Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần thứ 4 Mùa Chay

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần thứ 4 Mùa Chay

     Câu chuyện trong bài Tin Mừng hôm cho chúng ta thấy một người bại liệt nằm chờ cho sóng  trong hồ Bếtdatha nổi dậy để được chữa bệnh trong 38 năm năm qua, nhưng anh ta vẫn không có được một cơ hội lội xuống hồ nước trước người khác mỗi khi thiên thần của Thiên Chúa làm cho hồ nổi sóng để anh ta có thể được chữa lành, nhưng vì tình trạng bại liệt hết cả thân người của anh ta, anh ta không thể nào lội xuống nước một mình được. Như chúng ta biết rồi một ngày đó,  Chúa Giêsu ghé qua, thấy cảnh thương tâm và lòng kiên nhẫn 38 năm chờ đợi của anh, Chúa Giêsu đã đến và chữa lành cho anh, chỉ đơn giản như thế, bởi vì Chúa muốn .
     Tất cả chúng ta đang sống một cuộc sống chẳng khác gì như người đàn ông bị bệnh bại liệt này. Chúng ta như đang sống qua một cuộc sống hầu như chỉ biết chấp nhận những gì mà thế giới vật chất này đã giao ban cho chúng ta và chỉ biết chờ đợi cho một sự may rủi  hay một thời điểm nào đó khi có một cái gì đó hoặc có ai đó sẽ đến để giúp chúng ta để đem chúng ta vào hồ Nước Bếtthada để được ơn chữa lành. Chúng ta đang chờ đợi một người nào đó để họ vào cuộc sống của chúng ta để làm thay đổi tình trạng khó khăn bế tắc trong cuộc sống hiện tại của chúng ta, hay giúp chúng ta thoát khỏi được những sự khó khăn của chúng ta, chẳng hạn một người nào đó sẵn sàng giúp cho chúng ta một số tiền để trả nợ, Hay mong chờ một người nào đó phát minh ra phương pháp chữa bệnh ung thư mới mà chúng ta đang mắc phải.
     Cuộc đời con người chúng ta rất ngắn, chúng ta không thể chờ đợi một ai đó đến và có thể giúp chúng ta.  Hôm nay Chúa Giêsu nói với chúng ta rằng Ngài có thể chữa lành cho chúng ta và Ngài muốn giúp chúng ta trong các tình hình phức tạp hiện tại của chúng ta. Nhưng chúng ta đã không nhận ra được ơn lành và sức mạnh nơi Đức Giêsu Kitô.  Ngài sẽ cứu chữa chúng ta tất cả các bệnh tật (không những chỉ có về thể chất nhưng cũng còn cả tình cảm và tinh thần). Nhưng một điều duy nhất mà chúng ta cần phải làm đó là cầu  xin với một tấm lòng kiên trì, thành thật, đơn sơ và tin tưởng.
            "Lạy Chúa Giêsu, xin Chúa đặt trong tâm hồn chúng con một niềm khát kháo mãnh liệt để cúng con biết thay đổi và biến đổi theo cách thánh thiện của Chúa.  Xin Chúa Thánh Thần thanh tẩy trái tim chúng con và đổi mới tâm hồn của chúng con để chúng con có một tình yêu đầy nhiệt thành và biết khao khát làm những gì đẹp lòng Chúa và biết từ chối tất cả những gì trái với ý muốn của Chúa. "
 
Reflection:
     Today's gospel talks about a man who is sick and cannot move freely by himself. He has been waiting for 38 years to be able to get into the pool when the angel of the Lord touches it so he can be healed, but because of his condition he is unable to do so. Then one day, Jesus comes and heals him, just like that, because he wanted to.
     We all live our lives like this sick man. We go through life just accepting what has been handed to us by the world and just waiting for the moment when something or someone will come to help us to go into the pool to be healed. We are waiting for someone to come into our lives to change our situation, to help us out of our difficulties, for someone to give us the money to pay off a debt, for someone to discover a cure for the cancer we have, or for someone to give the answer to the board exam so we can finally pass it and start earning a lot.
     Let us not wait for someone to come and help us. Today Jesus is telling us that he can heal us and he wants to help us in our present situation. We do not realize that our healing (not only physical but emotional and spiritual as well) comes from Jesus Christ. All we need to do is ask.
 
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent 2023
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” John 5:5–6
Only those who have been crippled for many years could understand what this man endured in life. He was crippled and unable to walk for thirty-eight years. The pool he was laying next to was believed to have the power of healing. Therefore, many who were sick and crippled would sit by the pool and try to be the first to enter it when the waters were stirred up. From time to time, that person was said to have received healing.
Jesus sees this man and clearly perceives his desire for healing after so many years. Most likely, his desire for healing was the dominant desire in his life. Without the ability to walk, he could not work and provide for himself. He would have had to rely upon begging and the generosity of others. Thinking about this man, his sufferings and his ongoing attempts for healing from this pool should move any heart to compassion. And since Jesus’ heart was one that was full of compassion, He was moved to offer this man not only the healing he so deeply desired but so much more.
One virtue in the heart of this man that would have especially moved Jesus to compassion is the virtue of patient endurance. This virtue is an ability to have hope in the midst of some ongoing and lengthy trial. It is also referred to as “longsuffering” or “longanimity.” Usually, when one faces a difficulty, the immediate reaction is to look for a way out. As time moves on and that difficulty is not removed, it’s easy to fall into discouragement and even despair. Patient endurance is the cure for this temptation. When one can patiently endure anything and everything they suffer in life, there is a spiritual strength within them that benefits them in numerous ways. Other little challenges are more easily endured. Hope is born within them to a powerful degree. Even joy comes with this virtue despite the ongoing struggle.
When Jesus saw this virtue alive in this man, He was moved to reach out and heal him. And the primary reason Jesus healed this man was not just to help him physically but so that the man would come to believe in Jesus and follow Him.
Reflect, today, upon this beautiful virtue of patient endurance. The trials of life should ideally be seen not in a negative way but as an invitation to patient endurance. Ponder the way you endure your own trials. Is it with deep and ongoing patience, hope and joy? Or is it with anger, bitterness and despair. Pray for the gift of this virtue and seek to imitate this crippled man.
My Lord of all hope, You endured so much in life and persevered through it all in perfect obedience to the will of the Father. Give me strength in the midst of the trials of life so that I can grow strong in the hope and the joy that comes with that strength. May I turn away from sin and turn to You in complete trust. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent 2023
Introductory Prayer: Christ, I certainly believe in you because, in baptism, you gave me the gift of faith. I believe for all those who do not believe in you. See my effort, Lord. I trust in your divine plan and hope for your saving grace.  
Petition: Lord, grant me the gift of piety.
1. Like Father, Like Son: “I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his Father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he does.” The relationship between Christ and his Father was one of total respect and love. It wasn’t marred by the breakdown so frequently and tragically experienced in our modern family. The intensity of filial love that Jesus lived toward his Father was so powerful that it provided a path for all of us to follow. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of piety. Piety lavishes the soul with the capacity for considering God as our Father and all men as our brothers. A forgiving heart, which prevails over any rancor for injuries received, is one of the fruits of this gift.
2. The Requirements of Piety: Jesus said, “Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.” There is no need to squander time in hatred for our brothers and sisters. Only God can judge their hearts. Our duty is to treat everyone with respect and love; this is the best way to foster the gift of piety.
3. Humility is The Key: Jesus said, “I do not seek my will but the will of the one who sent me.” Believe it or not, the humble are the only ones who can lead a peaceful coexistence with all and, at the same time, stalwartly uphold truths and principles. Who can imagine a sunny day without the sun? Who can imagine the gift of piety without the practice of humility? I should examine those times when I blame everyone else for my impatience. Are they not a result of the difficulty I experience in shouldering someone else’s plans over my own or in accepting God’s will at the expense of my preferences?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, so many times have I come to you on my knees. I come now, confident that you will pour into my heart an abundance of the gift of piety through the infinite merits you won for me on the cross. Help me, Lord, to see you in everyone I meet.
Resolution: I will be a pious friend and a forgiving neighbor. I will humbly offer my services to the neighbor who interests me the least.
 
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent 2021
Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe that rivers of living water flow from within you. You are the source of my interior life, and I thank you for your life that you freely give to me. Lord, grant me the grace to see you as the source of living water and to be grateful for all that you give me.
Encountering Christ:
1. Oppressive Self-Pity: Jesus visited the pool of Bethesda specifically to seek out the poor and lame, because his heart is magnanimous and seeks to do good. At the pool he discovered a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, a tough shake even for sturdy souls. Unfortunately, this man seemed to be focused only on himself. When Jesus approached asking, “Do you want to be well,” the man explained, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.” We can sometimes complicate our relationship with Jesus by making excuses, overexplaining, or rationalizing instead of answering his invitation to become saints by saying simply, “Yes, Lord, I want to do your will,” as life’s circumstances present themselves. 
2. Desire: Healing: The ill man’s self-pity was coupled with a fearful ingratitude. After Jesus healed him, he was questioned by the Pharisees, and he distanced himself from Jesus. He eventually revealed Jesus’s identity to the Pharisees as the one responsible for making him break the sabbath by carrying his mat. Jesus knew the man’s character. Yet, he saw the man’s desire to be healed, and that desire was enough for Jesus’s magnanimous heart to overflow with healing waters. 
3. Desire: Holiness: Jesus told the man, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more.” He says the same to us every time we go to Confession. Christ wants a total conversion from us, and the graces of Confession are what we need to sin no more. Jesus, grant us the desire for conversion and holiness!
Conversing with Christ: Lord, you know how I want to draw close to you—draw me in, more and more! Increase in me the fire of desire for holiness that you have already lit, and fan the flame with your love. Amen.
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will exercise patience with someone I find difficult. I will listen to him or her sincerely.