Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần thứ Tư Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần thứ Tư Phục Sinh
Con người làm nhiều việc khủng khiếp vì sợ hãi, sự thiếu hiểu biết, và vì tội lỗi. Cho đến ngày nay, con người chúng ta vẫn tiếp tục làm nhiều điều tiêu cực. Trong những lời rao truyền về sự đau khổ, và cái chết nhục nhã của Chúa Giêsu trên Thập Giá, Thánh Phêrô không bao giờ khiển trách người Do Thái về những sự bạo hành đó, ông chỉ nói đến sự vui mừng vì Thiên Chúa đã làm cho Đức Giêsu được sống lại từ cõi chết và tôn vinh Ngài. Thiên Chúa luôn luôn là sức mạnh và còn mạnh hơn cả tội lỗi và sự sợ hãi của chúng ta, và Thiên Chúa sẽ luôn luôn tìm cách để giáo huấn chúng ta biết sửa đổi và đem chúng ta đến sự ngay thẳng. Chúng ta đừng quá chán nản và bất mãn về tình trạng tội lỗi của thế giới, nhưng chúng ta cần phải cố gắng mang lại sự hiện diện của Thiên Chúa vào những những nơi tồi tàn và tối tăm nhất.
Trong lúc các môn đệ của Chúa qua lo âu và buồn rầu, Chúa Giêsu đã an ủi họ nói với họ là không nên để cho lòng trí và tâm hồn của họ phải gặp những khó khăn, âu sầu, lo sợ; vì sau khi tất cả, Ngài đã đi trước khi họ chuẩn bị một nơi cho họ trong tương lai. Khi được hỏi làm thế nào đê một người như chúng ta có thể tìm đến một Thiên Chúa, Chúa Giêsu đã cho chỉ cho chúng ta biết là Ngài chính là đường, là sự thật và là sự sống. Cách sống của Ngài chính là cách hay là con đường tâm linh; đưa tới sự khiêm tốn, tình yêu thương, và sự phục vụ. Chúng ta phải bước theo con đường sống theo như cách của Ngài giống như cách sống mà Ngài đã làm. Ngài là chân lý, trong đó, Ngài đã tỏ lộ bản chất thật sự của Thiên Chúa trong hình dạng con người, đó là ánh sáng và tình yêu. Đó là cách chúng ta phải nghĩ về Thiên Chúa, cũng như một mô hình cho cuộc sống của chúng ta. Ngài là sự sống, trong đó Ngài trao sự sống đời đời cho những người biết mở rộng tâm hồn và và con tim của họ. Đặt niềm tin vào Chúa Giêsu không phải là đồng ý với một mớ các học thuyết, nhưng là trung thành bước theo con đường tâm linh của Ngài. Chúa Giêsu vừa là con đường dẫn chúng ta đến Thiên Chúa và cổng Thiên Đàng, và tất cả những ai bước đi trong tình yêu sẽ tìm thấy Ngài. Chúa Giêsu, là con đường của chúng ta và là chân lý, là sự thật của chúng ta.
 
Friday 4th Week of Easter 22nd April 2019
People do many terrible things through fear, ignorance, and sin. Even today, humans continue to do many negative things. In his proclamation about the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter does not lay blame; he merely rejoices that God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him. God is always stronger than our sin and our fear, and God will always find some way to set us straight. Let us not be overly depressed about the state of the world, but try to bring God’s presence into the darkest corners.
Jesus told his anxious disciples not to let their hearts be troubled; after all, he was going before them to prepare a place. When asked how one reaches God, Jesus pointed to himself as the way, the truth, and the life. His life is the way or spiritual path; humility, love, and service. We must follow that path just as he did. He is truth, in that he reveals the true nature of God in human form, which is light and love. That is how we must think of God, as well as model our lives. He is life, in that he grants eternal life to those who open their minds and hearts. Faith in Jesus is not agreeing to a list of doctrines but faithfully following his spiritual path. Jesus himself is both the path to God and the gate, and all who walk in love will find him.  Jesus, be my path and my truth.
 
Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” John 14:1
In John’s Gospel, Chapters 14–17 present us with what is referred to as Jesus’ “Last Supper Discourses,” or His “Final Discourses.” These are a series of sermons given by our Lord to the disciples the night He was arrested. These discourses are deep and filled with symbolic imagery. He speaks of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the vine and the branches, the world’s hatred, and these discourses conclude with Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. These discourses begin with today’s Gospel in which Jesus addresses the coming fear, or troubled hearts, that He knows His disciples will experience.
Let’s begin by considering this first line spoken by Jesus above: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” This is a command. It’s a gentle command but a command nonetheless. Jesus knew that His disciples would soon see Him arrested, falsely accused, mocked, beaten and killed. He knew they would be overwhelmed by what they would soon experience, so He took this opportunity to gently and lovingly rebuke the fear that they would soon face. Fear can come from many different sources. Some fear is helpful to us, such as the fear present in a dangerous situation. In this case, that fear can heighten our awareness of the danger so that we proceed with caution. But the fear that Jesus was speaking of here was of a different kind. It was a fear that could lead to irrational decisions, confusion, and even despair. This was the kind of fear that our Lord wanted to gently rebuke.
What is it that causes you to fear at times? Many people struggle with anxiety, worry, and fear for many different reasons. If this is something you struggle with, it’s important to allow Jesus’ words to resonate within your mind and heart. The best way to overcome fear is to rebuke it at its source. Hear Jesus say to you, “Do not let your heart be troubled.” Then listen to His second command: “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” Faith in God is the cure for fear. When we have faith, we are under the control of the voice of God. It is God’s truth that directs us rather than the difficulty we are facing. Fear can lead to irrational thinking, and irrational thinking can lead us deeper and deeper into confusion. Faith pierces through the irrationality we are tempted with, and the truths that faith presents to us bring clarity and strength.
Reflect, today, upon whatever it is that causes you the most anxiety, worry and fear in your life. Allow Jesus to speak to you, to call you to faith and to rebuke those troubles gently but firmly. When you have faith in God, you can endure all things. Jesus endured the Cross. The disciples eventually endured their crosses. God wants to strengthen you, too. Let Him speak to you so that you will overcome whatever is most troublesome to your heart.
My loving Shepherd, You know all things. You know my heart and the difficulties I face in life. Give me the courage I need, dear Lord, to face every temptation to fear with confidence and trust in You. Bring clarity to my mind and peace to my troubled heart. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Friday 4th Week of Easter 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I want to dwell in your house all the days of my life. Your house is one of eternal peace and joy, where sin and death are no more, and where every tear is wiped away. Help to experience that peace and joy even now as I journey home.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Faithful Hearts: At the Last Supper, Jesus speaks about our hearts. On the one hand, he exhorts us that we should not let our hearts give in to fear or anxiety. In fact, one of the principal missions of Jesus was to free us from the fear of death. Adam and Eve, our first parents, rejected God’s plan and will and introduced the fear of death into their lives and our lives. When Jesus was raised from the dead, he showed us that we have no need to fear death. Therefore, when one of our loved ones dies, we have the confidence that they will live on and encounter our merciful Father. Having been baptized into the death of Christ, we have hope that they will rise with Christ. Faith is not just an act of our intellect. It is an act of personal entrustment to God. In faith, we give all that we are over to God, our Father, our Savior, and our Sanctifier.
2. The Father’s House: One of the most powerful images of heaven is that of a house with many rooms or dwelling places. Many of us can be impressed by a royal palace with over one hundred rooms or a multi-million dollar mansion. The heavenly palace that awaits us infinitely surpasses any earthly mansion or palace: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” The best of home life is characterized by servicial love, tasty food and desserts, fun times and games, sacrificing for others, good conversation, gift-giving, rest, and relaxation. All of those earthly blessings are nothing compared to the blessings of heaven. Love is imperfect here on earth and will be brought to perfection in heaven. Earthly food is nothing compared to communion with God at the heavenly banquet. Any excitement we have through fun and games and competition is nothing compared to the ecstasy of heaven. No earthly conversation can compare to seeing all things through the divine essence. No earthly gift can compare to the beauty and crown of glory. No earthly rest or weekend, or retirement can compare to the eternal rest of sharing in divine life.
3. Jesus, the Way: Jesus encourages his disciples with the words, “You know the way.” While some religions proclaim a way to enlightenment, Jesus is more radical and proclaims that he himself is the Way. In the Old Testament, Abram followed the way marked out by God to the Promised Land; the people of Israel followed the way from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land; and the people of Judah returned along the way from Babylon to Jerusalem. All of these were images and symbols that pointed to the future Way. Just as Abram heeded the word of God and walked along the way, we are called to heed God’s Word. Just as the people of Israel followed the cloud and pillar of fire in the wilderness, we are called to follow the cloud and fire of the Spirit in the wilderness of our lives. And just as the people of Judah were freed from captivity and returned home from exile, we are called to enjoy the freedom of the children of God, be freed from the captivity of sin, and dwell in our heavenly home.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want to dwell with you in the Father’s house all the days of my life. You have prepared a place for me, and I look forward to the eternal gathering of God’s family in heaven. May my thoughts turn often to this heavenly dwelling as I journey through this world!
 
Friday 4th Week of Easter
Opening Prayer: I want to believe and follow you, Lord Jesus, but it is difficult for me at times to understand how I am to act and speak as your disciple in the circumstances of my day. I believe in you, Jesus; help my unbelief. 
Encountering Christ:
Slave and Messenger: Several verses before this Gospel passage and the few after it revealed that Jesus had an enemy among his Apostles. When Jesus said, “No slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him,” he was warning his Apostles of this sinister threat. Judas had already accepted the blood money in exchange for turning Jesus over to the authorities, but it was not too late for him to repent here. He did not. Perhaps Judas believed he was in control, able to twist events to his advantage without losing his place among his brother Apostles. Judas would soon realize he was never in control but instead had become a slave to Satan and his messenger of evil. We too often fall for the lie that we are in control of our lives. God has given every person free will, but “The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, ‘the subject of this freedom,’ is ‘an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods’” (CCC 1740). “Freedom makes a man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to speak, the father of his acts. Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosen in consequence of a judgment of conscience can be morally evaluated. They are either good or evil” (CCC 1749). Jesus taught his Apostles, and teaches us, that our acts of free will are subject to two choices: good or evil. 
In Control: John writes Jesus was “…fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God […] (John 13:3), and then described the Son of God, fully empowered, stooping to wash the feet of his Apostles. This is the amazing witness of Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the meek, they shall possess the land” (Matthew 5:4). Meekness, Archbishop Fulton Sheen says, is “self-possession. That is why the reward for meekness is possession.” The Greek origin of the word meek is “strength under control.” In ancient Greece, war horses were meeked: trained to be strong and powerful yet under control and willing to submit. Jesus was fully in control of his humanity through his divinity, manifested in his obedience to the Father. This is meekness, the strength under control that Jesus witnessed to us, and we are called to imitate him.
I AM: “From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.” Jesus was taking the precious little time he had left to prepare his Apostles for what was to come. He had spent the past three years walking with them, teaching them, and witnessing what they were to do, and now it all came down to their belief in his words that he, Jesus, their friend, and Master, is God: I AM. “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” When the situation soon became out of the Apostles’ control and their Lord was taken from them, their belief was shaken but not destroyed. This outcome was helped by the witness of those who stood at his cross: the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, John, and a few others. It would be Mary Magdalene whom the resurrected Jesus sent and was received by the Apostles. When we experience our “out of control” situations, we can remember that Jesus prepares us and teaches us what to do through the graces we receive in the sacramental life of his Catholic Church. “If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, so often I try to control situations, and this leads to division and unrest instead of the unity and peace I want. You teach us that the way to unity and peace can only be achieved by surrendering our will to you. You are the way, Jesus. I will follow you. 
 
Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy Tuần thứ bốn Phục Sinh
Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu nói rõ cho chúng ta biết rằng Chính là Chúa Cha, Đấng đã sai và chúc lành cho Ngài để  làm những việc tốt lành. Ngài cũng nói rằng nhiệm vụ của Ngài là đến với thế gian này là để làm những gì mà Chúa Cha đã sai Ngài đến để làm.
 Và đối với các thánh cũng thế.  Thánh George là một quan lớn trong quân đội La Mã, nhưng sau khi ông được rửa tội và theo Thiên Chúa, ông đã lập tức từ bỏ tất cả của cải trần thế của mình và ông đã bố thí tất cả những gì ông có cho người nghèo. Ông rời bỏ quân đội và sau đó, ông đã đứng lên làm chứng nhân cho Chúa Kitô  và đã chết vì đức tin cho Chúa Kitô. Từ cái chết can đảm, dũng khí của ông đã khuyến khích rất nhiều người khác dám chết cho Chúa. Ai đã làm cho Thánh George có đủ can đảm để làm tất cả những điều này? Chính Chúa Giêsu, Người Thầy và là đấng Cứu rỗi của ông ta.
            Thánh Adalbert là một người ngoại giáo đã theo đạo Công giáo. Ông trở thành Giám Mục Prague (Thủ đô Tiệp) và ông đã truyền bá Tin Mừng cho người Ba Lan và Hungary. Ông gặp phải nhiều sự chống đối, và cuối cùng ông đã phải chịu tử đạo trong khi cố gắng để rao giảng Tin Mừng  cho quân Phổ ở vùng Baltic và kêu gọi họ trở lại. Thánh Adalbert cũng đã lắng nghe tiếng của Thiên Chúa khi ông làm những công việc truyền bá phúc âm của mình.
  Chúng ta có nghe tiếng nói của Thiên Chúa trong cuộc sống của chúng ta? Sau khi Ngài đã  giúp chúng ta phân loại và nhận định đâu cuộc sống không có mục đích của chúng ta. Đôi khi Ngài cũng đã còn mời gọi một số người trong chúng ta làm việc cho Ngài còn nhiều hơn . Chúng ta đã có bao giờ nghe thấy tiếng gọi ấy?. Xin Chúa Thánh Thần mở long trí và giúp chúng biết nghe tiến Chúa.
 
Reflection Saturday 4th Week of Easter
In the Gospel reading, Jesus says clearly that it is the Father who enables him to do good works.  He also says that his mission is to do what the Father tells him to do.
This is also true for the saints.  St. George was a tribune in the Roman army when he converted to Christianity.  Immediately he gave up all his worldly possessions and gave them to the poor.  He left the army and was subsequently martyred for standing up for the faith.  His death inspired many others to die for the Lord.  Who inspired St. George to do all this?  Obviously, the Lord, his Master and Savior.
            St. Adalbert was a pagan convert to Catholicism.  He became the Bishop of Prague  and he evangelized the Poles and Hungarians.  Encountering much opposition, he was martyred trying to convert the Baltic Prussians.  St. Adalbert also listened to the voice of God when doing his evangelical work.   Have you heard the voice of God in your life?  After He helps sort out our aimless lives, sometimes He invites some of us to do more for Him.  Have you heard this calling?