Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy- tuần thứ 3 Mùa Chay

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy- tuần thứ 3 Mùa Chay
Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm này cho chúng ta thấy người biệt phái này là đại diện tượng trưng cho những người tự cho mình đạo đức, Họ tự tôn mình lên trên những người khác về mặt đạo đức và tinh thần vì họ là những người học luật, họ là những người lãng đạo tôn giáo, họ  hiểu rõ và giữ luật Môisen kỹ hơn ai hết . Phần chúng ta, đôi khi chúng ta có thể nhìn thấy chính mình trong những  hình ảnh của những người biệt phái, hay trong các biểu tượng của những người biệt phái Do thái này!  Những người đã tự cao, tự đại  coi rẻ hay khinh thường những người khác, nhất là những người thấp kém, nghèo hèn , bệnh tật…để rồi tự sống trong một cảm giác tự mãn tự hài lòng?  Theo các nhà Tâm lý và Kinh Thánh  cho chúng ta biết rằng khi chúng ta thất bại trong việc phải đối phó với bóng tối tội lỗi và sự thiếu sót trong bản thân của chúng ta , Chúng ta thường hay đỗ lỗi của chúng ta  vào những người hoặc các nhóm người khác mà không bao giờ chịu nhìn thấy được cái lỗi lầm và thiếu xót nơi chính mình.
               Những điều mà chúng ta ghét cay ghét đắng những người khác thường ẩn nấp ở các cấp độ rất sâu hơn trong tấm hồn của chúng ta. Những điều mà chúng ta không thể chịu đựng được ở những người khác thường có thể được tìm thấy trong chính mình. Khi chúng ta biết điều này, thí đấy là điều hữu ích mà chúng ta có thể  phát triển về sự hiểu biết vế chính mình.           Câu chuyện nói về người thu Thuế,  như chúng ta biết họ là những đáng ghét nhất trong xứ Giu-đê vào thời điểm đó, nhưng họ lại  được Thiên Chúa thương xót và ngó mắt tới vì sự khiêm tốn, trung thực của họ , và những sự đau khổ  mà họ thực lòng  cầu xin tới sự cởi mở và lòng thương xót của Thiên Chúa.  
               Có lẽ chúng ta cũng có thể thực hành cầu nguyện cho những người mà chúng ta không thể chịu đựng nổi, không thích và hãy tự kiểm tra ngay tự bên trong tâm hồn của chúng ta, vì nơi đó là nơi mà tự do và giác ngộ bắt đầu. Đừng  làm giảm ngắn sự vinh quang của Thiên Chúa!  
               Lạy Chúa, Xin giúp chúng con biết cách để kiểm tra những lỗi lầm riêng của chúng con,  chứ không phải của những người khác
 
Saturday 3rd week of Lent
For the people of Israel, there was only one legitimate response to what they believed to be God's punishment: repentance. No excuses, no arrogance, no bargaining; just humble submission to God’s actions and a plea for forgiveness. This is in sharp contrast to the modern tendency to throw up a smokescreen of excuses and explanations in an effort to evade responsibility.
            In this story the Pharisee stands for those of any religion, time, or place that feel morally and spiritually superior to others. We can even see ourselves sometimes in the symbol of the Pharisee! Who hasn’t looked down on someone whose life is less than exemplary with a smug sense of self-satisfaction? Psychologists — and the Bible — tell us that when we fail to deal with the darkness, sin, and imperfections in ourselves we project them onto other people or groups.
            The things that we detest in others often lurk in the deeper levels of our own hearts. The things that we can’t stand in others can often be found in ourselves. When we know this, it can be very helpful for growing in self-knowledge. The tax-collector in the story, loathed and hated in Judea at the time, was right in God’s eyes because of his humility, honesty, and broken-hearted openness to God’s mercy.
            Perhaps we can practice praying for those whom we cannot stand and examining our own inner self — that is where freedom and enlightenment begin. We have all fallen short of the glory of God!
Lord, help me to examine my own faults rather than those of others.
 
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.” Luke 18:9–10
This Scripture passage introduces the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. They both go to the Temple to pray, but their prayers are very different from each other. The prayer of the Pharisee is very dishonest, whereas the prayer of the tax collector is exceptionally sincere and honest. Jesus concludes by saying that the tax collector went home justified but not the Pharisee. He states, “…for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
True humility is simply being honest. Too often in life we are not honest with ourselves and, therefore, are not honest with God. Thus, for our prayer to be true prayer, it must be honest and humble. And the humble truth for all of our lives is best expressed by the prayer of the tax collector who prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
How easy is it for you to admit your sin? When we understand the mercy of God, this humility is much easier. God is not a God of harshness but is a God of the utmost mercy. When we understand that God’s deepest desire is to forgive us and to reconcile us to Himself, then we will deeply desire honest humility before Him.
Lent is an important time for us to deeply examine our conscience and make new resolutions for the future. Doing so will bring new freedom and grace into our lives. So do not be afraid to honestly examine your conscience so as to see your sin clearly in the way God sees it. Doing so will put you in a position to pray this prayer of the tax collector: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Reflect, today, upon your sin. What do you struggle with the most right now? Are there sins from your past that you have never confessed? Are there ongoing sins that you justify, ignore and are afraid to face? Take courage and know that honest humility is the road to freedom and the only way to experience justification before God.
My merciful Lord, I thank You for loving me with a perfect love. I thank You for Your incredible depth of mercy. Help me to see all of my sin and to turn to You with honesty and humility so that I can be freed of these burdens and become justified in Your sight. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Saturday 3rd week of Lent 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, many times you point to the two divergent paths I can take. There is a path of selfishness and pride that leads to death. And there is a path of love and humility that leads to life. Teach me always to choose the path that leads to life with you.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Hosea on Sacrifice and Mercy: Today’s readings continue a theme we saw yesterday: God desires our love more than the animal sacrifices of the Old Law. He longs for us to know him and enter into a covenant relationship with him. He wants us to imitate his merciful love more than to offer burnt offerings (holocausts) and animal sacrifices. In the First Reading, taken from the prophet Hosea, God finds fault with the fleeting piety of Israel (Ephraim) and Judah. They offered the right sacrifices, but this isolated action comes and goes like a morning cloud or like the morning dew. True love, on the other hand, remains and brings us into communion with God, who will not spurn a contrite and humbled heart. The second theme that Hosea introduces is that of mercy. Hosea knows that the day of God’s judgment is approaching. He uses the images of the dawn and spring rain to characterize the coming of the Lord. Just as we long to see the day, and just as we long for rain to water the earth, so also do we long for God. God is the one who will cure us and bind our wounds; he is the one who will wipe out our offense, wash us from our guilt, and cleanse us from our sin; he is the one who will raise us up on the third day.
2. A Sacrifice of Praise: The last part of Psalm 51, likely written during the time of the Exile, looks forward to the time when God will be pleased once again with sacrifice, with burnt offerings, and with holocausts. As sinners, we need a sacrificial mediator. We cannot purify ourselves on our own. Good intentions are not enough. The New Testament reveals that Christ, in giving his life, achieves a perfect sacrificial meditation for us. The Church shares in Christ’s sacrifice: on earth, the Church offers the sacrifice of compunction of heart and self-denial; in heaven she offers the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of the glory of the resurrection in praise to God (see John Paul II, Wednesday Audience, July 30, 2003).
3. A Humble and Contrite Heart: The parable in today’s Gospel offers us a model of a contrite and humble heart in the tax collector. Jesus has a target audience: those convinced of their righteousness. The Pharisee exemplifies this attitude of self-righteousness. He thinks wrongly that the heart of the law is in external works – works like fasting twice a week and paying tithes. He thinks that he is justified by what he does and accomplishes. He does not thank God for his mercy or his gifts but rather lists how he is unlike the rest of humanity and better than others. This is not a true prayer. In fact, the Gospel says that he prayed to himself! The Pharisee’s words are just thoughts about himself that have the goal of exalting and glorifying himself before God. The tax collector approaches God in a different manner. His head is bowed, his eyes are cast down, and he lifts up his heart to God in true prayer: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” The tax collector does not multiply the words of his prayer unnecessarily. God knows what we need even before we ask him. As a loving Father, God will give his children the good things that we need to reach him and share in his glory.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I can only offer the sacrifice of my life as an acceptable sacrifice to the Father. I unite my sacrifice to yours, asking humbly that you transform my poor offering. Teach me to pray as I should and know that I am righteousness only by your grace and my collaboration with it. 
Living the Word of God: How can I practice true humility today? Do I know who I am and who I am called to be in relation to God and in relation to my brothers and sisters?
 
Saturday 3^rd week of Lent
Opening Prayer: Jesus, thank you for your word. You help me place you in your rightful place as my Lord and Savior. Help me to know that I am your beloved child and to live from that truth.
Encountering Christ:
Righteousness: Each and every one of us needs a savior. The only truly righteous one is Jesus. Any righteousness we have is not from ourselves, but a share in the righteousness of Christ. St. Paul speaks to this: “...that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his Resurrection and [the] sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11). Simply put, we cannot save ourselves. Only God can save us. True, we are called to cooperate with the grace with which he blesses us. But without Christ, none of us are righteous, cleansed from sin, or justified. These are God’s works, not our own. According to the Catechism, “The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us ‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ’ and through Baptism” (CCC 1987).
Faith and Works: The Pharisee thought that his righteousness was “based on the law.” He was more concerned with tithing from his “whole income” than sharing his whole heart. He was doing what was required of the law, not loving and serving God from the heart. Jesus is showing us through this parable that the way to righteousness is not only by following the commandments but by coming to him. He alone is the source of our salvation. Our faith is demonstrated by our works (James 2:17), but no amount of works, rule-following, prayer, tithing, or any other human action can save us without Christ. The Catechism teaches: “It is the divine name that alone brings salvation, and henceforth all can invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his incarnation, so that ‘there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’” (CCC 432). We need both faith in Christ and works to be justified. 
In God’s Place: The Pharisee exalted himself to Christ’s judgment seat, making himself the judge of what is righteous. Notice that he “spoke this prayer to himself.” He offered the prayer to himself and addressed himself as God: “O God…” (Luke 18:11). He was not offering prayers of thanksgiving to God; he was praising himself. Conversely, the tax collector knew his place before God. He humbly recognized his own faults and sins and asked for God’s mercy. Each of us struggles with pride in some way. It is the result of the fall of man, the original grasping at pride, sometimes called the pusilla anima, or the “small soul.” The Pharisee was in the grasp of his own small soul. He was the center of his universe and prayer, not God. We can ask ourselves: When have we placed ourselves in God’s role, closing our world in on ourselves rather than allowing God to be the Lord of our lives (cf. 1 Peter 3:15)? When we place God in his rightful place, we automatically inhabit our rightful place: as his beloved children who trust in his mercy, like the tax collector. In our smallness, God will exalt us. As Dr. Edward Sri says, “God can do great things with the humble soul.”
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, help me to always be dependent on you. Help me to remember that I am not God and that I cannot save myself. I cannot put aside my pride without you, Lord. Grant me a heart that is meek and humble, like yours. 
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will practice the virtue of humility in some small way