Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Ba tuần thứ 8 Mùa Thường Niên.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Ba tuần thứ 8 Mùa Thường Niên.
Trong bài đọc một, chúng ta được nhắc nhở phải quảng đại và rộng lượng trong việc dâng cúng của chúng ta với Thiên Chúa và việc chia sẻ với người khác những gì chúng ta có. Thiên Chúa sẽ đáp trả và còn thưởng công lại cho sự quảng đại như thế.
     Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa bảo đảm với các môn đệ rằng họ và những người khác rời khỏi gia đình, đất đai và của cải để theo Chúa Giêsu và rao giảng Tin Mừng sẽ được thưởng gấp trăm lần không chỉ trong đời này mà còn với sự sống đời đời. "Thầy bảo thật các con, chẳng ai bỏ nhà cửa, anh em, chị em, cha mẹ, con cái, đồng ruộng vì Thầy và vì Phúc Âm, mà ngay bây giờ lại không được gấp trăm ở đời này và ở đời sau được sự sống vĩnh cửu.” (Marco 10:29)
     Chúa Giêsu bảo đảm với chúng ta về lòng quảng đại của Thiên Chúa cho những người có lòng nhân từ và quảng đại với Ngài và phục vụ Ngài trong tha nhân.
     Giống như các tông đồ và môn đệ mà Chúa Giêsu đã mời gọi để đi theo Ngài, hôm nay Thiên Chúa đang kêu gọi tất cả chúng ta cùng tham gia với Ngài trong việc phục vụ Ngài trong Giáo Hội và để phục vụ mọi người. Những tu sĩ nam nữ đã khấn hứa với nững lời khấn khó nghèo, khiết tịnh và vâng phục trong việc phục vụ cho Chúa và cho Giáo Hội. Các linh mục và nhiều người khác cống hiến cuộc đời mình cho việc phục vụ tương tự trong Giáo Hội. Chúa Giêsu bảo đảm với chúng ta rằng những người lao động trong vườn nho của Chúa sẽ là được thưởng công cho sự quảng đại của họ.
            "Lạy Chúa Giêsu, chúng con muốn theo Chúa làm môn đệ tử của Chúa và Chúng con yêu Chúa hết lòng với tất cả những gì chúng con có. Xin hãy khoả lấp vào tâm hồn của chúng con với niềm tin, hy vọng, và tình yêu để chúng con luôn luôn có thể tìm thấy sự bình an và niềm vui trong sự hiện diện của Chúa."
 
REFLECTION TUESDAY, 8th Week in Ordinary Time
     In the first reading we are reminded to be generous in our offerings to God and in sharing with others what we have. God will greatly reward such generosity: "the Lord will repay, he will reward sevenfold."
     In the Gospel reading the Lord Jesus assures his disciples that they and others who leave family, land and possessions to follow Him and to preach the Good News will be rewarded a hundredfold not only in this life but also with life eternal.
     Jesus assures us of the generosity of God to those who are generous to him and his service.
     Like the apostles and disciples whom Jesus called to follow him, today God calls many to his service in the Church and to the service of people. Religious take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in their service of the Lord and of the Church. Priests and many others devote their lives to similar service in the Church. Jesus assures us that the laborers in the Lord's vineyard will be duly and generously rewarded for their service and generosity.\
 
TUESDAY, 8th Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more…” Mark 10:29–30
Jesus’ statement above is in response to Peter who said to Him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” It was as if Peter were patting himself on the back, attempting to highlight just how much he and the other disciples had sacrificed to follow Jesus. And it was true, they did give up everything of their former life. They left home, their occupation, their relationships and everything that had been part of their daily established life in response to the call of Jesus. They were truly all in.
In hearing this statement from Peter, Jesus does not give the expected response. He doesn’t say to Peter, “Yes, you have, that’s very impressive Peter. Good job and thank you!” Instead, Jesus immediately explains to Peter that the sacrifice he and the others have made is worth it. Their unwavering commitment to follow Jesus would be repaid with gifts beyond their imagination. Thus, Jesus was saying that the gifts that He would bestow upon them would be exponentially greater than every sacrifice they made.
This was not a belittling of Peter’s self-sacrifice; rather, it was a form of encouragement by Jesus. He was encouraging Peter, and the other disciples, to have full confidence in their decision to follow Him. Their sacrifice would yield a hundredfold return. That is truly a good investment.
It can be tempting for us all, at times, to feel as though God asks too much of us. It’s true that God asks much of us. He asks everything from us. He asks for the complete and total gift of our lives to Him. He calls us to abandon all selfishness and to dedicate ourselves to His holy will without exception. But if we understand the reward of our self-giving, then the sacrifices we make will pale in comparison to the reward.
Reflect, today, upon whether or not you can say those words with the Apostle, Saint Peter: “Lord, I have given up everything to follow You.” Have you truly given your life completely to Christ Jesus? Are there things that you still hold back, not wanting to “sacrifice” for our Lord? Ponder those words of Peter and allow yourself to see the areas of your life you still need to surrender over to Jesus. And as you do so, allow the reward promised by our Lord to motivate you to the point that you truly hold nothing back and truly have given up everything to follow His holy will.
My generous Lord, You ask everything of me. You ask me to abandon everything in my pursuit of Your perfect will. Give me the grace I need to answer Your call and to live sacrificially for You without counting the cost. You are generous beyond description, dear Lord, and I trust that following You will produce an abundance of good fruit. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
TUESDAY, 8th Week in Ordinary Time 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I offer up my sufferings and sacrifices united to those of your Son. Help me to see my life and human history with eyes of faith. I see how you have acted in my life, and for that, I am grateful and praise you for your mighty works.
Encountering the Word of God
1. This Age and the Age to Come: When Mark uses the phrases “this age” and “age to come,” he is using and transforming two very technical terms found in first-century Jewish thought and theology. In Jewish thought, “this age” refers to the present visible sphere of creation that we live in. It is a world that is fallen, marked by sin, and under the power of wicked forces. In Jewish thought, the present age would one day pass away and be replaced by the world to come: “[T]his present world is a place of sorrow, suffering, and evil that will eventually come to an end; it will be replaced by the world to come, a place of joy, immortality, and righteousness” (Pitre, Barber, Kincaid, Paul, A New Covenant Jew, 68). While Jewish thought considered the two ages or worlds as successive realities, Christian thinkers, like Paul, John, and Mark, saw the old and new creations as overlapping spheres of reality that find their meeting point in Christ. “Through the passion, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ, the old world was put to death and the new world began. Because of this, believers who are ‘in Christ’ live in a kind of ‘in-between’ realm, where the old and new creations ‘intermingle’ with one another. On the one hand, they continue to live and suffer in this world of sin and death; yet […] in several very profound ways they already share in the glory of the life of the new creation” (Pitre, Barber, Kincaid, Paul, A New Covenant Jew, 73). And so, in the Gospel today, Jesus speaks of his disciples enduring persecution in this present age and sacrificially giving up everything, yet also receiving one-hundredfold blessings in this age. These blessings include introduction into the family of God and receiving the seed of eternal life that begins to grow in us through baptism.
2. Final Lessons from Mark: Today marks the end of our semi-continuous reading of the Gospel of Mark. After the seasons of Lent and Easter, we will begin to read from the Gospel of Matthew. If we try to distill the essence of Mark’s Gospel, we see that it answers two important questions. First, it responds to the question: “Who is Jesus?” and, second, it responds to the question, “What does it mean to follow Jesus and be his disciple?” To the first question, Mark responds that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. And, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus details what being the Christ, the Anointed One of God, entails: suffering, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead. To the second question, Mark responds that being a disciple ultimately means suffering with Christ and rising to new life with him. Today’s Gospel continues to deepen the mystery of following Jesus: we are called to give up the things of this passing world for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, and we will receive in the present age many blessings and eternal life in the age to come!
3. Our Sacrifices: Today also marks the end of our semi-continuous reading of the Book of Sirach. The passage we read describes worship that is acceptable to God. The author equates several actions to the temple sacrifices: keeping the law and the commandments are equated to an oblation and the sacrifices of a peace offering; works of charity are equated to the cereal offering (Leviticus 2:1-16); giving alms is equated to the thank offering (Leviticus 7:12); and refraining from evil and avoiding injustice is equated to an atoning sin-offering. We are encouraged to glorify the Lord generously and give generously to the Lord, who will repay us generously sevenfold.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my life. You are my strength and the one who can bring me to share in eternal life. Teach me to worship God the Father by uniting my self-offering with you and by offering it in your Holy Spirit.
 
TUESDAY, 8th Week in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, sometimes I think about your awesome power over all of creation and wonder whether my meager efforts are bearing fruit. Grant me the grace to know that every step that I take away from worldly concerns and toward you is a step in the right direction, a direction leading towards eternal life in your Son, Jesus Christ.
Encountering Christ:
1.      Beginning the Conversation: Peter “began” what appeared to be a complaint as he addressed Our Lord. He didn’t finish his thought, but he didn’t need to say another word; Jesus heard his petition and knew what unspoken words lay in waiting. Can we make our complaints a prayer? Can we voice every concern, every pain, every longing, honestly to our Lord, reserving nothing—not anger, grief, or any other emotion? Yes, we can. What is the difference between “I am so angry!” and “Lord, I am so angry!”? The former simply expresses strong emotion. The latter is a prayer, which evokes the power of God on our behalf. May we hide nothing from the Lord and approach him frequently, with all of our gratitude and with all of our worries.
2.      A Good Investment: Jesus gently reminded Peter, and reminds us, that following him and living his Gospel does not really consist of “giving up” anything. He promises he will fulfill our deepest desires in ways we never imagined, and to a much greater degree—one hundredfold, in fact. We also believe, however, that since Jesus “makes all things new” (Revelation 21:5), following him means accepting the fact that our old ways of thinking and behaving will change as our desires come to more closely mirror his. Should we be surprised if persecutions accompany this deep fulfillment? As recorded by Mark, we can expect them right along with blessings. May we not despair at trials we experience, but look for the blessings Jesus promises as well.
3.      Hope, with Humility: The hundredfold rewards in this age pale in comparison to a life spent face-to-face with God in eternity. As Pope Benedict XII wrote nearly eight centuries ago, referring to the elect that has attained their eternal reward, “these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face-to-face, without the mediation of any creature.” Christ makes it plain as he comes to the end of this Gospel passage that such an eternal reward awaits those who sacrifice for the Kingdom. This is so affirming, so full of hope! But he also warned his disciples, and warns us now, not to become too sure of ourselves. We are not to be “first” in proclaiming how we have given up our worldly attachments; rather, we must humbly and lovingly live this detachment on earth, hopeful that our God who sees in secret (Matthew 6:4) fulfills his promise for such souls: a place at the heavenly banquet.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I know that you desire that I take up my place at your heavenly banquet. Thank you for preparing such a place for me, your undeserving servant. Thank you also for providing me with examples, like your saints, of sinful people who have given up worldly attachments in their successful pursuit of a life in eternal communion with you. Grant me the grace to detach from things that keep me from turning to you as I should.