Suy Niệm Lời Chúa, Chúa Nhật Thứ 6 Mùa Phục Sinh A

Suy Niệm Lời Chúa, Chúa Nhật Thứ 6 Mùa Phục Sinh

Có điều gì làm cho chúng ta được hoàn hảo cà hai trong bản chất con người và thực sự như Thiên Chúa? Chắc chắn đó không phải là tình yêu vô điều kiện, tình yêu không ích kỷ, bất diệt, và hoàn toàn hướng đến lợi ích của những người khác? Tình yêu của Thiên Chúa liên kết chúng ta trong một mối quan hệ mà không thể phá vỡ được lòng trung thành, tình thân hữu, và tình sống chung cộng đồng với những người khác. Chúa Giêsu đã yêu thương những người thuộc về mình cho đến giờ phút cuối trong sự thương khó và cái chết trên thập giá (Gioan 13:01).

Bản chất của tình yêu,

Chúng ta đã tạo ra trong tình yêu và với tình yêu; để sống trong một cộng đồng của những người biết yêu thương nhau, cũng giống như Chúa Cha, Chúa Con và Chúa Thánh Thần sống trong một tình yêu mà không bao giờ có thể tách rời sự hiệp nhất trong một cộng đồng yêu thương không thể bị phá vỡ. Trong Chúa Giêsu, chúng ta thấy sự viên mãn của tình yêu Thiên Chúa và làm thế nào tình yêu của Thiên Chúa được hướng đến hạnh phúc của chúng ta. Thánh Gioan nói: "Tình yêu của Thiên Chúa đối với chúng ta được biểu lộ như thế này :  Thiên Chúa đã sai Con Một đến thế gian  để nhờ Con Một của Người mà chúng ta được sống" (1 Gioan 4:9)

Hiểu biết về tình yêu của Thiên Chúa

 Làm thế nào để chúng ta có thể  biết rằng Thiên Chúa thực sự yêu thương mỗi người chúng ta?

            Trên thập giá chúng ta nhìn thấy rõ được bằng chứng tình yêu của  Thiên Chúa đã dành cho mỗi người chúng ta với cái giá không thể tưởng tưởng, mà Thiên Chúa đã sẵn sàng phải trả để cứu chuộc chúng ta khỏi ách nô lệ của tội lỗi, của sự chết và Satan. Chúa Giêsu đã từ bỏ cuộc sống chính mình để cho chúng ta có thể có được sự sống; sống dồi dào, và có được sự sống đời đời với Thiên Chúa; một cuộc sống yêu thương và hiệp nhất với Chúa Cha, Chúa Con và Chúa Thánh Thần mãi mãi. Qua thập giá Chúa Giêsu đã mở ra một cách thức mới cho mối quan hệ của chúng ta như những người con nuôi của Thiên Chúa, và như những  con yêu quý của Ngài (Rôma 8:14-17).

Món quà qúy nhất của Chúa Giêsu ban cho chúng ta.

Chúa Giêsu đã hứa ban cho các môn đệ những món quà tốt nhất. đó là những ân sũng Chúa Thánh Thần, như là người Tư vấn và trợ giúp của họ. Chúa Thánh Thần là người biện hộ và trợ giúp của chúng ta để hướng dẫn và củng cố chúng ta và giúp đưa chúng ta vượt qua những thách thức và nghịch cảnh một cách an toàn, và giúp chúng ta được an toàn khi phải đối mặt với cuộc đời này. Chúa Thánh Thần cũng là Đấng ban sự sống; và cũng hướng dẫn chúng ta trên con đường chân lý, sự thật, trong sự khôn ngoan và lòng nhân hậu.

            Chúng ta không bao giờ có thể ngừng học hỏi bởi vì Chúa Thánh thần luôn dẫn đưa chúng ta đến sự hiều biết nhiều hơn và nhiều hơn nữa trong sự thấm nhuần về tình yêu của Thiên Chúa, về chân lý, sự thật, và sự tốt lành. Chúa Giêsu cũng hứa hẹn các môn đệ với ân sủng trong sự an bình. An bình có nghĩa là còn hơn cả khi không có xung đột hoặc khị gặp rắc rối. Sự An hoà bao gồm tất cả mọi thứ mà làm cho chúng ta trở nên tốt lành nhất. Tin tưởng vào Thiên Chúa, tin vào lời hứa của Ngài, và vâng phục lời Ngài sẽ dẫn đưa chúng ta đến sự an hoà và bằng an trong sự hiện diện của Thiên Chúa. Đó là lý do tại sao mà người Kitô hữu không cần phải lo sợ hay bối rối vì bất cứ điều gì.

            Giờ đây,  chúng ta hãy đến để xin Chúa Thánh Thần đến để giúp cho chúng ta được lãnh đầy những sự thông hiểu và kiến thức về tình yêu bao la của Chúa Kitô với hồng ân của Ngài trong an bình.

 

Meditation:

What makes us both fully human and truly like God? Is it not unconditional love which is unselfish, undying, and wholly directed to the good of others?       The love of God unites us in an unbreakable bond of fidelity, friendship, and community with others. Jesus loved his own until the very end of his passion and death on the cross (Jn 13:1).

The nature of love

From the very beginning of creation God said: it is not good that man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). We were created in love for love - to be a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are inseparably united in a community of unbreakable love.  Jesus speaks to his disciples of the inseparable bound of love between himself and the Father, and of their love for humankind. In Jesus we see the fullness of God's love and how God's love is directed to our well-being. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him (1 John 4:9).

Knowing God's love

How do we know that God truly loves each one of us? In the cross we see the proof of God's love for each of us and the incredible price God was willing to pay to redeem us from slavery to sin, death, and Satan. Jesus gave up his life that we might have life;  abundant, everlasting life with God;  a life of love and unity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever.  Through the cross Jesus opened a new way of relationship for us as the adopted sons and daughters of God - his beloved children (Romans 8:14-17).  Jesus calls his disciples to walk in his way of love through obedience to the will of the Father. True love is more than sentiment, emotion, or good intention. True love for God is expressed in obedience and obedience is expressed in love.

Jesus' best gift for us

Jesus promised to give his followers the best of gifts, the Holy Spirit as their Counselor and Helper. How does the Holy Spirit help us as the counselor? Counselor is a legal term for one who defends someone against an adversary and who guides that person during the ordeal of trial.

            The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and Helper who guides and strengthens us and brings us safely through the challenges and adversities we must face in this life.

            The Holy Spirit is also the Giver of life; the abundant life which comes from God and which sustains us forever. The Holy Spirit also guides us in the way of truth, wisdom, and goodness.

            We can never stop learning because the Spirit leads us more and more into the knowledge of God's love, truth, and goodness. Jesus also promised his followers the gift of peace. Peace is more than the absence of conflict or trouble. Peace includes everything which makes for our highest good.

            Trust in God, faith in his promises, and obedience to his word lead us to peace and security in God's presence. That is why a Christian need not fear or be troubled by anything.

            The love of Christ brings immeasurable joy and consolation even in the midst of our trials and suffering. St. Paul states, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35,38-39).  Now we come to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with the knowledge of Christ's immense love and with his gift of peace.

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter 2023

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.” John 14:15–17

Imagine a spouse or a friend saying to you, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Such a statement might cause you to react with surprise. Ordinarily, we do not see obedience to another as a sign that we love them. However, what if a parent were to say to a child, “If you love me, you will be obedient.” That statement is easier to accept because of the unique role of a parent to their children. In regard to our love of God, obedience to His divine will is the greatest act of love we can offer. This is because God’s will is perfect. It’s exactly what we need in life. It’s what we were made for. And it is the one and only way to achieve the human fulfillment that we seek. Only God can say such a thing to us because only God is God.

Jesus followed up His call to obedience by saying that obedience to Him will result in Jesus and His Father bestowing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth upon you. The Holy Spirit will remain “with you, and will be in you.” This is such a profound statement from our Lord. In fact, so much of what He says within this sermon, given at the Last Supper, is profound beyond comprehension.

One clear thing this tells us is that obedience to God leads to a discovery of the Truth. And as Jesus says elsewhere, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32). Obedience leads to Truth. Truth leads to freedom.

This begs the question: Do you want to be free? Clearly you do. We cannot not want to be free. Meaning, we are obliged to want freedom, just as we are obliged to want happiness. Why? Because the desire for freedom and happiness is written upon our very nature. It is a desire that we cannot escape. It’s how we are wired. However, it is quite possible to become confused about the way we achieve these desires. For many, obedience is not always understood as the pathway to that desired freedom and happiness.

Consider, again, a child. Imagine a parent telling that child not to eat a certain wild berry that grows behind their house because the parent knows the berry is poisonous and will cause the child to become sick. If the child disobeys and eats the berry anyway, he will learn the important lesson that he should have been obedient. Or if the child were to get in a fight with his brother and was angry and crying, the parent may tell him to say he’s sorry and reconcile with his brother. If the child refuses, he will remain angry and crying. But if he obeys, then he and his brother will once again be able to have fun together.

On a grand scale, this is what God does for us. He is the perfect Father Who always knows what is best for us. For that reason, we must not only conform to His will, we must desire it, seek it out and desire to be obedient to the greatest degree. This is the path to Truth. It is the path to freedom. It is the path to the happiness we desire.

Reflect, today, upon your own level of obedience to the will of God and your understanding of the importance of that obedience. Do you realize that God’s will is perfect? Perhaps you do intellectually, but how about practically? When you read through the Scriptures and hear Jesus’ commands of love, do you seek to follow them without hesitation? For example, do you forgive those who seem undeserving? Can you say, with our Lord from the Cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do?” Reflect upon anything this past year that was difficult for you to embrace from God. Ponder it, pray over it and seek to obey whatever He has revealed to you. Doing so will be the first step toward the fulfillment of your deepest desires in life.

Most glorious Jesus, Your will is perfect in every way. Obedience to Your will leads to the fulfillment of my life and my every desire. Please bestow the Spirit of Truth upon me so that I will always know Your will and embrace it with all my might. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter 2023

Opening Prayer: Come Holy Spirit! Grant me the grace to hear and respond to your gentle promptings and help me to keep Christ’s commandments.

Encountering Christ:

1. The Paraclete: Jesus has given us an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to abide with us forever. The Spirit prompts us to do God’s will and never seems to tire of inspiring us to grow in virtue, even though we fail day after day to cooperate fully. How blessed we are to be accompanied by the Spirit. Although we are weak, let’s recommit ourselves to do our part to grow in virtue, as St. Paul recommends: “...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love” (1 Peter 5-7). When trying to please God, we can be confident that the Spirit strengthens us beyond our expectations.

2. I Will Not Leave You Orphans: Jesus’s words are such a comfort to us and remind us that we are sons and daughters of God the Father. Our family extends beyond our temporal experience to include the saints in heaven, the suffering souls in purgatory, and even the Holy Family itself! All are orphaned who do not know Jesus or who have rejected him. May our hearts be filled with compassion for them so that we can put aside judgment or prejudice and reach out beyond our comfort zone to invite the orphaned into our blessed family.

3. Observing the Commandments: The Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets and given to Moses to help unruly people find their way back to God. Thirteen hundred years later, Jesus told the Jews that they could prove their love for him and God the Father by adhering to these same commandments. Today, the Ten Commandments are part of a frieze on the walls and doors of the Supreme Court, and James Madison, our country’s fourth president, said, “We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” Like any good parent, Our Lord knew that all people benefit by living these ten simple rules of life. They inform all of our actions as Christians. 

Conversing with Christ: Thank you Lord for sending the Advocate to accompany and strengthen me. When life gets noisy, confusing, or difficult, I can be assured by your word that my adherence to the Ten Commandments pleases you. You have promised to reveal yourself to me as I strive to love you by obeying your Ten Commandments. There can be no greater reward on this side of eternity. 

Resolution: Today, I resolve to spend five minutes reading the Ten Commandments as an examination of conscience.