Suy Niệm Thứ Hai Tuần Thứ Hai Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Thứ Hai Tuần Thứ Hai Thường Niên (Tin Mừng Mark 2:18-22)

Hôm nay cả hai bài đọc đã thách thức chúng ta trả lời hai câu hỏi quan trọng trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, cụ thể là, "Chúng ta có biết được những ý của Thiên Chúa muốn nơi  chúng ta là những gì không?" Và " chúng ta phải làm theo những gì để sống theo như ý muốn của Thiên Chúa?"

Trong Bài Đọc I, vua Saul đã nghĩ rằng ông đã nghe theo tiếng nói của Chúa bằng việc hiến tế những hy lễ toàn thiêu lên Thiên Chúa . Trong  bài Tin Mừng, người Pharisêu, đã ăn chay theo luật Do Thái, Họ nghĩ là họ đã làm như thế là họ đã vâng lời Thên Chúa. Thậm chí họ còn ăn chay hai lần một tháng.

Vì vậy, để biết hay nhận thức rõ được ý muốn của Thiên Chúa, chúng ta cần phải tự hỏi chính mình: "Chúng ta có mối quan hệ gì với Thiên Chúa ?"  Để biết ý muốn của Thiên Chúa một cách rõ ràng hơn, chúng ta cần phải phân biệt rõ ràng những động tác, hay hành động riêng của chúng ta hay là những ý thúc đẩy bởi ơn Chúa Thánh Thần. Thứ hai là chúng ta cũng cần biết phân biệt những động tác được thúc đẩy bởi Chúa Thánh Thần và những thức đẩy của ma quỷ.

Nếu chúng ta biết luôn cầu nguyện trước mỗi công việc, chúng ta dựa trên sự hướng dẫn của Chúa Thánh Thần và các dấu hiệu của thời gian, và bằng cách này, chúng ta được phát triển trong sự nhận thức mục đích của Thiên Chúa trong đời sống chúng ta một cách rõ rang hơn.

 "Lạy Chúa, xin ban cho chúng con có được một tinh thần sáng suốt trong những việc làm, trong sự phản ứng với những thử thách hàng ngày trong cuộc sống của chúng con."

 

Reflection 2016 SG

Today’s two readings challenge us to address two important questions in our lives, namely, “Do we know what is God's will for us?” and “What does it entail to do the will of God?”

In the first reading, King Saul thought that he had obeyed the voice of the Lord by offering holocausts and sacrifices. In the Gospel, the Pharisees, by fasting according to the rules and regulations of the established religion, deemed that they had obeyed the will of God.  They even fasted twice a month.

So, to know or discern the will of God, we need to ask ourselves: “What is my relationship with God?” as this is the basis upon which God reveals His will for us.  Then we enter into the process of waiting and listening to God’s revelation. It may involve the ‘letting go' of the old wine and garment as Jesus used the example of  the new patch and new wine to illustrate the newness of the reality of the Kingdom.

In order to know God’s will better, we need to discriminate the movements which are merely from ourselves or those prompted by some other spirits. Secondly to discriminate those movements which are prompted by the Holy Spirit and those from the other spirits.

Accompanied by ‘prayer’ we rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the signs of the time. In this way we grow in discerning God’s purpose in our lives.

             “Lord, grant us the spirit of discernment in our responses to our daily challenges.” 

 

Reflection Monday 2^nd week of Ordinary Time 2023

“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.” Mark 2:19–20

    The passage above reveals Jesus’ response to the disciples of John the Baptist and some Pharisees who question Jesus about fasting. They point out that the disciples of John and the Pharisees each follow the Jewish laws on fasting, but Jesus’ disciples do not. Jesus’ answer goes to the heart of the new law on fasting.

    Fasting is a wonderful spiritual practice. It helps to strengthen the will against disordered fleshly temptations and helps to bring purity to one’s soul. But it needs to be pointed out that fasting is not an eternal reality. One day, when we are face-to-face with God in Heaven, there will no longer be any need to fast or do any form of penance. But while on earth, we will struggle and fall and lose our way, and one of the best spiritual practices to help us return to Christ is prayer and fasting combined.

    Fasting becomes necessary “when the bridegroom is taken away.” In other words, fasting is necessary when we sin and our union with Christ begins to fade. It is then that the personal sacrifice of fasting helps open our hearts once again to our Lord. This is especially true when habits of sin form and become deeply ingrained. Fasting adds much power to our prayer and stretches our souls so as to be able to receive the “new wine” of God’s grace where we need it the most.

    Reflect, today, upon your approach to fasting and other penitential practices. Do you fast? Do you make regular sacrifices so as to strengthen your will and help you to turn more fully to Christ? Or has this healthy spiritual practice been somewhat neglected in your life? Renew your commitment to this holy endeavor today and God will work powerfully in your life.

    Lord, I open my heart to the new wine of grace that You wish to pour forth upon me. Help me to be properly disposed to this grace and to use every means necessary to become more open to You. Help me, especially, to commit to the wonderful spiritual practice of fasting. May this act of mortification in my life bear abundant fruit for Your Kingdom. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Reflection Monday 2^nd week of Ordinary Time 2023

Introductory Prayer: Jesus, what a joy and what a gift to have this time to be alone with you! I want to know you more deeply. I want to hope in you more firmly. I want to love you with greater constancy in my daily life. Only you can give me these gifts. Only you can make me a bold and joyful apostle of your Kingdom.

Petition: Lord, help me to experience the new joy that comes from carrying the cross alongside you.

1. The Joy of the Bridegroom: The Old Testament prophets, especially Hosea and Isaiah, describe the relationship between Israel and Yahweh as a marriage covenant. Israel is the bride, often an unfaithful one, and Yahweh is the bridegroom. When Christ refers to himself as the bridegroom, he is appropriating a title that had been reserved to God alone. Clearly, Jesus is much more than an ordinary rabbi. What experience do we most associate with a bridegroom and the wedding feast? Joy! “Although it is true that the cross is never absent from an authentically Christian life, it is equally true that the God who meets us on that cross is the same God who created the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the mountains, laughter, sunlight, and every earthly delight” (John Bartunek, LC, The Better Part, p. 365). Christ came to bring us joy, a joy that would last into eternity.

2. Should Christians Fast? Christ says that when the bridegroom is taken away, then his disciples will fast. This is his first reference in the Gospel of Mark to his coming passion. Fasting is a way of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. Fasting, sacrifices, and acts of self-denial are also means to detach ourselves from earthly goods in order to cling more firmly to Christ himself. They make us aware of how much we need God. But these ways of sharing Christ’s cross should not make us glum followers. “Some Christians give the impression that following Christ is a somber affair, or that the Christian life consists above all of dour sacrifices and boring obligations. Joyless, dreary, dull. No wonder their friends want to stay as far away from Christianity as possible!... If our friendship with Christ does not fill us with contagious enthusiasm, we’re probably being a half-hearted friend” (John Bartunek, LC, The Better Part, p. 365).

3. “Behold, I Make All Things New”:  The movie The Passion of the Christ puts this phrase from Revelation on Christ’s lips when he meets his mother Mary as he carries the cross to Calvary. Christ’s “narrow gate” of the cross leads to a radically new way of life. It brings an abundance of joy, a new vigor, interior peace. The new wine of the life of grace that Christ pours out on his followers must change not only their way of life but even their internal attitudes and consciousness.  As St. Teresa of Avila once put it,  “A sad saint is a bad saint.” What obstacles in my life do I need to overcome to follow Christ with greater joy and to radiate that joy to others?

Conversation with Christ: Thank you, Lord, for the new life you came to bring — your own divine life of grace inside me and each of your followers who is faithful to you. Help me to share that joy with others. I long to be a true apostle of your joy.

Resolution: Today I will forget about myself and seek only to help make those around me joyful.

 

Reflection Monday 2^nd week of Ordinary Time 20221

Opening Prayer: Lord, open my heart to understand this passage of your word. Since I know you are present here, I can count on you to inspire me. Let me be open to your word; change me and mold me according to your will.

Encountering Christ:

1.      They Cannot Fast While the Bridegroom Is with Them: This is one of those passages where Jesus talks in short parables, which can almost seem like riddles. From the rest of the Gospels, we can glean what some of the images mean. Here Jesus is deflecting the criticism that his disciples should fast by referring to himself in a sort of veiled, humble way. Jesus is the bridegroom; in John’s Gospel, John the Baptist calls himself the friend of the bridegroom. The reason his disciples didn’t fast was because being with the Master of the Universe gave them a reason to celebrate and rejoice. They were privileged members of the wedding party! When we are with Jesus, our spirit should be full of rejoicing too.

2.      The Bridegroom Will Be Taken Away: Jesus was certainly speaking about his Passion, and in these words we find a key to why the Church encourages fasting. When we fast, we acknowledge that our bridegroom suffered and died, and we unite ourselves to his suffering as an act of devotion. Also, Jesus isn’t with us as he was in the holy time of his living on earth, and we are not with him in the way he wants us to be at the eternal wedding banquet, so we can fast as reparation to prepare for that perfect fulfillment. Fasting “ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepares us for the liturgical feasts and helps us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart (CCC 2043).

3.      The Cloth and the Wineskins: The Gospel gives us two other images to complete this teaching. Jesus is stressing that he is the fulfillment of the old law, the bridegroom, the King who “makes all things new” (Revelation 21:5). To sew an unshrunken cloth on an old coat or pour new wine in an old wineskin is to insist on our own limited understanding of truth, and it can result in spiritual ruin. However, to accept Our Lord’s teaching in its totality, to recognize his omnipotence, is to be included in the wedding party and invited to the eternal banquet.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, you are calling me to let you take the lead in my spiritual life. Help me to take a step back today and look at what I have been trying to do for you and for myself in my life. Let your word penetrate my heart and be the decisive factor. Let everything I do be more a response to you than my own initiative. Help me to respond in the right way to what you have initiated in my life, celebrating and rejoicing that you are present and active there.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will examine my conscience regarding my spiritual life and ask myself if I am truly corresponding to your will in my life.