Là con người, chúng ta thường hay thích chú trọng và thích nhìn vào cái vẻ bề ngoài. Hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu nhắc nhở chúng ta là không nên chờ cho cây xấu trưởng thành rồi mới nhận ra các quả xấu trên cây ấy... Chúng ta phải nên ngăn chặn không để những hạt giống xấu, gian ác gieo vào trong lòng chúng ta. Chúng ta không nên ngồi đợi để cho tội lỗi tiềm ẩn trong chúng ta lộ diện rồi mới thức tỉnh! Chúng ta phải biết loại bỏ tội lỗi ngay từ gốc rễ của chúng. Đây không phải chỉ là những hành động mà chúng ta phải làm bên ngoài, nhưng còn phải làm ngay cả trong ý chí của chúng ta nữa. Đây không phải là những vấn đề mà chúng ta phải làm, nhưng là vấn đề mà chúng ta phải làm như thế nào!. Nếu chúng ta làm được một việc gì vì tình yêu đối với Thiên Chúa và con người, thì điều đó luôn luôn sẽ là một công trạng trước mặt Chúa.
Trong bài tin mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu có vẻ phóng đại sự hy sinh một phần thân thể để cho chúng ta thấy rõ được cái quan điểm của Ngài muốn dạy chúng ta. Cũng giống như việc phẫu thuật cắt bỏ đi một phần thân thể là một biện pháp quyết liệt để ngăn chặn sự lây lan của bệnh tật có thể huy hoại toàn bộ cơ thể, phẫu thuật tâm linh có thể cũng cần thiết để ngăn chặn sự tàn phá toàn diện linh hồn của con người trước ngày Chúa phán xét. Phẫu thuật có thể làm cho chúng ta phải chịu đau đớn, nhưng nhờ đó qua quá trình chữa trị, chúng ta có thể có được một cuộc sống mới tốt lành hơn. Điều này có thể là một cơ hội để giúp cho chúng ta biết chọn lựa và đặt ưu tiên cho cuộc sống vĩnh cửu của chúng ta. Một sự thay đổi nhỏ nơi chúng ta cũng có thể đó là tất cả những gì cần thiết để tạo ra một sự khác biệt to lớn.
Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta nhận thấy rằng Chúa Giêsu đã không cần phải đạt ra thêm một điều luật mới, hay một quy tắc mới để làm cho cuộc sống của con người phải gánh thêm một gánh nặng, nhưng, thay vào đó, Ngài đã giải thích cho họ biết được cái ý nghĩa cần thiết của Lề Luật.
Chúa Giêsu đã đề xuất cho chúng ta một lý tưởng đạo đức rất cao siêu đối với chúng ta, nhưng không phải là một một điều mà chúng ta không thể thực hiên được. Chúng ta hãy cầu xin Chúa Giêsu trong ngày hôm nay là: Mặc dầu trong tất cả những yếu đuối của con người chúng ta, chúng ta vẫn không có thể làm mất đi niềm hy vọng nơi chúng ta, nhưng dựa vào Chúa Thánh Thần của Thiên Chúa thể hiện quyền lực của Ngài trong sự yếu đuối của chúng ta.
People often look only at outward appearances. We should not wait for the evil tree to bear evil fruits. We should prevent the sowing of evil seed. We should not wait until our hidden sins manifest themselves. We must get rid of them at their very roots. It is not the outward action that counts, but the will. It is not what we do that matters, but how we do it. If we do a thing out of love for God and people, it is always meritorious. Jesus uses exaggeration to make his point. Just as physical amputation is a drastic measure to prevent the spread of disease to the entire body, spiritual surgery may be necessary to prevent the destruction of the whole person in the final judgment.
We might consider what needs to be cut out of our own life so that we can live more faithfully as good Catholics. Surgery can be painful, but the healing process can lead to new life. This may be an opportunity for us to set priorities with a purity of intent that can be life-giving for us. Small changes may be all that are needed to make a big difference. Hearing today's Gospel reading, we realize that Jesus was not setting up new rules to make people's lives even more burdensome, but, rather, he was explaining the essential meaning of the Law.
Jesus is proposing a very high moral ideal for us, but not an impossible one. Let us ask Jesus today that in all our human frailties we may not lose hope but rely on his Spirit to show his power in our weakness.
Friday Week Tenth in Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I desire each day to encounter you in prayer. I find you in your Word and in the depths and garden of my heart. I hear your gentle voice as you walk with me and fill me with your Spirit.
1. Old Covenant Payer in Genesis: The episode with Elijah, in the First Reading, is an eloquent testimony to the reality of our encounter with God in prayer. In a certain sense, Elijah represents a culminating moment in the prayer of the Old Testament: the wind, the earthquake, the fire, and God passing by, all recall other episodes of prayerful encounters between God and his people. The story of Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall suggests a close relationship between God and his children. The garden was the habitual place of encounter between God and man. After the fall, we are told that God was walking in the garden in the cool breeze of the day (Genesis 3:8). After the fall, man’s relationship with God continues: in the offering of the first-born of Abel’s flock, in the invocation of the divine name at the time of Enoch (Genesis 4:26), in Enoch’s and Noah’s walking with God (Genesis 5:24; 6:9), and in Noah's offering that was pleasing to God (Genesis 8:20-21) (CCC, 2569). God walks with us. He is present to us and desires that we enter into prayerful communion with him.
Opening Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, open my heart to accept your saving words. Bless me as I reflect upon your gift of marriage to the world.
Encountering Christ:
Jesus Protects the Sacrament: Christ himself instituted each of the seven sacraments, and here we have a biblical example that shows Jesus elevating marriage to a sacrament. Marriage is important and sacred. In the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, a man and a woman choose to love, honor, and cherish their beloved spouse in order to grow in holiness and love together. In this passage, Jesus indicated the importance of the sacrament by placing clear boundaries around the marriage vows, the sacred words of the sacrament. These vows are the form of the sacrament which the man and the woman promise to each other. In fact, the ministers of Holy Matrimony are the man and the woman, not the priest or deacon, who instead act as a witness to the marriage. The Catechism teaches “that the spouses, as ministers of Christ's grace, mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church” (CCC 1623).
Marriage, A Sturdy Boat: Marriage between a man and a woman reflects the covenantal relationship between Christ and his Church. The exclusive, faithful love between a man and a woman is a sign to the world of the love that God has for his Church. Marriage is a vocation, and therefore a path to holiness. In a recent letter to married couples, Pope Francis wrote these encouraging words to married couples: “Marriage, as a vocation, calls you to steer a tiny boat–wave-tossed yet sturdy, thanks to the reality of the sacrament–across a sometimes stormy sea. How often do you want to say, or better, cry out, like the Apostles: ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ (Mark 4:38). Let us never forget, though, that by virtue of the sacrament of Matrimony, Jesus is present in that boat; he is concerned for you and he remains at your side amid the tempest.”
Indissoluble Bond of Love: Jesus, as the author of the sacrament, underscored the importance of the marriage vocation and rebuked the temptations to sin that can attack this shared vocation between man and woman. Adultery attacks the bond of love between the married couple. In fact, not just the physical act of adultery, but even the lust that proceeds the physical act attacks the bond. Divorce seeks to dissolve an indissoluble bond; it ignores the truth that marriage is for life. Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes this point even more strongly: “Some Pharisees came forward and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever?’ He replied, ‘Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator “made them male and female” and said: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh”? And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate’” (Matthew 19:3-6).
Conversing with Christ: Thank you, my Jesus, for instituting the sacrament of Marriage. Through it you have given married couples a path of holiness in their way of life. I am sorry for any sins I have committed that go against your plan for marriage. Help me to always protect the bond of married love. Make your holy presence known to all married couples, and strengthen them as they traverse the sometimes stormy seas of married life. Bless them with the virtues they need for their state in life.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will pray for a married couple who could use some extra prayers.
In the Gospel reading Jesus clarifies that adultery is committed not only in deed but also in thought and in the heart: "Do not commit adultery. But I tell you this: anyone who looks at a woman to satisfy his lust has in fact already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Jesus also declares the indissolubility of Christian marriage. In the parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus refers to the Old Testament, "Man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined." (Mk 10: 7- 9)
In the Gospel reading Jesus says that we should prefer to lose our eye or whatever part of the body responsible for the sin, rather than risk damnation because of sin. If something or some place might cause us to sin, avoid it. If a show brings lustful thoughts and acts, avoid it. Do we have any real choice? The following of Christ is not easy: Jesus speaks of the narrow path. Jesus says that his disciples, following a crucified Lord, should also be ready to carry their own crosses. But if we love the Lord, nothing is difficult to give; with God's grace, nothing is impossible
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