Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ hai Mùa Vọng

Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần  thứ hai Mùa Vọng

Có những lúc trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, những sự bất hạnh ập đến như những con mưa dai dảng trong cuộc đời, nhiều khi không phải chỉ có một cái bất hạnh, nhưng có nhiều cứ dồn dập đến với chúng ta hết cái bất hạnh này, đến cái khác. 

Có lẽ, những lần như thế chúng ta đã thực sự muốn bỏ cuộc, muốn la hét và khóc xin với Thiên Chúa để xin cho tất cả những vấn đề phức tạp này mau mau được kết thúc? 

Mặt khác, khi phúc lành tuôn đổ đến với chúng ta, thì nhiều phúc lành khác cũng tiếp tục tuôn đến với chúng ta. Và chúng ta hãy cảm tạ Thiên Chúa cho tất cả những phúc lành Chúa ban.

            Vâng, cuộc sống có những thăng trầm của nó. Khi cuộc đời chúng ta được may mắn, và cứ my mắn. Tất cả mọi thứ đi kèm tiếp tục đổ vào thêm, và chúng ta sống như thể không bao giờ kết thúc. Nhưng khi cuộc sống của chúng ta đang đi xuống, chúng ta có cảm thấy như chúng ta đang thực sự bị rơi vào chân không, chơi vơi như kẻ chết đuối.  Nếu như không có hy vọng vào sự sống còn của chúng ta. Chúng ta có thể cảm thấy như chúng ta đang ở trong sự kết thúc của thế giới.

            Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu đã cho chúng ta niềm hy vọng.  Ngài nói với chúng ta đến với Ngài, Ngài sẽ đổi mới và thêm sức mạnh cho chúng ta. Ngài nói với chúng ta "hãy gánh lấy cái ách của Ngài."  Cái ách gì của Chúa Kitô mà Ngài nói là nhẹ nhàng, và êm ái?

            Đó là làm theo ý muốn của Thiên Chúa trong cuộc sống của chúng ta. Và ý muốn của Thiên Chúa nơi chúng ta là  những gì? Điều căn bản  đầu tiên và quan trọng nhất là yêu mến Thiên Chúa, và yêu thương tha nhân như chúng ta yêu bản thân mình. Cụ thể, Thiên Chúa mời gọi chúng ta trở nên giống như Ngài, là vị tha, dám cho những cái tốt nhất của chúng ta cho người khác mà không cần dự dự. Chúng ta có thể làm điều này nếu chúng ta nhận ra được là Thiên Chúa đã yêu thương chúng ta bao nhiêu trong Chúa Giêsu Kitô, và Ngài vẫn còn tiếp tục yêu thương chúng ta bao nhiêu mỗi ngày!.

            Hạnh phúc là khi chúng ta được làm việc cho Chúa, cho Chúa Giêsu, bởi vì chúng ta yêu mến Ngài. Đây chính là ơn gọi của mỗi người Kitô hữu chúng ta, là biết yêu thương như Chúa Giêsu yêu thương chúng ta. Quả thật, cái ách của Chúa êm ái,  và cái gánh của Chúa thì êm ái và rất nhẹ nhàng.

 

Reflection:

     "When it rains it pours." 

     You must have heard this saying. A lot of people don't like the rain because it's wet, it's bothersome. It's difficult to commute when it rains because traffic is heavy. The feeling becomes worse when the rain is strong and continuous because the effect is flooding.  

When misfortune strikes, it's not just one, but one after another. When someone in the family gets sick, another problem comes like financial difficulty. Then the house needs major repair, then… the list goes on and on. It's not easy and oftentimes we really want to just give up and scream and cry asking God when will all these problems end?   

     On the other hand, when blessings come our way, more blessings follow. It comes one after another as well. And we give thanks to God for all the blessings. 

     Yes, life has its ups and downs. When we are up, we are up. Everything comes pouring in, and we live as if it will never end. But when we are going down, it feels like we are really crashing and drowning as if there is no hope for our survival. It may feel like it is the end of the world. 

     In the Gospel, Jesus gives us hope. He tells us to come to him and he will refresh us. He tells us to "take his yoke." What is this yoke of Christ which he says is easy and light? It is to do the will of God in our lives. And what is God's will for us?  It is basically to love God first and foremost, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Concretely, God invites us to be like him, to be unselfish, to give our best to others without reserve. We can do this if we realize how much God has loved us in Jesus Christ and how much He continues to love us every day. Happiness is in doing things for God, for Jesus, because we love Him. This is our vocation as Christians – to love as Jesus loved. Truly, his yoke is easy and his burden light. 

 

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent 2022

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you know the sincerity of my desire to spend this time with you. As I begin this meditation, I believe that you are here with me, that you never abandon me. Because I love you, my one wish is to please and console you in your solitude in the tabernacle. I hope in the boundless mercy that motivated your incarnation. May we one day meet again in your heavenly kingdom.

Petition: Mary, you who are the perfect model of humility, help me to be meek and humble like Christ your Son, who out of love for me became a helpless infant at Bethlehem.

1. Who Is This Man? Who is this man who stands before us in this Gospel—the man whose gaze has penetrated into the most secret recesses of our souls and discovered what lies hidden there? A man who recognizes that we labor, that we are burdened by the demands of life, weighed down by our sins and imperfections, straining under the load of our passions and unfulfilled desires. Who is this man who would dare promise what we have always longed for in the inner sanctuaries of our consciences, yet never quite allowed ourselves to hope for? Who could utter such a simple, gentle, and appealing invitation, more than we could ever find ourselves worthy of: “Come to me… and I will give you rest”? Who but God himself?

2. How Can We Come to Him? How can we accept the invitation of the one who is God become man? How can we come to him? How can we attain what our souls have longed for all the days of our existence? Christ himself gives us the answer: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” He is so humble that he does not even wait for us to respond to his invitation. He humbles himself so that he can first come to us at Christmas. To discover how to turn to him with our heavy burden of selfishness and unrestrained passions, we can first approach the manger where the King of Kings lies so helplessly.

3. A Mystery of Humility and Love: Bethlehem is a mystery of humility and love. Doesn’t Christ seem humble to you, reduced to the state of a helpless infant? Without words or speeches he teaches a living lesson we need to feel with all the intensity of which we are capable, allowing the consequences to spring forth on their own. Can we imagine any other state in which the goodness and humility of God radiate more clearly? Before this helpless child, who is God Incarnate out of love for us, we are reduced to silent wonder. All vain ambitions fade, all anger and bitter passion soften and all idle pursuits are driven far from our hearts. The yoke that burdened us, the rod of our taskmaster, is smashed and it is replaced by the light and easy yoke of love.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of your becoming a helpless and innocent child at Bethlehem for me. Help me to grow in goodness of heart so I can radiate your goodness to those around me.

Resolution: On my way to and from work today, I will contemplate Christ meek and humble in the manger at Bethlehem. I will imitate his loving humility in my own life and have the confidence to turn to him for help with my failings.

 

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

One of the most delightful and healthy activities in life is sleep. This is especially the case when one is able to enter into a deep and refreshing sleep. Upon awakening, the person who has slept deeply feels refreshed and ready for a new day. Of course, the opposite is also true. When sleep is difficult and restless, the person can suffer numerous ill effects, especially when a lack of healthy sleep becomes the norm.

The same is true in our spiritual lives. For many people, “spiritual rest” is something foreign to them. They may say a few prayers each week, attend Mass, or even make a holy hour. But unless each one of us enters into a form of prayer that is deep and transforming, we will not be able to experience the interior spiritual rest we need.

Jesus’ invitation in today’s Gospel to “Come to me…” is an invitation to become transformed, interiorly, as we allow Him to relieve us of the burdens of our daily lives. Each day we often face spiritual hardships and challenges, such as temptations, confusions, disappointments, angers and the like. We are often daily bombarded with the lies of the evil one, the hostility of a growing secularized culture and an assault on our senses through the numerous forms of media we daily digest. These and many other things we encounter each and every day will have the effect of wearing us down interiorly on a spiritual level. As a result, we need the spiritual refreshment that comes only from our Lord. We need the spiritual “sleep” that results from deep and revitalizing prayer. And that form of prayer is only possible if we heed Christ’s invitation to come to Him with every fiber of our being, surrendering all that we are and all that we encounter each and every day.

Reflect, today, upon whether you feel weary at times. Ponder, especially, any mental or emotional weariness. Oftentimes these forms of weariness are actually spiritual in nature and need a spiritual remedy. Seek the remedy our Lord offers you by accepting His invitation to come to Him, deeply in prayer, and rest in His presence. Doing so will help to lift the heavy burdens with which you struggle.

My loving Lord, I accept Your invitation to come to You and rest in Your glorious presence. Draw me in, dear Lord, to Your heart that is overflowing with grace and mercy. Draw me into Your presence so that I may rest in You and be delivered from the many burdens of life. Jesus, I trust in You.