Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần thứ Tư Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần thứ Tư Phục Sinh

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta thấy hình ảnh của Chúa Giêsu qua người chăn chiên lành và đã miêu tả mối quan hệ mật thiết giữa chiên cừu và người chăn vì cả hai đều có kiến thức và sự hiểu biết lẫn nhau.
Tuy nhiên, bài Tin Mừng hôm nay Thánh Gioan muốn truyền đạt nhiều hơn nữa. Vì Chúa Giêsu không phải chỉ là một mục tử tốt lành mà Ngài cũng là cánh cổng. Ngài không phải chỉ hướng dẫn những con chiên của Ngài đến với ơn cứu rỗi, Nhưng Chúa Giêsu cũng còn là đường đưa chúng ta đến với ơn cứu rỗi và sự cứu rỗi chính là Ngài. Những kẻ trộm cắp đến để ăn trộm, ăn cắp, giết người để hủy diệt. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đến để ban cho con người chúng ta cuộc sống. Chúng ta thường xuyên nhận được cuộc sống khi chúng ta phát triển trong tự do.
Qua bài đọc trong sách Công vụ Tông Đồ mô tả cách mà Thiên Chúa đã truyền cảm hứng cho thánh Phêrô để loan báo cho những người trong Giáo Hội tại Jerusalem một sự tự do nhất định cho các tín hữu mới.
Những người không Do Thái có thể trở thành tín hữu và môn đệ của Chúa Kitô mà không bị những hạn chế của lề luật như chế độ ăn uống của người Do Thái. Đây không phải là một thông điệp dễ dàng để loan báo cho những nhà lãnh đạo, kể cả thánh Phêrô để chấp nhận. Tuy nhiên, thánh Phêrô đã cho chúng ta thấy rõ ra rằng là nếu Thiên Chúa muốn chúc lành và ban tặng cho những ai đã theo sự đổi mới của Chúa Kitô có cùng một Chúa Thánh Linh mà Thiên Chúa đã ban cho các các Tông Đồ của Ngài, và lđã giúp cho thánh Phêrô (và những người kế vị các thánh Tông đồ) biết cách để có thể sống theo như cách của Thiên Chúa.
Lạy Chúa, Chúa là mục tử và là sự cứu rỗi tôi. Trường hợp trong cuộc sống mà chúng con đã được Chúa mời gọi chúng con lớn lên trong sự tự do?
 
Monay 4th Week of Easter
The image of the Good Shepherd portrays an intimate relationship between the sheep and their shepherd. There is a mutual knowledge and familiarity.  Yet the gospel writer wants to convey even more. Jesus is not only the shepherd; He is also the gate. He not only leads the sheep to salvation, Jesus the way to salvation and salvation itself. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus comes to give life and to give life to us in abundance.
            We often receive life when we grow in freedom. The reading from Acts describes how God has inspired Peter to proclaim to the Church leaders in Jerusalem a certain freedom for new believers. People who are not Jewish can become believers and followers of Christ without taking on the restrictions of Jewish dietary laws. This was not an easy message for the leaders, including Peter, to accept. Ultimately, however, Peter points out that if God wants to bless and gift these new followers of Christ with the same Spirit God has given to the leaders themselves, how can Peter (or anyone else) stand in God’s way?
            Lord, You are my shepherd and salvation. Where in my life are You inviting me to grow in freedom?
 
Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
“But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” John 10:2–4
Do you recognize the voice of the Shepherd? Does He lead you each and every day, guiding you into His holy will? How attentive are you to what He speaks each day? These are some of the most important questions to ponder.
Recognizing God’s voice is something that many people struggle with. There are often many competing “voices” that speak to us each and every day. From the latest news in the headlines, to the opinions of friends and family, to the temptations all around us within the secular world, to our own self-drawn opinions, these “voices” or “ideas” that fill our minds can be hard to sort through. What is from God? And what is from other sources?
Recognizing the voice of God is indeed possible. First of all, there are many general truths that God has already spoken to us. For example, everything contained in the Holy Scriptures is the voice of God. His Word is alive. And when we read the Scriptures, we become more and more familiar with God’s voice.
God also speaks to us through gentle inspirations that result in His peace. For example, when considering a certain decision you may need to make, if you present that decision to our Lord prayerfully and then remain open to whatever He wants of you, oftentimes His answer comes in the form of a deep and certain peace of heart.
Learning to recognize the voice of God in your daily life is accomplished by building an interior habit of listening, recognizing, responding, listening some more, recognizing and responding, etc. The more you hear the voice of God, the more you will recognize His voice in the most subtle of ways, and the more you come to hear the subtleties of His voice, the more you will be able to follow. In the end, this is only accomplished by an ongoing habit of deep and sustaining prayer. Without that, it will be very difficult to recognize the voice of the Shepherd when you need Him the most.
Reflect, today, upon how attentive you are to God in prayer. What does your daily prayer look like? Do you spend time each day listening to the gentle and beautiful voice of our Lord? Do you seek to form a habit by which His voice becomes clearer and clearer? If not, if you do struggle in recognizing His voice, then make the decision to establish a deeper habit of daily prayer so that it is the voice of our loving Lord Who leads you every day.
Jesus, my Good Shepherd, You speak to me each and every day. You are constantly revealing to me Your most holy will for my life. Help me to always recognize Your gentle voice so that I can be led by You through the challenges of life. May my life of prayer become so deep and sustaining that Your voice always echoes within my heart and soul. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Monday 4th Week of Easter
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you are the Gatekeeper and have entrusted the role of Good Shepherd to your Son, Jesus Christ. Throw open the gates of eternal life to me and help me listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd who calls me by name and leads me to the pastures of eternal life.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Shepherd: In the Gospel, Jesus alludes to himself as the shepherd of the sheep. He is our leader and enters first through the gate, the gate of heaven and eternal life. He criticizes the religious leaders of Israel, who, in his day, were acting like thieves and robbers and not as authentic shepherds. They were taking advantage of their positions for personal gain. Instead of laying down their lives for the flock, for their sheep, they fell into the temptations that this world offers, the temptations of power, possessions, and pleasure. By contrast, Jesus resisted those temptations and sought only to love his sheep and will their good, the good of salvation, by giving his own life for them. He truly is the Good Shepherd who leads his sheep to good pasture – the verdant fields of eternal life – and the water of the Spirit. 
2. Lamb: When we read about shepherds, sheep, and sheepgates in the Gospel of John, we cannot forget that Jesus was earlier identified by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God. Both in the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation, this is a key identification of Jesus. Jesus is both “Good Shepherd” and “Lamb of God,” just as he is both “faithful and merciful high priest” and “sacrificial victim.” He is mysteriously both the one who offers and the one who is offered. The offering of a lamb harkens back to the Book of Genesis, when Abraham was called to offer his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham trusted that God would provide a lamb, and, in his only-begotten and beloved Son, God did! While the lambs offered in the Temple were ineffective at taking away our sins, Jesus’ one self-offering was effective. As his cousin John proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” We hear these same words at mass when the Eucharist is held up and the priest proclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”
3. Sheepgate: Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd who leads and protects his sheep and lambs; he is not only the Lamb of God sacrificed on the Cross for our sins; he is also the sheepgate. Whoever enters through Jesus the Sheepgate will be saved. Jesus is the way that leads to eternal life. He has opened the gates of heaven, which were locked due to the sin of our first parents. He himself is the gate through whom we enter into divine life. We enter in the Spirit, through the Son, and to the Father. We need to be on guard about false gates, those gates set up by thieves and robbers. The false gates include those set up by many of the Pharisees, who indulged in self-righteousness, loved the praise of men, and were confident in their own works. The true gate, by contrast, is exemplified in Jesus and is one of humility, service, sacrifice, mercy, peace, justice, purity, grace, virtue, and charity.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, call me by name today. Protect me from evil and lead me to the refreshing water of eternal life. Help me to imitate you as the Good Shepherd and care for those entrusted to me.
 
Monday 4th Week of Easter
Opening Prayer: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You set a table before me in front of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the Lord for endless days.
Encountering Christ:
The Sheepfold: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.” One definition of a sheepfold is a three-foot stone wall opening up to the sky. It is said a sheep can jump as high as three feet, and anyone trying to get in would have no trouble stepping over that low wall. This type of sheepfold assumes a shepherd who is ever alert and attentive. The Catholic Church is like this type of sheepfold. The sheep have the freedom to jump the wall if they choose, and anyone from the outside can easily enter. We, too, have that freedom. “God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel, so that he might of his own accord seek his creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him” (CCC 1743). “The Church proposes. She imposes nothing” (St. John Paul II).
Thieves and Robbers: The Catechism states, “The grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and good that God has put in the human heart” (1742). Humans are much more intelligent than sheep, but we are wise to look to them for their example of trust. It is said that as long as the sheep are full and feel protected, they are happy to stay in place. Our faith teaches that the “thieves and robbers” that tempt us are the flesh, the world, and the devil. If we believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Good Shepherd, who provides fully for us and protects us from harm, why do we find ourselves mistaking the voices of vice as something good and worth following? 
The Shepherd’s Voice: “But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” With over thirty-thousand Protestant Christian denominations in the world, there are various understandings of who Jesus is. For Catholics, we can trust who Jesus is through Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. These three pillars of the Church, like the Good Shepherd, the gatekeeper, and the gate, are Jesus Christ, who promised he would not leave us orphaned (John 14:18). When we doubt, fear, and find ourselves lost through sin, we can trust Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is always alert and attentive and will draw us back to the sheepfold of the Church. We can trust Jesus through his Churc h to provide and protect us as he says, “Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I believe you are the Good Shepherd. I believe you will provide and protect me. I am sorry for all the times I have left your fold to go my own way. True freedom lies in you, God. Thank you for the gift of the Church, where I can always come home and seek reconciliation through the sacraments. 
 
Monday 4th Week of Easter
Opening Prayer: Lord, help me to be convinced to listen to you instead of the “thieves” who often claim they want to help me, because I know that only you want the best for me.
Encountering Christ:
Thieves and Robbers: Jesus warned us that there will be people who try to take shortcuts, lie, cheat, and lead us astray. These voices of the culture and the world can be very convincing because, after all, we’re only sheep. But we are protected from these thieves and robbers as long as we follow the Shepherd. His “gate” is the church, where we live out the Ten Commandments, receive the sacraments, and encounter others on the road to heaven. We are safe “out in the world,” and are free to come and go as long as we stay rooted in the truths and teachings of the Church. 
We Are Led: Our Shepherd wants to lead us safely through this life. Whether we recognize it or not, he’s out front, paving our way, clearing obstacles, and setting us up for ultimate success—a life with him in eternity. All that he requires of us is that we hear his voice, listen to him, and obey. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers. Rather, the law of the Lord is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).
Abundant Life: Jesus died on the cross to open for us the gate of heaven. We will enjoy eternal bliss with him one day if we’re faithful. In the meantime, however, Jesus also promises us abundant goodness each day of our life. As his followers, we are able to rejoice in an experience of him in prayer, perceive his presence in the beauty of nature, serve him in our family and neighbors, unite ourselves to him in our sufferings, and so much more. What graces he showers on those who believe! 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, thank you for pointing out my weaknesses and littleness as a sheep. And thank you even more for being my Shepherd. You have provided me with every grace I need to sojourn through this life on my way to heaven. Open my eyes even wider to see you more clearly and appreciate the abundant goodness you send my way each day.