Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần thứ 20 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần thứ 20 Thường Niên
Tiệc cưới được đề cập trong Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta về lời mời gọi của Thiên Chúa và lời mời gọi đó vẫn đang tiếp tục mời gọi chúng ta ở đây, và hôm nay. Bởi vì chúng ta vẫn còn có thể thấy giao ước giữa tình yêu và cuộc sống. Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta rằng Chúa Giêsu lập Bí Tích Thánh Thể cho tất cả những ai sẵn sàng lắng nghe và thực hành lời dạy của Ngài. Chúa Kitô cho phép tình yêu của Ngài sắp sẵn và đến với tất cả mọi người. Nhưng vấn đề là ở nơi mỗi người chúng ta và sự lựa chọn của mỗi người; chúng ta có sẵn sàng mở rộng tâm hồn để đón nhận tình yêu của Chúa đem đến cho chúng ta? Hay chúng ta vẫn kép kín trái tim của chúng ta.
            Mỗi khi chúng ta được Chúa mời gọi đến cùng thăm dự vào bàn với Ngài, chúng ta nên chấp nhận lời mời của Ngài với một tâm hồn cởi mở và một trái tim rộng lượng. Hãy giữ tâm hồn của chúng ta được trong sạch như chiếc áo cưới mới được mặc lên người mỗi khi chúng ta đến tham dự tiệc với Chúa Giêssu trong Thánh Thể. Chúng ta đã biết là phải tự trọng, chuẩn bị về thể xác, bên ngoài mỗi khi chúng ta được mời và tham dự ăn tiệc với những khách quý, vì thế chúng ta cũng phải biết chuẩn bị, làm sạch tâm hồn và lòng trí của chúng ta mỗi khi chúng ta đến tham dự bàn tiệc với Ngài trong Thánh Lễ. Qua bí tích Thánh Thể mà chúng ta có thể được chia sẻ, canh tân tinh thần với tình yêu của Thiên Chúa đối với chúng ta. Vì thế, chúng ta cũng phải nên biết lắng nghe lời của Ngài.
            Chúng ta phải chuẩn bị cho bản thân và tâm hồn của chúng ta như thế nào để mỗi khi chúng ta tham dự và nhận lời mời gọi của Chúa Kitô trong mỗi thánh lễ?.
 
REFLECTION Thursday 20 Ordinary time
The wedding banquet mentioned in today's Gospel reminds us of God's invitation and calling because it is here where we can encounter the covenant between love and life.  Today's Gospel reminds us that Jesus established the Eucharist for everyone who is willing to listen and practice his teachings. He allowed his love to be available to all. It's a matter of choice; it's a matter of heart.
However, when we are called and invited to his table, we should accept his invitation with an open mind and an open heart. It is similar to wearing a clean wedding garment when we attend a banquet. We must prepare ourselves physically when we attend an invitation, but we must also cleanse our hearts and our minds when we accept the invitation to His banquet.  It is through the Eucharist that we can share spiritual renewal not only because of God's love for us, but also by listening to his word. How do we prepare ourselves when we accept his invitation?
 
Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.” Matthew 22:2–3
The king in this parable is God the Father, and the wedding is the marriage between Christ and the Church. The Father invites each one of us to be a member of the Church and to enter into divine union with His Son Jesus, thus entering into the life of the Holy Trinity. But we see right away in the parable that the invited guests “refused to come.” As the parable goes on, the king tried even harder to invite the guests, but they all responded in one of two ways. “Some ignored the invitation and went away…” and “The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.” Clearly, this was not the response hoped for by the generous king.
We see in these two responses two levels of rejection of the Gospel that are present in our world today, just as it was at the time of Jesus. The first level of rejection is indifference. Many people are very busy today. We easily become occupied with many things that matter little in the end. Many are consumed by their smartphones, computers and tablets. Many spend countless hours watching television. Others become workaholics, spending most of their time at their occupation and leaving little time for that which is most important, such as family, prayer and service. As a result, it is very easy to become indifferent to the matters of faith and easy to fail to pray every day so as to seek out and fulfill God’s will. This indifference is quite serious.
There is also a rejection of the faith in our world through a growing hostility toward the Church and morality. There are many ways in which the secular world continues to promote a culture that is contrary to the Gospel. And when Christians speak out and oppose these new cultural tendencies, they are condemned and often characterized as being prejudiced or judgmental. Such malice was displayed by the guests in this parable who “laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.” Hostility toward the Church, the faith and clear moral principles laid down by God appears to be growing every year. This form of rejection of the Gospel is even more damaging than the simple indifference mentioned above. In this parable for today, Jesus says that in response to those who were indifferent and hostile, the king “sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.”
This parable should not be read in such a way that we look at others and condemn them as if we were the king and had the right to do so. We do not have that right. Only God does. Instead, this parable should be read from the perspective of your own life. Hopefully you are not one of those who are hostile to the Gospel. But perhaps you and many other Christians struggle with the first form of rejection: indifference. We can easily become indifferent in many various ways and on many different levels. The opposite of being indifferent is to care and to care deeply about going to the wedding feast when invited.
Reflect, today, upon the Wedding Feast to which you are invited. You are invited to enter into the glorious celebration of becoming one with the Savior of the World. You are invited to surrender your life to Him without reserve. You are invited to holiness, moral integrity, unwavering fidelity to God, service of others, charity that knows no bounds and so much more. To enter the Wedding Feast of the Lamb is something that must take place every day and every moment of your day for the rest of your life. God is inviting you. Will you say “Yes” with every fiber of your being?
My inviting Lord, You desire that all people fully accept the invitation You have given to become one with You through spiritual marriage. You call us to the glorious Wedding Feast and eternal rejoicing. May I never be indifferent to Your invitation and always make my response with all my heart. I love You, dear Lord. Help me to love You all the more. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday 20 Ordinary time 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I have heard your call to the wedding feast of your Son. Enable me to respond generously each day to this call. Do not allow the cares of this world to distract me from your invitation. I will strive to better my wedding garment through works of mercy and charity empowered by your grace.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Invited to the King’s Feast: Jesus’ parable about a king inviting people to a feast harkens back to one of Jesus’ ancestors, the good King Hezekiah. The king celebrated the Passover and invited the northern tribes of Israel to join (2 Chronicles 30). King Hezekiah, around 715 B.C., restored the Temple, purified it, and sent messengers to the northern tribes, urging them to return to proper worship in Jerusalem. Despite some mockery, many from tribes like Ephraim and Manasseh attended, and the celebration was marked by great joy, extending an extra seven days. This was a significant effort to unite the divided kingdoms in worship. Like King Hezekiah, Jesus is inviting all 12 tribes of Israel and the Gentiles to the wedding feast of the Kingdom of heaven. This is because the New Passover that Jesus establishes will be the “mechanism by which the Davidic kingdom will be redeemed from sin and the twelve tribes restored from exile” (Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 382).
2. Jephthah’s Vow: In the First Reading, we hear one of the more debated stories in the Old Testament. The judge, Jephthah, recklessly made a vow to offer his child as a sacrifice to the Lord. Many interpreters hold that Jephthah offered his daughter as a burnt offering. But a few interpreters hold that the language of “burnt offering” is symbolic. And that is why his daughter laments being her consecrated virginity and not her upcoming death. The Letter to the Hebrews numbers the judge Jephthah among the heroes of faith of the Old Testament. In faith, he vanquished the Ammonites; however, “this victory was marred by the horrendous act of sacrificing his daughter to fulfill a vow that he had rashly made (Judges 11)” (Healy, Hebrews, 251). And so, the judge Jephthah can be held up as a model of trust in the Lord with regard to his military victory, but also as unworthy of imitation because of his rash vow.
3. Pope Saint Pius X: Today, we celebrate the memorial of Pope Saint Pius X (1835-1914), who was known for his profound humility, pastoral zeal, and commitment to the Church’s mission. He was known as the “Pope of the Eucharist” because he promoted the frequent reception of Communion and lowered the age for First Communion to seven. His motto was “To restore all things in Christ.” This motto guided his reforms, which included liturgical renewal, the codification of Canon Law, and the fight against modernist heresies. Modernism was a heresy characterized by agnosticism about the human ability to know God, relativism in faith and morals, the claim that religious truth arises from within the individual rather than from divine revelation interpreted by the Church’s magisterium, and the criticism of the authenticity of Scripture and the role of Tradition. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the royal bridegroom, the true King of Israel. You have defeated the true enemy of your people and reign now victorious in heaven at the Father’s right hand. Reign in my heart and in my life!
 
Thursday 20 Ordinary time 2023
Opening Prayer: My Lord, here I am. I invite you to come and lay your eyes on my soul. I want to put aside all distractions and return that look.
Encountering Christ:
1. There Is No Duplicity in Him: The way in which Jesus described Nathanael speaks of integrity, honesty, and justice. The Gospel passage seems to suggest further that the encounter between such a person and Christ is characterized by profound and almost immediate mutual recognition—almost as if the absence of duplicity clears the way for man to come to faith. 
2. How Do You Know Me?: At first glance, the sudden realization that we are known by another may frighten us. At the same time, to be known is one of our deepest desires and needs. To stand fast while someone's gaze embraces our soul: We know that nothing makes us feel more vulnerable, but we also know that nothing can bring greater joy than this type of communion. That is what awaits us in heaven: perfectly joyful communion among each other while basking in the loving and eternal gaze of God.
3. You Are the Son of God: Jesus and Nathanael locked eyes in this passage. Something extraordinary happened here, and Nathanael realized this in an instant. To pray means to lock eyes with Jesus. What sensation does that provoke? Fear? When we put all duplicity aside and allow the Holy Spirit to replace that fear with the genuine desire to be known by Our Lord, joyful communion will take possession of us, and Nathanael's profession of faith can become our own.
Conversing with Christ: My Lord, no one sees into the depths of my heart like you do. Sometimes, I want to hide from your gaze because it makes me feel vulnerable. I now renew my trust in you: I have nothing to fear from you, and there is nothing in me that I cannot show to you. Your gaze does not sting but soothes and heals.
 
Thursday 20 Ordinary time 2022
Opening Prayer: Jesus, I want to respond to every invitation you extend to me. I know that your gifts are worthy of being esteemed above all else in my life and that to turn away from them for anything else, or to put anything in the way, would be foolishness. I know also that you are constantly reaching out to me, even though I am small and unworthy. Yet you choose me. Help me to be ready to hear your call to me this day, as I listen to your words. 
Encountering Christ:
Rejecting a Gift: In today’s Gospel, we have two groups of people. The first are those who were given the first opportunity to enter into God’s kingdom, the wedding feast par excellence, the eternal feast of God’s kingdom. They should have dropped everything in order to participate in it. They didn’t realize that they were rejecting the greatest possible gift, the one thing that matters. We fall into this category when we sin. We settle for inferior things that leave us spiritually empty. 
“Invite Whomever You Find”: The parable took a surprising twist when Christ put these words in the king’s mouth. Jesus said the guests could be good or bad; it mattered not. What must the apostles have thought? They might have been thinking to themselves “This is exactly what Jesus did with me. I wasn’t one of the learned ones. I wasn’t supposed to be God’s ‘first choice’ for a disciple. But he chose me.” It was at once a confirmation of their exaltedness and a reminder of their humility. He has chosen us, too, unworthy and ordinary as we are, to be his apostles. 
No Wedding Garment?: Although we are no one extraordinary, humanly speaking, Our Lord wants us to take seriously the invitation we’ve received to participate in the wedding feast—the kingdom of God. As chosen friends of Christ, we are not to be presumptuous. The value of the kingdom cannot be underplayed; it must be respected and honored. We are called to do our part to always be prepared, with our lamps lit (Matthew 25:1-13). Our fidelity to daily prayer, the sacraments, and service to others will assure we are well-dressed for the feast. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I am in awe that you choose me to be a part of your kingdom and feed me with the richest blessings. And you promise me this banquet for eternity. Save me from the pride of presumption, and help me to always guard my soul so that I may be a good apostle for your glory. 
 
Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ  Nam tuần thứ 20^th Thường niên.
Trong những năm tháng thời non trẻ của chúng ta, chúng ta có thể đã có kinh nghiệm tham gia tụ tập đông người, chúng ta đã không mặc trang phục thích hợp. Đó là đáng xấu hổ như chưa được mặc quần áo đúng. Như chúng ta đã lớn tuổi chúng ta đã học như thế nào và khi nào để ăn mặc cho một dịp.\
     Trong dụ ngôn Tin Mừng mà là để "ném ánh sáng trên thiên đàng," vua trừng phạt những người đàn ông tại bữa tiệc đám cưới, người không mặc quần áo đúng. Nhà vua cảm thấy bị sỉ nhục mà một khách không mặc quần áo đúng cách tại đám cưới của con trai mình. Làm thế nào các khách nhận được vào bữa tiệc không mặc quần áo đúng cách? Đã trợ của nhà vua không cung cấp cho ông các hàng may mặc theo phong tục thuộc về ngày lể? Anh ấy đã từ chối mặc những gì được cung cấp?
     Mỗi người chúng ta được mời đến bữa tiệc trên trời của Đức Chúa Trời. Chúng ta đã được ban cho ân tứ đức tin khi chúng ta đã được rửa tội; trong Giáo Hội Thiên Chúa của chúng ta được ban các bí tích và khác giúp để được tham gia xứng đáng tại bữa tiệc của Thiên Chúa.
     Làm thế nào có chúng ta trả lời để chào của Thiên Chúa? Chúng ta đã sống lời thề rửa tội của chúng ta? Chúng ta đã đánh giá cao các bí tích của Thiên Chúa và giúp cho chúng ta? Chúng ta đã sống ra cuộc sống của chúng ta như vậy mà chúng ta trở thành khách xứng đáng để có mặt tại bữa tiệc tuyệt vời của Chúa?
 
Reflection:
     In our younger years we may have experienced attending gatherings where we did not wear the proper attire. It was embarrassing not to have been properly dressed. As we grew in age we have learned how and when to dress for an occasion.
     In the Gospel parable which was to "throw light on the kingdom of heaven," the king punished the man at the wedding banquet who was not properly dressed. The king felt insulted that a guest was not properly dressed at the wedding of his son. How did the guest get into the banquet not properly dressed? Did the king's assistants not offer him the customary festal garment? Did he refuse to wear what was offered?
     Each one of us is invited to God's heavenly banquet.  We were given the gift of faith when we were baptized; in God's Church we are given the sacraments and other helps to be worthy participants at God's banquet.
     How have we responded to God's offers? Have we lived out our baptismal vows? Have we appreciated God's sacraments and helps to us?  Have we lived out our lives such that we become guests worthy to be at the great banquet of the Lord?