Suy Niệm Tin Mừng lễ Thánh Giuse Thợ

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng lễ Thánh Giuse Thợ (May 1)

Hôm nay, chúng ta mừng lễ thánh Giuse Thợ, một người thợ mộc nghèo hèn ở làng Nazareth, một người lao động gương mẫu, biết giữ mái ấm gia đình và phát triển nghề nghiệp của mình. Đây là cách sống bình thường của mọi người trong thế giới hôm nay của chúng ta, Mỗi người phải biết làm lũng kiếm ăn bằng chính mồ hôi lao động.

            Theo Công tế Nhân quyền cho chúng ta biết rằng mỗi người chúng ta đều có quyền làm một công việc và được trả công. Hôm nay, Hội Thánh cầu nguyện cho ngày quốc tế lao động, để mỗi người lao động có thể thực hiện đầy đủ nhiệm vụ của mình và được sống đúng với cái quyền làm người.

Qua bài một Tin Mừng hôm nay, Phúc âm giới thiệu Chúa Giêsu là “con bác thợ mộc” (Mt 13:56), tại quê hương của Ngài là làng Nazareth, nơi Chúa đã  lớn lên và trưởng thành. Tuy nhiên, người Nazareth vẫn chưa thực sự biết rõ con người của Chúa Giêsu. Họ có thể nghĩ rằng họ biết Ngài rất rõ, rất nhiều, nhưng họ thực sự không biết gì cả. Đấy là lý do tại sao họ không thể giải thích được là từ đâu mà Chúa Giêsu nhận được sự khôn ngoan và có uy quyền đặc biệt.

 

Reflection May 1- Saint Josheph the worker

In the Gospel reading, Jesus says clearly that it is the Father who enables him to do good works.  He also says that his mission is to do what the Father tells him to do.

This is also true for the saints.  St. George was a tribune in the Roman army when he converted to Christianity.  Immediately he gave up all his worldly possessions and gave them to the poor.  He left the army and was subsequently martyred for standing up for the faith.  His death inspired many others to die for the Lord.  Who inspired St. George to do all this?  Obviously, the Lord, his Master and Savior.

 St. Adalbert was a pagan convert to Catholicism.  He became the Bishop of Prague  and he evangelized the Poles and Hungarians.  Encountering much opposition, he was martyred trying to convert the Baltic Prussians.  St. Adalbert also listened to the voice of God when doing his evangelical work.  

 Have you heard the voice of God in your life?  After He helps sort out our aimless lives, sometimes He invites some of us to do more for Him.  Have you heard this calling?

 

Reflection May 1- Saint Josheph the worker 2024

Optional Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker, May 1

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son?” Matthew 13:54–55

On December 8, 2020, Pope Francis announced the beginning of the universal celebration of the “Year of Saint Joseph.” He introduced this year with an Apostolic Letter entitled “With a Father’s Heart.” In the introduction to that letter, the Holy Father said, “Each of us can discover in Joseph—the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence—an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble.”

The Gospel above, taken from the readings for this memorial, point to the fact that Jesus was “the carpenter’s son.” Joseph was a worker. He worked with his hands as a carpenter so as to provide for the daily needs of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Son of God. He provided them with a home, with food and with the other daily necessities of life. Joseph also protected them both by following the various messages of the angel of God who spoke to him in his dreams. Joseph fulfilled his duties in life in a quiet and hidden way, serving in his role as father, spouse and worker.

Though Joseph is universally recognized and honored today within our Church and even as a prominent historical world figure, during his lifetime he would have been a man who was largely unnoticed. He would have been seen as an ordinary man doing his ordinary duty. But in many ways, that is what makes Saint Joseph an ideal man to imitate and a source of inspiration. Very few people are called to serve others in the spotlight. Very few people are publicly praised for their day-to-day duties. Parents, especially, are often greatly unappreciated. For that reason, the life of Saint Joseph, this humble and hidden life lived out in Nazareth, provides most people with inspiration for their own daily lives.

If your life is somewhat monotonous, hidden, unappreciated by the masses, tedious and even boring at times, then look to Saint Joseph for inspiration. Today’s memorial especially honors Joseph as a man who worked. And his work was quite ordinary. But holiness is especially found in the ordinary parts of our daily lives. Choosing to serve, day in and day out, with little or no earthly accolades, is a service of love, an imitation of the life of Saint Joseph and a source of your own holiness in life. Do not underestimate the importance of serving in these and other ordinary and hidden ways.

Reflect, today, upon the ordinary and “unremarkable” daily life of Saint Joseph. If you find that your life is similar to what he would have experienced as a worker, a spouse and a father, then rejoice in that fact. Rejoice in the fact that you are also called to a life of extraordinary holiness through the ordinary duties of daily life. Do them well. Do them with love. And do them by the inspiration of Saint Joseph and his spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary who would have shared in this ordinary day-to-day life. Know that what you do each and every day, when it is done out of love and service of others, is the surest path to holiness of life for you.

My Jesus, Son of the carpenter, I thank You for the gift and inspiration of Your earthly father, Saint Joseph. I thank You for his ordinary life lived with great love and responsibility. Help me to imitate his life by fulfilling my daily duties of work and service well. May I recognize in the life of Saint Joseph, an ideal model for my own holiness of life. Saint Joseph the Worker, pray for us. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Reflection May 1- Saint Josheph the worker

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you are the vinedresser and know exactly how I need to be pruned. Cut away the stubbornness of my heart so that I may bear spiritual fruit for your Kingdom. Do not let me be separated through selfishness and sin from your Son, the true vine. I desire to glorify your name in all that I do.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Abiding in Jesus’ Love: Today’s Gospel centers on a key element of the New Covenant: abiding in Jesus’ love. The mutual abiding between the Persons of the Trinity and the children of God is the goal of Jesus’ redemptive mission. Jesus uses an image to describe this mutual abiding or indwelling: we, as Jesus’ disciples, are like branches, and we have true life through union with the Son, who is the true vine, and with the Father, who is the vinedresser. Jesus, the Son of God, abides in the Father’s love by keeping the Father’s commandments, even unto death on the cross. We, on the other hand, are empowered to keep the commandments of the New Covenant by abiding and dwelling in Jesus’ love. We cannot bear fruit for the Kingdom of God unless we abide in Jesus and he in us.

2. The Council in Jerusalem: In the First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, some believers go from Judea down to Antioch to demand that the Gentiles, who came to believe in Jesus Christ, be circumcised and follow the prescriptions of the Law of Moses. Otherwise, according to this “circumcision party,” the new Gentile Christians cannot be saved. At the heart of the debate that followed were deep questions like: Was the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17:10-14), the sign of entry into God’s covenant people, fulfilled and surpassed by the Sacrament of Baptism, the sign of entry into the New People of God? Do the obligations of the Law of Moses remain in effect for all peoples or are they only binding on the Jewish people? Was the observance of the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 28) brought to fulfillment by Jesus in the New Law of the New Covenant? If so, how was it fulfilled? Does someone have to fulfill first the social, ritual, and cultural obligations connected with the Old Covenant in order to enjoy the fruits of the New Covenant? The Church in Antioch tried unsuccessfully to resolve the dispute and decided to send Paul and Barnabas with some others up to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles and the elders (presbyters) about the matter. This meeting became known as the Council of Jerusalem and took place around A.D. 50, some two decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as there was debate in Antioch, there will be debate in Jerusalem. At one point, Simon Peter will stand up and resolve the matter.

3. Circumcision and Baptism: Paul will take up the relationship between the old rite of Jewish circumcision and the new rite of Christian Baptism in his letters to the Colossians (2:11-13) and the Philippians (3:3). He will take up the relationship of the Old Law of Moses to the New Law of Christ in his Letter to the Galatians and his Letter to the Romans. Already in the Law of Moses, there was the imperative to “circumcise your hearts” (Deuteronomy 10:16). Scripture tells us that God himself, and not man, will accomplish this circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6). “If literal circumcision of the flesh was a sign of covenant dedication and membership in the people of God, ‘circumcision of the heart’ meant an interior disposition that truly matched the meaning of the external sign” (Hamm, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 199). Paul, in Philippians 3:3, Christianizes the Hebrew understanding of circumcision to refer to the New Covenant through Baptism into the body of Christ. Baptism truly entails stripping off the carnal body – the old self with its practices. Baptism is truly a death to self (Hamm, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 199-200). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I am comforted to know that from the early days of Christianity until the present, there have been and will be contentious debates and discussions. I pray that all the members of the Church may always be united to you, the true vine, and guided to all truth by the Holy Spirit. Do not let me be discouraged in times of confusion.

Living the Word of God: How do I view the past and current debates in the Church? Am I polarized and look at the debates in purely political terms, like liberals vs. conservatives and progressives vs. traditionalists? How can I be more like the members of the early Church at the Council of Jerusalem? How can I better dialogue with others, seek to understand the authentic values others hold, and seek the truth in love?