Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần 14 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần 14 Thường Niên
Tin Mừng kể lại hai phép lạ của Chúa Jêsus là chữa bệnh của người phụ nữ bị chảy máu nặng chỉ bằng cách chạm vào chiếc áo choàng của Chúa Giêsu và mang lại cho cô con gái trẻ của viên chức giáo đường Do thái. Đức tin của chúng ta có bao giờ mạnh mẽ như người phụ nữ của những người tin rằng chỉ bằng cách chạm vào áo choàng của Chúa Giêsu cô ấy sẽ được chữa khỏi? Và cô đã được chữa khỏi.
Trong lần đọc đầu tiên chúng ta nghe Giacốp cất lời thề với Thiên Chúa, Đức Chúa Trời của Ápraham, và Thiên Chúa của Isaac.
Niềm tin của chúng ta đối với Đức Chúa Trời được thử thách trong những thời điểm khó khăn, trong những bi kịch bất ngờ, khi chúng ta có những thảm họa lớn trong tự nhiên, khi chúng ta thấy bệnh tật và những cái chết bất ngờ. Chúng tôi không hiểu tại sao. Và chúng ta biết rằng Đức Chúa Trời không gây ra điều xấu xa xảy ra; Ông ta cho phép mọi thứ ác xảy ra.
Chúng ta có thể không có đức tin mạnh mẽ của người phụ nữ bị chảy máu trầm trọng hoặc của viên chức giáo đường Do thái giáo tin rằng Chúa Giêsu có thể đưa con gái mình trở lại cuộc sống. Chúng ta hãy cầu nguyện để Đức Chúa Trời ban cho chúng ta đức tin mạnh mẽ như vậy.
Có một bài hát nói rằng: "Có thể có những phép lạ khi bạn tin tưởng, mặc dù hy vọng là yếu đuối, thật khó để giết.Ai biết những gì phép lạ bạn có thể đạt được khi bạn tin rằng bằng cách nào đó bạn sẽ làm?
 
REFLECTION
The Gospel reading narrates two miracles of Jesus: the cure of the woman with the severe bleeding merely by her touching the cloak of Jesus and the bringing back to life of the young daughter of the synagogue official. Is our faith ever as strong as the woman's who believed that by merely touching the cloak of Jesus she would be cured? And she was cured.
    In the first reading we hear Jacob making a vow to God, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac. Our faith in God is tested in difficult times, in unexpected tragedies, when we have great disasters in nature, when we see disease and unexpected deaths. We do not understand why. And yet we know God does not cause evil things to happen; he allows evil things to happen.
    We may not have the strong faith of the woman with the severe bleeding or of the synagogue official who believed that Jesus could bring her daughter back to life. Let us pray that God would give us such strong faith.
    There is a song which goes, "There can be miracles when you believe; though hope is frail, it's hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve when you believe that somehow you will? You will when you believe."
 
Monday 14th week of Ordinary Time 2023:  Matthew 9:18-26
A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured. Matthew 9:20–21
What a tremendous amount of faith this woman had! She had suffered for many years and continued to suffer with her hemorrhages. How did she know that touching Jesus’ cloak would cure her? The only answer to that is faith. Faith is not just wishful thinking or hoping. Faith is a certain knowledge, given by a special grace and revelation from God, by which a person freely assents to belief. God spoke to her heart, she listened, she responded, and she was cured.
One thing that is very inspiring in this Gospel story is the humility with which this woman approached Jesus. She didn’t feel as though she needed to bother Jesus, to speak to Him, or to trouble Him with her problem. Instead, in her humility, she presented her need to Jesus through her gift of faith, interiorly and silently, and the grace of God was given her because God sees the heart and responds to such humble and sincere faith.
Imagine if everyone had this depth of faith in our Lord. Imagine if all of us knew, with the deepest conviction of certitude, that God would take care of every need we have. And imagine if we turned to our Lord with this deep conviction of certitude every day with every need. If we could do that, then our Lord would be able to continually care for us in every way.
One key component to this woman’s healing is that it was God the Father who spoke to her and invited her to touch the cloak of His Son Jesus. And it was Jesus who sensed the healing she received, since He was in perfect union with the will of His Father. Therefore, touching Jesus’ cloak was not simply a magical act by which whatever this woman wanted would be granted to her. Instead, it was a response to the interior invitation she was given by the Father.
In our lives, we must work to do the same. Too often we present our preferences to God and tell Him what we want Him to do. God does not respond to such requests. Instead, we must seek His will…and His will alone. This woman knew she would be healed, because God the Father spoke to her in her mind and heart and inspired her to touch the cloak of Jesus His Son, and she responded, and the healing took place. God must speak first, we must hear and respond, and then His will is accomplished.
Reflect, today, upon the gentle Voice of God as He speaks to you in the depths of your heart. Do you hear Him? What is He inviting you to do? What healing does He want to bestow? As you ponder God’s Voice, try to respond only to Him. Set aside all of your own preferences and ideas of what God should do and seek only what He is speaking to you. Say “Yes” to Him, do so with certitude and conviction, and trust that whatever He speaks to you, if you have faith in what He says, He will do it.
My gentle Lord, You speak to me day and night, calling me to the healing I need. Help me to hear Your Voice and to respond to You in faith. May my faith and confidence in You grow strong and become the source of Your glorious action in my life. Jesus, I do trust in You.
 
Monday 14th week of Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you ask me to reach out to you in faith and respond to your generous and merciful love. Unbelief in you and the devastating effects of sin surround me. Do not let me be overcome or fail when I am tempted. If I do fail, bring me back to you and wash away my sorrowful tears.
Word of God
1. The Message of the Prophet Hosea: During the last few weeks, we have been reading about prophets in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The prophets Elijah and Elisha combated rampant paganism in the Ninth century B.C. and worked many wonders among the people of Israel in an effort to bring them back to the Lord. Israel’s idolatrous worship of Baal, however, brought God’s judgment upon them, and this judgment was communicated to the people through the prophet Amos, who ministered in Israel in 760-750 B.C. After Amos, the prophet Hosea ministered in Israel between 745-730 B.C., demonstrating through word and action Israel’s infidelity to God’s covenant and calling the people back to God. The Book of Hosea has three main parts. It begins with a description of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer and uses this as an analogy for God’s relationship with Israel. Today’s First Reading is taken from this first part (1:1-3:5). The second part of the book (4:1-13:16) speaks about Israel’s infidelity and desolation and illustrates God's love, judgment, and promise for rebellious Israel. The concluding chapter, the third part (14:1-10), invites Israel to return to the Lord in repentance and reconciliation (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 252). Despite Gomer’s infidelity, idolatry, and harlotry, God commands Hosea to enter into, keep, and renew his marriage with her. The marriage thus becomes the symbol of the Lord’s relationship to Israel (Hosea 2:4-25). In the covenant, God binds himself to Israel like a husband to his wife in marriage. Being faithful to the covenant implies not only mutual loyalty but also love expressed in action: God manifests his faithful love in his redeeming work; the people of Israel are called to return God's love in gratitude to the Lord and in service of one another. Like mutual love, mutual knowledge is also essential to the covenant: the Lord, who knows his people in love, desires them to share in a communion of life with him (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 253).
2. The Promise of a New Exodus: Today’s Psalm brings us back to Moses and the Book of Exodus and the renewal of the Sinai Covenant that Israel broke by worshiping the golden calf. Moses ascended the mountain and cut two new tables of stone for the Ten Commandments. When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai in a cloud, he proclaimed his name: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness, keeping merciful love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). After this revelation of his mercy, God renewed the covenant with the people and commanded the people to worship no other foreign god (Exodus 34:10-16). In the Book of Hosea, God responds to Israel’s infidelity by promising a New Exodus and a New Covenant. God will lead Israel once again into the desert and speak to her heart. Israel is called to cast aside the pagan god Baal and espouse her true God, the Lord. God’s promise in the First Reading is fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who leads the New Exodus and establishes the New Covenant. Jesus is gracious and merciful. He comes to the people, who are enslaved by sin and subject to sickness and death, forgives them, and releases them from bondage.
3. Faith vs. Unbelief: In the Gospel, the faith of Jarius and that of the woman suffering hemorrhages contrasts with the unbelief manifested by the flute players and the crowd. Jarius manifests his faith by kneeling down before Jesus, and the woman manifests her faith by reaching out to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak. The professional mourners, on the other hand, laugh at Jesus and ridicule him. Jesus is not defiled by being touched by the woman with a hemorrhage (Leviticus 15:19-23) or by touching the girl’s dead body, rather his divine power cures the woman and restores the girl to life. Like the healing of the leper (Matthew 8:1-4), the physical healing of the woman restores her to society and the community of worship. We are the people of the New Covenant. Our God is gracious and merciful. Through his grace, he elevates us to divine sonship and makes us share in the wisdom of the Son and the love of the Holy Spirit. Through his mercy, he restores us to health and life when we fail to keep the commandment of love. In prayer, we kneel down before him and reach out our hand to touch the tassel of his cloak. These are gestures of humility that move the very heart of God.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you cared for your two daughters in the Gospel. You restored Jairus’ daughter to life and healed the woman of her affliction. Care for me in the same way. Restore me to life when I am dead through sin. Restore me to health when I am sick through sin.
Living the Word of God: Do I trust in Jesus’ healing power? How can I grow in my faith and truly believe that Jesus is the one who can heal me and those I love?
 
Monday 14th week of Ordinary Time 2023:  Matthew 9:18-26
Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, I draw close to you now in this short time of prayer I have with you. Like the woman suffering the hemorrhages, I reach out to touch you in faith. I kneel before you, if not in body, then at least in spirit, and beg you for light and grace like the official in this Gospel. Lord Jesus, increase my faith!
Encountering Christ:
1. Come, Lay Your Hands on Me: This Gospel presents a Jewish official who approaches Jesus with faith so humble and sincere it practically bleeds through the page: He kneels before Jesus, presents the case of his dying daughter, and begs that Jesus come and lay his hands on her, “and she will live.” This man has something of that confident intuition that can come only from faith. He knows Jesus will not deny an honest and humble plea. This humble faith is something we can learn for ourselves from the official. Lord, lay your “hands” on me in the Eucharist and through others!
2. Let Me Touch You, Lord: At the Encounter Chapel of the Magdala Center in Israel, there is a beautiful painting of the woman with hemorrhages from this very Gospel. All we are given to see are a crowd of feet and a hand reaching out to touch the frayed tassels of a white-and-blue cloak, where a point of light emanates. In St. Luke’s Gospel, this is the moment where power goes out of Jesus to heal her of her illness. From this humble woman, we can learn how to reach out in faith to Our Lord, knowing that contact with him, in whatever form, will lead to our good.
3. The Girl Is Not Dead, but Sleeping: Jesus arrives at the house to find a crowd “making a commotion,” not truly mourning the loss of the girl, but moaning as part of their custom. He already knows these people lack faith, so he sends them away. They ridicule Jesus, but he moves forward undeterred and brings the little girl back from the dead. Jesus moves and works in this world regardless of how people receive his action, but for those who have faith, his works always bless us, as they blessed this girl and her father in the Gospel.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, once again, I ask you to increase my faith. Help me approach you humbly and let you work in my life. Grant me the grace to see you in faith and trust in how you want to work in my life. 
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will spend ten minutes at the end of the day reflecting on how I handled moments of adversity: Did I ask for grace, or did I try to handle them on my own?