Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần 2 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần 2 Thường Niên Mark 3:7-12 
Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, vua Saolô là một ví dụ điển hình cho sự yếu đuối của con người trong những bối cảnh phải đối mặt với sự thiếu khiêm nhường, hay tự đại rồi đâm ra tự tì, mặc cảm, ghen ghét giận hờn rồi sinh ra thù hận…. Mặc dù Saolô đã đạt được những lời khen ngợi vì những chiến công lừng lẫy trong các trận ông đã chiến thắng, nhưng ông vẫn không hài lòng với chính mình vì sự ghen tức với David vì những lời ca tụng của đám người phụ nữ vô tư.
            Trong xã hội ngày nay, chủ nghĩa cá nhân đã khiến nhiều người chúng ta quá tự mãn cho niềm tự hào của chính mình, để tự phụ rồi từ đó phát xuất ra hận thù và ghen ghét với những người khác cũng chỉ vì sự ích kỷ, và tham lam. Con đường chân chính để cứu độ mà Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta theo Ngài là làm môn đệ của Chúa Kitô cũng như các môn đệ của Ngài khi xưa là phải làm những điều tốt đẹp để vinh danh Thiên Chúa chứ không phải là làm để tìm kiếm phần thưởng, những sự lợi ích hay tiếng tốt để được vinh danh cho chính cá nhân riêng mình.
            Chúng ta hãy tự hài lòng với chính mình và những gì mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta bởi vì chúng ta đang mắc nợ nơi thánh giá Chúa Kitô, Thánh giá của sự cứu rỗi.  Và hơn thế nữa, chúng ta không cần phải tranh nhau để lập chiến công riêng, để được phần thưởng cá nhân, nhưng chúng ta cần phải biết ca ngợi Thiên Chúa luôn mãi, không ngừng!  Qua bài Tin Mừng, Trong tất cả các phép lạ mà Chúa Giêsu đã thực hiện, Chúa Giêsu luôn luôn biểu lộ sự khiêm tốn, đó một nhân đức làm nổi bật nhất về Ngài và Ngài cũng luôn luôn mời gọi chúng ta cùng áp dụng trong cuộc sống hàng ngày của chúng ta đó là nhân đức khiêm nhường.     
            Lạy Chúa Giêsu Kitô, xin Chúa ban cho chúng con những ân sủng để biết sống khiêm tốn, để chúng con có thể thực sự trải nghiệm được tình yêu của Chúa nơi chúng con.
 
Meditation (SG 2020)
Saul was upset and beside himself. Although the people sang his praises, they sang them quite a bit louder for David. Saul had killed thousands of the enemy (what a terrible thing to brag about!) but David had killed tens of thousands. There had always been bad blood and animosity between Saul and David, and now it increased
Our wounded egos and hurt feelings can be deadly things and cause a lot of damage. Pride is a form of fear when we are content with who and what we are, we do not feel a need to ‘defend’ ourselves.
The crowds were desperate, for they suffered greatly from many afflictions: disease, demonic possession, deformities, and all manner of unhappiness. They pressed in on Jesus until they were in danger of overwhelming him. In addition to their pain, they felt great hope. Jesus had shown them the mercy and compassion of God. They dared to believe that there was a way out of their misery. Perhaps the greatest service that we can do for God and other people today is to give hope. Hope is very scarce; we live in a very uncertain and frightening world, and many people feel that they have no future.
We turn to Jesus in our need, but we also share with others what he gives to us. Kindness, mercy, and compassion are the best way to proclaim the Gospel. Lord, may I give hope to others. 
 
Thursday 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022
Opening Prayer: Lord, you are the only one who can do great things in my life if I only let you, if I only come into contact with you, and touch you through prayer. I believe that some of the greatest things you want to do for me right now are spiritual things—giving me more virtue, more holiness, more of your presence in my life. This is the time that you want and choose to do that work in me. I believe and trust that you have called me here for this time of prayer, that it is not by chance that I am here now, and that you have plans for this time beyond what I could imagine. Help me to be really open to those plans.
Encountering Christ:
They Came from Everywhere: The Gospel today gives us a glimpse into the life of Christ, into his fame, which was spreading everywhere. The people of all these small towns had to come to know Christ little by little, and had only a glimpse of his person and his divinity through the miracles, through “hearing what he was doing,” and through his teaching. The people were drawn out of their homes. They were drawn from far away regions. They went where he went and left things behind in order to be near him. May we discover Christ more deeply, and let his words and actions speak to us and draw us to him as these people were drawn. Is there an interior movement toward Christ that we need to make today, in this moment of prayer?
They Pressed on Him to Touch Him: The miracles of Jesus were effective not only when Jesus stopped, gave someone his attention, and spoke to that person. The fact that people were being healed only by pressing up to Jesus paints a new picture of his goodness: it flows out of him abundantly. We can picture the crowd climbing over each other in a narrow street and frantically trying to touch him. We don’t need an appointment with Jesus or need to get his attention somehow in order to be transformed by him. He is constantly and eternally present to us. How “frantically” are we seeking Christ? Do we have a strong desire and need for contact with him? 
Not to Make Him Known: When Jesus cured people of unclean spirits, he commanded the demons not to make him known. Perhaps Jesus was making a distinction between those who would speak of him to others as instruments of the Holy Spirit with hearts full of love, thus affecting the spread of the Kingdom, and those, like demons, who could have no good motive for sharing what Jesus was trying to do. May all of our actions give glory to God, never to ourselves.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, you are a mystery to me! You have healing power that I long for and flows out of you abundantly, that doesn’t hold back. And yet, I can never expect to grasp you totally. I grow in understanding you little by little. Help me to increase my longing and thirst for you. I want to be close to you.
 
Thursday 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. Mark 3:9–10
It’s fascinating to ponder the enthusiasm that so many people had toward Jesus. In the passage above, we see Jesus asked His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that He would not be crushed as He taught the crowd. He had been curing many who were sick, and the crowd was pressing upon Him to try to simply touch Him.
This scene provides us with an illustration of what must happen within our interior lives regarding our Lord. The people can be said to have been single-minded in their devotion to Jesus and fervent in their desire for Him. Granted, their desire may have been somewhat selfishly motivated by the desire for physical cures of their ailments and those of their loved ones, but nonetheless, their attraction was real and powerful, driving them to put their complete focus upon our Lord.
Jesus’ choice to get into a boat and distance Himself a bit from the crowd was also an act of love. Why? Because this act allowed Jesus to help them refocus upon His deeper mission. Though He did miracles out of compassion and so as to manifest His almighty power, His primary focus was to teach people and to lead them into the full Truth of the message He was preaching. Therefore, by separating Himself from them, they were invited to listen to Him rather than just try to touch Him for the sake of a physical miracle. For Jesus, the spiritual wholeness He desired to give the crowd was of much greater significance than any physical healing He also gave.
In our own lives, Jesus may “separate” Himself from us in somewhat superficial ways so that we will be more open to the deeper and more transforming purpose of His life. For example, He may remove certain feelings of consolation or permit us to encounter some trial through which He seems to be less present to us. But when this happens, it is always so that we will turn to Him on a deeper level of trust and openness so as to be drawn more deeply into a relationship of love.
`Reflect, today, upon how single-minded your devotion is to our Lord. From there, ponder, also, if you are more attached to the good feelings and consolations you seek or if your devotion is deeper, focused more on the transforming message our Lord wants to preach to you. See yourself on that shore, listening to Jesus speak, and allow His holy words to transform your life more deeply.
My saving God, I turn to You, this day, and seek to be single-minded in my love and devotion to You. Help me, first and foremost, to listen to Your transforming Word and to allow that Word to become the central focus of my life. Jesus, I trust in You. 
Thursday 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that through baptism you have invited me to share in your friendship. I trust in your Church, Lord. You have given us this institution as the guide to help us in our salvation. I love you, Lord, because you have loved me first. I love you, Lord, for calling me to be your friend and apostle. I may be a mere sinner, but with you, Lord, I believe that I can do great things.  
Petition: Lord, help me to collaborate in your work of salvation.
1. Christ Summoned Those Whom He Wanted: Christ has chosen to need our assistance. He wants our help with the great work of the New Evangelization. As great and powerful as Christ is, he has willed that man collaborate with him in his plan of salvation. He wants to involve others in helping people to come to know, love and serve him. He makes use of man’s free and responsible collaboration in order to carry out his plans. Therefore, even though man is a creature of very limited possibilities, he can achieve truly unimaginable things when he lives and works for God.
2. He Calls Me by Name: Christ does not haphazardly choose me to collaborate with him in the New Evangelization. He knows me. He knows me better than I know myself, and out of love he invites me to be with him. When he calls me by name, he reaches into the depths of my heart and soul. He delves into the depths of who I am, and he identifies with me. When he calls me by name, he calls me out of love; “he calls me to share in his own divine life” (Lumen Gentium, 2). He calls me by name because he knows how great the gift is that he wishes to share with me.
3. He Gives Me a Mission: “He sent them to preach and to drive out demons” (Mark 3:14-15). Christ doesn’t call me just to enjoy the present life. He has created me for a purpose. He has given me a specific vocation that only I can fulfill. I am irreplaceable; there will never be another me. The opportunity that I have to share in this friendship with Our Lord is an invitation to do something with him and for him. Christ’s love for me invites and beckons me to collaborate with him. Who can resist an invitation to collaborate with someone so great, and with an offer so challenging and yet so fulfilling?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, you have wished for me to enter your friendship. You have called me by name to be your friend. You have invited me to help you in the New Evangelization. I want to help you and do my part. Give me the strength to be close to you and to collaborate with you in this great undertaking.
Resolution: I will bring up the faith in a conversation with someone.  
 
2^nd Frida day
Introductory Prayer: Lord, this time of prayer should be everything for me: the moment that I long for, the food that sustains me, the comfort that strengthens me. I know that you are at work in me even when I don’t feel you and don’t even seem able to perceive your presence. I want to pray fervently and from the heart, not just with my mind.
Petition: Lord, help me to touch you in this moment of prayer. Help me to touch you in the Eucharist so that your presence will transform me.
1. Was Jesus Afraid? In yesterday’s Gospel text, Jesus silenced the Pharisees in the synagogue. So incensed were they against the Lord that they began to plot with the Herodians to kill him. Now Jesus has retreated from the synagogues to the lakeshore and the open fields. Was Christ afraid? Was he running from his enemies? Hardly. The Lord was simply aware that his hour had not yet come. When it does approach, he will embrace it by marching resolutely to Jerusalem and his passion and death. The ones who really are afraid are the demons. They recognize that God is manifesting his power through Christ, and they tremble before him. The Son of God has come to win back what Satan’s lies have stolen. Does Christ’s power accompanying me in my life give me the courage I need to confront any situation as his witness?
2. To Touch the Lord: In this vivid Gospel scene, the crowds of stricken humanity clamor around Jesus. Jews and gentiles journey from the far away regions of Idumea to the south, and Tyre and Sidon to the north, to catch a glimpse of the Master, to hear him speak words that no one has ever spoken before—to touch him and be healed of their infirmities. Oh, that we too had lived during the time of Christ to touch him and be cured of our sadness and selfishness, our heartache and egotism, our loneliness and lies, and even our physical ailments! Did Christ love those people who surrounded him by the lakeshore more than he loves us? No. He enables us to touch him more easily than they – every time we receive him in the Eucharist. Then why are we not yet healed? The disciples once cried out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” And he replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed….”
3. The Person of Christ: Irresistible: How can we grow in our faith in Christ? How can we, too, experience the irresistible attraction of his person like the crowds in Mark’s Gospel did? Nothing fills our life as much as contemplating the figure of Christ and perceiving the irresistible power of attraction he exercises through the centuries. Draw close to him, and in the depths of your souls contemplate him in all of the beauty of his human and divine stature. Along with the Eucharist, it is through prayer that we can come to touch Christ. Prayer is the most solemn moment for confessing our love; it is the raison d’être of our life, the ideal of our apostolate, the nourishment of our whole existence.
Conversation with Christ: Thank you, Lord, for letting me catch a glimpse of who you are through this meditation. Help me to respond to the attraction of your person with my whole life and to hold nothing back from you.
Resolution: I will visit Christ in the Eucharist or make a spiritual communion to thank him for his love and to contemplate him in the beauty of his divine and human stature.