Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần thứ 7 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần thứ 7 Thường Niên (Mark 9:30-37)

Trong bài tin mừng hôm nay, chúng ta thấy các môn đệ đã tranh cãi với nhau về việc ai trong số họ là người đứng đầu, là thủ lãnh…. Có phải đây là chuyện bình thường như cơm bửa mà chúng ta đã thấy xãy ra hằng ngày ngay tại cơ quan làm việc, nhất là trong các cơ quan chính trị, nhưng cũng thấy thường xuyên ngay trong công đồng giáo xứ của chúng ta, các các tổ chức hội đoàn….? Con người chúng ta ai cũng có cái tự cao, tự đai, ai cũng muốn cạnh tranh với nhau và muốn có chức vụ ở trên người khác, mặc dù chính mình chẳng có một tý khả năng lãnh đạo nào cả. Đây là một trong những yếu điểm của con người vì thế mà họ đã dẫn đến sự cãi vã, chia rẽ, hận thù, ghen ghét, vv và còn đẻ ra nhiều thứ tội khác. Tuy nhiên, hôm nay Chúa Giêsu đã dậy chúng ta rằng: nếu chúng ta muốn làm kẻ trên ngưới khác muốn đưng đầu, muốn làm thủ lãnh, trước hết chúng ta phải phải làm đầy tớ mọi người. Chắc không ai trong chúng ta muốn trở thành một người đầy tớ?  chắc chắn sẽ có nhiều người sẽ nói không!. Nhưng đó CHÍNH là con đường dẫn chúng ta đến với sự vĩ đại, Cái  chìa khóa để giúp chúng ta vượt qua cách sống “impossible” (nghĩa là không bao gìờ có thể ) này là chúng ta phải biết YÊU và có TÌNH YÊU THƯƠNG. Nếu chúng ta yêu một ai đó, chúng ta sẽ sẵn sàng chấp nhận và sẵn sàng để phục vụ người mình yêu. Vì vậy, nếu chúng ta yêu thương Chúa, yêu thương mọi người, thì chúng ta cũng có thể khiêm tốn trước mặt họ. Để phục vụ những người đó thì cũng không có gì là khó khăn nếu chúng ta có Chúa Thánh Thần của Chúa Kitô, Người mà đã là một ví dụ  một người đầy tớ thật hoàn hảo và cũng là một nhà người lãnh đạo tuyệt với. Vì thế Chúng ta hãy nên bắt chước Chúa Giêsu biết mở rộng tấm lòng của chúng ta để chúng ta biết yêu thương người khác và biết nhận ra rằng một khi chúng ta làm như vậy, là chúng ta đã yêu chính Chúa Giêsu vậy.
 
Reflection:
In our adolescence and adulthood, we may have engaged in a wild and sinful lifestyle in varying degrees. Young people want to enjoy drinking, partying, sexual pleasures, etc. and sometimes commit many grave sins. Many of us realize our errors and reform our lives eventually, as we grow older and wiser. We understand that these sinful acts lead to death, while doing good to one's neighbor brings us happiness.
In the First Reading, St. James says that acts of love can atone for our many sins. Since we know we are sinful, we should not only concentrate on what things we should not do, but instead focus on doing good deeds and charitable acts towards people we know or live with and even people we do not personally know. Rest assured that every day God will give us opportunities to do acts of love towards God and neighbor.
            In the gospel, the apostles were arguing about who among them was the greatest. Isn't this a common occurrence in the workplace, in politics, in our homes and even in church organizations? People are always competing with one another and outperforming one another. This is a human weakness which leads to quarrels, divisiveness, hatred, jealousy, etc. But Jesus told them that in order to be great, one must be the servant of all. Does anyone want to be a servant? Many will say no. But that is the path to greatness, says the Lord. The key to this seemingly impossible way of doing has to be LOVE. If we love someone, we are more than willing to serve him. So if we love people, we can be humble in front of them. To serve others is not hard if we have the Spirit of Christ who is the perfect example of a servant-leader. We should enlarge our hearts to love others and realize that when we do so, we are loving Jesus himself.
 
Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time 2023
Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” Mark 9:30–31
Why would Jesus wish that no one know that He and His disciples were traveling through Galilee at that time? It appears the reason was that Jesus was intently focused upon teaching His disciples about His coming passion, death and resurrection. Today’s Gospel presents us with three moments in which Jesus taught His disciples privately, directly and clearly: first, while they were journeying; second, when they arrived in Capernaum and entered a house; and third, when Jesus called a child over. Though the content of what Jesus taught His disciples is significant, it is also helpful to first reflect upon the simple fact that Jesus spent time alone with the disciples teaching them.
In many ways, our Lord does the same with us. Jesus is constantly calling us to various forms of solitude with Him so that we can listen to all that He wants to teach us. This is difficult for many today. So many people are constantly bombarded with the various noises of the world, are constantly distracted by momentary and passing experiences, and find it difficult to go off with our Lord alone so that He can teach them the most important lessons of life.
As you consider your weekly activities, how much time do you devote to being alone with our Lord? How much time do you spend in prayer, in the reading of Scripture and in silent meditation away from other distractions? For many, this is a challenge.
It is also useful to consider the content of what Jesus taught His disciples in private. He spoke to them about His coming passion, death and resurrection. This was the central purpose of His life and was clearly something that Jesus wanted to communicate to His disciples. Notice also that Jesus spoke very directly and without any figure of speech as He explained this. Contrast that with the many parables He told to the crowds. It appears that when Jesus was able to be alone with those who had dedicated their lives to following Him in faith, Jesus was able to speak His saving message more clearly and directly.
Reflect, today, upon the fact that our Lord wants to draw you into silence and solitude from time to time. He wants to spend time with you alone. This is especially the case for those who have chosen to fully devote their lives to Him and His mission. If that is you, then seek out these moments of solitude in which our Lord can speak more clearly and directly to you so that your faith will deepen and your understanding and knowledge will grow by leaps and bounds.
Lord, You have so much to say, so much to teach and so much to reveal. As I choose to follow You and devote my entire life to You, I pray that You will continuously draw me into greater silence and solitude so that I can receive from You the deep, clear and direct messages that I need to hear, understand and believe. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time 2023
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe in you, present and interested in my life. I believe you await my prayer to guide my heart, my visits to the Eucharist to strengthen my will, and my challenges to help my surrender. I trust you will give your life to me in exchange for my self-denial. I love you and want to love you more by embracing and living out your will. Mother Mary, teach me to say with you, “Let it be done unto me.”
Petition: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”
1. Apostolic Training: This was one journey Jesus chose to do in secret. Why? Because he wanted to dedicate all his attention and efforts to teaching his apostles the deepest and most important secret of his life: He must die! All that they had lived so far was thus incomplete, merely a preparation for the final act of his mission: the consummation of his love, his total immolation on the cross. Would they understand the need for the seed to die before rising to new life? How hard it would be for them to listen! He was their Lord, the powerful, Messianic king coming to free them and establish his kingdom of truth and love. They still imagined scenarios of new victories, cures, defeat of demons, the silencing of their opposition…. How far their dreams were from Jesus’ message! We too have our own desires and needs. Can we detach ourselves from these dreams long enough to understand in prayer his will and his plan of salvation for us?
2. Slow Learners: Not only did they “not understand the saying,” but “they were afraid to question him.” In other words, they did not want to know. How often our communication problem is not something intellectual, but rather something of the will! Our desire is more to “get our way,” “make our point” or “affirm ourselves.” Learning Christ’s way requires that we in some way unlearn our own ways. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). This explains why no one can be neutral before Christ; he challenges us to change our life. Jesus occasioned the fierce opposition of those who would ultimately put him to death. How open am I to his challenges? Do I listen in prayer in order to respond with a docile but firm “Amen”?
3. The Hardest Lesson: Like little boys caught in the act, the apostles don’t dare admit that they have been arguing about who among them is greatest. Not only do they fail “to listen” to Jesus; to the contrary, they are busy asserting their will. What would it take to teach them this most difficult but vital truth? So Jesus, with a father’s love, holds a child before them and begins the lesson anew. This small child is the greatest! To be last, to serve, to give your life makes you great, since this is how God comes to us. Only the sight of Jesus crucified would burn this lesson more deeply on their hearts. Am I learning this lesson of sacrificial love to become the greatest I can become?
Conversation with Christ: Dear Lord, open my heart to listen to your will for me. Free me from my own self-love, ideas and dreams. Teach me to die to myself as I enter into prayer and as I enter into work. Help me to work, pray and live so that you and your love can rise up in my life in place of the poverty of my own qualities and efforts.
Resolution: I will listen well before trying to offer my own thoughts or desires in prayer and in interacting with family and others, so better to hear the Lord.
 
REFLECTION
     In the Gospel reading Jesus surprises his disciples when he says that to be first one must make himself the servant of all. This is completely opposite of what most people think. Almost everyone strives to be the first, to get ahead of others, to become richer, more successful, and more influential, more in everything than the others.
     But Christ instead says that, to be first, one must be the servant of all. Indeed we need the Spirit of Jesus to accept this startling statement, this way of thinking and doing. Jesus himself taught and lived this path of humility and selflessness.
     We pray that this could also be our path. Are we ready to walk and live this path, of being small, least and last? Jesus tells us this is the path to being first in God's eyes.