Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ Nhất Mùa Vọng

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư Tuần thứ Nhất Mùa Vọng (Matthew 15:29-37)
Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, cho chúng ta thấy Chúa Giêsu đã có hai hành động mà cả hai hành động đó đều được nói đến đó chính là lòng nhân hậu và từ bi của Thiên Chúa. Dân chúng và những người đang mang tất cả và đủ các thứ bệnh tật như bại liệt, xứt mẻ, đui mù, câm điếc và tất cả các thử bệnh khác… đến và ngồi dưới chân của Chúa Giêsu với lòng tin và hy vọng là Chúa sẽ cứu chữa họ được khỏi tất cả các bệnh tật họ đang mang trên mình.
            Những người này là những người đang phải chịu đầy đau khổ, đau khổ vì tinh thần lẫn thể xác, họ đang cần những ơn lành và lòng thương xót của Chúa và trái tim của Chúa đã cho họ, Ngài đã cứu chữa họ và ban cho họ những nhu cầu cần thiết riêng cho mỗi người, Ngài đã cho họ phục hồi sức khỏe trong thân xác lẫn tâm hồn. Họ đã ở lại với Chúa trong ba ngày mặc dù bị đói khát thực ăn phần xác, nhưng họ cảm thấy no đủ trong tinh thần vì họ đã có Chúa ở với họ. Họ không than thở với cơn đói khát của thân xác, Nhưng Chúa đã nhận thấy nhu cầu thân xác của họ và với lòng nhân từ của Ngài, nên ngài đã chủ động tìm cách ban phát của ăn thể chất  để bồi dưỡng thân xác họ.      
Hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu cũng đã nhận thấy những nhu cầu cần thiết cho thể xác và tâm hồn của chúng ta, Cũng như hơn 2000 năm trước, Chúa Giêsu cũng có khả năng chữa lành tất cả những bệnh tật nơi chúng ta. Ngài có thể ban cho chúng ta những ơn phúc và những thứ cần thiết cho cuộc sống riêng của mỗi người tuỳ theo nhu cầu riêng của mỗi người chúng ta, Ngài cũng có thể tha thứ và cứu chữa chúng ta thoát khỏi được tất cả những tội lỗi và những mặc cảm tội lỗi đang khoả lấp trong linh hồn của chúng ta bằng hy vọng và niềm vui sống lại của Ngài, Chúng ta chỉ cần trở lại với Ngài trong niềm cảm tạ và biết ơn, trong tình yêu, trong đức tin, và sự mong muốn sức mạnh của lòng nhân hậu của Ngài sẽ tuân trào trên chúng ta. Ngài đem sức mạnh và niềm vui trọn vẹn của Ngài đến với mỗi người chúng ta.
Hôm nay chúng ta đang sống trong Mùa Vọng. Chúng ta phải nên nhớ rằng Chúa Giêsu là Emmanuel, Thiên Chúa ở cùng chúng ta, và Ngài giúp ban cho chúng ta có được những nhu cầu cần thiết riêng cho mỗi người chúng ta.
 
REFLECTION
The incident described in this today's Gospel puts before us two of Jesus' acts, both of which flow from the deep sense of compassion that God has bestowed on him. The crowd that assembled about him had brought their sick, crippled, deformed, blind, mute and those beset with yet other diseases. They laid them at his feet and he cured them all. They were people suffering, people in need. His heart went out to them. He responded to their need, he gave them wholeness and health.    The crowd had been with him for three days and had had nothing to eat. He then sees their need and his compassion moves him to take the initiative. He knows they are hungry and if he dismisses them now he knows they might grow faint on their way home. And so he moves to satisfy their need for nourishment.
Jesus is as compassionate and as loving today as he was during his public ministry. He is aware of our needs as he was of the crowds' needs 2,000 years ago. Today too, Jesus has the same healing powers he had when he walked this earth. He can provide us with the material blessings we need; he can also deliver us from sin and guilt and fill us with the joy of his risen life. We need only turn to him in thanksgiving, in love and in faith, and his eager, beneficent powers will flow over us, bringing us too wholeness and health. We are in the season of Advent. We must remember that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, helping us in our need.
 
 
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.   Matthew 15:36–37
This line concludes the second miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes as told by Matthew. In this miracle, seven loaves and a few fish were multiplied to feed 4,000 men, not counting the women and children. And once everyone ate and was satisfied, seven full baskets remained.
It’s hard to underestimate the effect that this miracle had on those who were actually there. Perhaps many did not even know where the food came from. They just saw the baskets being passed, they took their fill, and passed the rest on to others. Though there are many important lessons we can take from this miracle, let’s consider one of them.
Recall that the crowds had been with Jesus for three days without food. They were amazed at Him as He taught and continually healed the sick in their presence. They were so amazed, in fact, that they showed no sign of leaving Him, despite the obvious hunger they must have been experiencing. This is a wonderful image of what we must seek to have in our interior life.
What is it that “amazes” you in life? What is it that you can do hour after hour without losing your attention? For these first disciples, it was the discovery of the very Person of Jesus that had this effect upon them. How about you? Have you ever found that the discovery of Jesus in prayer, or in the reading of Scripture, or through the witness of another, was so compelling that you became engrossed in His presence? Have you ever become so engrossed in our Lord that you thought of little else?
In Heaven, our eternity will be spent in a perpetual adoration and “amazement” of the glory of God. And we will never tire of being with Him, in awe of Him. But too often on Earth, we lose sight of the miraculous action of God in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Too often, instead, we become engrossed in sin, the effects of sin, hurt, scandal, division, hatred and those things that lead to despair.
Reflect, today, upon these first disciples of Jesus. Ponder, especially, their wonder and awe as they stayed with Him for three days without food. This draw of our Lord must take hold of you and overwhelm you so much that Jesus is the one and only central focus of your life. And when He is, all else falls into place and our Lord provides for your many other needs.
My divine Lord, I love You and desire to love You more. Fill me with a wonder and awe for You. Help me to desire You above all things and in all things. May my love of You become so intense that I find myself trusting You always. Help me, dear Lord, to make You the center of my entire life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent Him: In the Old Testament, the Lord promised to provide a feast of rich food and choice wines for all peoples (Isaiah 25:6-7). The Gospel today sees how Jesus begins to fulfill that promise. The crowds followed Jesus up the mountain, eager to experience his healing power. They brought the lame, the blind, the mute, and those who were sick up the mountain, and placed them at the feet of Jesus. Jesus cured them all. The lame were healed and began to walk. The blind were healed and began to see. The deformed were healed and made whole. Those who were mute were healed and began to speak. They experienced healing through Jesus and glorified God. How have I climbed the mountain to encounter Jesus? How have I experienced the healing power of Jesus? How was I lame, blind, deformed, or mute? What was my immediate response to this healing? How did I give glory to God?
2. My Heart is Moved with Pity for the Crowd: The response of Jesus to the crowds is not one of frustration. He was not overwhelmed by the crowds and their needs. The opposite happens. Jesus’ heart is moved with pity and compassion. They have been with Jesus for three days and have exhausted all the food they brought with them. By following Jesus into a deserted place, the people in the crowd signaled that they chose Jesus over earthly goods and comforts. In the desert, Jesus sees both their material and spiritual needs. He knows them better than they do. Do I trust that Jesus knows my material and spiritual needs? How do I bring these to Jesus in prayer? How do I need to go into the desert to encounter Jesus? What is it that I need to leave behind?
3. They Gave the Loaves and Fish to the Crowds: When Jesus told his disciples that he didn’t want to send the crowds away hungry, his disciples questioned where bread could be obtained to satisfy such a crowd. Earlier, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21). Today’s Gospel is the feeding of the four thousand. Given that Jesus already fed a large crowd with a few loaves, it is curious that the disciples still questioned how they could feed such a crowd. There are many reasons to hold that the feeding of the four thousand was a Eucharistic sign for the Gentiles. The crowd has been with Jesus for three days with nothing to eat. This hints at the three days in the tomb and the sign of the prophet Jonah (12:40. “And it is after those three days that Jesus is raised from the dead and then tells his eleven Apostles to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19)” (Huizenga, Behold the Christ, pp. 280-281). The seven loaves and seven baskets symbolize the seven pagan nations that inhabited the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 7:1), just as the five loaves and twelve baskets symbolized the Five Books of Moses and the twelve tribes of Israel. While the 5,000 people in the first miracle symbolized Israel, the 4,000 in the second miracle symbolized the world and the four points of the compass. The Apostles will be sent to the four corners of the globe to bring not only the healing touch of Jesus but also the Eucharistic Bread of Life.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd of my soul, bring me to restful waters, protect me from the evil one, and bring me into the safety of your gates. Tend to my wounds when I sin through stubbornness and folly. Nourish me with the food that confers the gift of eternal life.
 
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you for inviting me to the banquet of the Eucharist. It is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that I long for and hope to enjoy one day. Wipe away my tears, vanquish evil, destroy death, and console me as I walk toward you.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Divine Banquet that Confers Immortality: Today’s readings are connected by a similar message: the Lord will wipe away our tears, he will lead us beside restful waters, he will heal those who are sick, and he will provide food for those who are hungry. It is the Lord who will act on our behalf: he will provide a feast for all peoples; he will destroy death forever; he will wipe away our tears; he will remove our reproach (our infidelity); and he will save us. The passage from Isaiah 25 contains a prophecy about the end-times banquet that God will provide not just for Israel and Judah but for all peoples. When God provides, he provides the best! Isaiah speaks of excellent (fatty) meat and choice wine! The food that God provides, though, gives those who partake of it a share in eternal life and God’s beatitude. The food that God will provide confers immortality.
2. The Thank Offering: The Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 23, speaks about God’s actions towards us: he refreshes us; he guides us; he gives us courage; he spreads a table before us; and he anoints us. The psalm invites us to trust in the Lord, our divine Shepherd and banquet Host. His blessings include peace, refreshment, comfort, and guidance (see Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Psalms, 35). When Psalm 23 speaks of God spreading a table before us, this is likely a reference to “thank offering,” which was a type of peace offering described in Leviticus 7:12-15. The thank (todah) offering became a prominent part of Israelite spirituality and liturgical worship with the rise of David. It was a sacrifice offered by a person whose life had been delivered from a great danger. The person who had been delivered would express their gratitude to God by celebrating a sacrificial meal with family and friends. A priest would sacrifice a lamb and consecrate bread in the Temple. The meat and bread would then be brought home for a meal, along with wine. The meal included songs of thanksgiving and the person recounting how they had been saved from suffering or mortal danger. 
3. Jesus, the Good Shepherd: These actions of God toward us mentioned in Psalm 23 are fully manifested in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. On the one hand, he cures the lame, the blind, the deformed, and the mute. Jesus comes in the flesh to cure us and redeem us. On the other hand, he feeds the crowds with heavenly bread. He does not send them away hungry. This Gospel passage reflects the effect of grace in us: not only does it purify us of our sin, but it also elevates us to share in divine life. As we contemplate what God has done for us in and through Jesus, we are filled with gratitude for God’s care and action in our lives. The liturgical season of Advent especially heightens our awareness of God’s love, and today, we praise the great things he has done for us.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd of my soul, bring me to restful waters, protect me from the evil one, and bring me into the safety of your gates. Tend to my wounds whe