Suy Niệm Thứ Hai Tuần 32 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Thứ Hai Tuần 32 Thường Niên
Chúng ta hãy thử tưởng tượng nếu chúng ta là người đã phạm những lỗi lầm với một người nào đó trong gia đình hay với Giáo Hội bảy lần một ngày. Chúng ta có lời xin lỗi mỗi khi chúng ta nhận ra rằng chúng ta đã làm sai. Mỗi khi chúng ta xin lỗi, chúng ta lại được sự tha thứ một cách vô điều kiện. Chúng ta sẽ có cảm giác như thế nào? khi chúng ta là người đã nhiều lần phạm lỗi và xúc phạm đến anh chị em của chúng ta. Chúng ta đã liên tục được sự tha thứ của Thiên Chúa. Bây giờ Thiên Chúa, qua Chúa Giêsu, đã mời gọi chúng ta hãy rộng lượng để tha thứ cho những người khác, như Ngài đã tha thứ cho chúng ta. Để tha thứ là để thiết lập một gương sáng về tình yêu thương trong cộng đồng. Một gương sáng tốt dễ ảnh hưởng đến người khác một cách tích cực và gắn bó cộng đồng, cũng giống như những gương mù gương xấu ảnh hưởng đến những người khác một cách tiêu cực và phân chia cộng đồng. Chúa Giêsu thú nhận rằng điều đó chắc chắn sẽ gây ra tội lỗi. Tội lỗi ảnh hưởng đến người khác cũng như chính mình. Không những chúng ta phải biết chăm lo chính chúng ta đẻ đừnf phạm tội, nhưng điều quan trọng hơn, là chúng ta đừng bao giờ làm gương mù gương xấu đễ đưa anh chị em của chúng ta bắt chước và  lâm vào con đường tội lỗi. Hơn nữa, Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta phải chủ động và phải biết nêu gương tốt về tình yêu thương, và sự tha thư. Chúng ta có dám tỏ vẻ như một “kẻ Ngốc”  mỗi khi chúng ta tha thứ cho những người phạm lỗi hay xúc phạm đến chúng ta rất nhiều lần và chúng ta cứ tiếp tha thứ cho họ mãi mãi? Tuyệt đối là không! Nhưng đây là cách của loài người chúng ta. Lạy Chúa, xin cho chúng con biết rộng lượng và sẵn sàng  tha thứ. Xin giúp chúng con Chúa ơi, để chúng con biết tha thứ theo như cách của Chúa, và xin Chúa hãy gia tăng tình yêu thương trong chúng con..
 
Reflection (SG)
Imagine you are that brother or sister who has sinned against someone in the family or the Church seven times a day. You apologies every time that you realize that you have been wrong. Every time you apologies, unconditional pardon is given you. How do you feel? We are that person who has repeatedly sinned against our brothers and sisters. We are repeatedly pardoned by God. Now God, through Jesus, is asking us to forgive others, as He has forgiven us.
To forgive is to set an example of love in the community. Good examples affect others positively and bond the community, just as bad examples affect others negatively and divide the community. Jesus admits that things which cause sin will inevitably occur. Sin affects others as well as oneself. Not only should we take care not to sin, but more importantly, we should never lead our brothers and sisters into sinning. Furthermore, Jesus teaches us to be pro-active and set examples of love, by forgiving. Would I appear to be a fool in forgiving serial sinners?  Absolutely!  But this is the Pascal way. Lord, give me the desire to forgive. Help me to forgive in Your way, and increase the scope of my love.
 
Monday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur.  It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” Luke 17:1–2
Having a millstone placed around your neck and thrown into the sea is very descriptive. Jesus is using very evocative language. A millstone was a large round stone with a hole in the center. If it were placed around someone’s neck and they were thrown into the sea, they would obviously sink to the bottom and die. Thus, Jesus is clearly stating that this awful fate is actually better than the fate of those who cause “one of these little ones to sin.”
First of all, it should be clarified that no one can actually cause us to sin. Sin is our own free choice, and we, and we alone, will be held accountable for our own sin. One thing that Jesus is pointing out here is that even though every person must take responsibility for their own actions and their own sins, we must also take responsibility for the ways that we act as tempters of others. We are all sinners. Therefore, by our sin, we will all tempt others to sin also. Sometimes we will tempt people to sin by provoking them to anger. At other times we will tempt others to sin by setting a poor example. And on the contrary, we also have the ability to “tempt” people to virtue. Or more properly speaking, to inspire and encourage them.
With that said, Jesus explains that the fate of those who act as tempters of others, especially the “little ones,” will suffer consequences graver than an untimely death. The little ones of which Jesus speaks should be understood as those who are weak in faith, overly sensitive, particularly vulnerable at that time in their life, and susceptible to outside influence. This could be a child, or it could be someone who is currently teetering on the edge of despair, confusion, anger, or any serious sin. When you encounter people like this, how do you treat them? Jesus has a deep heart of compassion for these people and wants us to have the same depth of compassion. But sometimes we fail. We may be negligent in our duty to reach out to them. Even this negligence could be a form of causing “one of these little ones to sin.” Of course, it is even far worse if we were to actively agitate them, harshly judge them, provoke their anger, draw them into some sin of weakness and false consolation by our temptation, etc. The simple truth is that Jesus loves those who are weak, vulnerable and sinful, and He wants us to love them with His heart. When we fail to do so, Jesus will hold us accountable for their further fall from grace.
Reflect, today, upon the person or persons in your life that appear especially vulnerable, sinful, confused and lost at this time. Who is it that struggles with anger, or an addiction or some sinful lifestyle? Ponder your attitude toward them. Are you judgmental, condemning, belittling and the like? Do you tempt them to fall further into any sins of weakness they commit in a vulnerable state, thus leading them into further sin? Or, when you encounter someone who is greatly struggling, do you turn to them with the deepest compassion and mercy, forgiving any ways that they may sin against you, and work hard only to be there for them in their need, no matter how hard it is on you? Commit yourself to a profound love of all of God’s “little ones” and seek to serve them with the heart of Christ so that one day they will eternally rejoice with you in Heaven.
My most compassionate Lord, You love the sinner and deeply desire that they turn to You in their need. Please give me Your heart of compassion so that I will be free to love them as You love them. May I never become an instrument of temptation for them to fall further away from You but, instead, become an instrument of Your unfailing mercy. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Monday 32nd in Ordinary Time 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, increase my faith. I want to be generous in forgiving my brothers and sisters. I pray that I be forgiven by you to the degree I forgive others. You are so bountiful in mercy. You are perfect love.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Forgiveness and Faith: The second part of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 13:22-17:10) focuses on the Kingdom of God and the attitudes we should have. Jesus has just warned his disciples (Luke 16:1-13) and the Pharisees (Luke 16:14-31) about the dangers of wealth. Jesus knows that it will always be a temptation for any leader in the Church, in politics, or in business to use their position just to increase their wealth and neglect the material needs of their flock, their community, or their employees. Today’s Gospel speaks about how to think about sin. On the one hand, “things that cause sin” will inevitably occur. Even in God’s Kingdom on earth, there will be weeds alongside wheat and wolves amid the sheep. We need to call out sin when we see it in an effort to bring our brothers and sisters to repentance. And we need to be ready to forgive, not stingily but perfectly. “Seven times” is an expression meaning completeness or perfection. This teaching leads the Apostles to ask for a deeper faith. They recognize that mere human effort is insufficient to overcome sin and be merciful toward sinners.
2. The Wisdom of Solomon: All this week, the First Reading will be taken from the Wisdom of Solomon. This was likely the last book of the Old Testament written – sometime after 100 B.C. The author, who wrote nine centuries after Solomon, writes, however, in the voice of King Solomon (especially in Wisdom 6:22-9:18). The book has three main parts. The first part focuses on the themes of life and death and how to pursue wisdom in a world full of both righteousness and wickedness. It teaches not only that we will be judged after our death, but also contains the clearest Old Testament teaching on the gift of immortality that God offers the righteous. Part Two centers on Solomon and his quest for wisdom. Just as Solomon prayed for wisdom and was granted it, so also those who seek divine wisdom should do so through prayer. The last part of the book presents salvation as another gift of God given to his chosen people. It retells the story of the Exodus and draws out the lessons that God wanted to teach Israel. This final part of the book “shows that God uses creation to bless the righteous and to correct the wicked, according to the principle that ‘one is punished by the very things by which he sins’ (Wisdom 11:16)” (Giszczak, Wisdom of Solomon, 25). As we work through Wisdom this week, we are encouraged to reflect on our lives, what we pursue above all else, how we will be judged after our death, and how God has wisely acted in our lives.
3. Love Righteousness: The opening chapter of Wisdom begins with an exhortation to “love righteousness” (1:1) and ends by saying that “righteousness is immortal” (1:15). “Love of righteousness leads us through righteousness to immortality. This opening exhortation helps us meditate on genuine devotion to God by examining the obstacles human beings can put in the way of wisdom: sinful thoughts (vv. 4-5), words (vv. 6-11), and actions (v. 12). Only by loving, thinking of, and seeking the Lord can one rise above sin, embrace righteousness, and find the path to immortality” (Giszczak, Wisdom of Solomon, 33). Seeking and finding God in this life requires sincerity. We cannot be double-minded, trying to love the things of this world like money and pleasure just as much as we love God. We need a firm and single mind and a genuine commitment to the Lord. Sin and moral failings cloud the mind, leading us into ignorance, while humble truth-seeking leads to God and the gift of wisdom.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the incarnation of divine wisdom and the model of true righteousness. Guide my thoughts today as I encounter you and the Father in prayer. Enlighten my mind to choose what is good and not give in to the temptation to sin.