Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần 11 TN

Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần 11 TN Mat 5:43-48
Thật là không phải dễ cho chúng ta để có thể yêu thương kẻ thù và cầu nguyện cho những kẻ bắt bớ và hãm hại chúng ta, Nhưng chúng ta cũng không thể phàn nàn hay thắc mắc những gì mà Thiên Chúa muốn dạy chúng ta làm. Chúng ta hãy để tâm, nghiệm xét những hành động mà chính Chúa đã làm cho chúng ta, hôm nay chúng ta  nghe được những bài giảng của Chúa Giêsu trên núi, Chúng ta cũng thấy được những tấm gương hoàn hảo, sống động trước mắt chúng ta đó là những việc Chúa đã làm và chứng minh cho chúng thấy những hình sống động trong bài giảng của ngài. tất cả những thứ ấy chính là những động lực giúp chúng ta có nghị lực can đảm, anh dũng trong việc biết yêu thương những kẻ ghét chúng ta và biết tha thứ cho những kẻ thù của chúng ta.
            Để yêu một kẻ thù là một quyết định nhất quyết không để cho sự thù nghịch của người khác có thể kiểm soát những phản ứng của chúng ta và làm chủ tâm hồn chúng ta, Đó chính là Tình yêu nhân độ, Yêu thương kẻ thù là chúng ta nhất quyết hỗ trợ những người thù nghịch với chúng ta trong nhiều cách khác nhau để chúng ta có thể đem họ đến gần với ánh sáng cứu độ của Chúa hơn.
            Nếu chúng ta thật lòng yêu mến Chúa, chúng ta cũng phải có thái độ từ tâm với anh chị em chúng ta bằng những hành động rộng lượng, biết tha thứ và khiêm tốn vì Chúa Thánh Thần luôn luôn hiện diện trong tâm hồn của chúng ta sẽ giúp đỡ và hướng dẫn chúng ta trong từng giây, từng phút trong cuộc đời để chúng ta không bao giờ phải sa ngã, nóng giận và làm mất lòng Chúa..
            Tình yêu đối với những người khác, đặc biệt là những người khó chịu, thù hằn, người ích kỷ và vô ơn đối với chúng ta, phải được chứng tỏ và đánh dấu bằng sự tha thứ, tử tế cùng với lòng độ lượng, Vì đấy là lòng thương xót của Chúa đã thể hiện ra cho chúng ta,  Sau cùng, chúng ta đều là những người tội lỗi và có thể trong một lúc nào đó, chúng ta cũng đã có những thái độ cau có, khó chịu, dữ đằn, ích kỷ và vô ơn đối với người khác, Chúng ta hãy nhớ rằng Thiên Chúa yêu thương chúng ta, mặc dầu có những lúc chúng ta đã làm Ngài thất vọng.
Meditation:
What makes the disciples of Jesus different from others and what makes Christianity distinct from any other religion? It is grace - treating others, not as they deserve, but as God wishes them to be treated - with loving-kindness, forebearance, and mercy. God is good to the unjust as well as the just. His love embraces saint and sinner alike. God seeks our highest good and teaches us to seek the greatest good of others, even those who hate and abuse us. Our love for others, even those who are ungrateful and selfish towards us, must be marked by the same kindness and mercy which God has shown to us. It is easier to show kindness and mercy when we can expect to benefit from doing so. How much harder when we can expect nothing in return. Our prayer for those who do us ill both breaks the power of revenge and releases the power of love to do good in the face of evil.
How can we possibly love those who cause us harm or ill-will? With God all things are possible. He gives power and grace to those who believe and accept the gift of the Holy Spirit. His love conquers all, even our hurts, fears, prejudices and griefs. Only the cross of Jesus Christ can free us from the tyranny of malice, hatred, revenge, and resentment and gives us the courage to return evil with good. Such love and grace has power to heal and to save from destruction. Do you know the power of Christ’s redeeming love and mercy?
Was Jesus exaggerating when he said we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? The original meaning of  "perfect" in Aramaic is "completeness" or "wholeness - not lacking in what is essential." God gives us every good gift in Jesus Christ so that we may not lack anything we need to do his will and to live as his sons and daughters (2 Peter 1:3). He knows our weakness and sinfulness better than we do. And he assures us of his love, mercy, and grace to follow in his ways. Do you want to grow in your love for God and for your neighbor? Ask the Holy Spirit to change and transform you in the image of the Father that you may walk in the joy and freedom of the gospel.
            "Lord Jesus, your love brings freedom and pardon. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and set my heart ablaze with your love that nothing may make me lose my temper, ruffle my peace, take away my joy, or make me bitter towards anyone."
Tuesday 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” Matthew 5:43–45
Jesus continues to deepen and clarify His call to His new command to love of others. The love to which He calls us is radical, total, and can be very challenging at first. He calls us to move far beyond the Old Testament understanding of justice by commanding that we love everyone, including those who persecute us. This call to love is not an option but a command. It’s a requirement for every Christian.
In implementing this command, Jesus gives us not only the command itself but also offers some very practical advice on how we can achieve this depth of love. He says that we should not only love our enemies but that we should pray for them when they persecute us. First of all, an “enemy” is one who tries to inflict some form of harm on us and, generally speaking, sins against us. The common response to these experiences is to defend ourselves and fight back. So the first step is to reject any such temptation. As Jesus said in the Gospel passage prior to this one, “offer no resistance to one who is evil.”
Today’s Gospel passage takes us even further. The practical advice our Lord gives is to “pray for those who persecute you.” This command not only requires that you reject the temptation to “get back” at a person or even to simply “resist” what they do to us. You must now pray for them. Praying for someone who sins against you is an act of the greatest charity and generosity. And it’s a very practical way to imitate the abundant mercy of God. For that reason, praying for your persecutors radically transforms you interiorly and makes you holy. In a sense, the evil another does to you has the potential to be transformed into a gift given to you, because it gives you an opportunity to return prayer for an injury inflicted. And that is a very real and practical gift we must embrace by this new command of our Lord.
Reflect, today, upon those for whom this new commandment calls you to pray. Whose sin has inflicted some hurt or injury upon you or your family? Who do you hold a grudge toward? Whoever comes to mind, commit yourself to deep and sustained prayer for that person. Pray often for them and continue that prayer for as long as the persecution continues. Doing so will transform any and every attempted malice issued toward you into grace for them and holiness for you.
My Lord of abundant mercy, Your command to pray for those who persecute me was first lived by You to perfection. You prayed for those who crucified You as You hung upon the Cross. Give me the grace I need to not only forgive but to also pray for those who have and continue to try to inflict harm upon me. Give me a heart so filled with mercy that every sin committed against me is transformed into love and my own holiness of life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Tuesday 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I seek to be perfect and merciful as you are perfect and merciful. You are patient and do not give up on me. You seek me out like the lost sheep when I stray, bind my wounds with love, and bring me home to you. 
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Sixth Antithesis: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brings six Old Testament laws to their fulfillment by way of antitheses. He introduces an old law, “You have heard that it was said,” and then brings it to fulfillment when he teaches, “But I say to you.” In the Old Law, the Israelites were commanded by God to “love their neighbor” (Leviticus 19:18) and by Moses to drive out and destroy their enemies (Deuteronomy 7:1-11; 12:29-31; 20:10-18). Just as Jesus had to correct Moses’ concession that permitted divorce, he also had to correct Moses’ commands concerning warfare and hatred of others. Moses gave the laws concerning the utter destruction of the Canaanites to try to protect the Israelites from Canaanite influence and falling into idolatry. The command to pursue total (herem) warfare against the cities of the Canaanites in the land was not part of the original Sinai covenant but was a concession to Israel’s sinfulness and hard-heartedness (see Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 309-310). 
2. Imitating our Father: When we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, we are imitating our heavenly Father. The Father loves us and seeks us out even when we offend him through our sin. “Just as Israel was to imitate God in being ‘holy’ (Leviticus 19:2), so Jesus calls the Church to imitate God’s perfect compassion (Luke 6:36). The Father is kind and merciful to the good and evil alike, so his children must extend mercy even to their enemies” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 17).
3. Ahab’s Repentance: In the First Reading, when Elijah confronts King Ahab about his sinful actions, the king repents from what he did to Naboth and from his idolatry. The king tore his garments, put on sackcloth, fasted, and humbled himself before the Lord. God declares that Ahab’s line will come to an end, like those of Jeroboam and Baasha. But because of Ahab’s repentance, the destruction of his line will not come upon his house during his lifetime, but during the reigns of his sons, Ahaziah (853-852 B.C.) and Jehoram (852-841 B.C.). In fact, all seventy of Ahab’s male descendants will be exterminated under the command of Jehu, who was anointed as king of Israel by the prophet Elisha and headed a new and fifth line of Israelite kings (2 Kings 9:1-10:31). Today’s Responsorial Psalm proclaims how we are sinners and how God is merciful. We humbly ask God to wipe out our offenses, to wash away our guilt, and to cleanse us from our sins.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you teach me that the heart of your Father’s Law is love. You ask that my faith in you flourish and be completed in acts of love. On the Cross, you prayed for your enemies and asked that they be forgiven. Help me to recall your example when I struggle to pray and forgive.
Living the Word of God: Have I ever prayed for my enemies? Why do I consider someone an enemy? What do I truly want for my enemies and those who persecute me? Do I ask for their conversion from sin or do I want to see them vanquished?
 
Tuesday 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023
Opening Prayer: Lord, you cared enough about me to come to this world and reveal your plan of salvation. You cared about me enough to make me–through baptism–a temple where you dwell. You cared enough about me to pour the gift of your Holy Spirit into my heart, especially through the sacrament of confirmation. As I come before you today, I ask you for the grace to increase my faith in your love for me, to increase my hope in your hopes for me, to increase my trust and confidence in your wise and all-powerful providence as it guides me towards the fulfillment and fruitfulness for which I yearn.
Encountering Christ:
1. What God Sees: When God looks at sinners, even stubborn sinners, he doesn’t see unredeemable devils. Rather, he sees his beloved children who have gone astray. He never condones or ignores the sin, but sees the deeper identity of the sinner, who was created in his image and has the potential to become a saint by being open to and cooperating with God’s grace. God never gives up on any of us. God never stops loving us. He never turns his back on us. That is what Jesus is getting at by likening God’s love to the sun and the rain, gifts necessary for life, gifts that God never holds back from anyone, even from seemingly irreformable sinners. When Jesus exhorts us to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” he isn’t requiring us to somehow become immaculate. Rather, he is encouraging us to believe in this love God has for everyone, and to echo it and imitate it in our own lives. Loving our enemies doesn’t mean approving of their sins, it just means believing that God created them with a good purpose in mind, and that God’s redeeming grace is meant for them as well as for us. 
2. Making Excuses: One of the most concrete ways we can love others as God loves us is by making excuses for them. We do this for ourselves all the time. If I happen to be late to an appointment, I naturally forgive myself, because I know that my tardiness is due to factors outside my control, or at least due to factors that are reasonable and acceptable. On the other hand, when someone else is late to an appointment with me, I have a very different reaction. I get angry, self-righteous, judgmental, impatient. I start throwing the other person under the bus and thinking the worst about them. Why the double standard? Why do I so easily make excuses for myself but so rarely make excuses for others? This is part of our heritage of original sin. Our minds are darkened and our hearts are twisted. Jesus is pointing that out in this passage. He wants us to recognize that everyone around us is, in God’s eyes, our brother and sister. We are meant to connect with others and give them the benefit of the doubt. That’s how we create an environment in which we can all live peacefully and prosperously. And if Jesus is commanding us to adopt this attitude, this point of view, it must really be possible for us to do so. Indeed, with his help and guidance, we can do many things that remain out of reach when we just try harder and harder with our own strength. As St. Paul put it: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
3. God’s First Book of Revelation: So many times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses phenomena from the natural world to illustrate his lessons. In this case, he points out how the sunshine and the rain reflect God’s attitude towards us, his goodness, and his love. If even the sun and the rain can teach us about God and reveal him to us, then everything in the natural world simply must be able to do the same. What is more mundane, more everyday-normal-undramatic than sunshine and rain? St. John Paul II used to say that the Bible was God’s second book of revelation; the natural world was his first one. How attentive am I to God’s fingerprints in creation? How sensitive am I to the beauties and the harmony built into this natural world that God has given to be our home and our arena of spiritual growth? Postmodern culture often talks about the importance of preserving the environment, but very rarely talks about the spiritual meaning of the world as God created it. As we transition into summer, what can I do to better receive the instruction and inspiration that God wants to give me through his magnificent creation?
Conversing with Christ: Lord, you know me better than I know myself. You know that so often my heart is like a porcupine, bristling at others and isolating myself from them. I have so little patience with people’s flaws and failings, even with their idiosyncrasies! I am so unlike you, who make the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike. But I can see and taste the interior freedom that would come from keeping my heart open to others, even to those who disrespect me or don’t like me. I want to learn to be perfect as you are perfect. I want to spread your grace wherever I go. I want to embody in my life the goodness that continually flows from your heart. Please teach me and guide me, Lord, and make my heart more like yours.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will pay special attention to negative or accusatory thoughts and attitudes that come up in my relationship with other people. When I notice them, I will look up and think about the sunshine and rain that you pour out on the good and the bad alike, and I will ask you for the grace to “be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect.”