Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai, Tuần 34 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai, Tuần 34 Thường Niên Luke 21:1-4
Một món quà mà cho đi với một tấm lòng hận thù hoặc cho đi để phô trưng cái sự giàu có hay sự rộng rãi của mình thì món quà sẽ không còn cái giá trị nào của nó nữa. Tuy nhiên, một món quà cho đi với tình thương, với một tinh thần quảng đại và hy sinh, thì đó chính là món quà quý giá. Dù cho món quá đó nhiều hay ít không có quan trọng nhiều bằng cách cho của người cho. Người góa phụ nghèo có thể giữ lại đồng tiền xu của mình để mua một ít gạo nấu cơm cho cả nhà ăn, nhưng bà ấy đã cho đi tất cả những gì bà ấy có! Chính cả sự sống của bà và gia đình, Chúa Giêsu đã khen ngợi người bà góa này măc dầu bà ấy chỉ cúng chỉ có một xu cho đền thờ, Nhưng chúng ta biết đó là một khoản tiền đáng kể cho cuộc sống hàng ngày của bà ta, bởi vì đó là tất cả những gì bà ta có. Những gì chúng ta đóng góp, hay bố thí có thể là rất ít so với những người khác, nhưng nếu chúng ta đặt hết tất cả những gì chúng ta có vào hành động của Chúa, Thì vấn đề nhiều hay ít sẽ không còn là vấn đề nữa, Thiên Chúa biết mọi sự và Ngài có thể biến đổi món quá nhỏ bé thành món quà hữu dụng và những việc đó đã nằm ngoài tầm tay và sự toan tính của chúng ta.
            Lòng tốt của bà góa là một bài học tốt cho chúng ta là những môn đệ của Chúa Kitô. Chúng ta có thể sống quảng đại, như những người giàu có, bỏ những đồng tiền vàng vào hộp tiền (Lc 21:01). Tuy nhiên, số tiền lớn mà chúng ta dâng hiến vào đền thờ sẽ không có giá trị nếu chúng ta chỉ cho Chúa "những đống tiền dư thừa, những đồng tiền lẻ mà chúng ta có trong túi quần, túi áo", Cho mà không có tinh thần yêu thương, tự hiến, hay cho mà " không"cho hết chính bản thân mình. Thánh Augustinô nói: “Họ đã quan sát cái lòng hảo tâm "tuyệt vời" từ những người giàu có và họ ca ngợi những người đó và trong cùng lúc, họ có thể nhìn thấy bà quả phụ này, nhưng đã có ai để ý đến hai đồng tiền xu.?
            Ngưởi đàn bà goá đã cho Thiên Chúa tất cả những gì bà ấy có bằng với cả trái tim của mình. Bà không có tiền của vật chất, những bà đã dâng lên Chuá tât cả tâm hồn, và trái tím của bà, vì bà đã có Thiên Chúa trong trái tim của bà. Đó là việc tốt cần nên bắt chước hơn. Chúng ta nên hãy rộng lượng với Thiên Chúa và Ngài sẽ ban cho chúng ta nhiều hơn những gì chúng ta đã cho đi.
 
Meditation: "She put in all that she had"         
Do you know the joy of selfless giving and love for others? True love doesn't calculate - it spends lavishly! Jesus drove this point home to his disciples while sitting in the temple and observing people offering their tithes. Jesus praised a poor widow who gave the smallest of coins in contrast with the rich who gave greater sums. How can someone in poverty give more than someone who has ample means? Jesus' answer is very simple - love is more precious than gold or wealth!
            Jesus taught that real giving must come from the heart. A gift that is given with a grudge or for display loses its value. But a gift given out of love, with a spirit of generosity and sacrifice, is precious. The amount or size of the gift doesn't matter as much as the cost to the giver. The poor widow could have kept one of her coins, but instead she recklessly gave away all she had! Jesus praised someone who gave barely a penny - how insignificant a sum - because it was everything she had, her whole living.
            What we have to offer may look very small and not worth much, but if we put all we have at the Lord's disposal, no matter how insignificant it may seem, then God can do with it and with us what is beyond our reckoning. Do you give out of love and gratitude for what God has already given to you?
"Lord Jesus, your love knows no bounds and you give without measure. All that I have comes from you. May I give freely and generously in gratitude for all that you have given to me. Take my life and all that I possess - my gifts, talents, time and resources - and use them as you see fit for your glory."
 
Monday 34^th Ordinary time 2022
Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, make my heart more like yours, generous and magnanimous.
Encountering Christ:
1.      Jesus Notices: The Gospel passage today starts with Jesus “looking up.” Jesus notices. He noticed the rich people and what they put in the treasury. He noticed the poverty-stricken widow. He notices our external actions and our internal dispositions and intentions. This reality calls us to live under that gaze. We live under many “gazes”: the world’s standards, our friends, our families, our parents, and our own ideals. But the only one that counts is that of Jesus. He sees the big picture of our lives—where we are and how we have come to the present moment. And he loves us abundantly.
2.      The Greatest Gift: Jesus mentioned that the poor widow put in “more” than any rich people. Is giving relative? In a sense, it is. It is relative to the heart’s capacity. The greater the heart’s capacity, the greater the gift. How can we increase our heart’s capacity? By growing in a spirit of poverty. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “blessed are the poor in spirit, the Kingdom of God is theirs.” The less we hold onto for ourselves, the more available we are to receive the gifts the Lord wants to give. And in return, all we have can be returned to the Lord or given in his name. We discover the greatest gifts in a spirit of poverty: the capacity to receive from God and freely give what was received. 
3.      All She Had: Jesus said that the poor widow gave all she had. She held nothing back in her desire to be generous. She had a magnanimous heart. We rarely speak of the virtue of magnanimity. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, magnanimity helps a person achieve great and noble acts, like this woman who gave “all she had.” It requires great humility, recognizing that what one does and offers is due to God’s gifts. What gifts and riches do we possess? How can we be magnanimous by “giving all we have”?
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, make my heart more like yours, poor of spirit and magnanimous. Thank you for the gifts that you give me. Help me be generous in offering them to others. 
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will reflect on how you may call me to be magnanimous.
 
Monday 34^th Ordinary time 2021
Opening Prayer: Dear God, I love you because you notice little details, like a poor widow offering two small coins. I know that you see and cherish all of my good deeds too. It makes me want to love and serve you even more. Please give me the grace to do so!
Encountering Christ:
·         Complete Love: There is a sense of finality in the poor woman’s meager donation. She had something, and now she has nothing and it would seem her life is about to end. We are now in the last week of the liturgical year, when we read of the end times in Luke 21. And it all begins with this poor widow donating her fortune to God. We are like that woman; we are poor and seemingly insignificant in world history. Our names will be forgotten, like hers was. And yet what she did for God has never been forgotten. Scripture presents her as the epitome of love and devotion, for she followed the first commandment and loved the Lord her God with all her heart, mind, and soul.
·         Not Much, but All: Jesus often makes statements which can be maddening to those with a worldly mentality. He said, “She has put in more than all the rest.” The worldling says, “But it simply isn’t true! She put in only two coins, entirely irrelevant to the treasury needs.” Jesus is trying to open us up to a deeper reality: The Father does not measure our self-donation in worldly terms but he does ask us to offer him everything we have. May we have the courage to give everything to the Lord, as did this poor woman.
·         I Choose All: What happened to the widow the day after she gave God her last two coins? Did she die of want and exposure? The Gospel doesn’t say. Wasn’t it rash of her to give away everything she owned? Yes, it was rash. But the saints remind us that love is daring, rash, and sometimes even foolish. When discerning her path in life, St. Thérèse of Lisieux said, “I choose all.” The worldling says, “You can’t choose all, that’s foolish.” May we be fools for Christ!
Conversing with Christ: Jesus Christ, you loved me so much that you gave me all you had by dying on the cross. From the poverty of your humanity, you offered your whole self to your Heavenly Father. You learned obedience through what you suffered and so became the fount of salvation for all who believe in you. Teach me to understand this logic of love so dear to your heart.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will read and reflect on Philippians 2:1-11.
 
My REFLECTION MONDAY, 34TH Week in Ordinary Time
In the first reading from the book of Revelation, we see the Lamb in glory, surrounded by one hundred and forty-four thousand elected faithfuls. The Book of Revelation is filled with puzzling symbols.
It was written during a time of suffering and persecution of the followers of Jesus and was intended to reassure the faithful of the final triumph of Christ.
In the end, God wins! One hundred and forty-four thousand; multiples of 12, the number of the tribes of Israel; is a symbolic number meant to signify wholeness and completeness.
God’s final plan is all-embracing and perfect. As we try to follow the way of Christ in our daily lives, we can take heart that we are among the faithful.
            In the Gospel reading Jesus praises the great sacrifice and generosity of the poor widow who contributed 2 small coins to the Temple as he said to his disciples: "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For all gave an offering from their plenty, but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on."
            There are many people contributed to the Church and to charitable causes generously, their generosity is commendable.
But today, what Jesus emphasized was how great the widow's donation was compared to what she owned: "She, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on."
God asks us to be willing to give our best, our all, to him and in service of him.
In comparison, how generous are we to others, to those in need? Do we give from our plenty?
We can help others not only with money and resources, but we also help others with our presence and time. The question is how much of ourselves do we give for others?
Today, Jesus introduced a different way of evaluating gifts.
It was not the value of the gift that was important but the sacrifice with which it was given. Jesus honored the sacrifice of the poor.
  God calls on each of us to faithfully give from a generous heart.
Let’s ask our Lord Jesus help us to open our heart to him by giving generously and faithfully.