Suy Niện Tin Mừng thứ Sáu tuần thứ Ba Mùa Vọng

 Suy Niện Tin Mừng thứ Sáu tuần thứ Ba Mùa Vọng

Những người Pharisêu và kinh sư thường hỏi Chúa Giêsu là Chúa đã lấy quyền ở đâu mà Ngài dám thực hiện những phép lạ, chữa bệnh hay tha tội cho những tội phạm ỡ giữa đám đông hay cả ngay trong hội đường. Hôm nay qua một phần của Tin Mừng Thánh Gioan đã chúng ta nghe nói về những cách mà Thiên Chúa đã sai Con yêu dấu của Ngài là Chúa Giêsu đến với thế gian và Ngài đã chấp thuận tất cả những gì mà Chúa Giêsu đã thức hiện ở dưới thế. Bài đọc hôm nay đã trình bày về hai hiện tượng về Chúa Giêsu để chứng thực về Chúa Giêsu Kitô,  cụ thể nhất là những người nhân chứng hom nay, họ là môn đệ của Gioan Tẩy Giả và thứ hai là thành quả tốt đẹ mà Chúa Giêsu đã thực hiện giữa dân do thái. Dân chúng công nhận Gioan Tẩy Giả là một nhà tiên tri, một người được Thiên Chúa sai đến (Mt 21:25 x Jn 1: 6) Do đó họ sẽ chấp nhận và tin vào những gì thánh Gioan Tẩy Giả đã loan báo về Chúa Giêsu.

          Thánh Gioan Tẩy Giả là một mẫu người cho tất cả chúng ta, những ai tin vào Chúa Giêsu, những người biết cảm nhận và chia sẻ niềm tin của mình với những người khác. Những thành quả của Chúa Giêsu chính là những phép lạ của Ngài đã làm, nhưng chúng ta phải hiểu theo nghĩa rộng hơn. Hãy học biết nơi Chúa Giêsu trong câu chuyện giữa Chúa Giêsu với ông Nicôđêmô (Gioan 3), cũng như câu chuyện về sự kiên nhẫn của Ngài trong cuộc trò chuyện với người phụ nữ Samaria bên giếng nước ở một làng Samatita (Gioan 4), Hay trong việc Ngài đối phó với các môn đệ, hay phải đương đầu với quan tổng trấn Philatô. Mỗi khi chúng ta suy gẫm về những sự kiện này, chúng ta hãy nên nhận ra rằng Chúa Giêsu luôn luôn thực thi những ý muốn của Thiên Chúa Cha, những công việc mà Thiên Chúa Cha đã sai Ngài đến để thực hiện giữa thế gian để chứng tỏ cho chúng ta biết được là Thiên Chúa đã yêu thương chúng ta biết là chừng nào.

         Lạy Cha, in ban cho chúng con có được sự khôn ngoan để nhìn thấy tất cả những thiên tính của Chúa Giêsu trong Giáo Hội và trong đời sống Kitô hữu của chúng ta.

 

Reflection Friday 3rd of Advent

The Pharisees and Scribes often questioned Jesus about the authority with which he performed certain actions, worked miracles, forgave sins, consorted with certain “sinners”. Today’s reading from St John’s Gospel  is part of a section where Jesus is talking about the various ways in which God shows his approval of Jesus, his beloved Son. Our reading today presents two such signs of Jesus’ authenticity, namely the witness of John the Baptist and secondly Jesus’ own works.

            The people accepted John as a prophet, a man sent by God (Mt 21:25 cf. Jn 1:6) Therefore they would have accepted whatever John said about Jesus. John was a role model for all who believed in Jesus and felt drawn to share their faith with others. Jesus’ own works are primarily his miracles, but must be understood in a wider sense. Jesus’ learned conversation with Nicodemus (John 3), his patient and guiding conversation with the poor lost woman at the well in Samaria (John 4), his dealing with his disciples, his patient conversation with Pilate — when we pray over these events, — we see Jesus continuing to carry out his Father’s will by doing the work which the Father sent him to do.

Father, grant us the wisdom to see the many signs of Jesus’ divinity in the Church and in our Christian lives.

 

Friday 3rd week of Advent 2022

Introductory Prayer: Father, you turn our weakness into strength. Give us the courage to bear witness to your truth. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Petition: Jesus, let me live this day united to you.

1. John Was a Burning and Shining Lamp: The beauty of creation confesses the beauty of the Creator. The order of the universe shows his wisdom and providence. And the saints reveal God’s holiness in a magnificent way. Such was the case with St John the Baptist. John’s light was not his own. It was God’s grace, with which John collaborated by his sincere effort to seek and serve God in all things. Genuine union with God makes the heart and soul glow with holiness.

2. For a While You Were Content to Rejoice in His Light: The not so distant death of Pope Saint John Paul II demonstrates the attractive force of holiness as lived by the saints. At his funeral, the multitudes came to pay respects to the one they esteemed to be a “man of God.” In the same way, the multitudes came to John the Baptist to hear his message which resonated in their hearts. His message and example stirred their hearts with the hope that he might be the long-awaited Messiah. However, the saints never try to draw us to themselves. Like living signs, they point beyond themselves to a greater reality: Jesus. Souls never come to us to admire the brilliance of our extraordinary human gifts, but only to receive the warmth of holiness and true love for our Lord.

3. But I Have Testimony Greater than John’s: The saints are examples of holiness but Jesus himself is the source and model of all holiness (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 459). As Jesus comes to establish God’s Kingdom in every human heart, even the holiness of the greatest of saints is but a dim reflection of the grandeur of God the Father. Jesus continuously acknowledges that love for his Father is the driving force in his life. He comes to reveal his Father to us, and in so doing he announces and procures our eternal adoption as the Father’s children.

Dialogue with Christ: Jesus, I want to live united to you in prayer so as to live faithfully to you in my actions. You are holy and ask me to be holy. I want to be holy not for my own sake, but as a way of loving you and bringing others to know you. Without your grace I cannot do this. Mother Most Pure, make my heart only for Jesus.

Resolution: Today I will read about prayer from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (hint: the fourth and final section of the Catechism).

 

Friday 3rd week of Advent

“John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s.”  John 5:35–36

It’s true that when we have something good, something we enjoy, something we are grateful for, we easily rejoice in that good thing. But when the good thing we have is replaced by something even better, we move on from the old and cling to the new. On a supernatural level, this is what happened as people moved from being followers of Saint John the Baptist to followers of Jesus.

At first, many people were content rejoicing in the “light” of John. They enjoyed his preaching and his personal witness and saw the effects in their lives of the baptism of repentance he offered. But as people were pointed to Jesus, becoming His new followers, they would have been even more joyful and at peace being with their newfound Lord. The initial transition might have been difficult. But as they came to know the very Person of Jesus, they would have been deeply grateful.

The passage above points out this spiritual principle. For so many people, “John was a burning and shining lamp,” and his followers were very content with all that John gave to them. But Jesus points out to John’s followers that His  testimony is so much greater.

What was Jesus’ “testimony?” First, He says that it is the works the Father gave Him to perform. These were His miracles, His preaching and His personal witness of virtue that left so many in awe. But Jesus goes on to say that the Father has also testified on His behalf. This means that Jesus’ greatness is especially found in the fact that those who encountered Him were also encountering the Father in Heaven Whom they do not see with their eyes. But Jesus is clear that when they see and listen to Him, they are also encountering the Father.

One thing this tells us is that we must be open to the testimony of the Father in our lives. The testimony of the Father is accomplished by allowing our souls to truly hear the voice of the Father speaking to us through the instrumentality of the Son. All that Jesus did and spoke in the Scriptures, all the graces transmitted through the Sacraments, and every encounter with our Lord through prayer are ways of coming to know the Father in Heaven.

Reflect, today, upon the profound reality that God the Father wants a deep and personal relationship with you. He wants to speak to you, reveal Himself to you and draw close to you. Don’t allow this Advent to pass by without prayerfully seeking out His voice, allowing Him to testify to you about His love and care for you. The Son of God came into this world so that He could become one with you. And through that oneness, He reveals to you the love of the Father in Heaven.

Most holy Father in Heaven, I do desire to come to know You and Your perfect and intimate love for me. Please open my mind and heart to You more fully this Advent season so that I can turn from all fading and passing lights of this world and come to the one and profound Light of Your loving Heart. Jesus, I trust in You.