Suy niệm Tin Mừng thứ Sáu Tuần 11 Thường Niên

Suy niệm Tin Mừng thứ Sáu Tuần 11 Thường Niên
Con người chúng ta ở trên đời thích làm giàu và thích đặt những thế lực, của cải vật chất làm ưu tiên hàng đầu trong cuộc sống của chúng ta thay vì những của cải thiêng liêng. Chúng ta chết cho niềm vui, cho sự hài lòng trong sự vị kỷ và sự hạnh phúc giả tạo. 
            Khi chúng ta cống hiến tất cả thời giờ và năng lực để theo đuổi sự ích kỷ, thì cái chết mới tiết lộ cho chúng ta biết đó những cơ hội mà chúng ta đã lãng phí vì sự nghèo đói trong những việc lành phúc đức. Nếu chúng ta muốn thực sự được sống mãi mãi trong Chúa, thì bây giờ là thời gian để chúng ta dùng những tài nguyên Chúa ban cho một cách khôn ngoan chứ không phải là sự để dành, tồn trữ một cách thật là ngu ngốc.   Bây giờ là thời gian để chúng ta thực hiện sự quản lý chặt chẽ những ân sũng và hồng ân mà Thiên Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta.
Chúng ta không những chỉ phải biết tàng trữ những ân sũng này như những món quà quý trọng. mà chúng ta cần phải làm tồn giữ cho an toàn, hay để lại cho con cháu, hay là quỹ hưu trí của chúng ta. Nhưng điều mà Chúa Giêsu đề cập đến hôm nay là việc làm giàu quá mức sẽ phản ánh đến sự thiếu lòng tin tưởng vào Thiên Chúa. Sự tham lam cơ bản trong thái độ của chúng ta đối với sự giàu có và một tâm hồn, một trái tim không biết quan tâm đến sự nghèo khổ của nggười khác.
Trong Bí Tích Thánh Thể chúng ta chứng kiến được một ví dụ cụ thể cho việc bố thí và việc chia sẻ. Chúa Kitô đã không thành lập bí tích Thánh Thể để lưu trữ và để dành mãi “Mình Thánh Chúa” trong nhà tạm của chúng ta. Nhưng Ngài đã ban cho chúng ta Thánh Thể như là của ăn được phân phối và chia sẻ với mọi người như một cộng đồng Kitô Giáo từ lúc ban đầu. Chúa Giêsu thách thức chúng ta phải kiểm tra và xét lại những ưu tiên của chúng ta và cách mà chúng ta sử dụng tài sản, những ân sủng mà Chúa ban cho chúng ta. Thay vì phát triển làm giàu cho chính mình, Chúa Giêsu muốn mời gọi chúng ta trở nên giàu có trước mặt Thiên Chúa.
 
Reflection Friday 11^th week of Ordinary 2016
What do you value most at present?  It could become an obstacle to follow Christ.  Affection binds us to people and not to God. 
            Many vocations to religious life are put aside because of familial ties.  Fornication becomes part of the relationship of unmarried couples because there is fear of losing the partner if either one opts for chastity.  Peer pressure obliges one to accede even if it is against his or her conscience.  Absolute pursuit of wealth and security can make us relentless and indifferent to the needs of others.
            What does it mean to "store up treasure for yourself with God?" You can make a money transfer not only to your local bank, but to the bank in heaven through serious donations to help the poor and the afflicted.  
Offer your barkada time to be with the family and bond with siblings and parents.  Chaste relationships are a good investment for a better marriage, because they entail sacrifice.  
            These are treasures that do not get destroyed or eaten up by moths and woodworms.  Why do so many people live as if there is no afterlife and so they live only to enjoy the things of this world?  Heaven exists, brothers and sister.  It is a place full of light, happiness and unending joy.  So look for the things of heaven.  They are what can truly satisfy and give lasting peace and joy.
 
Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.” Matthew 6:22–23
Every Scripture passage, in a spiritual sense, can teach us many lessons. Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on Matthew’s Gospel, offers one interpretation to the passage quoted above by saying that the “eye” in this passage refers to your intention and “your whole body” refers to all of your actions that follow from your intention. Therefore, when your intentions are in line with God’s will, the actions that follow will be also. This is a very practical and useful lesson for your journey toward holiness.
With this insight from Saint Thomas, we must look at our intentions in an honest and complete way. What are your intentions in life? It’s easy for us to form various intentions that may seem good as well as some that are contrary to the will of God without even realizing it. We may intend to get a good night’s sleep on one occasion. Or intend to have fun with family and friends on a certain day. Or we may intend to cook a good meal, clean the house, do well at work, etc. There are many momentary intentions that are good and are a normal part of daily living. However, the most important intention to consider is that which is the deepest of them all. What is the most central, foundational, and fundamental intention by which your life is directed?
The primary intention that you should work to acquire is to give God the greatest glory possible in all that you do. Giving glory to God is accomplished when you choose Him and His holy will above everything else in life. When this is the deepest and most fundamental intention of your life, everything else will flow from it. All secondary intentions and actions will align with this central focus and work toward its accomplishment. But when there are other “first intentions” that you have on the most fundamental level, then all the rest of your intentions and actions will be misguided and directed in a disordered way.
Reflect, today, upon the most fundamental intention you have in life. Doing so will require a considerable amount of interior reflection and honesty. It will require that you sort through the many things that motivate you and the decisions you make each and every day. Reflect upon the primary purpose of your life, which must be to give God the greatest glory possible by choosing and living His perfect will. Do all of your daily actions align with this ultimate goal? Commit yourself to the holy work of examining all of your actions in this light so that you will more fully achieve the purpose for which you were created.
God of all glory, You and You alone are worthy of all my praise. Your will and Your will alone must become the foundation of all that I choose in life. Give me the spiritual insight I need to look deeply at all that motivates me and all of my most interior intentions in life. May all of my intentions and all of my actions have as their goal Your eternal glory. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Reflection Friday 11^th week of Ordinary 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, the things of this passing world often vie for my attention. I know that they cannot ultimately satisfy me or bring me ultimate happiness. You alone satisfy. Love alone will last for eternity. May I love you above all things and with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Debt of Sin: More than any other Gospel, the Gospel of the tax-collector turned Apostle, Matthew, employs economic language to speak about spiritual realities. Heaven is a place to store up treasure, sinful actions incur debt, the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a pearl of great price, God is a king who entrusts his wealth (talents) to his servants for them to invest it, the rich young man is invited by Jesus to sell everything and give to the poor, the laborers in the Lord’s vineyard are given generous wages, and the vineyard of the Lord will be leased out to other tenants. The Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus has just given in the Sermon on the Mount, teaches us to ask God to forgive, remit, or cancel our debts. The debts in question concern what we have incurred due to our sins. Almsgiving is seen as an act that earns heavenly treasure, and this treasure delivers from death and punishment. Heavenly treasure redeems us from the debt of sin (see Eubank, Wages of Cross-Bearing and the Debt of Sin, 50-51). The meaning of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer is made clearer in the Parable of the ungrateful servant (Matthew 18:23-35): “Sin puts one in danger of becoming a debt-slave, but God will cancel the debts of those who ask him, provided that they in turn cancel the debts of their fellow servants” (Eubank, Wages of Cross-Bearing and the Debt of Sin, 56).
2. Treasure in the Heavens: The three examples of righteous deeds done in secret – almsgiving, prayer, fasting – were examples of how to earn a wage for righteous deeds from God rather than from people. Today’s Gospel passage approaches the question of heavenly treasure from a different angle. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus contrasts the ephemerality of earthly treasure with the eternity of heavenly treasure. “Earthly treasures are here today and gone tomorrow. Pursuit of such wages is antithetical to the pursuit of heavenly wages. The parables of the treasure hidden in a field and of the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-45) make a similar point: the kingdom is like a treasure that compels a person to sell all her possessions in order to gain it” (Eubank Wages of Cross-Bearing and the Debt of Sin, 81).
3. Reviewing our Heavenly Bank Account: When we make an examination of conscience, it is like a review of the ledger of our heavenly bank account. We can imagine it as follows. The first column of the ledger has the time, day, month, and year of an action. The second column summarizes the action. The third column records if the action was sinful and resulted in a debt that wounded or broke our relationship with God. The fourth column is for credits – heavenly treasure – stored up through righteous deeds of charity toward God and neighbor, empowered by grace. The fifth column has our balance. A daily review of this ledger can keep us on track. A yearly review of the ledger – in a retreat setting, perhaps, or at the end of the year – is also important. If we see insurmountable debt, we know the way out: humility before God, sacramental forgiveness, and deeds of charity. If we see heavenly treasure, this is not a cause for pride or self-righteousness, but for thanksgiving. We only have treasure in the heavens because God is with us, Jesus has merited it for us, and we have worked with God’s grace.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my treasure. There is nothing more that I want. With you, all is right and bathed in divine light. Without you, chaos and darkness reign. I choose you and your Kingdom today.
 
Reflection Friday 11^th week of Ordinary 2016
Opening Prayer: To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust you. Those who hope in you shall not be disappointed. Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior (excerpts from Psalm 25).
Encountering Christ:
Earthly Treasure: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.” God created man for greatness, so it is true to our nature to seek greatness. In the world, greatness often means financial prosperity and its usual accompaniment of earthly possessions. It is not immoral to be wealthy, as long as it is accrued ethically and its use includes the good of others. But if earthly possessions become the ultimate goal of our happiness, then we miss out on the treasure God desires for us. This treasure is God himself. We are called to trust, not in our wealth or comforts, but in God’s providence. St. Paul explains, “I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Philippians 4:12-13).
Heavenly Treasure: “But store up treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.” The heavenly treasure Jesus spoke of is a reward for those who have lived their lives virtuously as a preparation for eternity. And we can experience a taste of these treasures here and now, as we grow in our relationship with God. The Catechism explains, “The human virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance) are rooted in the theological virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity), which adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object (CCC 1812).” Simply put, “The goal of the virtuous life is to become like God” (St. Gregory of Nyssa).
Where Is Your Heart?: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” Consider that our hearts are like bank vaults where we keep our treasure. To adequately discern how much value we put on our treasure, both earthly and heavenly, we ponder what it is we love and what we would do if we lost it. If wealth was taken away, would we keep our faith in God’s providence? If we lost our health or the health of a loved one, would we continue to hope in God’s goodness? If any of our less tangible earthly treasures (reputation, relationships, social standing) were compromised, would we walk in justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance as God’s trusting child, forgiving and giving to those who oppose us? Our Lord is presenting very sobering teaching to help us discern if we are on the narrow road that leads to life (see Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus, the light of the world, leads the way to all treasures, both earthly and heavenly. Are we following him? 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I love many things, but I want to love you above them all. I know I am to love the Giver more than the many temporal and spiritual gifts you have given me. Come Holy Spirit and show me what I am to do to remain in your light. 
 
Friday 11^th Ordinary Time: Scripture: Matthew 6:19-23
Opening Prayer: Lord you are my treasure. As I reflect on your words today, enlighten my mind to contemplate my eternal destiny. May this reflection deepen my desire to spend eternity with you. 
Encountering Christ:
Where Is Your Treasure? Human beings were made to worship. Everyone worships either the true God or a “god.” As Our Lord pointed out, wherever our treasure is, wherever our heart is, that is our God—or our false god. Some people worship fame, honor, or wealth. They may go to church on Sunday, but their thoughts dwell on other things and, in their free time, they rush to do what they really love above all else. The concept of false gods is as old as human nature. False gods don't just fail to save their followers; they destroy them. The Old Testament, especially the book of Judges, tells of the stories of many people who left God for some other idol and found themselves enslaved rather than saved. The idols of old required human sacrifice to be satisfied, but modern idols (addictions, materialism, etc.) just drain the idol-worshippers' life slowly. So when God commanded, "You will have no other gods before me," he wasn’t motivated by petty jealousy. He was proposing a life-saving intervention. By adoring God, we adore him who said, "I am the Life," and he gives us life everlasting. 
Heavenly Treasures: Both thieves and stock markets can take our money. Both moths and ever-changing fashions can make our clothing obsolete and worthless. The more we invest in these kinds of things, the poorer we will ultimately become. When we turn our minds to heaven and strive to see our lives with an eternal perspective, we reap eternal dividends—a place one day in heaven with God. Sister Faustina offers us this encouragement about heaven: “Today I was in heaven, in spirit, and I saw its inconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, which spreads to all creatures, making them happy; and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source; and they enter into the depths of God, contemplating the inner life of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom they will never comprehend or fathom. This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures.” 
Smallest of Idols: We love Jesus and strive to do his will at all times, but we still fall prey to smaller idols periodically. These seemingly insignificant idols can grow in our hearts unchecked, like dust bunnies growing under a bed. Maybe we treasure watching too much TV; or we treasure some idealistic “perfect family” and want our family to conform to that ideal; or maybe we spend too much time at work, on our hobbies, or on sports. These “goods” can corrupt us if we’re not diligent. Jesus and his saints recommend briefly examining our conscience before we go to bed. St. Ignatius suggests following these simple steps: 1. Become aware of God’s presence. 2. Review the day with gratitude. 3. Pay attention to your emotions. 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. 5. Look toward tomorrow. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, my heart is full of gratitude for the spiritual and temporal gifts that you give me each day. By your grace, may I never make an idol of your gifts. Help me to remember that the Giver is so much more than the sum of all the gifts I have received!
 
Friday 11th in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel reading we hear Jesus saying to us that we need to make good choices in life: between God and material possessions. The contrast between “treasures in heaven” and “treasures on earth.” (6:19-21); between God and the ungodly (6:24) and between the cares and anxieties about material possessions and seeking the Kingdom of God (6: 25-34).
 Jesus’ teachings focussed on true riches and we, as followers of Christ have to decide on our priority between earthly treasures and heavenly ones with God.  In the materialistic and consumeristic society, we live in now, we are called to be alert and discerning in making our daily choices.
  In the first reading we see how different groups of people made their choices especially those made by Athaliah. She wanted to secure the throne of Judah for herself, chose to destroy the whole of the royal family. She attempted to destroy completely the house of David i.e. God’s redemptive plan, in order to achieve her aim, but she didn’t succeed! She went against God’s will!
  Today we are constantly reminded to live discernment as a way of life.  So, the basic questions we ask ourselves in this process would be: “What am I and God are for each other, that is, our relationship? “How and what does God want me to respond to a situation?”   Let us learn the art of discernment in order to help ourselves and others to find God’s will. Lord grant me the grace to know Your will for us every day of our lives.”