Suy Niệm thứ Tuần thứ 33 Thường Niên-

Suy Niệm thứ Tuần thứ 33 Thường Niên-

      Trong thế giới của chúng ta ngày nay, mọi người dường như ai cũng nghĩ tới lợi nhuận trong việc buôn bá, hay lợi tức trong vièc đầu tư. Hầu hết chúng ta dành thời gian của chúng ta làm việc, tĩm cách đầu và lúc nào cũng muốn co thêm lợi nhuận nhiều hơn. Chúng ta muốn có lợi tức to lớn sau khi chúng ta ơã bỏ ra một số vốn dù lớn hay nhỏ, lợi càng nhiều càng tốt cho chúng ta. Thậm chí chúng ta còn muốn nhận lãn suất nhiều hơn những gì chúng ta đã bỏ ra.

      Thật vậy, dụ ngôn hôm nay Chúa muốn nói với chúng ta rằng Thiên Chúa đòi hỏi chúng ta phải biết dùng những năng khiếu và tài năng mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng để phát triển và sinh lời cho Nước Chúa. Thiên Chúa muốn chúng ta được hạnh phúc và được sống cuộc sống thật đầy đủ với những gì chúng ta đã bò công lao sức lực tài năng của chúng ta để đầu tư vào cuộc sống đời sau. Điều quan trọng là chúng ta phải nhận thấy và đánh giá cao những gì chúng ta đã đầu tư. Những ân sủng, tài năng của Thiên Chúa đã trao ban cho chúng ta một cách tự do và với tình yêu thương thật sự và vĩ đại: chúng ta phải nên cảm tạ, biết ơn và vui vẻ đón nhận và sử dụng món quà, những năng khếu của chúng ta một cách đứng đắn, với mục đích vinh danh Thiên Chúa qua việc giúp ích cộng đồng hay những người thiếu may mắn khác.

  Sau hết,, chúng ta hãy cầu nguyện cho nhau, cho những ai đã cầu nguyện cho chúng ta và cho những ai cần đến những lời cầu xin của chúng ta nhiều nhất.

 

Reflection:

     In our world today, everyone seems to be concerned about profit or return of investment. Most of the time we prefer to receive than to give. We want a return for what we have put in. We may even want to receive much more than what we have put in. In today's Gospel parable, is God teaching us about the importance of profit and return of investment?

     Indeed the parable tells us that God demands that we make good use, the best use, of gifts and talents given to us. God wants us to be happy and live our lives to the fullest with what we have been given. It is important that we see and appreciate what we have been given. His gifts have been given to us freely and with great love: we should be grateful and joyful in our use of them not only for ourselves but also for others.

 Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

 

Wednesday 33^rd Ordinary Time 2023 Luke 19:11-28

“A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’” Luke 19:12–14

There are three categories of people in this parable. The first includes those who received a gold coin and followed the master’s request to “engage in trade” until he returned. The second has those who received the same command but were lazy and failed to produce any good fruit from that which our Lord has given them. And the third includes those who “despise” our Lord and do not want Him as their King.

Upon the king’s return, this first category of people are represented by the two servants who took the gold coins, engaged in trade, and made five and ten more. These are those who have much apostolic zeal. God not only calls us to use the gifts we have received to expand His Kingdom on earth, He also expects it of us. His expectation is a command of love. For those who understand this command, they see it as a glorious invitation to make an eternal difference in the lives of many. They do not see the apostolic works to which they are called as a burden. Rather, they see them as a joy, and that joy fuels their efforts. The result will have exponential effects for God’s Kingdom.

The second category of people is illustrated by the one servant who kept the one gold coin “stored away in a handkerchief” out of fear. These are the people who avoid evangelizing and furthering the Kingdom of God out of fear. Fear is paralyzing. But giving in to fear is a sin. It’s a lack of faith and trust in God. Serving God will inevitably require courage on our part. It will demand that we step out of our comfort zone and do that which we may not immediately feel comfortable doing. But as that servant in the parable foretold, God is a demanding God. And He will not accept fear as an acceptable excuse not to zealously help to build the Kingdom of God.

The third category of people is the category in which you definitely do not want to fall. These are those who actively work to undermine God’s Kingship and reject Him as God. The world is filled with these people. The only thing we need to say about those who fall into this category is that which our Lord said of them. “Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.”

Reflect, today, upon which category of people your life most fully resembles. Most likely it is one of the first two. Do you have great zeal for God’s Kingdom? Are you willing to do all that you can to help build His Kingdom? Are you willing to do so even at the cost of great personal sacrifice? If so, then rejoice and know that an abundant reward awaits. But if you are one who struggles with fear, specifically, if you struggle with a fear to evangelize, to share the Gospel and to live your faith openly with humility and love, then spend more time with this parable and the fate of that one servant who hid the coin in the handkerchief. Engage in the apostolate. Commit yourself to the furtherance of God’s Kingdom. Dispel all fear and know that you will never regret putting your whole heart and soul into the service of God and the building of His Kingdom.

My demanding Lord, You have entrusted me with much, and You demand that I use all that You have given me to help build Your Kingdom of grace. What a privilege it is to be called by You and used by You for this apostolic mission. Please free me from all fear, dear Lord, so that I will never hesitate to serve You in the ways that You call me to serve. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Wednesday 33^rd Ordinary Time Luke 2023 19:11-28

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to value the talents you have blessed me with and generously use them for the glory of your name!

Encountering Christ:

1. He Gave Them Coins: “He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’” Our Lord entrusts to all of us the building up of his kingdom! By virtue of our baptism we have become heirs of the kingdom with Christ. He doesn’t hold back anything that we need for this task. Jesus wants nothing more than to share what he has received with us so that, by his grace, we can do even greater works than he did. If we could only capture what an honor it is to be invested with such responsibility! Jesus wants us to join our efforts in communion with his brothers and sisters. Do I have zeal to use my talents to “do the works of God” that he calls me to? Am I willing to work alongside others in this effort?

2. No King for Us: Despite Jesus’s complete trust in us, we often rebel, and sometimes show outright disdain, for the talents we have been given. Our fallen tendency is to want to do it our way and not have to depend on God or anyone else. Yet, this attitude always leads us to disappointment, frustration, and loneliness. Jesus tells us: “Apart from me you can do nothing!” When I engage in work–at home, at the office, or in ministry–am I aware that Jesus has rights over me, that I am using talents “on loan” from the Father? How seriously do I take his command to go and bear fruit?

3. Well Done, Good Servant!: “You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.” The Lord is never outdone in generosity! If we could only grasp the depth of love and trust Jesus willingly puts in each of us, we would fall on our faces in worship and tell him without reserve to ask anything he wishes of us. No matter what the Lord entrusts to us, little or big, he is willing to entrust us with even more if we are willing to love and serve him fully. After all, he created us and knows what is best. We can put ourselves completely in his hands without hesitation. Do our hearts reflect a servant’s gratitude toward his good and trustworthy Master?

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, my lord and king, I recognize you as lord of my life and King of the Universe. I so often struggle with a rebellious spirit that shouts out “non servium!” (I will not serve!), but I don’t want to give in to this temptation. I want to serve you in communion with others, with generosity and fidelity. Make my heart like yours and bear fruit for the kingdom with the gift of my life!

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will generously and faithfully seek to accomplish well the small duties of the day.

 

Wednesday 33^rd Ordinary Time Luke 19:11-28

Opening Prayer: My Lord and my God, I come into your presence for this time of prayer. I believe that you have something you wish to say to me today and I open my heart before you to receive your word. Increase my faith that I may welcome you, my hope that I may cling to you even when you seem to delay, and my love, that you may live in me more and more each day. 

Encountering Christ: 

·         The Value of Time: This passage puts us in the proper context for the upcoming Solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday of the liturgical year, and the last days before Advent begins. To prepare for his coming in the manger, we recall that he also reigns from the throne of his cross, where redemption was won. In this passage, Christ presents himself as this nobleman who goes off to obtain the kingship for himself and will one day return. His mission is to redeem his children, as Universal King. Our mission is to receive this great gift and to cooperate with him in making his Kingdom present. Each Christian should consider him or herself counted among these ten servants, charged with the care of “talents” in the service of our King. 

·         The Coin: What is the “talent,” the coin given by the king? It must mean more than human qualities or characteristics, which we usually refer to as talents. The ending of the passage hints at an answer: These coins could represent the life of grace, the dwelling of God in the soul. This sanctifying grace comes from Baptism, we know; it is wounded by sin but grows with every act of openness and surrender, of trust and self-giving to God. In a word, love causes this life to grow, because God is love. And all authentic love comes from him. Fear, doubt, clinging to one’s own insecurities—these can make us like the fearful servant, unwilling to take the risk of love. 

·         Great Love: Jesus’ words at the end of this passage may seem strong to us—a grave admonition we find it hard to swallow. But if we dig a bit deeper, we can hear the heart of the King—a King whose heart would soon be pierced open to wash his children clean in the blood of the Lamb (c.f. Revelation 7:14). From the depths of the heart of God, he longs for all to be saved. How often our response to God’s invitations can be hesitation, fear, or the desire for control or perfection. But what he desires is faith, hope, and love. So great is his desire, and often so great our hardness of heart, that he speaks this strongly, hoping we will understand and heed his warning. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I place myself at your feet. You are my King and King of the whole world. You invite me to share in your mission, to make present your Kingdom here, within my own life, home, family, school, office, circle of influence. This is a great mission and you know that sometimes I am afraid, I hold back, and I feel I don’t know what you want from me. Open my heart to greater trust in you so that I may keep giving myself to others with love, as you do, every day. In this way, may your grace, your life, increase in me. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will seek to strengthen the life of grace in my soul by getting to Confession as soon as I can.