Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Tư tuần thứ 3 Mùa Vọng

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Tư tuần thứ 3 Mùa Vọng
Người hạnh phúc là một người biết siêng năng cầu nguyện, Vì sự cầu nguyện thông đem lại, sự thánh thiện, và sự cống chính. Sự cầu nguyện giúp chúng ta tìm đến những kinh nghiệm của niềm vui bên trong tâm hồn mà không ai có thể lấy đi.
            Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu đã dậy chúng ta chủ đề này với một sự chú ý cần thiết và  nhiều thận trọng. Người hạnh phúc và người công chính là một trong những người làm cho Chúa Kitô hiện diện với những người khác và những người làm các công việc của Chúa Cha.
            Đây là sứ vụ của thánh Gioan và Chúa Giêsu.  Thánh Gioan tẩy giả là người làm chứng về Chúa Giêsu. Chúa Giêsu đã đến để ban sự sống cho tất cả những ai tin vào Ngài. Chúa Giêsu tỏ lộ cho chúng ta biết tên của Chúa Cha là TÌNH YÊU. Sự chứng kiến ​​của Gioan và sứ vụ của Chúa Giêsu nhắc nhở chúng ta rằng người Kitô hữu có thể sẽ gặp phải những sự chống đối, bắt bớ, giam cầm và thậm chí phải hy sinh mạng sống. Sự thánh thiện không phải là sự miễn trừ đặc biệt không phải chiêu đau khổ một cách huyền diệu, bí mật, Nhưng trong thực tế, để thực thi những công việc của Thiên Chúa và để tìm sự thánh thiện này là phải chấp nhận sự đau khổ. Tuy nhiên, chúng ta không nên phải sợ hãi, Vì những người nhân danh Chúa thực thi ý của Thiên Chúa thì sẽ được Chúa ban cho sức mạnh để chịu đựng và được kiên trì theo chân Chúa Kitô  qua ơn Chúa Thánh Thần.
            Mùa Vọng là khoảng thời gian mà chúng ta trải nghiệm qua với nhiều hạnh phúc và niềm vui. Chúng ta không bao giờ nên đánh mất cái tầm nhìn về những lý do trong mùa vọng này và lời kêu gọi căn bản của nó đối với sự hòa bình. Đây là mùa mà khi chúng ta phải chuẩn bị cho những ân sũng căn bản của tình yêu Thiên Chúa trong Ngôi Lời hập Thể làm người.
            Chúng ta hãy để cuộc sống của chúng ta là một bài thánh ca dâng lên Chúa, để ca tụng tình yêu của Chúa Cha đối với chúng ta, Chúng ta hãy dành cuộc sống của chúng ta làm thành một bài thánh ca cho tình yêu mà chúng ta dành cho nha, Tình yêu là một bài thánh ca của niềm vui.
 
REFLECTION
The happy person is a person of prayer. It is through seeking after justice, personal holiness, good example and prayer that we come to experience an inner joy which no one can take away. In today's Gospel, Jesus communicates this theme with a much-needed note of caution. The happy and just person is one who makes Christ present to others and who does the works of the Father.
This was the mission of John and Jesus. John the Baptist testified about Jesus. Jesus came to give life to all who believe in Him. Jesus reveals the name of the Father as LOVE. The witness of John and the ministry of Jesus remind us that the Christian can expect opposition, rejection and even death. Holiness is not some magical exemption from suffering. In fact, to do the works of God and to seek this holiness is to find suffering. Yet, we need not fear. Those who come in the name of the Lord will be given the strength to persevere through the Spirit.
Advent is a time when we experience much happiness and joy. Let us never lose sight of the reason for this season and its ultimate call to peace. This is the season when we prepare for the ultimate gift of God's love in the Word made flesh. Let our life be a hymn to the father’s love for us. Let our life be a hymn to the love we have for one another. Love is the hymn of joy.
 
Wednesday 3rd week of Advent 2022
Introductory Prayer: Lord, you are always present to me in my waking and in my sleeping, but I am not always present to you. Forgive my inattentiveness to you, Jesus, my Creator and Redeemer. Thank you for the gifts of life, my faith in you, my family and the many other gifts you have granted me. I wish you to be the center of my life despite the countless times I put myself first. I love you and long to draw nearer to you in my prayers and actions.
Petition: Jesus, help me to discover your loving hand in my daily life.
1. Are We to Wait for Another? “He came to his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11). This is perhaps one of the saddest phrases in scripture. The “Desired of Nations” came to those who should have desired him most but they did not recognize him. Yet, if we are not careful, this can occur on a daily basis in our own lives. In our desire to make spiritual progress we might be turning a deaf ear to the voice of conscience and the lights of the Holy Spirit because we are looking for “bigger, more spectacular” opportunities to love God. We are caught looking for “something else” while he is coming to us in the most ordinary circumstances of loving my spouse, children, parents or peers.
2. Go and Tell John What You Have Seen and Heard: Jesus appeals to reason in order to elicit a deeper response of faith. To summarize his message for John: “You will know a tree by its fruit”. John has already heard of the works of Christ. So, why does Jesus re-emphasize what John already knows? Precisely because we do not always know how to discover the works of God in our daily lives at first glance. It is as if to say, “Open your eyes and your ears to learn the ways of God. I am constantly at work in your life, discover my action, hear my voice, and you will come to see my plan for you.”
3. And Blessed Is the One Who Takes No Offense at Me: Remember, this statement is directed to the “greatest man born of woman.” Therefore it must not frighten us that the paths God chooses are sometimes quite mysterious to us. Israel needed John’s testimony, yet he spends his last days in prison, hidden from the public eye. “What a waste of much needed talent!” – this is the cry of reason unaided by faith. Doesn’t God understand how important John is to the equation? Doesn’t he know that we need good leaders in society and in the Church? Doesn’t he know that my husband, my wife, or my child is too young to die? Doesn’t he know…? It is a subtle temptation to question whether God actually cares about justice in our daily lives or whether his plan is truly the best option. Satan loves leading us down this labyrinthine path. But faith enables us to cling to the truth that God is indeed all-powerful and all-loving. Faith gives us an enlightened vision to find the way and travel it safely. Am I always able to count my blessings no matter what happens in my life?
Conversation with Christ: Lord I believe in you because you are always faithful to your promises. You never promised that life would be easy but you did promise that you would give me the grace to carry the cross you ask me to bear. Sometimes I simply do not want to carry it. Help me to bear it generously with faith and love. Mother Most Pure, make my heart only for Jesus.
Resolution: Today I will visit the Blessed Sacrament and recite the creed. If I cannot make it to visit our Lord, then I will present myself to him in the quiet of my heart and recite the same. 
 
Wednesday 3rd week of Advent
And Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  Luke 7:22
One of the greatest ways that the transforming power of the Gospel is proclaimed is through the works accomplished by our Lord. In this Gospel passage, Jesus points to the works He has done to answer a question about His identity. The disciples of John the Baptist came to ask Him if He was the coming Messiah. And Jesus responds by pointing to the fact that lives have been changed. The blind, lame, lepers, deaf and dead all received miracles of God’s grace. And these miracles were done for all to see.
Though the physical miracles of Jesus would have been awe-inspiring in every way, we should not see these miracles as actions that were done once, long ago, and that no longer happen. The truth is that there are many ways that these same transforming actions continue to take place today.
How is this the case? Start with your own life. How have you been changed by the transforming power of Christ? How has He opened your eyes and ears to see and hear Him? How has He lifted your burdens and spiritual ills? How has He brought you from the death of despair to the new life of hope? Has He done this in your life?
We all need the saving power of God in our lives. And when God acts on us, changes us, heals us and transforms us, it must be seen first as an act from our Lord to us. But secondly, we must also see every action of Christ in our lives as something that God wants to be shared with others. The transformation of our lives must become an ongoing testament to the power of God and the power of the Gospel. Others need to see how God has changed us, and we must seek to humbly be an open book of God’s power.
Reflect, today, upon this Gospel scene. Imagine that these disciples of John are actually the many people you encounter every day. See them coming to you, desiring to know if the God you love and serve is the God whom they should follow. How will you respond? How can you give testimony to Christ Jesus? See it as your duty to be an open book by which the transforming power of the Gospel is shared by God through you.
Lord, I thank You for the countless ways in which You have changed my life, healing me of my spiritual illnesses, opening my eyes and ears to Your truth, and raising my soul from death to life. Use me, dear Lord, as a witness to Your transforming power. Help me to give testimony to You and Your perfect love so that others will come to know You through the way You have touched my life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
 
Wednesday 3rd week of Advent 2021
Opening Prayer: Dear Lord, you granted sight to many who were blind and cured many of disease, suffering, and evil spirits. I ask you to look upon me with mercy and teach me to look to you for strength and healing. Strengthen my love for you and my reliance on you. Thank you for your mercy, your grace, and your love. 
Encountering Christ:
A Heartfelt Question: Unlike other people who sought to trick or entrap Jesus when they asked if he was the Messiah, John the Baptist was sincere in his question. He sought the truth and wanted to know if Jesus was indeed the “one who is to come.” We can see that Jesus recognized the purity of John’s heart and the sincerity of his question by his awe-inspiring response. Jesus never fails to bless seekers of truth.
Prophesies: There are dozens of major prophecies in the Old Testament that predicted how the Messiah would arrive and specified the historical context. As a devout Jew, John the Baptist knew his Scripture. As Jesus’ cousin, he would have no doubt been aware that Jesus’ birth and early life had already fulfilled at least three Old Testament prophecies: that the Messiah would be from David’s lineage; that a virgin would conceive the Messiah; and that the Messiah would spend time in Egypt. John had doubtless heard from his own parents the exceptional circumstance surrounding Jesus’ early life. Because he had “learned” of these things, John’s heart was ready to hear confirmation that Jesus is the “one who is to come.” We, too, must study and pray with the word to know Our Lord and be able to see and acknowledge his presence in our lives. 
A Perfect Answer: Jesus answered John’s messengers in a powerful way that left no doubt to any faithful Jew that he was indeed the Messiah: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” His answer pointed to the prophecy of Isaiah, and Jesus’ listeners would have recalled these words: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:5-6). Truly, to know Scripture is to know Christ (St. Jerome). 
Conversing with Christ: Dear Lord, quiet my heart as I sit before you in this time of prayer and reflection. Give me the grace to seek you with a pure heart. May I turn to you when I need healing, direction, and guidance. Through your loving mercy, cleanse me from distraction and doubt. Let me sit quietly today with you in the truth that you are the Messiah, my Lord, and Savior. 
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will say a decade of the rosary, asking Mary to increase my faith in her Son.