Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm tuần 23 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm tuần 23 Thường Niên
Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu dậy chúng ta bài học về tình yêu thương, một tình yêu biết quan tâm và được thể hiện trong những việc làm. Trong thực tế, Chúa Giêsu đòi hỏi dấu chỉ tình thương yêu đó phải là một dấu chỉ tình yêu chân tình, thực tâm đối với kẻ thù của mình. Những người môn đệ luôn phải biết tha thứ và vui vẻ trưóc kẻ thù, không bao giờ nghĩ đến việc trả thù với những lời lăng mạ, nhưng hãy tỏ ra cho những người thù ghét mình thấy được tình thương yêu và sự tha thứ thật sự bằng với tấm lòng mà không đòi hỏi, không điều kiện hay không cầu lợi riêng cho mình. Điều này có nghĩa là mệnh lệnh của Chúa Giêsu là yêu thương, yêu thương cả kẻ thù của mình bằng cách làm những điều tốt cho họ mà không tính toán, không cần sự đáp trả trở ơn nghĩa.
Vì vậy, là môn đệ đích thực của Chúa Giêsu chúng ta phải biết sống vô tư, không tính toàn hơn thiệt và chỉ có tình yêu tinh khiết đặc biệt là vì lợi ích của người khác. Cũng vì chính tình yêu này mà Chúa Giêsu đã chấp nhận cái chết trên thập giá để làm gương cho chúng ta.
            Đối diện với thử thách trong tình yêu này không phải là dễ, chúng ta biết đó là một cuộc tranh đấu rất khó khăn, chúng ta chắc chắn là cần phải xin ơn Chúa Thánh Thần giúp đỡ để chúng ta có thể vượt qua những sự gian ác trong lòng dạ tối đen của chúng ta để đem đến sự tốt lành, đem sự thù ghét đến với tình thương. Những gì Chúa Giêsu đang đòi hỏi nơi chúng ta hôm nay không phải là chỉ chú trọng quá nhiều đến tình thương yêu với đối phương, cũng không phải một tình cảm riêng tư,  nhưng là Tình yêu của Thiên Chúa đang hoạt động thực sự nơi chúng ta. Với lời mời gọi sự tha thứ và sự quảng đại của Chúa, chắc chắn là chúng ta sẽ nhận được nhiều hơn nơi Thiên Chúa. Chúng ta nên nhớ, đây là những gì mà Chúa Giêsu đã dạy trong bài giảng Tám Mối Phúc Thật ở trên núi. Vậy, chúng ta phải làm thế nào để phản ứng cho đúng với những thử thách này? chúng ta hãy tiếp tục xem xét cuộc sống hàng ngày của chúng ta để phát triển, vì đây là những gì cần thiết cho cuộc sống hàng ngày mà chúng ta cần phải tự cải thiện.
            "Lạy Chúa, xin giúp chúng con học cách yêu thương kẻ thù của chúng con và cho phép người khác được phát triển và lớn lên trong Danh Chúa Giêsu Kitô Chúa chúng con..
 
Reflection SG
Jesus speaks of ‘agape’, a love of active concern that expresses itself in deeds of love. In fact, He demands a deep form of active love for one’s enemies. A disciple is expected not to retaliate insults from enemies but show forgiving love (v. 30). In terms of giving, he or she should give without reserve. Verse 31 is known as the ‘golden rule’ based on reciprocal relationship and even beyond this. This means that Jesus’ command to love one’s enemies i.e. by doing good to them without calculating the return of love even when there is no hope of any good act in return. So, true disciples of Jesus are selfless, disinterested and have pure love especially for the good of others. This is because Jesus himself by his death on the cross reveals this kind of love.
            Faced with this challenge, we know it is a struggle to overcome evil with good, hate with love. What Jesus is asking us is, not so much to like the enemy nor a question of sentiment of affection but real active agape.  The call to forgive and to give with generosity will receive more from God. We recall this is what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes. How do we respond to this challenge? Let us continue to review our daily living so as to grow because this is necessary or self-improvement.
            The phrase ‘give till it hurts’ implies real ‘giving’. Let us like St Francis of Assisi, in his prayer of peace, take up this challenge to love unconditionally.
            “Lord, help me learn to love my enemies and allow others to grow in Your name.”
 
Thursday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Luke 6:29–30
This must have been shocking to Jesus’ first disciples. First of all, recall that Jesus taught these words with a spiritual authority that left those with an open heart with a conviction that what Jesus taught was truth. Also recall that Jesus taught these deep spiritual lessons within the context of performing numerous miracles. So, for these reasons, His new followers would have known that what Jesus taught was true. But how could they fully accept such teachings?
Though many commentators will try to point to the deeper spiritual principles that Jesus was teaching, try to first take His words on face value. He really said that you must offer the other cheek to someone who strikes you, to give your tunic to one who steals your cloak, and to give to everyone who asks of you, never demanding back that which someone takes from you. These are not easy lessons to accept!
One thing that these powerful lessons teach us is that there is something far more important in life than the humiliation of being struck on the cheek and having your possessions stolen. What is that more important thing? It’s the salvation of souls.
If we were to go through life demanding earthly justice and retribution for wrongs received, we would not be able to focus upon that which is most important. We would not be able to focus upon the salvation of those who have wronged us. It’s easy to love those who are kind to us. But our love must extend to everyone, and sometimes the form of love we must offer another is the free acceptance of injustices they commit against us. There is great power in this act of love. But we will only be able to love another this way if our deep desire is for their eternal salvation. If all we want is earthly justice and satisfaction for wrongs committed, we may achieve that. But it may come at the expense of their salvation.
Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that every wrong must be righted here and now. But that’s clearly not what Jesus taught. His wisdom is so much deeper. He knew that a profound act of mercy and forgiveness to another, especially when they have hurt us deeply, is one of the greatest gifts we can give. And it’s one of the most transformative actions we can also do for our own souls. When love hurts, in the sense that it costs us our earthly pride, especially by completely letting go of injustice, then our act of love for that person has great power to change them. And if that act changes them, then this will be the cause of your joy for eternity.
Reflect, today, upon any way that this hard teaching of Jesus is difficult for you. Who comes to mind as you ponder this teaching? Do your passions revolt against this command of love from Jesus? If so, then you have discovered the specific area where God wants you to grow. Think about anyone with whom you have a grievance and ponder whether you desire their eternal salvation. Know that God can use you for this mission of love if you will love in the way our Lord commands.
My merciful Lord, Your love is beyond my own ability to comprehend. Your love is absolute and always seeks the good of the other. Give me grace, dear Lord, to love with Your heart and to forgive to the extent that You have forgiven. Use me, especially, to be an instrument of salvation and mercy to those who need it most in my life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you love those who reject you and your Son. You do not give up but seek their conversion. You are always ready to welcome your wayward child. Teach me your ways of mercy.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Love Your Enemies: In his Sermon on the Plain in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples not just to love their neighbors, but also to love their enemies. This love is made concrete through good works, blessings, and prayer. It is a love that brings justice to the perfection of mercy. Violence is not repaid by violence, stealing is not repaid by stealing, and lending money is not done only to receive back with interest. Benedict XVI spoke about the relation between justice and love in his Encyclical Charity in Truth. Charity, he writes, goes beyond justice, “because to love is to give, to offer what is ‘mine’ to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is ‘his’... I cannot ‘give’ what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice” (Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, 6). On the one hand, justice leads to charity; on the other, charity demands justice, transcends it, and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving.
2. Imitating the Father: Through our incorporation into Christ’s Body, we become children of the Most High. We are to imitate our heavenly Father who is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in mercy. He has a generous heart that overflows with love and mercy. One way we learn mercy is by leaving judgment to God. We can judge external actions, but the intentions of the heart are known to God. God sees the heart and judges and forgives accordingly.
3. The Way of Charity: Paul also teaches the way of charity to the Church in Corinth. He puts us on guard against seeking human knowledge for ourselves. This is because human knowledge easily leads to pride, while divine knowledge leads to humility. Likewise, hatred tears down, but love builds up. In his letter, Paul addresses a problem in the early Christian community. The Council of Jerusalem asked Gentile Christians to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:29). In itself the meat has nothing wrong with it, but eating it can cause scandal to our brothers and sisters and even be an occasion of sin for them. Paul chooses the better part: not eating meat sacrificed to idols so as not to offend his brother. In this way, Paul chose the way of sacrificial love. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want to be just, charitable, holy, and merciful like you and your Father. Teach me the way of justice so that I give to others what is theirs. Teach me the way of charity so that I give to others generously. Teach me the way of holiness so that I do all with a right intention. Teach me the way of mercy so that I forgive those who have offended me.
 
Thursday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time 2023
Opening Prayer: Lord, you ask a lot of us in these lines of Scripture. As I reflect on your words, help me to see where I need to grow in your grace. I am listening, Lord.
Encountering Christ:
1. To You Who Hear: Our Lord challenged his listeners to live radical charity, and he challenges us as well. How difficult it can be to love, do good, and bless and pray for our enemies! Yet, Jesus began his statement by saying, “To you who hear.” Those of us who hear Jesus and know him realize that he doesn’t ask more from us than we are capable of giving. We say with St. Paul, “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Philippians 4:12). Corrie ten Boom, a concentration camp survivor, was asked to forgive a guard she knew who approached her after the war. She wrote, “It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do… ‘Jesus, help me!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’ And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.” Corrie sets an example for us as she trusted in the goodness of God who gave her the grace to do this difficult thing. 
2. Follow His Example: Our Lord draws our attention to God the Father, who he says is merciful and kind to the ungrateful and wicked. “Be like your Father,” Jesus says. In fact, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Jesus says in Matthew 5:48. But Jesus didn’t just ask us to be good like his Father—Jesus showed us how to do it. He gave us beatitudes, the parables, and his life, lived in union with the Father. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me....” (John 14:11). If we want to know how to be like the Father, we need only look to Jesus.
3. Rewards: To love our enemies is difficult, but Our Lord encourages us by pointing out the reward for obedience. “Love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High…” There is no greater reward on earth or in heaven than to live as a child of God. When we exercise the virtues of mercy, forgiveness, and non-judgmentalism, we become happier people. Our relationship with Jesus continually enriches our lives. And our eternal reward will be beyond our wildest imaginings. “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him…” (1 Corinthians 2:9).