Suy Niệm thứ Năm Tuần 11 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm thứ Năm Tuần 11 Thường Niên
Chúng ta có tin rằng Lời Chúa có quyền năng xay chuyển và biến đổi cuộc sống của Chúng ta hôm nay không? Tien tri  Ê-sai nói rằng lời của Thiên Chúa giống như mưa rơi và tuyết tan, làm cho đất khô cằn mọc lên sự sống và trở nên phì nhiêu (Ê-sai 55:10-11). Lời Chúa có sức mạnh xuyên thấu tâm hồn khô khan cằn cỗi của chúng ta và biến chúng thành nguồn suối sự sống mới. Nếu chúng ta để lời Chúa bén rễ trong lòng mình, thì lời ấy sẽ biến đổi chúng ta nên giống như Thiên Chúa và Chúa sẽ ban sức mạnh cho chúng ta để chúng ta có thể bước đi trên con đường yêu thương và thánh thiện của Chúa.
Hôm nay qua Tin Mừng chúng ta nghe Chúa Dạy: “Nếu anh em tha lỗi cho người khác, thì Cha anh em trên trời cũng sẽ tha thứ cho anh em. Nhưng nếu anh em không tha thứ cho người khác, thì Cha anh em cũng sẽ không tha lỗi cho anh em.” (Mt 6:14–15) Thật là tuyệt vời, đã biết bao lần Chúa khuyên dạy chúng ta là hãy tha thứ. Phần lớn Bài giảng trên núi của Chúa Giêsu mà chúng ta đã nghe đọc các trong thánh lễ mỗi ngày suốt cả tuần liên tục kêu gọi chúng ta hãy tỏ lòng thương xót và sẵn sàng tha thứ cho người khác. Và trong đoạn cuối của bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu đã chỉ cho chúng ta thấy được những hậu quả của việc không biết nghe theo những lời giáo huấn của Người.
Đoạn Tin Mừng này là một phần phụ lục của kinh “Lạy Cha” ngay trước đó. Kinh Lạy Cha cho chúng ta bảy lời cầu xin, một trong số đó là “xin tha tội cho chúng con, như chúng con cũng tha kẻ có nợ chúng con.” Thật thú vị khi chúng ta nhận thức được rằng ngay sau khi Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta lời cầu nguyện này với bảy lời cầu xin, thì Ngài đã nhấn mạnh lại một lần nữa : “Nếu anh em tha lỗi cho người khác, thì Cha anh em trên trời cũng sẽ tha thứ cho anh em. Nhưng nếu anh em không tha thứ cho người khác, thì Cha anh em cũng sẽ không tha lỗi cho anh em.” (Mt 6:14–15) Hôm nay Chúa Giêsu muốn nhấn mạnh câu này nhằm bảo đảm với chúng ta về mức độ nghiêm trong của lời cầu xin này với Chúa Cha.
Trước tiên, Chúa Giêsu chỉ bảo chúng ta cầu xin sự tha thứ “như chúng ta đã tha thứ.” Nhưng sau đó Ngài nói rõ rằng nếu chúng ta không làm như vậy, chúng ta sẽ không được Chúa tha thứ. Điều này sẽ thúc đẩy chúng ta hết sức cố gắng để hoàn toàn tha thứ cho người khác từ tận đáy lòng mình.
Chúng ta cần tha thứ cho ai? Đôi khi, sự tha thứ có thể là một sự cố gắng khó hiểu. Hành động tha thứ trở nên khó hiểu khi cảm xúc của chúng ta không phản ánh sự lựa chọn mà chúng ta đưa ra theo ý muốn của mình. Một kinh nghiệm thông thường là khi chúng ta đưa ra sự lựa chọn trong nội tâm để tha thứ cho người khác, chúng ta vẫn cảm thấy tức giận đối với họ. Nhưng những cảm giác rối loạn này không nên để chúng ngăn cản chúng ta và chúng ta cũng không nên cho phép chúng gây ra sự nghi ngờ về những gì chúng ta cần làm. Tha thứ trước tiên là một hành động của ý chí. Đó là một sự cầu nguyện có lựa chọn để chúng ta nói với người khác rằng chúng ta không đổ lỗi cho họ. Sự tha thứ không thể giả vờ nói rằng họ đà không làm gì có tội vói chúng ta. Ngược lại, nếu ho đã không có tội thì họ đâu có cần sự tha thứ. Vì vậy, chính việc tha thứ cũng là một sự thừa nhận tội lỗi cần được tha thứ.
Khi chúng ta lựa chọn tha thứ cho người khác, mà nếu cảm xúc của chúng ta không vẫn còn bức súc,chưa thật tâm lúc đó,  chúng ta hãy nên tiếp tục tha thứ cho họ ngay trong tâm hồn của chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy cầu nguyện cho họ. Chúng ta hãy cố gắng thay đổi cách chúng ta nghĩ về họ. Đừng chăm chăm suy nghĩ về những sự tổn thương mà họ đã gây ra cho chúng ta. Thay vào đó, chúng ta hãy nghĩ về phẩm giá con người của họ, tình yêu mà Chúa dành cho họ và tình yêu mà chúng ta cần phải tiếp tục nuôi dưỡng để yêu thuơng họ. Hãy tha thứ, tha thứ và tha thứ lần nữa. Đừng bao giờ dừng lại và đừng bao giờ mệt mỏi với hành động độ lượng này. Nếu chúng ta làm được điều này, chúng ta thậm chí có thể khám phá ra rằng cảm xúc và niềm đam mê của chúng ta cuối cùng đã phù hợp với sự lựa chọn mà chúng ta đã làm.
            Hôm nay, chúng ta hãy suy ngẫm về bất cứ cảm giác tức giận kéo dài nào mà chúng ta trải qua. Chúng ta nên giải quyết những cảm xúc đó bằng sự lựa chọn hoàn toàn và tự do để tha thứ cho người mà đã làm chúng ta  phải tức giận. Làm như vậy ngay bây giờ, sau ngày hôm nay, ngày mai và cứ tiếp tục mỗi ngày.  Chúng ta phải tiếp tục tấn công chống lại sự tức giận và đắng cay bằng cách lấn át sự tức giận này bằng hành động yêu thương, tha thứ và chúng ta sẽ thấy rằng Thiên Chúa sẽ bắt đầu giải thoát chúng ta thoát khỏi gánh nặng nặng do thiếu sự tha thứ gây ra.
Lạy Chúa Giêsu Thánh Thế, Chúa luôn đầy lòng thương xót và tha thứ của chúng con, Chúa ban cho chúng con sự tha thứ hoàn toàn và kêu gọi chúng con cũng làm như vậy đối với người khác. Chúng con cầu nguyện xin Chúa rộng lượng với lòng thuơng xót của Chúa trong cuộc sống của chúng con. Chúng con xin lỗi Chúa vì tội lỗi và thiếu xót của chúng con và chúng con cầu xin lòng thương xót của Chúa. Để đổi lấy món quà thiêng liêng này, hôm nay chúng con cam kết với Chúa là chúng con sẽ cố gắng tha thứ cho tất cả những ai đã phạm lỗi với chúng con. Đặc biệt chúng on sẽ tha thứ cho những người mà chúng con vẫn còn tức giận. Lạy Chúa, xin giải thoát chúng con tránh khỏi những cơn giận dữ này, để chúng con có thể gặt hái những lợi ích trọn vẹn nơi lòng thương xót của Chua ngay trong cuộc sống này của chúng con. Lạy Chúa Cgieessu Thánh Thể, chúng con xin tin vào nơi Chúa. Amen,
 
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Father in heaven, you have given me a mind to know you, a will to serve you, and a heart to love you. Give me today the grace and strength to embrace your holy will and fill my heart with your love that all my intentions and actions may be pleasing to you. Give me the grace to be charitable in thought, kind in deed, and loving in speech towards all.
Do you believe that God's word has power to change and transform your life today? Isaiah says that God's word is like the rain and melting snow which makes the barren ground spring to life and become abundantly fertile (Isaiah 55:10-11). God's word has power to penetrate our dry barren hearts and make them springs of new life. If we let God's word take root in our heart it will transform us into the likeness of God himself and empower us to walk in his way of love and holiness.
“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:14–15
It’s truly amazing how often our Lord exhorts us to forgive. Much of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, from which we have been reading all week, continually calls us to offer mercy and forgiveness to others. And in the passage above from the end of today’s Gospel, Jesus offers us the consequences of not heeding His exhortations.
This passage is a sort of addendum to the “Our Father” prayer which immediately precedes it. The Our Father prayer gives us seven petitions, one of them being “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It’s interesting to note that as soon as Jesus taught us this prayer with its seven petitions, He then re-emphasized one of those petitions by stating it again as is seen in the passage quoted above. This added emphasis should assure us of the seriousness of this petition.
At first, Jesus simply tells us to pray for forgiveness “as we forgive.” But He then makes it clear that if we fail to do so, we will not be forgiven ourselves. This should highly motivate us to make every effort possible to completely forgive others from the deepest depths of our hearts.
Who do you need to forgive? Forgiveness can be a confusing endeavor at times. The act of forgiveness gets confusing when our feelings do not reflect the choice we make in our will. It is a common experience that when we make the interior choice to forgive another, we still feel anger toward them. But these disordered feelings should not deter us nor should we allow them to cause doubt in what we need to do. Forgiveness is first an act of the will. It’s a prayerful choice to say to another that you do not hold their sin against them. Forgiveness does not pretend that no sin was committed. On the contrary, if there were no sin committed, then there would be no need for forgiveness. So the very act of forgiving is also an acknowledgment of the sin that needs to be forgiven.
When you make the choice to forgive another, and if your feelings do not immediately follow after, keep forgiving them in your heart. Pray for them. Try to change the way you think about them. Do not dwell upon the hurt that they have inflicted. Think, instead, about their dignity as a person, the love God has for them and the love you must continue to foster for them. Forgive, forgive and forgive again. Never stop and never tire of this act of mercy. If you do this, you may even discover that your feelings and passions eventually align with the choice you have made.
Reflect, today, upon any lingering feelings of anger you experience. Address those feelings by the free and total choice to forgive the person with whom you are angry. Do so now, later today, tomorrow and on and on. Go on the offensive against anger and bitterness by overwhelming it with your personal act of forgiveness and you will find that God will begin to free you of the heavy burden that a lack of forgiveness imposes.
My forgiving Lord, You offer the perfection of forgiveness to me and call me to do the same toward others. I pray for Your forgiveness in my life. I am sorry for my sin and beg for Your mercy. In exchange for this holy gift, I pledge to You today to forgive everyone who has sinned against me. I especially forgive those with whom I remain angry. Free me from this anger, dear Lord, so that I may reap the full benefits of Your mercy in my life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, I ask today that your name be hallowed throughout the whole world, that your reign be extended to all peoples, and that your will be accomplished here on earth. Grant me the bread of life, forgive my sins, strengthen me in time of tribulation, and deliver me from all evil.
 
Encountering the Word of God
1. Elijah, John the Baptist, and the Lord’s Prayer: Our First Reading is taken from the Book of Sirach, which praises the fathers of Israel and the great men of the Old Testament (Sirach 44-50). Included in this long list are Elijah and Elisha. After recalling the great deeds of Elijah, Sirach prophesies like Malachi 4:5-6 that Elijah will return at the appointed time to restore the tribes of Jacob. Jesus tells his disciples that the return of Elijah has taken place in the figure of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for his coming as Lord. Before the coming of Jesus Christ, the people of Israel were still in exile. They longed for a new David, who would gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel and restore the Kingdom. The return of Elijah in the figure of John the Baptist was a sign of the beginning of that restoration and is connected to several petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. In particular, we pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God (second petition) and that God lead us not into temptation (sixth petition). Although the sixth petition of the Lord’s Prayer is translated, “Lead us not into temptation,” it can also be translated, “Do not subject us to the final test/tribulation.” On the one hand, we are praying to God the Father to deliver us from the daily temptation to sin; on the other, the petition refers to the final time of “testing” for the righteous, the time of suffering and trial that will precede the coming of the kingdom, the final time of tribulation. The Law and the prophets lasted until the time of John the Baptist, until the coming of the kingdom of God. With the appearance of John, the final period of lawlessness and false prophecy has now begun. In John the Baptist, “the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah” (CCC, 719). With the death of John, the final tribulation had begun. And during this period of tribulation, Jesus’ sufferings, as the Son of Man, will take place. When Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace” (Matthew 10:34-36; Luke 12:51-53), we can understand him as saying: “The time of tribulation is at hand, and I have come to unleash it.” The heart of Jesus’ mission was to inaugurate the coming of the kingdom of God and bring an end to the exile of the people. This entailed inaugurating the tribulation that would precede the coming of the Kingdom (Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 216).
2. The Final Tribulation: The final tribulation is a two-stage event. “The first stage, which apparently had begun with the death of John the Baptist as ‘Elijah,’ would be characterized by lawlessness and false prophecy, violence and persecution against the heralds of the kingdom of God, interfamilial strife, the coming of false messianic claimants, wars between nations and peoples, and natural disasters” (Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 511-512). This first wave of affliction would signal the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, the coming of the Messiah, and the restoration of Israel from exile. Jesus’ disciples would be persecuted in both Jewish synagogues and Gentile courts and even be put to death. “Despite this grim prospect, he encouraged them to proclaim the good news of the End of the Exile to the lost sheep of the house of Israel who had been scattered among the nations, and even to the nations themselves. He exhorted them to have courage in the face of this eschatological persecution, and he promised them that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on them during the hour of trial, just as the Prophets had foretold. His call was one of endurance to the end, all done for the sake of proclaiming the advent of the kingdom of God” (Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 512). The second stage of the final tribulation is the Great Tribulation, a time of catastrophic human suffering. False Messiahs and false prophets will try to lead the elect astray in a final deception. At this moment, however, the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds. “At this time, the Son of Man would send forth his angels to the four ends of the earth to gather in the elect remnant: i.e., to bring about the long-awaited End of the Exile, the ingathering to Zion of the scattered exiles and the nations and the restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel. Tribulation would be followed by restoration, exile by return” (Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 512-513).
3. Jesus’ Death During the Great Tribulation: Jesus’ death has a redemptive value. Not only did Jesus expect to die in the tribulation, but he also taught that his death would function as an atonement for the sins of Israel. “Jesus taught that he as Messiah (the 'Son of Man') would give his life in the tribulation (drink the ‘cup’ and be ‘baptized’) in order to bring about the release (the ‘ransom’) of scattered Israel (the ‘many’) from exile. This death, in fact, was the ultimate mission of the Son of Man. He had come to perform the messianic task of gathering the scattered children of Israel. But, in order to do this, he must be willing to pay the ‘ransom’ price, the cost of release, that would bring the lost sheep of the house of Israel back to Zion” (Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 513-514). In his hour of agony on the Mount of Olives, Jesus knew that he would be struck down as the shepherd during the tribulation and that his sheep would be scattered during the time of testing. At the same time, he knew that this tribulation would not be the end: “rather, he tied his hope for the restoration of Israel to his own resurrection from the dead.” Jesus would be handed over into the power of sinners in his final prophetic and messianic act. In this way he would bring about the goal of his whole mission: the coming of the kingdom of God (Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 514). When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are praying for the definitive realization or establishment of the Kingdom of God in our hearts and in the world; we are praying that we do not give into the temptations of daily life, that we persevere during this present time of tribulation and have the courage to announce the Good News to all nations to bring about the coming of the Kingdom of God; and finally, we pray that we be saved from and not led astray during the Great Tribulation at the end of time.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching me how to pray and giving me the model of all prayer. I humbly recognize that prayer is a gift from God and that I do not know how to pray as I ought. I trust in you and your Spirit to guide me as I pray so that I may enter into deeper communion with the Father.
Living the Word of God: Can I spend some time today or this week reflecting on the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer? Can I read over and reflect on some or all of the numbers of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Lord’s Prayer (CCC, 2759-2865)? Is God asking me to use the Psalms more frequently to guide my prayer?
 
Suy Niệm Tin mừng thứ Năm tuần 11 TN Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
            Kinh Lạy Cha chính là một lời cầu nguyện tập trung ở nơi bảy lời xin, đầy ý nghĩa thần học, trái ngược với sự cầu nguyện dài dòng và kể nể của dân ngoại.
            Đối với Chúa Giêsu, cầu nguyện là nói chuyện với Chúa Cha, qua Chúa Thánh Linh đã làm cho Ngài thốt lên: "Abba, Lạy Cha" đó là lời ngọt ngào nhất hơn bao giờ hết mà người con đã thốt lên. Ba lời cầu xin đầu tiên được tập trung vào Thiên Chúa và Nước Trời của Ngài, Thánh Danh Thiên Chúa, và Thiên Ý của Ngài, Bốn lời cầu xin kế tiếp là xin cho con người chúng ta và nhu cầu cần thiết của chúng ta: như xin ban cho chúng ta có của ăn hàng ngày, xin được ơn tha thứ, và biết tha thứ, xin cho có được sức mạnh để chống lại những sự cám dỗ và xin cho chúng ta được cứu thoát khỏi mọi điều ác dữ của ma quỷ, Chúng ta, con cái của Chúa Con, chúng ta cần phải đặt trọng tâm chính của chúng ta vào Thiên Chúa bằng cách biết đạt những nhu cầu cần thiết của chúng ta vào nơi Thiên Chúa.
            “Lạy Cha chúng con” thật là một cách gọi tuyệt vời để chúng con có thể gọi Thiên Chúa là Cha như thế, Xin cho chúng con chỉ có một trái tim duy nhất để được hài hòa, một linh hồn duy nhất để nhất trí, và một tiếng nói duy nhất để đưọc đồng thanh với Con yêu dấu của Cha, là người anh Giêsu của chúng con!
 
Meditation:
Do you pray with joy and confidence? The Jews were noted for their devotion to prayer. Formal prayer was prescribed for three set times a day. And the rabbis had a prayer for every occasion. Jesus warns his disciples against formalism, making prayer something mechanical and devoid of meaning, with little thought for God. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he gave them the disciple’s prayer, what we call the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer. This prayer dares to call God "our Father" and boldly asks for the things we need to live as his sons and daughters.
It is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that we can know God personally and call him "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15). We can approach God our Father with confidence and boldness because Jesus Christ has opened the way to heaven for us through his death and resurrection. When we ask God for help, he fortunately does not give us what we deserve. Instead, he responds with grace and favor and mercy. It is his nature to love generously and to forgive mercifully. When he gives he gives more than we need so we will have something to share with others in their need as well.
God is kind and forgiving towards us and he expects us to treat our neighbor the same. Do you treat others as they deserve, or do you treat them as the Lord would treat you with his grace and favor and mercy? Jesus' prayer includes an injunction that we must ask God to forgive us in proportion as we forgive those who have wronged us. Ask the Lord to free your heart of any anger, bitterness, resentment, selfishness, indifference, or coldness towards others. Let the Holy Spirit fill you with the fire of his burning love and compassion and with the river of his overflowing mercy and kindness.
"Father in heaven, you have given me a mind to know you, a will to serve you, and a heart to love you. Give me today the grace and strength to embrace your holy will and fill my heart with your love that all my intentions and actions may be pleasing to you. Give me the grace to be charitable in thought, kind in deed, and loving in speech towards all."
 
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 2023
Opening Prayer: I come before you today, Lord, filled with worries, distractions, and concerns. So much noise surrounds me and disturbs me! I believe that you care about everything I care about and, most important, you care about me. And so I turn my attention to you, seeking to grow in wisdom and courage through hearing you speak to my heart. Blessed be your name, O Lord! 
Encountering Christ:
1. The Mistakes of the Pagans: Jesus cautions us to avoid the kind of babbling prayer used by pagans. He was referring to the impersonal ritualistic practices so common in pre-Christian religions. Prayer for those religions wasn’t about a relationship with God. Prayer was simply a transaction with a higher power. To get what you wanted from the deity you were addressing, you had to make a perfect performance in your ritual of prayer and worship. If you happened to sneeze or cough in the middle of your prayer, you had to start again and go through the whole ritual flawlessly. The meaning of the many words and elaborate rituals was secondary; the simple performance of them was primary. Jesus warns us about this approach to our life of piety because our human nature has a tendency to fall into this routine and ritualism. We all have a tendency to descend into a transactional approach to God and to others. How is my prayer life? Do I just go through the motions when I go to Mass and confession? Do I “say my prayers” without really thinking about the deeper meaning behind the words? What is Jesus saying to me today?
2. The Essence of Christian Prayer: The “Our Father” is the model for all Christian prayer. In fact, the entire fourth part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which beautifully explains the mystery of Christian prayer, is centered around a lengthy exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. In giving us this outline of prayer Jesus reveals what is unique about Christian prayer: It unfolds in a true, interpersonal relationship between the believer and God. This comes across in the first words, “Our Father…” God is not a distant deity for Christians, but a caring, approachable, wise father. He is goodness itself–as comes across in the second line,  “who art in heaven”–uncorrupted by evil or ignorance. With the gift of this prayer, Jesus wants to emphasize first and foremost that he came to extend the hand of friendship to us. Jesus is the revelation of God’s desire to be in relationship with us, and prayer is a privileged arena for developing that relationship. In fact, the Catechism actually defines Christian prayer as a relationship in explaining how the fourth part of the Catechism fits in with the first three parts: “‘Great is the mystery of the faith!’ The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles' Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.” (CCC 2558)
3. A Dangerous Obstacle: Because the essence of Christian prayer is relationship, any resentments or grudges wedged into our hearts will impede our prayer. We can’t approach God as our Father and expect to enjoy his friendship while at the same time harboring and feeding hostility to some of God’s children. This is why Jesus emphasizes forgiving others– doing our part to reconcile with them; we can’t control whether or not they do their part–as a condition for receiving forgiveness from the Lord. We are all in this together. When we became Christians we became members of God’s family, and that family is meant to include every person. If we condemn anyone by closing our hearts to them and refusing to forgive them, we are closing our hearts to God as well. Nothing impedes spiritual progress and the healing, fortifying work of God’s grace as much as unforgiveness. Even when people have severely hurt us and strictly speaking don’t deserve to be forgiven, unless we forgive them we never escape the power they have over us. Only by forgiving can we release ourselves from the grip of our pain and make room for God’s grace to heal us. Jesus doesn’t ask us to forget everything that happened, or to ignore the damage done, or even to feel warm and affectionate towards those who have hurt us. True forgiveness–forgiveness from the heart– doesn’t always transform our feelings right away. It is a decision to desire for the other person what God desires for them–that his name be hallowed and his Kingdom come in their lives–even if we cannot find the strength to do anything to help that happen except pray for them. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord, I want to become an expert in prayer. I want to explore the Church’s treasury of wisdom about prayer. I want to learn to hear your voice in my heart and respond to that voice honestly, lovingly, with faith. Please help me keep my own heart clean, unchained by resentments and unworthy attachments so that I can walk joyfully with you through the grace-filled adventure of every day you give me of life here on earth.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will learn something new about the great mystery of Christian prayer, and sincerely forgive any person whom I have not yet forgiven.