Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai tuần thứ
10 Thường Niên. (Matthew 5:1-12a )
Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta hãy sống xứng đáng với đdời sống của người Kitô giáo, cũng giống như Ngài đã mời gọi những người môn đệ của Ngài phải sống gương mẫu để nêu gương sáng cho những người khác noi theo bằng cách họ sống. Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta đón nhận những lời lăng mạ, những sự bách hại, những lời cáo gian vì những lợi ích vì danh của Ngài và vì nước trời. Ngài mong mỏi chúng ta đưa cái má khác cho người khác vả, và tha thứ cho kẻ thù của chúng ta và cầu nguyện cho họ. Dòng chữ "Vì lợi ích vì danh của Ngài" đã chiếm trọn vô số tâm hồn những người Kitô giáo bình thường qua các thời đại. Chỉ khi nào chúng ta biết chúc lành cho những người đã gây ra cho chúng ta những sự đau khổ, thì chúng ta mới có thể thực sự yêu mến Chúa Giêsu.
Tám Mối Phúc Thật là một thách thức cho các môn đệ của Chúa Giêsu thời cổ đại và tiếp tục thách thức chúng ta trong ngày hôm nay và sẽ tiếp tục thách thức những người kitô giáo trong tương lai. Tám Mối Phúc Thật không có nghĩa giống như là một thông điệp chỉ dành riêng cho một thế hệ. Những lời giảng huấn này đã được đưa ra để khuấy động tâm hồn của những người đang lắng nghe vào thời điểm đó và cũng sẽ còn khuấy động tâm hồn của chúng ta hôm nay nữa. Trong khi chúng ta suy niệm về Tám Mối Phúc Thật, chúng ta hãy tự hỏi mình: "Tôi có sống như Chúa đang nhìn thấy thế giới không?" Nếu câu trả lời là "có", bạn không nên quá tự hào và thoải mái. Vì Chúa Giêsu sẽ đưa chúng ta đến với một đức tin sâu đậm hơn để Phục vụ nhiều hơn. Nếu câu trả lời là "chưa đủ với những sự cố gắng của chúng ta", thì chúng ta hãy nên tiếp tục cầu nguyện để chúng ta có sự hiểu biết nhiều hơn, khôn ngoan và biết được đường lối của Thiên Chúa sẽ trở nên rõ ràng hơn cho chúng ta.
Chúng ta hãy cảm ta Chúa Giêsu vì hôm nay Ngài đã giải thích cho chúng ta biết những gì mới thực sự quan trọng cho cuộc sống của chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy cầu xin Chúa Giêsu ban cho chúng ta những ân sủng Chúa Thánh Thần và sức mạnh để gạt bỏ lo ngại của chúng ta để chúng ta tiếp tục theo sát bước chân của Ngài một cách vững chãi hơn.
REFLECTION
Is there something in our lives that rejects this call to holiness? What is it that takes precedence in our spiritual life? Jesus invites us to take a Christian stand, just as he invited his first followers to become examples for others by the way they lived. Jesus invites us to embrace insults, persecution, and false accusations for his sake. He asks us to offer the other cheek and to forgive our enemies and pray for them. The words "For his sake" has captured the hearts of countless ordinary Christian people throughout the ages. Only when we bless those who make us suffer can we truly love Jesus. And forgiving those who make false accusations against another requires true Christian heroism.
The Beatitudes challenged Jesus' disciples and continues to challenge us today and will continue to challenge people in the future. The Beatitudes were not meant as a message for just one generation. The teaching was given to stir up the hearts of those who were listening at the time and it should stir up our hearts today as well. As we think about the Beatitudes, let us ask ourselves: "Am I living as God sees the world?" If the answer is "yes", do not get too comfortable. Jesus is going to move us to deeper faith and service. If the answer is "not as well as I could", then we should continue to pray for greater understanding and wisdom and God's way will become clearer to us.
Let us thank Jesus today for explaining to us what is truly important. Let us ask Jesus for the grace and strength to cast aside our fears and continue to follow closely in his footsteps
Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
2023
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:1–3
Today we are given the incredibly high calling of the Beatitudes to ponder. These lessons were taught by Jesus on a hill just north of the Sea of Galilee. Many were coming to Jesus to listen to Him preach and to witness His many miracles. They flocked to Him in this remote location, and Jesus had them recline as He preached what is now referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon is found in Chapter 5 through 7 of Matthew’s Gospel, and it takes place shortly after Jesus began His public ministry.
What a way to begin His public ministry! This teaching of Jesus was brand new and must have left many people mesmerized. Jesus no longer taught only the precepts of the Old Testament, such as the Ten Commandments; He now elevated the moral law to a level never conceived of before.
As the people listened to this new teacher speak with new authority and wisdom, they may have been excited and confused at the same time. To hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful and clean of heart, and to be a peacemaker could have been accepted. But why was it that being poor, mournful, and meek were considered blessings? And even more challenging, why was it good to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness or insulted and falsely accused because of Jesus?
When Jesus’ new and radical teaching is clearly understood, it is not only His first disciples who may have been confused and excited at the same time. You, too, if you truly listen to His teachings and understand what He means, will find that you may be challenged to the core of your being. Jesus’ teaching must be embraced, fully, and without hesitation.
The Beatitudes are our call to perfection. They lay out for us the path by which we travel to the heights of holiness and obtain the glory of Heaven. They are our fine-tuned and detailed road map to the fullness of happiness and joy. But they also call us to a radical transformation of our minds and in our actions. They are not “easily” embraced, in the sense that they require that we turn from every selfish tendency we have and choose to live free of every earthly temptation, attachment and sin. Perfection awaits those who listen to, understand, and embrace the Beatitudes.
Reflect, today, upon the beginning of this challenging Sermon on the Mount. Try to find time to take each Beatitude to prayer. It is only through prayer and meditation that the full meaning of each of these invitations to holiness will be understood. Start with the call to interior poverty of spirit. This Beatitude calls us to complete detachment from all that is not part of God’s will. From there, consider the importance of mourning over your sin, of seeking purity of heart and humility in all things. Ponder each Beatitude and spend time with the one most challenging to you. Our Lord has much to say to you through this sermon. Don’t hesitate to allow Him to lead you to the heights of holiness through it.
Lord of all holiness, You are perfect in every way. You lived every virtue and Beatitude to perfection. Give me the grace to open myself to You so that I may hear You call me to perfection of life and so that I may respond generously with my whole life. Make me holy, dear Lord, so that I will find the happiness and fulfillment You wish to bestow. Jesus, I trust in You.
Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
2023
Introductory Prayer: Father of love, the source of all blessings, you have led me throughout my life, and you lead me still. Thank you for your paternal care. Jesus, Son of God, you died for me on the cross to pay for my sins and manifest your unconditional love for me. Thank you for showing me the way home to the Father. Holy Spirit, sweet guest of the soul, you heal me and strengthen me and set me on fire from the most intimate depths of my soul. Thank you for your loving presence within me.
REFLECTION
The function of prophets, we usually think, is to foretell the future. Elijah, for instance, exercises this function. He foretells the three-year drought that God intends to impose on Israel due to the nation's sinfulness.
There is, however, another function that prophets perform. When a people is living a way of life that defies God's values, he may send prophets to them who will urge them to repent and to change their way of life. Elijah performs this function also.
As Christians all of us are called to be prophets. We are called to speak out whenever God's word is known but ignored. The late Cardinal Hume of England forcefully described the Church's prophetic call: "Whenever the poor are afflicted or neglected, or whenever human dignity is not respected, then the church has a duty to sound the prophets' note, and it must be prepared to be unpopular on matters which concern politicians as well."
Every country in the world can provide Christians with current injustices that need a prophetic voice to explain and condemn the evil that festers within its boundaries. In some countries, the horror that is abortion is widely practiced. Indeed, given certain conditions, it is legal. In many developing countries, the poverty afflicting the majority of the nation's citizens, along with its consequent evils - sickness, early death, malnutrition, and crime - is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance. Christians must, along with the Church, or even in spite of a particular Church's silence, sound a prophet's note, as Cardinal Hume puts it, must speak out in God's name, condemning the evil that does injustice to so many of its citizens.
Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta hãy sống xứng đáng với đdời sống của người Kitô giáo, cũng giống như Ngài đã mời gọi những người môn đệ của Ngài phải sống gương mẫu để nêu gương sáng cho những người khác noi theo bằng cách họ sống. Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta đón nhận những lời lăng mạ, những sự bách hại, những lời cáo gian vì những lợi ích vì danh của Ngài và vì nước trời. Ngài mong mỏi chúng ta đưa cái má khác cho người khác vả, và tha thứ cho kẻ thù của chúng ta và cầu nguyện cho họ. Dòng chữ "Vì lợi ích vì danh của Ngài" đã chiếm trọn vô số tâm hồn những người Kitô giáo bình thường qua các thời đại. Chỉ khi nào chúng ta biết chúc lành cho những người đã gây ra cho chúng ta những sự đau khổ, thì chúng ta mới có thể thực sự yêu mến Chúa Giêsu.
Tám Mối Phúc Thật là một thách thức cho các môn đệ của Chúa Giêsu thời cổ đại và tiếp tục thách thức chúng ta trong ngày hôm nay và sẽ tiếp tục thách thức những người kitô giáo trong tương lai. Tám Mối Phúc Thật không có nghĩa giống như là một thông điệp chỉ dành riêng cho một thế hệ. Những lời giảng huấn này đã được đưa ra để khuấy động tâm hồn của những người đang lắng nghe vào thời điểm đó và cũng sẽ còn khuấy động tâm hồn của chúng ta hôm nay nữa. Trong khi chúng ta suy niệm về Tám Mối Phúc Thật, chúng ta hãy tự hỏi mình: "Tôi có sống như Chúa đang nhìn thấy thế giới không?" Nếu câu trả lời là "có", bạn không nên quá tự hào và thoải mái. Vì Chúa Giêsu sẽ đưa chúng ta đến với một đức tin sâu đậm hơn để Phục vụ nhiều hơn. Nếu câu trả lời là "chưa đủ với những sự cố gắng của chúng ta", thì chúng ta hãy nên tiếp tục cầu nguyện để chúng ta có sự hiểu biết nhiều hơn, khôn ngoan và biết được đường lối của Thiên Chúa sẽ trở nên rõ ràng hơn cho chúng ta.
Chúng ta hãy cảm ta Chúa Giêsu vì hôm nay Ngài đã giải thích cho chúng ta biết những gì mới thực sự quan trọng cho cuộc sống của chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy cầu xin Chúa Giêsu ban cho chúng ta những ân sủng Chúa Thánh Thần và sức mạnh để gạt bỏ lo ngại của chúng ta để chúng ta tiếp tục theo sát bước chân của Ngài một cách vững chãi hơn.
Is there something in our lives that rejects this call to holiness? What is it that takes precedence in our spiritual life? Jesus invites us to take a Christian stand, just as he invited his first followers to become examples for others by the way they lived. Jesus invites us to embrace insults, persecution, and false accusations for his sake. He asks us to offer the other cheek and to forgive our enemies and pray for them. The words "For his sake" has captured the hearts of countless ordinary Christian people throughout the ages. Only when we bless those who make us suffer can we truly love Jesus. And forgiving those who make false accusations against another requires true Christian heroism.
The Beatitudes challenged Jesus' disciples and continues to challenge us today and will continue to challenge people in the future. The Beatitudes were not meant as a message for just one generation. The teaching was given to stir up the hearts of those who were listening at the time and it should stir up our hearts today as well. As we think about the Beatitudes, let us ask ourselves: "Am I living as God sees the world?" If the answer is "yes", do not get too comfortable. Jesus is going to move us to deeper faith and service. If the answer is "not as well as I could", then we should continue to pray for greater understanding and wisdom and God's way will become clearer to us.
Let us thank Jesus today for explaining to us what is truly important. Let us ask Jesus for the grace and strength to cast aside our fears and continue to follow closely in his footsteps
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:1–3
Today we are given the incredibly high calling of the Beatitudes to ponder. These lessons were taught by Jesus on a hill just north of the Sea of Galilee. Many were coming to Jesus to listen to Him preach and to witness His many miracles. They flocked to Him in this remote location, and Jesus had them recline as He preached what is now referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon is found in Chapter 5 through 7 of Matthew’s Gospel, and it takes place shortly after Jesus began His public ministry.
What a way to begin His public ministry! This teaching of Jesus was brand new and must have left many people mesmerized. Jesus no longer taught only the precepts of the Old Testament, such as the Ten Commandments; He now elevated the moral law to a level never conceived of before.
As the people listened to this new teacher speak with new authority and wisdom, they may have been excited and confused at the same time. To hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful and clean of heart, and to be a peacemaker could have been accepted. But why was it that being poor, mournful, and meek were considered blessings? And even more challenging, why was it good to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness or insulted and falsely accused because of Jesus?
When Jesus’ new and radical teaching is clearly understood, it is not only His first disciples who may have been confused and excited at the same time. You, too, if you truly listen to His teachings and understand what He means, will find that you may be challenged to the core of your being. Jesus’ teaching must be embraced, fully, and without hesitation.
The Beatitudes are our call to perfection. They lay out for us the path by which we travel to the heights of holiness and obtain the glory of Heaven. They are our fine-tuned and detailed road map to the fullness of happiness and joy. But they also call us to a radical transformation of our minds and in our actions. They are not “easily” embraced, in the sense that they require that we turn from every selfish tendency we have and choose to live free of every earthly temptation, attachment and sin. Perfection awaits those who listen to, understand, and embrace the Beatitudes.
Reflect, today, upon the beginning of this challenging Sermon on the Mount. Try to find time to take each Beatitude to prayer. It is only through prayer and meditation that the full meaning of each of these invitations to holiness will be understood. Start with the call to interior poverty of spirit. This Beatitude calls us to complete detachment from all that is not part of God’s will. From there, consider the importance of mourning over your sin, of seeking purity of heart and humility in all things. Ponder each Beatitude and spend time with the one most challenging to you. Our Lord has much to say to you through this sermon. Don’t hesitate to allow Him to lead you to the heights of holiness through it.
Lord of all holiness, You are perfect in every way. You lived every virtue and Beatitude to perfection. Give me the grace to open myself to You so that I may hear You call me to perfection of life and so that I may respond generously with my whole life. Make me holy, dear Lord, so that I will find the happiness and fulfillment You wish to bestow. Jesus, I trust in You.
Introductory Prayer: Father of love, the source of all blessings, you have led me throughout my life, and you lead me still. Thank you for your paternal care. Jesus, Son of God, you died for me on the cross to pay for my sins and manifest your unconditional love for me. Thank you for showing me the way home to the Father. Holy Spirit, sweet guest of the soul, you heal me and strengthen me and set me on fire from the most intimate depths of my soul. Thank you for your loving presence within me.
The function of prophets, we usually think, is to foretell the future. Elijah, for instance, exercises this function. He foretells the three-year drought that God intends to impose on Israel due to the nation's sinfulness.
There is, however, another function that prophets perform. When a people is living a way of life that defies God's values, he may send prophets to them who will urge them to repent and to change their way of life. Elijah performs this function also.
As Christians all of us are called to be prophets. We are called to speak out whenever God's word is known but ignored. The late Cardinal Hume of England forcefully described the Church's prophetic call: "Whenever the poor are afflicted or neglected, or whenever human dignity is not respected, then the church has a duty to sound the prophets' note, and it must be prepared to be unpopular on matters which concern politicians as well."
Every country in the world can provide Christians with current injustices that need a prophetic voice to explain and condemn the evil that festers within its boundaries. In some countries, the horror that is abortion is widely practiced. Indeed, given certain conditions, it is legal. In many developing countries, the poverty afflicting the majority of the nation's citizens, along with its consequent evils - sickness, early death, malnutrition, and crime - is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance. Christians must, along with the Church, or even in spite of a particular Church's silence, sound a prophet's note, as Cardinal Hume puts it, must speak out in God's name, condemning the evil that does injustice to so many of its citizens.
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