Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần 23 TN

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần 23 TN. Luke 6:39-42
Trong Tin Mừng ngày hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta phải biết cách sống trong mối liên hệ với những người khác. Nhiều người trong chúng ta có xu hướng là thích phán xét người khác, thích tỉm kiếm những lỗi lầm hoặc thiếu sót của người khác để sửa sai họ, những không chịu nhận ra những cái sai lầm của chính mình. Có những lần hoặc nhiều lần chúng ta có thể đã muốn sửa sai người khác trong âm thầm, nhưng cũng có lúc bốc đồng, có những người trong chúng ta có thể đã thể hiện sự phán xét và phán đoán người khác một cách công khai để gây sự chú ý cho mọi người biết tới những giới hạn của những người khác và hay để tỏ cho họ thấy sự thông minh của mình.
            Hôm nay Chúa Giêsu kêu gọi chúng ta nên phải biết sống khiêm nhượng,  từ tâm và bác ái hơn. Chúng ta phải luôn luôn nhớ rằng chúng ta không thể biết được những gì đang xảy ra trong lòng hay trong trí tuởng của người khác, nên chúng ta không thể biết và hiểu được họ, và biết đâu họ có thể có những sự giải thích, hợp lý và thích đáng đằng sau cho những cái hành động của họ. Chúng ta không nên vội xét đoán và làm nô lệ cho những cái phản ứng bốc đồng của chúng ta. Thay vào đó, chúng ta cần thông cảm, hiệp thông với những người khác trong tình yêu thương và lòng nhân hậu của Chúa Giêsu, người mà hằng mong muốn được thu hút tất cả chúng ta vào nơi chính Ngài.
 
Friday 23^rd Ordinary Time
In today's gospel Jesus is teaching us a way of living in relation to others. Perhaps we all have the experience of teaching others well because we have learned something ourselves. We cannot teach others what we have not learned ourselves. When we do have something to teach others, we still have to exercise caution. Many of us have a very human tendency to judge others, noticing their faults, mistakes, or shortcomings. We may have time and again did this in our hearts, but those of us who are impulsive may express this judgment by openly calling attention to the limitations of others.
            Today Jesus asks us to be more charitable. We must always remember that we do not know what is going on in another person's heart, that we often do not have complete information, and that there may be a good explanation behind another person's actions. Let us not be slaves to our impulsive reactions. Instead, let us relate to others with the loving kindness and mercy of Jesus, who desires to draw all of us into himself.
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Friday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?”  Luke 6:41
Saint Teresa of Ávila, one of the greatest spiritual writers and doctors of the Church, explains in her spiritual masterpiece “Interior Castles,” that one of the first steps on the path to holiness is self-knowledge. Self-knowledge produces humility, because humility is simply having a true opinion about yourself. When a person fails to know themself from the true perspective of the mind of God, then they open themselves up to many errors of judgment. One such error is that they can easily become fixated upon their perceived sins of others.
The Gospel passage quoted above depicts a person who gravely lacks self-knowledge. Why? Because they “do not perceive the wooden beam” in their own eye, meaning, they do not see their own sin. As a result, Jesus explains that this person also becomes fixated upon the “splinter” in their brother’s eye.
When you consider your own thoughts, what do you dwell upon the most all day long? Do you honestly look inward, seeking to know yourself as God knows you? Or do you spend excessive time thinking about others, analyzing and judging their actions? This is an important question to ask yourself and to answer with honesty.
The best way to know yourself is to gaze upon Jesus. When He becomes the focus of your attention throughout the day, you will not only come to know Him, but you will also come to know yourself more honestly. Gazing at the beauty and perfection of our Lord will have the double effect of knowing Him and knowing yourself through His eyes. It will also help you to know others as He sees them.
How does Jesus look at those around you? He looks at them with perpetual mercy. True, at the end of every life, when we pass from this world to the next, we will encounter our particular judgment from our Lord. But while here on earth, God continually gazes upon us with mercy. For that reason, mercy must become our daily mission, and we must build a habit of gazing upon everyone in our life with the eyes of mercy.
Reflect, today, upon our Lord. Look at Him, gaze upon Him, seek to know Him and make Him the focus of your attention. As you do, try to dismiss from your thinking process your own perceived judgments of others. Allow your gaze upon our Lord to help you to not only see Him but to also see others through His eyes. Build this habit and you will be on the fast track to the path to holiness.
My merciful Jesus, may I build a humble and true habit of gazing upon You in Your splendor and beauty. As I see You, day in and day out, please also help me to see myself through Your eyes of mercy so that I will also grow in humility. Please remove all judgment from my heart so that I will be free to know and love all people as You know and love them. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Friday 23^rd Ordinary Time 2020
Introductory Prayer: God the Father, thank you for the gift of creation, including my own life. God the Son, thank you for redeeming me at the price of your own Body and Blood. God the Holy Spirit, thank you for being the sweet guest of my soul, enlightening my mind, strengthening my spirit, and kindling the fire of your love in my heart.
Petition: Lord, help me to grow in humility.
1. Blind Guides: Jesus poses a rhetorical question to the crowd: “Can a blind person guide a blind person?” It is obvious that a guide needs to see. If we are talking about guiding people to the kingdom of God, then Jesus is the way. He is the one who has come from his Father; he knows the way. First, we can reflect on his importance and centrality to our journey to heaven. Second, we can also think about ourselves as guides for others. There should be a certain hesitancy, which is not reluctance when we consider the task of leading others to God. We should be humble and remain very close to the Church that Christ founded to continue his mission on earth.
2. Disciples: Christ’s next statement emphasizes that while the disciple is not above his teacher, he can learn as much as the teacher. The disciple of Jesus can learn from him the steps which lead to salvation and eternal life. Christ not only founded the Church to continue his teaching, but he also endowed her with the gift of his Spirit to preserve her from error. Our confidence in teaching others should derive from the knowledge that we are in union with the Church and seek to follow her teachings. Learning is a lifelong process, but religious instruction often ceases with First Communion or Confirmation, and many adults have only the religious formation of a child. What are we doing to become fully qualified in our knowledge of the faith?
3. Hypocrites: Evangelization begins with us. It does seem that we are much quicker to detect faults in others than to notice them in ourselves. We can even be irritated by another person’s errors, even though we possess them in greater measure than does the person about whom we are complaining. The proud person moans loudly of the conceit and arrogance he sees in his neighbor, but he is blind to his vice. We need to consider our condition first – humbly –, and then we need to work on genuinely becoming more Christ-like. The more we allow God’s grace to transform our lives, the more we can help others.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I am very proud. I so quickly get wrapped up in myself, my perspective, my needs, and my wants. I put myself before others. Help me to see the faults in myself that you want me to start working to remove. Give me the courage to address them before I start looking at others.