Lạy Chúa Giêsu Thánh Thể, chúng con biết rằng Chúa đang hiện diện ở đây, ở ngay giữa chúng con trong phép thánh thể và chúng con tin tưởng vào sự sự quan phòng, bênh vực và cứu giúp của Chúa. Xin Chúa hãy mở rộng tâm hồn và trái tim của chúng con để chúng con có thể nghe những lời dạy khuyên răn của Chúa và nhờ ơn Chúa mà chúng thay được đổi.
Thánh Augustine đã viết: "Chính bởi đức tin, chúng ta đã chạm đến Chúa Giêsu. Và thật quý hoá nếu chạm vào ngài bằng đức tin hơn là chỉ chạm tới ngài bằng tay chứ không phải bằng đức tin.
Không có gì là tuyệt vời khi chỉ chạm vào ngài bằng tay. Ngay cả những kẻ dữ, kẻ bắt bớ, đánh đập Ngài cũng không còn nghi ngờ gì về việc đụng chạm vào ngài khi họ bắt Ngài ngay tại vườn cây dầu, họ trói Ngài và đóng đinh Ngài trên thập giá, nhưng bằng sự đụng chạm vô cớ của họ lúc đó, đã làm cho họ đã đánh mất đi những gì họ đang nắm giữ. Hỡi Giáo hội trên toàn thế giới! Chính là cách chạm tới Ngài một cách cách trung thành như thế! đức tin của chúng ta đã khiến chúng ta được trở nên trọn vẹn”
Chúa Jêsus có quyền chữa lành, phục hồi chúng ta và làm cho chúng ta trở nên mới. Tại sao Chúa Giêsu thực hiện vô số phép lạ và dấu lạ trong sứ vụ của ngài trong thế giới của chúng ta? Thánh Cyril Thành Alexandria đã viết rằng những dấu hiệu và phép lạ này cho thấy Chúa Giêsu thực sự là Thiên Chúa trên Trời, Ngài là Ngôi Lời vĩnh cửu đã trở thành xác thịt người phàm như chúng ta để cứu rỗi chúng ta:
Chúng con lo sợ không làm được theo ý người đời. Còn ý Chúa, chúng con ít quan tâm, và nhiều khi cố tình đi ngược lại ý Chúa. Xin Chúa Giêsu Thánh thể sửa lại con người lệch lạc của chúng con. Xin cho chúng con hiểu được rằng: thi hành ý Chúa chính là tìm kiếm con đường hạnh phúc cho chính mình. Amen.
Is there anything holding you back from giving yourself to God without fear or reservation? Jesus offered freedom to everyone who sought him out. Wherever Jesus went the people came to him because they had heard about all the wonderful deeds and miracles which he performed. They were hungry for God and desired healing from their afflictions. In faith they pressed upon Jesus to touch him. As they did so power came from Jesus and they were healed. Do you seek to lay hold of Jesus' presence in your life that he may touch and heal you?
Draw near to Jesus with expectant faith and he will answer Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.) remarked:
The Lord Jesus has power to heal, restore, and make us new. Why did Jesus perform so many countless miracles and signs during his earthly ministry? Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD) wrote that these signs and miracles showed that Jesus was truly God - the eternal Word who was made flesh for our salvation:
Why did the demons tremble in the presence of Jesus (Mark 3:11)? They recognized that his power and authority came from heaven and not from earth. But while they confessed Christ and trembled in his presence, they did not respond in love.
Receive God's word with expectant faith, persevering hope, and fervent love. When you read God's word and consider all that Jesus said and did, how do you respond? With indifference, hesitation, or skepticism, or with expectant faith, love, and willing obedience? Ask the Lord Jesus to draw you to himself with increasing faith, fervent love, and eager readiness to do his will.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. Mark 3:9–10
It’s fascinating to ponder the enthusiasm that so many people had toward Jesus. In the passage above, we see Jesus asked His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that He would not be crushed as He taught the crowd. He had been curing many who were sick, and the crowd was pressing upon Him to try to simply touch Him.
This scene provides us with an illustration of what must happen within our interior lives regarding our Lord. The people can be said to have been single-minded in their devotion to Jesus and fervent in their desire for Him. Granted, their desire may have been somewhat selfishly motivated by the desire for physical cures of their ailments and those of their loved ones, but nonetheless, their attraction was real and powerful, driving them to put their complete focus upon our Lord.
Jesus’ choice to get into a boat and distance Himself a bit from the crowd was also an act of love. Why? Because this act allowed Jesus to help them refocus upon His deeper mission. Though He did miracles out of compassion and so as to manifest His almighty power, His primary focus was to teach people and to lead them into the full Truth of the message He was preaching. Therefore, by separating Himself from them, they were invited to listen to Him rather than just try to touch Him for the sake of a physical miracle. For Jesus, the spiritual wholeness He desired to give the crowd was of much greater significance than any physical healing He also gave.
In our own lives, Jesus may “separate” Himself from us in somewhat superficial ways so that we will be more open to the deeper and more transforming purpose of His life. For example, He may remove certain feelings of consolation or permit us to encounter some trial through which He seems to be less present to us. But when this happens, it is always so that we will turn to Him on a deeper level of trust and openness so as to be drawn more deeply into a relationship of love.
Reflect, today, upon how single-minded your devotion is to our Lord. From there, ponder, also, if you are more attached to the good feelings and consolations you seek or if your devotion is deeper, focused more on the transforming message our Lord wants to preach to you. See yourself on that shore, listening to Jesus speak, and allow His holy words to transform your life more deeply.
My saving God, I turn to You, this day, and seek to be single-minded in my love and devotion to You. Help me, first and foremost, to listen to Your transforming Word and to allow that Word to become the central focus of my life. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord, I trust in you. You are my Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. How can I not place my total trust in you? I owe you everything, all that I am and all that I will be.
1. Saul Sought to Kill David: Saul knows that he has been disobedient and that the kingdom is slipping away from him. He sees the writing on the wall and hears the songs the people are singing. When the women praise David more than him, Saul becomes jealous and discusses his intention of killing David with his son Jonathan.The deepest desires of Saul’s wicked heart become clear in today’s reading. Not only was Saul disobedient and unrepentant, but he was also envious of anyone who was praised more than him. Saul, then, is very much like King Herod, who did anything – including killing the members of his own family – to protect his kingship.The words of today’s psalm are placed on the lips of David, who trusts in God without fear. He asks: What can the flesh – Saul in this case – do against me? Even Jesus will say: “Do not fear those who can kill the body but are unable to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).
2. The Pharisees Sought to Kill Jesus: Just as David was persecuted by Saul, so Jesus, the New David, is persecuted by the Pharisees and religious authorities in Galilee and Jerusalem. In the Gospel, Jesus responds to the actions of the Pharisees, who were actively plotting his death – by withdrawing to the sea and countryside. After the series of conflicts with the religious authorities, Jesus seems to avoid direct confrontation with them in the synagogues and travels back and forth across the lake often at night. The people, though, are flocking to Jesus not only from Israel but from the lands among the Gentiles. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus displays mighty power and can even silence demons. And yet the frailty of his human nature is also on display. He has to get into a boat to avoid being crushed by the crowds. And he has to withdraw to avoid those plotting his death.
3. Seek out Jesus: The Gospel tells us that people traveled from many places to encounter Jesus. The people heard what Jesus was doing and taught and wanted to see it and experience it for themselves. We are blessed to have Jesus so close to us. We are blessed to have the Sacraments of the Church so readily available to us.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I believe that you can cure me, that you can deliver me from death, that you can keep my feet from stumbling. Set me on the right path, enlightened by your love, that leads to the Father.
Resolution: The people sought out Jesus to be cured of their diseases and to be freed from the reign of Satan. We too should turn from our former way of life and seek Jesus. We have all sinned against God in different ways. We should not imitate Saul, who chose to remain in his sin; let us rather imitate David who, despite his sin, trusts in God and in his mercy. What sin do I need to let go of? How can I receive God’s merciful love today?
1. They Came to Him: A “great multitude” followed Jesus from Galilee. “Hearing all that he had been doing” impelled them to seek him out. Who was this mystery man? Some were intrigued by his words. Many sought physical healings, and Jesus was their last hope. Would they believe that Jesus was more than a prophet, more than a teacher? Would Jesus impress upon them his authority, his majesty, his individual love for each of them? An encounter with Jesus brings with it great promises of abundant grace, spiritual awakening, forgiveness, and more. What did this great multitude experience? We can experience the same graces every day when we pray.
How open is our hearts to Jesus? Jesus is surrounded, pressed by the crowd. Jesus is a person sought after. The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees form themselves into an opposition group while the crowds become enthusiastic. Mark underlines the striking contrast between the hostility Jesus faces from the leaders and the popularity he enjoys among the simple people, the poor. One day, these same crowds will turn against him, but just now, they are searching for him.
In today's Gospel we find expressed the impetuousness and simplicity of the ordinary people. Up to this point Mark has not given us any of Jesus' lengthy instructions. Jesus does not talk much; he acts, he heals, and this is really what they come to seek from him — healing.
Jesus is the Savior.
When we are ill, when we suffer, we rush to him. Is Jesus our Savior only in time of trouble? Should he not be the King and center of our hearts at all times? Let us ask Jesus to help us to work with him, to fight against evil with all our strength today and every day of our lives. It should be our constant desire to help people to grow up,
heal some pains and comfort some sorrows, make some of the people
heal some pains and comfort some sorrows, make some of the people around us blossom with Jesus.
The Gospel ends with Jesus' directive to the devils to be silent. The devils know who Jesus is and they shout it out. Popular enthusiasm, far from manifesting what is essential in the person of Jesus, risks its failure by stressing on unimportant aspects. Jesus' kingdom is not an ordinary undertaking. It progresses only in a slow and discrete manner, in the secret recesses of the heart. Faith is not a loud proclamation but a modest interior discovery that is gradually purified.
Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, vua Saolô là một ví dụ điển hình cho sự yếu đuối của con người trong những bối cảnh phải đối mặt với sự thiếu khiêm nhường, hay tự đại rồi đâm ra tự tì, mặc cảm, ghen ghét giận hờn rồi sinh ra thù hận…. Mặc dù Saolô đã đạt được những lời khen ngợi vì những chiến công lừng lẫy trong các trận ông đã chiến thắng, nhưng ông vẫn không hài lòng với chính mình vì sự ghen tức với David vì những lời ca tụng của đám người phụ nữ vô tư. Trong xã hội ngày nay, chủ nghĩa cá nhân đã khiến nhiều người chúng ta quá tự mãn cho niềm tự hào của chính mình, để tự phụ rồi từ đó phát xuất ra hận thù và ghen ghét với những người khác cũng chỉ vì sự ích kỷ, và tham lam. Con đường chân chính để cứu độ mà Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta theo Ngài làm môn đệ của Chúa Kitô cũng như các môn đệ của Ngài khi xưa là phải làm những điều tốt đẹp để vinh danh Thiên Chúa chứ không phải là làm để tìm kiếm phần thưởng, hay tiếng tốt, hay những sự lợi ích cho chính cá nhân riêng mình.
Chúng ta hãy tự hài lòng với chính mình và những gì mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta bởi vì chúng ta đang mắc nợ nơi thánh giá Chúa Kitô, Thánh giá của sự cứu rỗi. Và hơn thế nữa, chúng ta không cần phải tranh nhau để lập chiến công riêng, để được phần thưởng cá nhân, nhưng chúng ta cần phải biết ca ngợi Thiên Chúa luôn mãi, không ngừng!
Qua bài Tin Mừng, Trong tất cả các phép lạ mà Chúa Giêsu đã thực hiện , Chúa Giêsu luôn luôn biểu lộ sự khiêm tốn, đó một nhân đức làm nổi bật nhất về Ngài và Ngài cũng luôn luôn mời gọi chúng ta cùng áp dụng trong cuộc sống hàng ngày của chúng ta đó là nhân đức khiêm nhường.
Saul was upset and beside himself. Although the people sang his praises, they sang them quite a bit louder for David. Saul had killed thousands of the enemy (what a terrible thing to brag about!) but David had killed tens of thousands. There had always been bad blood and animosity between Saul and David, and now it increased
Our wounded egos and hurt feelings can be deadly things and cause a lot of damage. Pride is a form of fear when we are content with who and what we are, we do not feel a need to ‘defend’ ourselves. The crowds were desperate, for they suffered greatly from many afflictions: disease, demonic possession, deformities, and all manner of unhappiness. They pressed in on Jesus until they were in danger of overwhelming him. In addition to their pain, they felt great hope. Jesus had shown them the mercy and compassion of God. They dared to believe that there was a way out of their misery. Perhaps the greatest service that we can do for God and other people today is to give hope. Hope is very scarce; we live in a very uncertain and frightening world, and many people feel that they have no future.
We turn to Jesus in our need, but we also share with others what he gives to us. Kindness, mercy, and compassion are the best way to proclaim the Gospel. Lord, may I give hope to others.
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