Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư tuần 32 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư tuần 32 Thường Niên
Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay Thánh Luca kể lại cho chúng ta câu chuyện với rất nhiều ý nghĩa thần học, nhưng hôm nay chúng ta chỉ có thể chú trọng đến một vài điểm để suy ngẫm.
Những phép lạ chữa bệnh của Chúa Giêsu biểu hiện cho chúng ta biết được ơn cứu độ. Vào thời Chúa Giêsu, bệnh phong cùi là một căn bệnh khủng khiếp dễ lây, không có loại thuốc nào để chữa hết, vì vậy nếu chữa được  một người khỏi hết căn bệnh này chẳng khác gì việc làm cho người chết được sống lại.
Chúng ta có thể không phải chịu đau khổ và bị bệnh nan y như những người phong cùi trong câu chuyện hôm nay,  nhưng dù vậy, chúng ta cũng đang ở trong một tình trạng giống như những người phong cùi này. Giống như họ, chúng ta đang cần sự cứu rỗi, sự an ủi, sự chữa lành và hy vọng mà Chúa Giêsu mang lại. Mỗi phần của câu chuyện  hôm nay rất thích hợp với đời sống tâm linh và đức tin mà chúng ta hôm đang cố gắng sống.
Thánh Luca diễn kể về câu chuyện này một cách  rất giản dị, không có gì gợi cảm cho sự hấp dẫn, ngoạn mục.  Nhưng quyền năng và sự khôn ngoan của Thiên Chúa không cần đến những điều ngoạn mục, hấp dẫn  hay tuyệt vời để giới thiệu nó. Cũng vậy, trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, Thiên Chúa đã làm việc theo một cách đơn sơ, giản dị và với sự khôn ngoan của Ngài đã chữa lành và cứu khỏi chúng ta. Tin tưởng là chữa được bệnh: tất cả những gì Chúa Giêsu đã đòi hỏi những người phong cùi phải làm những gì họ phải làm theo như luật định một khi họ đã được chữa lành. Như thế chúng ta cũng vậy, nếu Chúa Giêsu nói với chúng : "Hãy tin rằng chúng ta đã được chữa lành, và hãy hành động một cách cho tương ứng." Tất cả, Chúa Giêsu chỉ đòi hỏi nơi chúng ta là niềm tin và hy vọng.
Lạy Chúa, xin giúp chúng con tin tưởng nơi Chúa và xin giúp củng cố lòng tin yếu đuối của chúng con.
Reflection:
In this story of the Ten Lepers, Luke has included much theology: we can only select a few points for reflection.
The healing miracles of Jesus signify salvation. At the time of Jesus, leprosy was such a terrible disease that curing a person from it was equivalent to raising him from the dead. We may not suffer as the people in the miracle stories of the Gospel suffer, but we are nevertheless in the same situation as they are. Like them, we are in need of the salvation and the comfort, the healing and the hope which Jesus brings. Every part of the story of the Ten Lepers is very pertinent to our own spiritual lives and the faith we try to live.
Luke tells the story very simply: nothing spectacular or strange happens. God’s power and wisdom do not need anything spectacular or wonderful to recommend it. So, too, in our own lives, God works in simple and wise ways to heal and save us. Believing is healing: all that Jesus demands of the lepers is to do what they had to do once they have been cured. It is almost as if Jesus had said: “Believe that you have already been healed and act accordingly.” All Jesus demands of them is faith and hope.
Lord, I believe: help my unbelief.
 
Wednesday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” Luke 17:17–19
This reply from our Lord came in response to the one leper who returned to Jesus to thank Him. Ten lepers had come to Jesus, stood at a distance, cried out, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And with that, Jesus healed them all. But the heart of this healing is not as much the healing itself as it is the gratitude expressed by only one of the ten. This Gospel relates to us that this one leper did five things to profoundly express his gratitude. He returned, glorified God, did so in a loud voice, fell at the feet of Jesus, and thanked him. What a wonderful witness for us all!
By analogy, children often take the loving care of their parents for granted. That’s why many good parents regularly remind their children to say “thank you.” In our relationship with God, we can also easily take God’s saving actions for granted. We can easily see all the grace we receive as something we deserve rather than as an infinitely merciful gift. When that happens, we become more like the other nine who failed to properly express their gratitude to Jesus.
First of all, it must be noted that expressing gratitude to God is not done because God needs these accolades. He does not depend upon our gratitude to affirm His self-worth. This is obvious. God is God, and He does not need our praise in any way. However, giving profound praise and glory to God is essential. It is essential because we need this virtue of gratitude so as to daily be reminded that all we receive from God is an unmerited gift. We cannot earn His love and grace. We do not deserve it. But He chooses to bestow it anyway out of mercy. And the only appropriate response to mercy is gratitude. Profound gratitude.
Gratitude is essential because it is the truth. We should always return to our Lord after He has graced us. We should glorify Him with much fervor, crying out to Him with passion. We should, literally and interiorly, fall on our face before Him, at His feet, and thank Him, over and over and over again. Doing so will always help us to remember the truth that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God. An unmerited and undeserved gift of grace.
Reflect, today, upon the depth of gratitude in your own heart. Do you often act more like a spoiled and selfish child, or do you regularly perceive the graciousness of God? If you lack in any way this fullness of gratitude, then ponder this one leper. His gratitude, expressed with the fullness of passion, is the most important part of this story. In the end, he was graced far more than the other nine because his healing produced faith; and it was that faith that saved not only his body but his soul. Seek to save your soul by imitating the faith of this one holy and healed leper.
My gracious Lord, You bestow Your mercy upon me in superabundance. Without You, Jesus, I have nothing; but with You, I receive everything. May I always know and understand my need for Your grace. And as I am gifted with it, may I respond with the deepest gratitude, thus, saving my soul through faith. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Wednesday 32nd in Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you today for your abundant mercy. I have been healed through your grace. I have returned to your house and I will continue to glorify you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I joyfully sing of your mercies today and give you thanks and praise.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Exodus Journey: Luke indicates that as Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem he traveled eastward between two regions, with the region of Samaria on his right (to the south) and the region of Galilee on his left (to the north). Galilean pilgrims to Jerusalem who took the Jordan Valley route would journey from Scythopolis to Pella in the Decapolis. They crossed the Jordan River, headed south along the eastern side of the river through Perea, crossed back over the river near Jericho, and then began the ascent to Jerusalem. Earlier, at his Transfiguration, Jesus spoke about the exodus he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem (Luke 9:321). The crossing of the Jordan evoked the exodus of the people of Israel under Moses. Jesus, accompanied by the crowds going to Jerusalem for the Passover, is the New Moses. He leads a New Exodus and will celebrate a New Passover in Jerusalem. Through his death, resurrection, and ascension, he will open up the way to heavenly glory (see Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, 186).
2. Divine Mercy and Faith-filled Thanksgiving: At the entrance to an unnamed village, ten lepers called out to Jesus and asked for mercy. The cries for mercy directed to Jesus in the Gospel echo the prayers for mercy directed to God in the Psalms. Jesus is the manifestation and incarnation of God’s tender mercy (Luke 1:78). The healing of the lepers and the blind is a sure sign of the advent of the Messiah (Luke 7:22). The miraculous healing of the lepers and especially the Samaritan leper recalls the healing of Naaman the Syrian by Elisha (Luke 4:27) (see Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, 294). Just as Naaman, a foreigner, returned and confessed the true God (2 Kings 5:15), so the Samaritan, a foreigner, returned and gave thanks to God through Jesus. Glorifying God and thanking Jesus for his mercy are now linked together (see Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, 294). The Gospel invites us to imitate the Samaritan’s faith, which moved him to request mercy and healing from God. He was healed not only physically in his body but spiritually in his soul. Having experienced God’s merciful salvation, he was sent out by Jesus to proclaim the great things God had done for him.
3. Exemplary Citizens: We conclude our reading of Paul’s Letter to Titus today. Paul wants the members of the Church in Crete to behave in such a way that the Church will be respectable to outsiders. Titus is to remind the people to be submissive to civil authorities and not rebellious. Instead of being slaves to their passions, the people of God need to be decent and gentle toward all. “Christ saved his people for good works, not for inane controversies or disputations, and Christians’ behavior should show forth the Spirit’s gift of transformation that they received in baptism and their justification (3:1-11)” (Prothro, The Apostle Paul and His Letters, 250).
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have washed me clean by having me share in your death and resurrection. I want to live the new life you have given me to the full. I want my faith in you to flourish in works of love, charity, and mercy.
 
Wednesday 32nd in Ordinary Time  
Opening Prayer:  Dear Lord Jesus, I look forward to this time in prayer with you. I need you. I desire to walk my pilgrimage on this earth always close to you. May this meditation strengthen in me the resolve to always seek you above all things.
Encountering Christ:
Leprosy: A person with leprosy would often be disfigured. There could be a terrible stench due to rotting flesh. Parts of a person’s body would fall off. It could be a very gradual and painful death. However, perhaps the greatest agony suffered by those with leprosy in the time of Christ was the isolation. Fear of contagion led family and friends to ostracize them from their communities. They had to live either with other lepers or alone. Those with leprosy had to face their dreadful fate daily. They knew they needed a miracle. For most of them, however, miracles were in short supply. The temptation to despair was probably never far from them.
Faith: “As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, ‘Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!’” Undoubtedly, these lepers had heard of Jesus’ miraculous cures—among them cures for others suffering from leprosy (Matthew 8:3, 11:5). With determination and excitement, they presented the Lord with their need. They wanted to be made clean, and they had the faith to make their request. Our Lord responded simply and generously, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” In our own spiritual life, it often takes the catalyst of an urgent need for our prayer to move from routine or mere platitudes to a heartfelt plea. Our petition becomes emotional and urgent: “Lord, help me!” And Our Lord always hears us. 
Gratitude: One of the cured lepers returned to Jesus to give thanks. “Jesus said in reply, ‘Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?’” Perhaps the others became so excited by being cured that they immediately went to reintegrate with their family and friends to share their joy. While it may be somewhat understandable, the disappointment in Our Lord’s questions was evident. Jesus commanded that we come to him with our petitions, “Ask, and it will be given you” (Luke 11:9). However, when our needs are met, do we forget to thank him? Gratitude is a sign of humility. The attitude of gratitude draws us closer to God and can bring us great joy. A wonderful example of such gratitude is the Blessed Mother’s Magnificat (CCC 2097), “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden” (Luke 2:46-48). May we imitate her in good times and in times of suffering or uncertainty. There’s always something for which we can be grateful.
Conversing with Christ:  Jesus, I have received countless gifts from your hands, some for which I have asked, and countless more for which I did not ask. Please forgive me for the times I have taken your generosity for granted. Help me to grow in my gratitude toward you, especially for the Eucharistic, which literally means “thanksgiving.” May my gratitude toward you also move me to generosity towards others, and in so doing help me to reflect you more perfectly. 
 
Reflection:
     Life is full of blessings. We always hear this not only from priests but from a lot of people and yet do we firmly agree? With most of the things or achievements we have we think "I" worked for it that's why "I" have it. Or we may think that what we have, we deserved it. There is no sense of gratitude in us.  We pray to God a lot of times for good grades or a good job or a better opportunity and when we do get it, yes we say thank you but when that "good job" comes in, we lose time for prayer or even Sunday mass. We already got what we wanted so we can easily forget God anyway.  He'll still be around when we call.
     In today's Gospel, ten lepers were made clean but only one, a foreigner, said "thank you." Why? We might think this reading is far from us since we really don't have a problem with leprosy at this time, but when did we ever take time out from our full schedules, sit quietly and just say "God, thank you for the roof over my head that keeps me dry in the rain, and cool from the heat of the sun?" or "God, thank you for the food that I eat three times a day?" or "Lord, thank you for my family and friends that are around me loving me."  If we look around us, and start counting the blessings we have received from God, 24 hours in a day will not be enough to count what the Lord has blessed us with.
     This Gospel is inviting us strongly to have an attitude of gratitude and that we will start being happy as we give praise to God.