Suy Niêm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư sau tuần 7 Phục Sinh

Suy Niêm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư sau tuần 7 Phục Sinh - John 17:11-19

Những bài Tin Mừng trong ngày thứ thứ ba, thứ tư và thứ năm trong tuần này (tuần thứ 7 mùa Phục Sinh) là những bài đọc hay nhất và đã được gộp lại với nhau. Những bài này được rút ra từ chương XVII trong sách Tin Mừng của Thánh Gioan, những bài Tin Mừng này đã cho chúng ta thấy được sự chân thành trong lời cầu nguyện, những mối quan tâm mà Chúa Giêsu hằng âm ỉ giữ mải trong tâm khảm của Ngài khi Ngài biết rằng Ngài sẽ phải ra đi vào vườn Cây Dầu và lên đường chuẩn bị lên núi Calvary.
            Trong khi Ngài cầu nguyện cho "tất cả mọi người", đặc biệt, Chúa Giêsu đã cầu nguyện cho những người có đang mặt trong phòng Tiệc Ly và tất cả những người đã từng theo Chúa và cùng làm việc với Chúa trong việc làm cho Nước Chúa được hiện diện ở giữa những người trong thế kỷ thứ nhất tại Jerusalem, Giuđêa và Galilê .
            Điều đáng chú ý, tuy nhiên, Chúa Giêsu đã cầu nguyện một cách rõ ràng cho những thế hệ mai sau, cho những ai sẽ tin tưởng ở nơi Ngài qua những lời rao giảng của các môn đệ của Ngài và của người kế vị các Tông Đồ thay mặt Chúa giáo huấn cho mọi ngươì, Tóm lại, Chúa Giêsu đã cầu nguyện cho tất cả chúng ta, cho các tín hữu như chúng ta đang ở trong Người. Ngài cầu nguyện xin Thiên Chúa cho chúng ta mãi mãi được đoàn kết và đó điều rất là quan trọng trong thế giới đang bị đầy rẫy những chia rẽ này. Ngài cũng cầu nguyện cho tất chúng ta là sẽ gặp và thấy riêng Ngài trong vinh quang Thiên Chúa trên thiên đàng. Đây phải là một ý nghĩ cần phải có trong tâm trí của chúng ta mỗi ngày.
            Khi chúng ta nói với bạn bè của chúng ta rằng chúng ta đang cầu nguyện cho họ để cho họ có được niềm vui và hạnh phúc. Chúng ta cũng sẽ vui mừng và an ủi khi chúng ta biết rằng họ cũng đang cầu nguyện cho chúng ta. Thật là một thúc đẩy và hạnh phúc cho chúng ta khi chúng ta nhận biết được rằng Chúa Giêsu đã và đang cầu nguyện cho chúng ta. Không còn lời ca nào có ý nghĩa và đúng như lời ca của bài bài thánh ca, "Thật là một người bạn tốt mà chúng ta đã có trong Chúa Giêsu"!
 
Reflection SG:
The Gospel readings for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for this 7th week of Easter are best taken together. They make up the seventeenth chapter of St John’s Gospel. They present us in prayer form the concerns that were in the heart of Jesus as he was about to leave the Supper Room for Gethsemane and Calvary.
            While he prayed for “all people” he prayed in particular for those present in the Supper Room and all those others who worked with him in his mission to make present the Kingdom of God among the men and women of first century Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee.
            Strikingly, however, he prayed explicitly for those generations to come who would believe in him because of the words of the disciples present in the room and of their successors. In short he prayed for you and for me, believers as we are in him. He prayed that we would be united and that is very important in this divided world. He prayed too that we would see him clearly, personally in his glory in heaven. What a thought to have in our minds for the day.
            When we tell our friends that we are praying for them they are happy. We are happy and consoled when we know that they are praying for us. What a boost it is for us when we realize that Jesus prayed for us and is praying for us. How true are those words of the hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus”! Dear Jesus, friend and inspirer, help us to believe in your continuing, loving interest in us.
 
Wednesday 7^th of Easter 2023
“I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.”  John 17:14–15
Unfortunately, the evil one is real. He is the highest of the fallen angels who retain their natural spiritual power given them at their creation. God created all angelic creatures with the purpose of serving His holy will. The Scripture reveals that there are nine levels or “choirs” to which these angelic creatures belong. Among the fallen angels, the highest of them directs the others, and he is traditionally given the name Lucifer or “the devil.”
One of the natural spiritual powers that these fallen angelic creatures retain is the power of influence and suggestive thought. They were created to be messengers of God’s truth to us; but, in their fallen state, they seek to communicate confusion and lies instead. Therefore, it is very helpful to understand the way the evil one and the other fallen angels communicate to us so that we can reject their lies and listen only to the voice of God.
In his rules for the discernment of spirits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola explains that when a person is going “from mortal sin to mortal sin,” the evil one and the other demons continually propose to their imagination the “apparent pleasures” and “sensual delights” that they obtain from their sin as a way of keeping them firmly controlled by that sin. However, when a person is “intensely cleansing their sins and rising from good to better,” the evil one and the other demons act in a contrary way. They will “bite, sadden and put obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, that one may not go on” in their pursuit of holiness. God and the good angels will act in the opposite way. For those immersed in sin, God and the good angels will use “the opposite method, pricking them and biting their consciences through the process of reason” so as to draw them away from sin. And when a person is, in fact, growing in holiness, God and the good angels will “give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing, and putting away all obstacles, that one may go on in well doing” (See mycatholic.life/ignatius).
These spiritual lessons on the discernment of spirits are of great value and will assist you on your daily struggle with sin and your daily pursuit of holiness. Understanding the deceptions of the evil one and discerning the promptings of grace given by God bring clarity to our daily lives and direction to all of our actions. The good news that is revealed by the Scripture passage above is that our Lord is fully aware of the working of the evil one, has prayed for you and will assist you as you seek to combat these lies and deceptions in your life.
Reflect, today, upon the importance of learning how to discern both the voice of God and the lies of the evil one. Work to discern the voice of God so that you may follow Him more faithfully. And seek to discern the lies of the evil one so that you will not be influenced by him and can directly reject him. Commit yourself to a more rigorous discernment of these spiritual experiences in your life and allow this prayer of Jesus to direct you into His holy will.
My all-powerful Lord, You have conquered the evil one and provide all the grace I need to overcome his lies and deceptions. Open my mind to discern Your voice and give clarity to the voice of the evil one so that I may choose You with my whole heart and reject all that the evil one tries to say to me. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Wednesday 7^th of Easter 2023
Opening Prayer: Lord, I quiet my heart to reflect on your final words to your disciples. Help me draw a deeper understanding of your love for me as your disciple from this time of prayer.
Encountering Christ:
1. Lifting His Eyes to Heaven: For three consecutive days (yesterday, today, and tomorrow), the Gospel begins with “Lifting up his eyes to heaven.” Jesus, who is also God, raised his eyes when he spoke to the Father. Jesus also raised his eyes as he prayed to the Father to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41). Perhaps Jesus is calling our attention to the transcendence of God the Father, his power and might, and his “otherworldliness.” God, the Father, is infinitely deserving of our praise and we raise our eyes most naturally when we are lifting our hearts to him in humble prayer.“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be always in my mouth. My soul will glory in the Lord” (Psalms 34:1-3).
2. Keep Them from the Evil One: In his farewell discourse, Our Lord petitioned the Father for many graces on behalf of his disciples, and all of these graces also belong to us, his modern disciples. In these lines, we hear that Jesus protected and guarded his disciples while they accompanied him on his Father’s mission. And as he prepared to die, Jesus asked the Father to “keep them from the evil one.” We need the Father’s protection to resist temptation. He asked for it aloud, and Jesus encouraged us to ask for it regularly every time we say the Our Father. “God wants to set us free from evil” (CCC 2846).
3. Consecrate Them in the Truth: In this petition, Jesus asked the Father to consecrate his disciples in the truth. Since Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), the Lord was asking the Father to make us holy, to sanctify us, to bring us to union with him. “Is he not himself the living Word of God, to which every other word refers? Sanctify them in the truth—this means, in the deepest sense, make them one with me, Christ. Bind them to me. Draw them into me” (Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus, April 9, 2009). Our Lord asked for this grace while the disciples were still alive. We can also count on these graces today–now–in this time of prayer. Come Holy Spirit!
Conversing with Christ: It’s clear, Lord, that you desire my holiness. When I am holy, it pleases you and impacts those closest to me. Despite the frequency with which I fall, I believe that you have given me all the grace I need to come to union with you, and my heart is full of gratitude. 
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will prayerfully pray the “Our Father,” one line at a time.
 
Wenesday 7^th of Easter 2022
Opening Prayer: Lord, grant me the grace to seek your truth and follow you. You have told me through your eternal word that you wish for me to cling to you and thus share in your joy—not just to some small degree set aside for each one of us, but completely. Let me take this to heart and refrain from the alternative of endlessly chasing the fleeting pleasures of this world.
Encountering Christ:
Guarded Well: By this point in John’s Gospel, we know that many disciples had left Jesus (John 6:66). It is comforting to know that Jesus didn’t consider any of these lost; in fact, only Judas, who couldn’t bear the shame of his betrayal and therefore wasn’t capable of seeking forgiveness, was lost. Indeed, the only unforgivable sin is “blaspheming the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 12:31), which is beautifully explained by our Church: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss” (CCC 1864).
Complete Joy: What puts a smile on our face? Perhaps today you will be offered some interesting assignment at work. Maybe a child will voice gratitude for some act you performed, or your spouse will offer you words of affirmation. Each of these is a “good” that God wants us to experience (and which should prompt us to offer thanks back to him). Of course, tomorrow the actions of your boss, child, or spouse may not similarly please you. Jesus, in this prayer to the Father, asks that we are enabled to transcend these worldly pleasures, which are fleeting, and to experience a joy which is complete. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Lord, let me use my free will to discern and follow your perfect will, assured in the hope that this will lead to complete joy, if not in this world, then in the next. 
Consecrated in Truth: Today’s liturgy is a memorial to an early witness (in Greek, “martyr”) to the truth of Jesus Christ. St. Justin is so well known by his witness that he is often referred to as “St. Justin Martyr.” In the days of Justin, the consequence of witnessing to the truth was severe persecution, often culminating in making a choice to either renounce Our Lord and Savior, who is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” or to offer one’s earthly life with the hope of an eternal reward in Heaven. How could such courage ever be mustered? Jesus prayed to the Father that every one of his followers, and us, would be “consecrated in the truth.” He then proclaimed that he would consecrate himself for each of us so that we could remain in the truth. His Passion, death, and Resurrection make it possible for us to have this audacious hope! He left us his Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth (John 16:13) and to provide us with the gift of wisdom. Lord, let me graciously accept this unmerited gift from you, and, like the philosopher (in Greek, “lover of wisdom”) St. Justin Martyr, let me proclaim the truth of the Gospel to those whom I encounter today.
Conversing with Christ: Today I ask that you take away all of the lies and deception that encircle me and let me bask in your truth. Help me to seek you first, rather than reaching instead for the world’s fleeting pleasures, secure in your promise that this will allow me to share in your joy completely.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will identify at least one fleeting pleasure which I have allowed to take hold in my life, and I will pledge to forego that activity and replace it with something more pleasing to you.
 
Wenesday 7^th of Easter:
Opening Prayer: Lord, I come to this time of prayer with a desire to know you better. I want to know your truth by knowing your word. Fill me with the truth so I will be filled with joy.
Encountering Christ:
In the Name of God: Jesus lifted up his heart, prayed to his Father, and begged him on our behalf to “keep them in your name that you have given me.” Jesus’s name is the one by which “God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend (Philippians 2:9-10). The name of Jesus is different from other names, for it is what it signifies: Jesus (Y’shua in Hebrew) is “savior, deliverer”; he redeemed us and rescued us. When we whisper the Jesus Prayer: “Jesus, son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” we invoke a name that is powerful in protecting us from evil and darkness. We can whisper this prayer, or simply his name, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” when we are afraid or tempted.
Son of Destruction: Jesus referred to Judas as the “son of destruction.” Jesus had called him, allowed him into his inner circle of disciples, and treated him lovingly. What sorrow Jesus must have felt by Judas’s betrayal. “Those who do wrong deserve our tears…For the covetous man and the slanderer, and the man guilty of any other wrongdoing injure themselves most of all […] Christ repaid the man who was going to betray him with just the opposite. For example, he washed his feet, reproved him without bitterness, censured him in private, ministered to him, allowed him to share in his table and his kiss. Yet, though Judas did not become better because of these things, Jesus himself persevered in his course of action” (St. John Crysostom). Jesus knew Judas would betray him, but he did not give up on Judas or neglect him. Jesus pursued him to the end, though eventually he was “lost.” What a beautiful challenge Christ sets before us by the loving way he treated Judas.
Consecrated in Truth: Jesus desired that his disciples share the fullness of his joy by sharing in his Trinitarian life, “because they do not belong to the world.” Jesus called his disciples to follow him on a path that renounced earthly goods. He knew that the world would hate them, for their mission was to follow Christ and find their joy in him, and not in the attractions of the world. Their joy was fulfilled in discovering their mission to share Christ with others, and the early Christians did this as they “devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Simple Christian living in small community home churches spread through the whole world. We can imitate their devotion by sharing our joy in Christ with others, especially those in our parish and our neighborhood.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I want to follow you with the authentic faith of the disciples. Help me find joy in living my faith. Keep me close to you, with your name on my lips and your joy in my heart.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will rediscover the joy of the first Christians by inviting a friend to Mass.
 
Reflection
Do we know what our mission in life is? Jesus' mission was to glorify his heavenly Father through obedience to His will. In the Gospel, we see Jesus who has finished his mission on earth and about to return to his Father in heaven.
Jesus' strength comes from the Father. We who aspire to become disciples of Jesus must pray for strength from the Holy Spirit. As his disciples, we are consecrated in God's truth and holiness. To "consecrate" means "to be made holy or to set apart for God". It also means to be equipped with the qualities of mind, heart and character for a task or service. Just as Jesus was called by the Father to serve in holiness and truth, so we too, are called and equipped for the task of serving God in the world as his representatives. God's truth frees us from ignorance and the deception of sin. It also reveals to us God's goodness, love, and wisdom. Is our life consecrated to God?
May the Lord, take our lives and make it wholly pleasing to him. May He sanctify us in His truth and may the Holy Spirit guide us that we may follow Him faithfully wherever He may lead us.