Đã có bao giờ chúng ta đã gặp được một cơ hội trong đời mà chúng takhông thể bỏ qua? Đấy là một thời cơ tốt đẹp đã đến cho anh Mù ăn xin,có tên Bartimaeus. Anh đã nhận ra được một người sắp đến và có thểđáp ứng với lời cầu xin của anh ta. Anh ta đã biết Chúa Giêsu vì đã được nghe nhiều người nói Ngài những việc lạ mà Ngài đã làm, nhưng cho đến nay anh không có phương tiện để tiếp xúc với Con của David, một sự ám chỉ rõ ràng và tiêu biểu về Đấng Cứu Thế. Anh Bartimaeus phải có nhiều can đảm và sự kiên trì để có được sự chú ý của Chúa Giêsutrên đường phố đông người, và ồn ào đang chèn ép để được đến gầnChúa Giêsu.
Tại sao đám đông đã khó chịu với tiếng gào thét, kêu xin dai dẳng củangười mù? Có lẽ anh ta đã đã gây ra sự ồn ào, rối loạn và làm gián đoạnbài giáo huấn của Chúa Giêsu. Như chúng ta biết là tập quán của người Do Thái là những giáo sĩ Do Thái thường hay giảng dạy trong cuộc hành trính của họ, nghĩa là họ vừa đi vừa giảng cho tín đồ của họ trong cưộc hành trình. Còn Chúa Giêsu hôm nay đang đi trên đường về Giêrusalemđể ăn mừng lễ Vượt Qua và những người hành hường cũng đã đi theo Ngài.
Khi đám đông đã cố gắng để bịt miệng anh mù này, nhưng anh ta đã áp đảo họ với sự bùng nổ cái cảm xúc của anh và anh đã gây được sự chú ý của Chúa Giêsu.. Sự việc này cho chúng ta nhận thức được rằng những cách mà Thiên Chúa tác động với chúng ta rất quang trọng. Anh mù đã quyết tâmđể có được sự chú ý của Chúa Giêsu và anh ta đã kiên trì chống lại những sự phản đối của những người chung quanh. Đức Giêsu có thể đãlàm ngơ cái sự ồn ào do anh gây ra và Ngài cũng có thề từ chối đón tiếpanh vì anh đã làm phiền và gây ra sữ phẫn lộ cho những người đang nghe Chúa. Chúa Giêsu cho chúng ta thấy rằng Hành động thì quan trọng hơn là việc chỉ có nói.
Anh Mù này đang trong đau khổ và thành khẩn cầu xin cho đôi mặt sáng trong cơn tuyệt vọng và Chúa Giêsu đã sẵn sàng, Ngài không những chỉ chia sẻ với những cái đau khổ của anh mù, nhưng Ngài cũng đã giải tỏa được cái nỗi lo âu sợ sết, thất vộng của anh mù nữa.. Một diễn giả tuyệt vời có thể có được sự quan tâm và tôn trọng, nhưng một người có tấm lòng rộng lượng và nhân ái sẽ được yêu thương nhiều hơn. Chúa Giêsu đã khen và công nhận anh mùBartimaeus là người có con mắt đức tin và vì thế mà Ngài ban cho anh tacả con mắt trên thân xác được sáng trở lại. Chúng ta có nhận ra nhu cầu cần thiết của chúng ta để được ân sủng chữa lành của Thiên Chúa và để chúng ta có thể tìm kiếm và nhận ra Chúa Giêsu cũng giống như anh mù Bartimaeus, với niềm tin bền bỉ và tin tưởng vào lòng tốt và nhàn lành của Thiên Chúa?
Meditation:
"What do you want me to do for you?" Have you ever encountered a once in a life-time opportunity you knew you could not pass up? Such a moment came for a blind and destitute man, named Bartimaeus. He was determined to get near the one person who could meet his need.
He knew who Jesus was and had heard of his fame for healing, but until now had no means of making contact with the Son of David, a clear reference and title for the Messiah. It took a lot of "guts" and persistence for Bartimaeus to get the attention of Jesus over the din of a noisy throng who crowded around Jesus as he made his way out of town.
Why was the crowd annoyed with the blind man's persistent shouts? He was disturbing their peace and interrupting Jesus' discourse. It was common for a rabbi to teach as he walked with others. Jesus was on his way to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem and a band of pilgrims followed him. When the crowd tried to silence the blind man he overpowered them with his emotional outburst and thus caught the attention of Jesus.
This incident reveals something important about how God interacts with us. The blind man was determined to get Jesus' attention and he was persistent in the face of opposition. Jesus could have ignored or rebuffed him because he was disturbing his talk and his audience. Jesus showed that acting was more important than talking. This man was in desperate need and Jesus was ready, not only to empathize with his suffering, but to relieve it as well. A great speaker can command attention and respect, but a man or woman with a helping hand and a big heart is loved more. Jesus commends Bartimaeus for recognizing who he is with the eyes of faith and grants him physical sight as well. Do you recognize your need for God's healing grace and do you seek Jesus out, like Bartimaeus, with persistent faith and trust in his goodness and mercy?"Lord Jesus, may I never fail to recognize my need for your grace. Help me to take advantage of the opportunities you give me to seek your presence daily and to listen attentively to your word."
Sunday 30th in Ordinary Time A
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37–40
Think about the many things you desire in life. What would make up that list? Perhaps there are many good things that would be included, such as a desire for strong family relationships, good health, a happy life, good friends, and financial security. Perhaps there are other things that would be included, such as success in an occupation, nice vacations, a new home, and fun adventures in life. If you were to make a list like this that began with your deepest desire, what would come first? We might all know what should come first, but if you were to honestly examine the desires of your heart right now, what would be on the top of that list?
Ideally, the first and greatest desire of our souls would be the two greatest commandments. Above all else you will desire to love God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Is that the deepest desire of your heart?
What’s important to note is that we ought not love God with most of our heart, soul and mind. We don’t just love Him with 51% and then allow ourselves to disseminate the other 49% to other loves. No, 100% of our love must go to God. God must be the single and exclusive object of our love.
If you were to give to God 100% of your love, what would you have left for others? The glorious nature of our love of God is such that the more love we offer to God, the more we have to give away to others. When we give our love to God, He does not take it away from us and keep it for Himself in a selfish way as if He is jealous and possessive. Instead, loving God transforms our ability to love in such a way that we have even more than we started with. We are limited creatures and we are limited in our ability to love. God is infinite and His love is infinite in nature. Therefore, when we give our limited love to God, we receive back from Him His infinite love. This love is then able to overflow from our lives and can be distributed without reserve.
So back to our original question: Do you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind? If you do, then it means that every part of who you are is caught up in the mind and will of God. It means that you continuously seek to understand God and all that He has revealed to you. It means that you seek to comprehend His perfect will for you every day of your life. It means that you choose only that which God wills and that you do so with passion, zeal and fervor. It means that you are continuously attentive to God, respond to His gentle promptings of grace, and are led by Him every moment of every day of your life. That is a high calling! But it is the calling you have been given. Then, and only then, will you be loving yourself with the love of God by opening yourself to His outpouring of love, and only then will you be able to act as an instrument of God’s love to those around you.
Reflect, today, upon the high and definitive calling you have been given to love God with every fiber of your being. Your love must become all-consuming. It must be total and without hesitation. It will require the complete sacrifice of your life, the full purging of your sins, the denunciation of all selfishness and a heart that is open to the infinite power of God’s transforming touch. Because God commanded this, it is possible. It is possible to become a great saint. Shoot for nothing less. Never give up on this high calling, and know that it is the only way to the fulfillment in life that you deeply desire.
My loving Lord, You have given everything to me and ask for everything in return. Please help me to understand Your perfect love and to choose it with all my might. I do love You, dear Lord. Help me to love You with all that I am. Jesus, I trust in You.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 22:34-40
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you with a faith that never seeks to test you. I trust in you, hoping to learn to accept and follow your will, even when it does not make sense to the way that I see things. May my love for you and those around me be similar to the love you have shown me.
Petition: Lord, give me the strength to put you first in my life and others second.
1. Putting God First: Jesus gives a twofold response to the question about which of the commandments is the greatest. He first turns to Deuteronomy 6:15: “You shall love the Lord your God …” This was familiar to the Jews, for they recited this passage in prayer (called the “Shema”) several times a day and wrote it on all their doorposts. For us, as well as for the Jews, it is a constant reminder that God must be first in our life. As our creator and redeemer, God has an absolute claim on us. We owe him everything. Everything we have is a gift from him. Too often we shelve God, ignoring him until a convenient moment arises or it suits our mood. Putting God first means setting aside the best part of our day for prayer to him and seeking to live his will at every moment out of love for him.
2. Becoming “Other-Centered”: Jesus next turns to the commandment found in Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor …” He combines the two commandments in such a way that one cannot be fulfilled without the other. There can be no love of God without loving other human persons, made in his image. Nor can love of neighbor exist without a pure and purifying love for God. Love for neighbor requires putting others ahead of ourselves. Self-love and self-absorption lead only to loneliness and isolation. Being “other-centered” is the key to our happiness and fulfillment. To love others means to seek their true good, to serve them out of love for the Lord. We need to come out of ourselves and look beyond the narrow interests of our egoism and self-love. The more we love authentically, the more fulfilled our life will become.
3. Praying for Those Who Harm Us: It is not easy to break out of selfish habits. Because of sin, we tend to inflate self-interest in a disordered way. This is not good. We need to ask for the power of grace to purify our hearts and give us the interior strength to put others ahead of ourselves. God is ready to give us this grace, but he wants us to ask for it. Difficult circumstances and relationships need to be faced by prayer and sacrifice. We need to pray even for those who harm us and to ask God to give us the grace and strength to love them as God loves them. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14).
Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me to put you first in my life. So many times I find myself putting other things ahead of you. I make time for the things I want to do, but I find little time to pray. I find time to talk to my friends, but little time to speak with you. I need strength from you to love you. Help me also to see and love others as you do.
Resolution: will pray during the day for someone who bothers me and seek to put their good before my own.
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