Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Sau Lễ Hiển Linh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Sau Lễ Hiển Linh
"Nếu ai nói:'Tôi yêu mến Thiên Chúa", nhưng lại ghét anh em mình, thì người ấy là kẻ nói dối." Thánh Gioan lập lại giáo huấn của Chúa Giêsu dựa vào Cựu Ước, vì Thiên Chúa có nói rõ: "Ngươi không được trả thù, không được oán hận những người thuộc về dân ngươi. Ngươi phải yêu đồng loại như chính mình. Ta là Ðức Chúa."(Leviticus 19:18).  Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đã đưa cái điều luật này lên cao và quan trọng hơn hết: "Anh em phải yêu thương nhau như Thầy đã yêu thương anh em". (Ga 13,34) Như vậy, tất cả các mối quan hệ giữa con người và những quan hệ trong xã hội đươc đặt dưới sự bảo vệ và hướng dẫn bởi Luật của Thiên Chúa. Tình yêu, tất nhiên, được thúc đẩy và hướng dẫn bởi sự tự do mà là một phần nội tại của sự tồn tại của con người.
            Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, thánh Gioan sử dụng chữ "người anh em" mà Cựu Ước thì sử dụng "hàng xóm, láng giềng".  Một cái nhìn kỹ càng, cặn kẽ  cho thấy "người hàng xóm, láng giềng" chỉ đơn thuần là bất cứ ai là người nào “đáng yêu” và cũng đúng và đồng nghĩa với chữ "người anh em" hay "chị em" trong ý nghĩa Kitô giáo.
            Tội lỗi nằm trong sự phân đôi, là ranh giới giữa tình yêu của Thiên Chúa và sự tuyên xưng tình yêu cho Thiên Chúa và cũng là hành vi thường ngày của con người chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy cầu xin với Thiên Chúa, ban cho chúng ta có đươc ơn yêu mến Chúa bằng với tất cả trái tim và lòng trí của chúng ta để chúng ta biết yêu thương anh chị em chúng ta như Chúa Giêsu yêu thương chúng ta.
 
Reflection: (SG)
“If anyone says he loves God but hates his brother, he is a liar.”  John’s doctrine is founded in the teaching of Jesus, which is founded on the Old Testament, since God says clearly: “You must love your neighbour as yourself.  I am Yahweh” (Leviticus 19:18).   Jesus raises this to a higher level: “You must love each other as I have loved you”. Thus, all human relationships and social intercourse is under the protection and guidance of God’s Law. Love, of course, is motivated and guided by that freedom which is an intrinsic part of human existence. Nevertheless, though it seems a paradox, love can be commanded. Still, even when commanded, love is not merely a matter of obeying a law or a commandment but is ultimately a disposition of life. Love ultimately demands a moral direction of life which transcends the directions which the law gives.
            John uses “brother” where the Old Testament uses “neighbor”. A close examination shows that “neighbor” is simply anyone who deserves love and the same is true of “brother” or “sister” in the Christian sense. Sin lies in the dichotomy of one’s professed love for God and one's daily human behaviour. Grant us, Lord, the grace to love You with all our heart and to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus loved us.
 
Thursaday after Epiphany Thursday after Epiphany or January 10
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.  Luke 4:14–15
            Jesus had just spent forty days in the desert, fasting and praying prior to beginning His public ministry. His first stop was Galilee, where He entered the Synagogue and read from the Prophet Isaiah. However, soon after His words were spoken in the Synagogue, Jesus was driven out of the town, and the people tried to throw Him over the hill to kill Him.
            Jesus had just spent forty days in the desert, fasting and praying prior to beginning His public ministry. His first stop was Galilee, where He entered the Synagogue and read from the Prophet Isaiah. However, soon after His words were spoken in the Synagogue, Jesus was driven out of the town, and the people tried to throw Him over the hill to kill Him.
What a shocking contrast. At first Jesus was “praised by all,” as we see in the passage above. Word of Him spread like wildfire throughout the towns. They had heard of His baptism and the Voice of the Father speaking from Heaven, and many were curious and excited about Him. But as soon as Jesus began to preach the pure Gospel message and when He began to address their hardness of heart, they turned on Him and sought His life.
Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that the Gospel will always have the effect of drawing people together as one. Of course, this is one of the central goals of the Gospel: to unite us in the Truth as the one people of God. But the key to unity is that unity is only possible when we all accept the saving Truth of the Gospel. All of it. And that means we must change our hearts, turn from the stubbornness of our sins, and open our minds to Christ. Sadly, some do not want to change, and the result is division.
If you find that there are aspects of Jesus’ teaching that are hard to accept, reflect upon the passage above. Return to this initial reaction of the townspeople when they were all talking about Jesus and praised Him. That is the right response. Our difficulties with what Jesus says and what He calls us to repent of should never have the effect of leading us to disbelief rather than to praise Him in all things.
Reflect, today, on the most difficult teaching of Jesus you have struggled with. Everything He says and everything He has taught is for your good. Praise Him no matter what and allow your heart of praise to give you the wisdom you need to understand all that Jesus asks of you. Especially those teachings that are most difficult to accept.
Lord, I accept all that You have taught, and I choose to change those parts of my life that do not conform to Your most holy will. Give me wisdom to see the thing from which I must repent and soften my heart so that I will always remain open to You. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday after Epiphany 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have prepared your people to experience your merciful love. Your Son inaugurated the perpetual Jubilee of mercy and grace. I love you and thank you for all that you have done to bring me into your family and save me from the slavery of sin and curse of eternal death.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Freedom and the Jubilee Year: Every seven years, the people of Israel were to celebrate a Sabbath year of rest. Every fifty years, after seven cycles of Sabbath years, the people of Israel were supposed to celebrate the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:8-55). It began with the spiritual liberation from sin on the Day of Atonement: “The removal of sin and evil allowed reconciliation of God with his people and a restoration of the family bond of the covenant” (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 45). The blood of the lamb on the Day of Atonement accomplished redemption, the payment of the debt incurred by sin. Financial debts were also forgiven in the Jubilee Year, and the ancestral land that was sold to pay any financial debts was released or returned to the family that sold it. The Jubilee Year enabled the people of God to experience rest with God. The people were freed from debt, freed from slavery, and freed from agricultural obligations. They were freed to worship and enjoy covenant communion with the Lord God.
2. The Exile and the Jubilee: We can gather from the Bible that the people of Israel were negligent in obeying the prescriptions of the Sabbath years and Jubilee Years. In fact, the 70 years of the Babylonian Exile were a punishment for not following the laws about the Sabbath and Jubilee years (2 Chronicles 36:20-21). The prophets of Israel realized that the Jubilee year would truly be observed only when the Messiah or “anointed one” came (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 55). Isaiah 61, which Jesus read in today’s Gospel, looks forward to the day when God’s anointed servant would proclaim liberty to the captives and a Jubilee year of favor. The other prophets, like Daniel and Ezekiel, both looked forward to the great Jubilee that the Messiah would inaugurate. Daniel spoke of seventy weeks of years (490 years) and Ezekiel used the number 500 (ten jubilee cycles) in connection to the New Temple. “Ezekiel meant to symbolize that, in the future, Israel’s temple would also be her source of jubilee – forgiveness, freedom, family, and fullness. And from this jubilean temple, the river of life would flow east, watering and rejuvenating the land wherever it reached (Ezek 47:1-12) (Bergsma,Jesus and the Jubilee, 57).
3. Nazareth and the Inauguration of the Great Jubilee: When Jesus read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth, he proclaimed that he was the Messiah and was inaugurating the Jubilee Year of favor. He likened himself to the prophets Elijah and Elisha. After his preaching, Jesus does things that evidence he is the long-awaited Messiah and priestly king like Melchizedek. Not only does Jesus proclaim liberty and announce the year of the Lord’s favor, but he also releases people from their debt of sin, delivers them from the power of the devil, and atones for sin through his sacrificial death on the cross (see Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 75-76). We experience the perpetual jubilee inaugurated by Jesus every single day in the Sacraments of the Church. “All the goals of the jubilee are fulfilled by the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit forgives our sins, grants us freedom from the tyranny of Satan, institutes us as children of God and members of his family, and initiates us into the fullness of God so that we become ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4)” (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 111).
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I have heard your preaching in Nazareth and fully welcome the Jubilee you have inaugurated. Help me, during this year of Jubilee, to be freed from the slavery of sin and enter into my heavenly home.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I have heard your preaching in Nazareth and fully welcome the Jubilee you have inaugurated. Help me, during this year of Jubilee, to be freed from the slavery of sin and enter into my heavenly home.
 
Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Ngày thứ Năm Tuần Bát Nhạt Giáng Sinh 2025
Opening Prayer: Holy Spirit, open my eyes to recognize the light that Jesus brings with his incarnation. Prepare my heart to contemplate the central mystery of my faith with greater love and gratitude today. 
Encountering Christ: 
1. The Greatest Mystery: St. John started his Gospel account by drawing us into the meaning of the mystery of the Incarnation. Let us pause and contemplate with awe and adoration. Who is this Jesus, this baby who was just born in Bethlehem? He is the light that existed from the beginning, the Word God spoke as he said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). He is the coeternal life that gives life to everything that exists. He is the fullness of glory, and does not depend on any creature. And after sin came into the world, his eternal love and mercy did not want humanity to dwell in darkness. In the greatest act of love ever told, he took on human nature and “made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). He came to give us the gift of being God’s sons and daughters, the gift of grace. He came to reveal the Father. What an amazing mystery of love. 
2. The Gift of a Father: The Gospel passage mentions that  God gave those who accepted Jesus as the light “the power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Jesus came to reveal that God wants us to be his adopted sons and daughters, born not only from natural generation, but by God’s choice. We receive this gift at our baptism, and we strengthen it through the sacraments and a life of prayer. How many times do we walk through life as orphans, allowing the lies of the enemy to make us believe that we are alone, that there is no one to guide us, that everything is up to us? As we contemplate the love of God in the incarnation, let us stop and remember God’s presence as a Father and turn to him with the confidence of the children of God, as Jesus taught us.
3. Accepting the Gift: As he was describing the gift of the Word of God made man out of love for us, St. John the Evangelist also mentioned that “the world did not know him” and “his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11). We know that God created us free, and we are free to accept his gift or to reject it. There are many times in our lives when we reject the gift Jesus has come to give us, and we opt to put other things before God. We believe in those moments that happiness will come from material things: money, power, fame, worldly pleasures, or comfort. We doubt that we can trust God with our happiness, and we try to secure it ourselves. Can we decide today to accept the gift of peace that surpassses all understanding which Jesus came to bring us through his incarnation this Christmas?
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for revealing the Father to us. Thank you for the gift of grace and peace you brought through your incarnation. Thank you for becoming a man like us to show us the way. I want to accept your gifts in my life.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I want to strengthen my spiritual life by making a good examination of conscience and preparing myself to go to confession during this Christmas season. 
 
REFLECTION
January first used to be celebrated as the Octave Day of Christmas and the
Circumcision and Naming of Jesus. The celebration has been changed to the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God., the principal and most important title and role of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "Mother of God" is the literal translation of Mater Dei in Latin and Theotokos in Greek, the "Bearer of God," which was defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431.
            The Gospel reading still celebrates the circumcision and naming of Jesus in accordance with Jewish law and custom: truly God, he was also truly man and subjected himself to all the usual conventions and practices of man, except that he was sinless. Made man through Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the redeemer of the world.
Celebrating Jesus and Mary at the beginning of each year, we are reminded to dedicate the whole year to the Lord, realizing that each one of us in our own and specific way is tasked to be a "bearer of God." We are tasked to bring Christ to everyone and to everything in our lives, to our families, friends and work associates, to those who have lost their longing for God, to those who have been alienated from God -that each one of them may find and recognize God's presence in the world.
Through this celebration the Church challenges and encourages us to pray for the Lord's Holy Spirit to enable us to be earnest bearers of goodness, hope and love, bearers of Christ to one another. May Mary, Mother of God and our blessed Mother, who pondered all these mysteries in her heart, inspire and guide us today and throughout the coming year.
 
Opening Prayer: Holy Spirit, through this prayer lead my soul to a deeper faith, a stronger hope, and a more passionate love for God and others. Strengthen my faith through the example of Mary, mother of Jesus and my mother, so I can live my life helping to bring Jesus to the world like she did.
Encountering Christ: 
1. The Light of Faith: After the Annunciation, the Gospel tells us that the angel departed from Mary (Luke 1:38). The angel had not explained how every detail of Jesus’s birth would happen, how Joseph would finally take her into his home, how they would have to travel to Bethlehem for the census. Like all of us, Mary had to hold on in faith to the promise. She had to trust God although she did not know the specifics. Mary must have been consoled when the shepherds arrived at the manger and shared the story about the angels appearing to them. Their visit was a confirmation that everything was happening according to God’s plan. At times we can feel like our faith gives us just enough light to take the next step. We can be consoled and grateful when Our Lord sends little confirmations to encourage us along the journey.
2. Mary’s Heart: “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Mary knew how to make a prayer of her life. She had learned that she could discover the hand of God in everything, and she knew that the story of salvation was unraveling before her eyes. She was awed before the mystery, the baby she was holding in her arms. Being always open and receptive to the life of God within her prepared her for the mission of being the Mother of God. In our life, God is also speaking constantly through our circumstances. Our own stories of salvation are being unraveled every day. Blessed Mother, pray that we are receptive and open!
3. The Shepherds: Mary noticed how the shepherds were poor and simple, not wealthy or powerful. But that might have not surprised her, since she knew how God had chosen her, how he had looked at her lowliness (Luke 1:46), and through her sought to establish a kingdom with no end (Luke 1:33). Mary did not hesitate to humbly share in the joy of salvation with those shepherds. She opened her heart to glorify God with them. Let us look at the example of Mary, Mother of God and our mother, and learn to humble ourselves, opening our hearts to love all people unconditionally, expecting that God will do amazing things through us for his glory. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for becoming a man like us. Thank you for the gift of your mother. Help me to learn from her so I can also bring you to today’s world and share your love as she did. 
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I want to find some time to pray a rosary or a decade of the rosary to ask Mary, your mother and my mother, to help me live my faith as she lived it.