Suy Niệm thứ Năm 17th Thường Niên
Qua bài đọc thứ Nhất, chúng ta có thể hình dung một thợ gốm đang chăm chỉ làm việc Người thợ gốm nàydùng một cục đất sét để biến nó thành một thứ gì đó mà ông ta muốn để có hình dáng duyên dáng và đẹp đẽ. Nếu ông ta không hài lòng với thành quả thành phẩm, hoặc nếu có điều gì sai, thì ông ta chỉ cần bắt đầu lại từ đầu. Đó là cách chúng ta sống của chúng ta mà Thiên Chúa đang làm trong các công việc tác thành và hoàn thiện chúng ta.
Kinh nghiệm của chúng ta, cho dù là tích cực hay tiêu cực tất cả đều là những công cụ mà Thiên Chúa sử dụng nơi chúng ta. Sai lầm không phải là thiên tai; chúng ta luôn có một cơ hội khác. Thiên Chúa không kết thúc với chúng ta, và Thiên Chúa sẽ không ngừng hình thành chúng ta cho đến khi chúng ta phản ánh được cái vẻ đẹp và vinh quang của Ngài.
Có nhiều loại người trong Nước Thiên Chúa. Chúng ta có xu hướng tách biệt và gắn nhãn cho người khác tốt hay xấu, nhưng không phải lúc nào cũng đơn giản như vậy. Rất ít người hoàn toàn tốt hoặc hoàn toàn xấu xa, nhưng hầu hết là một hỗn hợp đau khổ của cả hai. Cái lưới được thả xuống và kéo lên với tất cả mọi người vào đó, nhưng sẽ được các Thiên Thần của Chúa phân loại và tách ra từng loại trong thời gian cuối đời của chúng ta. Sự gì sẽ xãy ra lúc đó thì quá trễ.
Sự phán thuộc về Chúa và chỉ một mình Chúa, Trong khi phán xét chúng ta có thể tiếp tục được Thiên Chúa làm việc nơi chúng ta mỗi ngày và chúng ta có thể giúp các anh chị em của chúng ta trong cuộc tranh đấu cho của họ ở trần thế trong những lời khẩn cầu trực tiếp của chúng ta trước toà Chúa. Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa tiếp tục hình thành chúng con theo ý muốn của Ngài.
17th Week in Ordinary Time
Watching a potter at work is fascinating. The potter shapes a lump of clay into something graceful and beautiful. If he or she is dissatisfied with the results, or if something goes wrong, they merely start over from the beginning. That is how it is with us — God is at work shaping and perfecting us.
Our experiences, both positive, and negative, are the tools that God uses. Mistakes are not disasters; there is always another chance. God is not finished with us, and God will not stop shaping us until we reflect his beauty and glory. There are all sorts of people in the kingdom of God. We tend to separate and label people as either good or bad, but it is not always that simple. Very few people are completely good or totally evil — most are a distressing mixture of both. The net that is cast pulls everyone in but separating good from evil occurs at the end of time, and it is not our job. Judgement belongs to God alone, not to humans. In the meantime, we can continue being shaped by God each day and we can help our brothers and sisters along the way in their struggles. Lord, continue to form me according to Your will.
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
“Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” Matthew 13:51–52
At times, Jesus’ words are difficult to understand. How well do you understand what He teaches you? He often teaches in figures of speech, as well as with parables. The passage quoted above concludes a section in which He speaks three subsequent parables. The third of these parables, the parable about the fishnet, is contained in the beginning of today’s Gospel passage. But just prior to that parable are the parables about the pearl of great price and the treasure buried in a field. Upon the conclusion of these three parables, Jesus asked His disciples, “Do you understand all these things?” After they affirmed that they did understand, Jesus gave an overview of the mission to which they had been entrusted. These soon-to-be bishops would become the new scribes who were instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven. Their mission would be to bring forth both the “new and the old.”
Many Church Fathers identify the “new and the old” as a reference to the Old Testament and the New Testament. Thus, the Twelve are being entrusted with the mission of being the scribes of the full revelation contained in what will become the full Bible as we have it today. Other commentators suggest that the “old” refers to the old life of sin and the “new” refers to the new life of grace. It will be the mission of the Twelve to instruct people in the full Gospel message, so as to draw them from their old life of sin to the new life of grace.
Though Jesus’ words can be difficult to understand from the perspective of a biblical scholar, the first of His words quoted above are very straightforward. “Do you understand all these things?” As we ponder that question in particular, try to hear our Lord asking that question of you. Though many scholars and saints of old have offered much clarity on what Jesus’ teachings actually mean, the question that Jesus posed to the Twelve must be answered in a more personal way for each of us. As you hear Jesus ask you if you understand these things, the answer you give is not primarily based upon whether or not you have sufficiently studied the text of His teaching and can rationally explain it as a scholar. Instead, the answer He is seeking is whether or not you can respond from faith. He wants you to say, “Yes, I hear You speaking to me, Lord. Yes, my heart is convicted by the words You have spoken. Yes, I understand what I must do. Yes, Lord, I believe.” The Word of God is alive and can only be “understood” properly when we allow our Living Lord to speak to us, personally, as we listen to His holy Word.
Reflect, today, upon this question that Jesus posed to the Twelve. As you do, hear Him asking you this question. How fully do you understand what God is saying to you, right now at this moment in your life? As you read the Scriptures, do you sense God revealing Himself to you? Do you understand what He wants of you? If hearing the voice of God is a challenge at times, then spend more time prayerfully pondering His holy Word so that His Living Voice will more clearly resonate within your soul.
My revealing Lord, You speak to me day and night, continuously revealing Your love and mercy to me. May I learn to become more attentive to Your voice speaking within the depths of my soul. As I hear You speak, please give me the gift of understanding to know Your will and to embrace it with all my heart. Jesus, I trust in You.
Thursday 17th Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I pray today that I welcome the seed of the kingdom with good soil, that I be a good seed which produces abundant wheat in the kingdom, that I dwell safely in the branches of the kingdom, that I be yeast that transforms society with charity and justice, that I sell all that I have to gain the treasure of the kingdom, that I welcome the redemption purchased by your Son, and that I am a righteous fish welcomed into the bucket of eternal life.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Acceptance and Rejection in the Parables of the Kingdom: In Matthew 11-12, the narrative highlighted the growing division between those who welcomed Jesus and those who rejected him. Those who welcomed Jesus welcomed his teaching and followed him. Those who rejected Jesus rejected his teaching and refused to repent. The Pharisees largely belong to the second group and have even begun to plot Jesus’ death (Matthew 12:14). Against this background of acceptance and rejection, we can understand Jesus’ eight parables about the Kingdom. Three parables contrast how the two different groups react to Jesus and his message: the first parable (Matthew 13:1-23) contrasted good soil and bad soil; the second (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42) contrasted good wheat and bad weeds (darnel); and the seventh, which we read today, contrasts good fish with bad fish. One parable, the third, highlighted how the small group that welcomed Jesus will expand throughout history. The fourth explained how that same small group will transform the world around them. The fifth highlighted the need for disciples to give up everything for the treasure of the kingdom. The sixth points to Jesus as the one who redeems all humanity. “Such radical discipleship stands in sharp contrast to the many who fail to value the gospel of the kingdom and accept Jesus’ call to conversion. … Despite some bad soil, bad seed, and bad fish, the kingdom will produce an abundant harvest and a great catch” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 174).
2. The Differences Between the Second and Seventh Parables: The seventh parable, that of the net thrown into the sea, is very similar to the second parable, about the wheat and weeds. They both contrast two groups that coexist throughout time but are separated at the end. The weeds and the bad fish are burned in the fiery furnace “where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (Matthew 13:42, 50). But how do the two parables differ? What different dimensions of the mystery of the Kingdom do they each emphasize? The second parable tells us about one of the causes of evil, the devil, who sows the seeds of evil in the field, while the seventh parable is silent on what causes some fish to be bad. The second parable also emphasizes the patience of the householder who lets the weeds grow with the wheat for the sake of the wheat. The seventh parable doesn’t emphasize the patience of the fishermen, but rather the work of Jesus’ apostles and disciples who act as “fishers of men” to gather all types of people from the sea and into the kingdom. The sea is a biblical image that often represents both the deathly abode of evil and the Gentiles. Thus, while both parables teach that there will be good and evil in the Kingdom until their final separation, one parable emphasizes the merciful patience of the Son of Man, while the other emphasizes how good and evil people will be gathered into the kingdom through the efforts of the Son’s disciples. God, so to speak, gives both the weeds and bad fish time to repent and be transformed by grace into wheat and good fish.
3. The Sign of the Broken Potter’s Vessel: In the First Reading, we see Jeremiah go to the potter’s house, take an earthen flask, and break it at the Potsherd Gate near the Valley of Hinnom. “Just as the potter’s vessel is broken, so will ‘this people and this city’ be broken in the overthrow of Jerusalem (Jer 19:11). Once again, the cause is their idolatry and detestable worship of Baal and other foreign gods, which included human sacrifice (Jer 19:1-9)” (Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 788). The Lord, the divine potter, teaches Jeremiah that he “wants to shape Israel, his clay, into a useful vessel, yet the vessel has become ruined by its determination to do evil. Still, God has the power to reshape the fortunes of Judah, and of all nations, if they repent and yield to his will” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, 48). The sign of the broken potter’s vessel is the culmination of four signs that made visible what Jeremiah preached about the temple, the people, and the city of Jerusalem. “The people did not respond well to such signs of judgment, and in response to the final sign, they begin to make plots against Jeremiah (Jer 18:18). Eventually, Jeremiah is arrested, beaten, and placed in stocks near the Benjamin Gate by Pashhur, the chief priest (Jer 20:1-2). This causes the prophet to curse the day he was born in one of his most poignant laments (Jer 20:7-18)” (Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 788).
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the householder. You sowed the good seed that has sprouted and grown into the Church. Do not let me be discouraged by the presence of evil in the world or even in the Church. May I be an example of conversion and repentance for all those I encounter.
Reflection Thursday 17th Ordinary Time:
We all have a fundamental need to belong to a group. Experience of rejection can cause emotional pain and even affect our behavior.
- Disconnection leads to more pain, so that people are eager to change their behavior and remain in the group with which they feel affinity. Jesus experienced this with his own family, home town, religious leaders and, at the end, even with his disciples. However, he invested his energy more in the relationship with his Father than in human relationships.
The love for God was so real in his life that he could with serenity face all challenges. Rejection by those whom he loved affected Jesus but still he was able to offer his life as a gift to many who wanted to receive him. St. Ignatius of Loyola would often ask God, for the grace to live as Jesus lived, and to love as Jesus loved. This heroic love, which is meek and humble, even rejoices when insulted and humiliated. Human nature often resists vulnerability but grace flourishes in our vulnerability.
Lord Jesus, you called us to know you more intimately, to love you intensely and to follow You more closely. You embraced vulnerability in becoming a poor human being. Give us the courage to love others without creating barriers in relationships.
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