jesus Christ in heaven should be our objective. It must also be the center point in our efforts to raise the children God has given us. This goal presents us with a tremendous challenge. For the world around us proposes to us an entirely different way of raising children: pursue happiness now, live life to the fullest here on earth.

            This daily battle can be won through prayer and with the help of the Holy Spirit who gives us the strength, perseverance and courage to persist in our struggle. It is truly good news to know that our God is the God of the living and that his Son Jesus Christ has overcome all temptations and has trod a path for us to follow.

 

Saturday 33 ordinary Time 2022

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, increase my faith in the eternal inheritance that you won for me. 

Encountering Christ:

1.      Moses Prescribed for Us: The Sadducees took as their authority Moses’ law and prescriptions. Those served their purpose for a time. But Jesus has a broader vision, one that spanned from the creation of the world into eternity. As he said in Matthew 5:17, he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus came as the mediator of a New Covenant “so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15). Moses reminded the people of the natural law (that which is inscribed in their hearts) as well as made prescriptions based on their hardened hearts and sinful ways. But Jesus came to offer redemptive grace so we may live here on earth in the New Covenant of grace.

2.      Already, but Not Yet: How do we enter into our inheritance? The door to the possibility is Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant. By baptism we become children of God and heirs to his Kingdom. We are called to exercise our faith and “receive our daily bread” through the grace that the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, offers us in our pilgrimage towards our heavenly homeland. In grace we already possess the inheritance won for us by Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross. In hope, we await the final “portion,” so to speak, or consummation of this inheritance in the resurrection of the body. 

3.      They Did Not Dare: Aren’t we encouraged to ask questions so as to learn and discover more about our faith? So, why did they not dare to ask questions? Perhaps because the answers would challenge them to turn from their old law to a new way of faith. This can be scary. Changing our ways of perceiving reality requires a death to our former self. It demands humility to recognize that one’s paradigmatic vision of the world may have been wrongly formed. Sometimes the Holy Spirit desires to shake us up, breaking down our old foundations in order to build up something new and true. The risk of allowing God to do this comes at the cost of dying to one’s self-aggrandizement, but the reward is a new and liberating life in the Spirit.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of the New Covenant I entered into through Baptism. Grant that I may live according to your desires for me, aware that you are the living God, inviting me into relationship every day. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will reflect on how my actions reflect my belief in a living God.

 

Saturday 33 ordinary Time 2021

Opening Prayer: Good Jesus, you are faithful and you never tire of coming out to meet me. Once more, you open your heart to me in these moments of prayer. I wish to open my heart to you, too. I believe that you have something to say to me today and I tell you once more that I trust in you. And I love you, Jesus. Let me grow in love. 

Encountering Christ: 

1.      From the Fullness of the Heart: En route to Jerusalem, Jesus was preparing his heart to offer himself to the Father for the redemption of all the world. Meanwhile, the leaders of the people were plotting the very death that awaited him. What a contrast between their hearts—Jesus’ heart filling and overflowing with love while the Pharisees’ hearts were closed in ever more with bitterness. The Pharisees framed a question they thought would trap Jesus and make the promise of eternal life look ridiculous. But Jesus reminded them of who the children of God are—those who hear his word and accept it. 

2.      God’s Desires for His Children: The union between man and wife in marriage, faithful and rooted in mutual self-giving, is a symbol of the very love God wishes to offer us. God desires that we be united to him. The Sadducees in this passage saw Jesus as one opposed to their well-being, disrupting their skewed but comfortable order of things. Jesus patiently answered their question, welcoming them even though they were not yet ready to welcome him, extending yet again his hand in friendship, seeking union with them the way he seeks union with us. 

3.      Jesus Knows Our Hearts: So great is his desire for friendship with them (us!), that he even answered the question they didn’t ask, the question they kept harbored in their hearts. Sadducees believed neither in the resurrection of the dead, nor spirits, nor the immortality of the soul, but on this score, Jesus set them right. “The dead will rise,” Jesus affirmed, for “he is not God of the dead but of the living.” This proclamation of Jesus should touch our souls, too. It can be easy to pretend he is a dead God, one who was important in past times but who doesn’t really touch our lives today. Not true! Jesus wants to connect with us intimately. He wants to be present, and a part of each day, each moment in our lives.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are God of the living and not of the dead. You are alive in my heart, in your Church, in our world today. Though others may be indifferent to you, though I myself often am, today I do not wish to be so. Today, I wish to open my heart to receive your word and welcome your invitation to be more closely united to you. 

Resolution: Lord, by your grace I will pause for a moment of prayer during or at the end of my day to reflect on where you have made yourself present. I will thank you for being there and ask you to help me discover your presence anew tomorrow.