Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy Tuần thứ 14 Thường
Niên
Vở kịch dài về ông Giuse ở Ai Cập đã kết thúc ở nơi mà mọi thứ đã bắt đầu; ở Canaan ông bị các anh bắt cóc, bán cho bọn người buôn làm nô lệ, rồi bị ở tù. Chuyện cuộc đời ban đầu ở Aicập của ông đầy dẫy những đau thươ và khổ nhục, nhưng đó chính là kế hoạch của Thiên Chúa đã thực hiện nhằm cứu vớt gia đình của ông Giacóp (tổ phụ 12 chi tộc Israel) và nhờ đó đã mà hậu thế của họ đã thoát khỏi những cảnh hạn hán đói khát….
Có lễ chúng ta chỉ thường hay chú trọng và tập trung vào những tình huống khó khăn hay đau khổ và lập tức bỏ qua những việc điều tra nghiên cứu để xét coi những điều này có phù hợp với 'bức tranh to với tất cả những chi tiết toàn vẹn. Điều quan trọng là chúng ta phải nhớ và biết trung thành với Thiên Chúa trong mỗi bước đi trong cuộc hành trình và trong mọi tình huống mà chúng ta gặp phải. Thiên Chúa sẽ luôn luôn ở với chúng ta Ngài hướng dẫn và nâng đỡ chúng ta.\
Qua bài Tin Mừng, Hôm nay Chúa Giêsu đã mời gọi những người theo Ngài là phải thét to lên lời Chúa, tin mừng của Ngài ngay trên những mái nhà; đừng sợ! Ngay cả những chú chim sẻ không đáng hai xu , không đáng kể, thê nhưng chúng không thể rơi xuống đất mà Chúa không biết, và chúng ta còn đáng giá hơn cà những con chim sẻ. Chúa Jêsus không nói rằng chúng ta sẽ không phải chịu đau khổ, chỉ có Thiên Chúa mới biết được điều, và quan trọng hơn, Thiên Chúa sẽ đặc biệt quan tâm đến chúng ta. Vì thế chúng ta đừng bao giờ phải sợ hãi để làm và nói nên những gì là sự thật hoặc nói lên sự tốt lành của Thiên Chúa.\
REFLECTION
The long drama of Joseph in Egypt ended where it all began — in Canaan. His kidnapping and enslavement seemed terrible — and at the time it was — but it was all part of God’s plan to save Joseph’s entire family and ensure their posterity. Often, we focus on our immediate painful situation and neglect to consider how this might fit into the overall ‘big picture’. It is important for us to remember and be faithful to God every step of the journey and in every situation. God will be with us always.
Fear is very powerful, and it prevents many people from speaking and doing the truth. They fear ridicule, persecution, and rejection. Jesus exhorted his followers to shout the good news from the rooftops — fear nothing! Even the insignificant sparrow does not fall to the ground without God’s knowledge, and we are worth much more than sparrows. Jesus did not say that we would not suffer, only that God will know, and more importantly, God will care deeply. Let us never be afraid to do and say what is right or to speak of God’s goodness. Lord, grant me courage and assurance.
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Matthew 10:27
What is it that our Lord speaks to you in the “darkness” and what is it that you “hear whispered” by Him? This is an important question to consider, since whatever it is that is spoken that way must be spoken “in the light” and proclaimed “on the housetops.”
Recall that when people first came to Jesus, curious about Him, He would often speak in a veiled way, in figures of speech and in parables. This method of teaching is the first step in Jesus’ ongoing deepening revelation to us. His parables and various figures of speech are meant to draw the listener in so that they are attentive to the deeper message.
Recall, also, that Jesus said to His disciples, “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father” (John 16:25). In which way does our Lord speak to you?
As we grow in faith, and become more and more familiar with our Lord, He will begin to “lift the veil,” so to speak, and will begin to whisper His deepest truths to us within the depths of our souls. He will communicate to us in ways that go far beyond the veiled message of His parables and figures of speech and will communicate His very self to us, in ways that are beyond words.
The Gospel passage above, when taken by itself, seems to clearly indicate that there is much God wants to say to us in a clear way. But He wants to speak it to us in the “darkness” of our interior life and with gentle whispers that can only be heard when we give Him our full attention. Saint John of the Cross, for example, speaks much of the “darkness of faith” by which the deepest communications from our Lord are received. These communications are beyond words, concepts and images and can only be communicated in a direct and spiritual way through infused prayer. Infused prayer is not something you can accomplish on your own; it is a gift by which God continually draws you deeper, you respond and are called even deeper, and you continue to respond.
The Gospel passage above also clearly indicates that God wants us to share this most pure faith with others. To share it in the light and to proclaim it on the housetops. This is first done by the witness of our lives, by allowing the transforming grace of God to shine forth through us in ways that He can only do. It is also done by being attentive to those moments when God wants to use you to share His deeper and often veiled truths with others. God must first speak them to you, and then at the promptings of His grace, He will, at times, use you to share Him with others.
Reflect, today, upon this twofold action commanded by our Lord. First listen to Him. Listen to Him in the “darkness of faith.” Let Him draw you into the deepest and most certain convictions about His love and mercy and His very Self. Then, as you savor these hidden and holy communications from our Lord, look for ways by which He wants to speak to others through you. You do not have to initiate this proclamation, you only need to respond when He directs you. By building a deep level of prayer in this way, you will not only come to know our Lord in ways that are beyond words, you will also know how and when He wants to speak to others through you.
My good Jesus, You desire to speak to me and all Your children in ways that are deep, profound and beyond words. Please do draw me deeper into these communications of Your love so that I may see beyond the veil and come to know You as You are. Please also use me, dear Lord, to speak to others as You choose. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saturday 14th Ordinary 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, what an awesome task you have entrusted me with! I am called to bring your Word to my family, friends, coworkers, and community. I know my limitations and yet I trust in you and your grace. Empowered by your Spirit, I will be fearless as I proclaim your Word.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Mission of Isaiah to Judah: Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Hosea were all prophets in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They sought to turn Israel away from idolatrous worship and back to God. Some twenty years before the fall of Israel (722 B.C.), the Prophet Isaiah was called by God to prophesy to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Today’s First Reading tells us about this extraordinary event and calling which occurred in the year that King Uzziah died (742/740 B.C.). We are told that Isaiah had a vision of the Lord God enthroned as a king, yet whose greatness cannot be contained. Before the throne, Seraphim praised God as the most holy, as the commander of armies, and affirmed that God’s glory fills the whole earth. Isaiah’s experience of God's holiness seems to take place in the Temple, during an offering of a sacrifice on the altar. “The holiness of God simultaneously reveals the uncleanness of Isaiah, who fears for his life. But his uncleanness is purified when a seraph burns away his sin and guilt by touching his lips with a burning coal taken from the altar. There is a connection between Isaiah’s lips and his mission to speak: in order for Isaiah to speak the words of the holy God, his lips must be pure” (Leclerc, Introduction to the Prophets, 167).
2. Purification and Empowerment: The smoke Isaiah saw was no longer the smoke from the sacrificial offering, but rather the cloud of God’s presence. The voices he heard were no longer those of the earthly choir, but those of the angelic choir. Isaiah was empowered by his purification and responded enthusiastically to God’s question: “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah responds: “Here I am! Send me!” Just as Isaiah needed to be purified and empowered to preach God’s words, so also Jesus’ disciples needed to be purified and empowered by the Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. At the Last Supper, the Apostles are sanctified by the truth of God’s word. Jesus prays that evening that the Father draw the Apostles toward him and into his holiness. The Apostles were drawn deep within God by being immersed in the Word of God. “The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being” (Benedict XVI, April 9, 2009).
3. Fearlessness: Jesus tells the Apostles not to fear those who can kill the body. Jesus is the master who will himself be killed. His disciples will follow their master and will share in Jesus’ suffering and death. The proclamation of the Gospel by the Apostles will lead to their martyrdom. In this way, the Apostles bear witness to the truth. We learn, today, that despite our weakness, failings, and sin, God sends us out into the world to proclaim the Gospel. If we allow God into our lives, he will purify us, strengthen us, and guide us. The message we preach, the saving doctrine we teach, is not our own. Rather, we have received it at the foot of the altar, at the feet of Jesus himself. Like Isaiah and the Apostles, we are fragile vessels that bear a great treasure, a pearl of great price: the Word of God and the Charity of God.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you can do all things. I hear your voice and the gentleness of your call. Grant me your grace and pour out your Spirit so that I may respond to you with generosity. Help me as I discern your will today.
Living the Word of God: When I am in prayer, do I hear the voice of God? Am I listening to myself? Or the world? Or the temptations of the evil one? Do I know how to discern what comes from God? What criteria do I use in this discernment?
Saturday 14th Ordinary 2023
Opening Prayer: Lord, I’m here with you again in spirit to have a heart-to-heart conversation. Help me to open myself up to you so that you can inflame my faith, hope, and charity. Help me to see that everything I am is in your hands and that nothing I do or happens to me goes unnoticed by you. Lord, increase my trust!
Encountering Christ:
1. Disciples like the Master: “No disciple is above his teacher,” Our Lord says in today’s Gospel. However, he does make a qualification: “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher.” For the Apostles and for us, this is the essence of our Christian lives—transformation into other Christs. We are transformed when we go about doing good, suffering, loving, and blessing as he did despite obstacles. Our Lord had many enemies, so we might also, right? Christ simply tells us, “Therefore do not be afraid of them.” Instead, we pray, “Jesus I trust in you.”
2. All in God’s Hands: Christ tells us that two sparrows are practically worthless from an earthly perspective, yet “not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.” Everything that happens to us, everything we do, happens under the loving gaze of God the Father. What an enduring source of comfort! Nothing in our life is meaningless because the Lord knows and loves us—he knows the number of hairs on our heads and promises we are “worth more than many sparrows.”
3. Acknowledging Christ: The relationship Jesus offers transforms us to the degree that we open ourselves to his love. As we are filled with his love, our hearts can’t help but love reciprocally! And what person who truly finds himself in love keeps that love hidden? It seems unthinkable. Jesus tells us that when we acknowledge our love for him before others, he acknowledges us before the Father. May we be evangelists—souls so in love with Christ that we share his truth without fear or hesitation.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, may my life be a transformation process into you; help me consciously work toward this goal. Help me to see how the Father holds me in his hands with love and sees everything in my life with the greatest understanding. Lord, give me the strength to proclaim your name boldly to others, propelled by your love!
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will take a moment to pray before I start and end my work.
Saturday 14th Ordinary
Opening Prayer: Lord, help me to be more and more like you with each passing day. Help me to see in others the worth you see in me. Most of all, go before me—I will follow and will lead others to your perfect love.
Encountering Christ:
1. More and More like the Master: An up-and-coming actor agreed to play the biographical role of a very famous actor, now deceased. To prepare for the role, this actor listened every morning to recordings of the famous actor’s voice. In this way, he was able to train himself to be more and more like his master. Jesus invites us to be more and more like him and to do that we need to listen to his word, reflect on it deeply, and receive him in the sacraments frequently. The more we hear, the more we meditate, the more we try to live his word, and the more like him we will become.
2. Proclaim the Good News from the Housetops: What a beautiful picture these verses paint of a believer proclaiming the Good News from a housetop! Where are our modern housetops? Social media? Religious statues or pictures in our homes or workplaces? How “public” is our devotion to the Lord? If we were challenged, would we profess our faith, or make excuses for it? Do we pray for the courage to face threats to our faith, or do we seek the safety of the trending popular culture? Where can we proclaim the Good News today?
3. Even the Hairs on Your Head: These verses call to mind a new mother, stroking her baby’s little forehead and counting his fingers and toes. Jesus wants to love us this intimately. Everything about us, every detail, every part of us, has been created in his image. Would we want to approach him with a tongue that had been gossiping, eyes that had seen images or media we shouldn’t be watching, or hands used for idle distractions instead of useful work? May our mind and heart be pure so as to offer a proper dwelling place for Jesus most holy.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, how I long to be more like you! Help me to resist the temptations that lead me away from you and from your love. Knowing how you value me, help me to value others and to treat them with the tenderness you demonstrate to me.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I resolve to find a “rooftop,” a place, however small I may think it is, where I can proclaim your truth.
REFLECTION
The first reading depicts the reconciliation of sinful Israel with God. After God punished Israel for her unfaithfulness, He restores her and gives her His grace to follow Him again. It is God who destroys and who builds up Israel. We, too, after a period of disobeying and offending God, should turn back to Him for healing. Whomever God chastises, He can also heal. There is no sin that God cannot erase if we only ask for His mercy with sincerity.
The Gospel depicts the persecution of the missionaries and disciples of Jesus. It tells us that if we are true followers of Jesus, we may one day also be persecuted for our faith. But we should not be afraid because God will give us the courage and wisdom to speak the right words in the name of Jesus. Let us lead Christian lives so that, when confronted with challenges, we will, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, have the courage to proclaim our faith in Jesus.
Vở kịch dài về ông Giuse ở Ai Cập đã kết thúc ở nơi mà mọi thứ đã bắt đầu; ở Canaan ông bị các anh bắt cóc, bán cho bọn người buôn làm nô lệ, rồi bị ở tù. Chuyện cuộc đời ban đầu ở Aicập của ông đầy dẫy những đau thươ và khổ nhục, nhưng đó chính là kế hoạch của Thiên Chúa đã thực hiện nhằm cứu vớt gia đình của ông Giacóp (tổ phụ 12 chi tộc Israel) và nhờ đó đã mà hậu thế của họ đã thoát khỏi những cảnh hạn hán đói khát….
Có lễ chúng ta chỉ thường hay chú trọng và tập trung vào những tình huống khó khăn hay đau khổ và lập tức bỏ qua những việc điều tra nghiên cứu để xét coi những điều này có phù hợp với 'bức tranh to với tất cả những chi tiết toàn vẹn. Điều quan trọng là chúng ta phải nhớ và biết trung thành với Thiên Chúa trong mỗi bước đi trong cuộc hành trình và trong mọi tình huống mà chúng ta gặp phải. Thiên Chúa sẽ luôn luôn ở với chúng ta Ngài hướng dẫn và nâng đỡ chúng ta.\
Qua bài Tin Mừng, Hôm nay Chúa Giêsu đã mời gọi những người theo Ngài là phải thét to lên lời Chúa, tin mừng của Ngài ngay trên những mái nhà; đừng sợ! Ngay cả những chú chim sẻ không đáng hai xu , không đáng kể, thê nhưng chúng không thể rơi xuống đất mà Chúa không biết, và chúng ta còn đáng giá hơn cà những con chim sẻ. Chúa Jêsus không nói rằng chúng ta sẽ không phải chịu đau khổ, chỉ có Thiên Chúa mới biết được điều, và quan trọng hơn, Thiên Chúa sẽ đặc biệt quan tâm đến chúng ta. Vì thế chúng ta đừng bao giờ phải sợ hãi để làm và nói nên những gì là sự thật hoặc nói lên sự tốt lành của Thiên Chúa.\
REFLECTION
The long drama of Joseph in Egypt ended where it all began — in Canaan. His kidnapping and enslavement seemed terrible — and at the time it was — but it was all part of God’s plan to save Joseph’s entire family and ensure their posterity. Often, we focus on our immediate painful situation and neglect to consider how this might fit into the overall ‘big picture’. It is important for us to remember and be faithful to God every step of the journey and in every situation. God will be with us always.
Fear is very powerful, and it prevents many people from speaking and doing the truth. They fear ridicule, persecution, and rejection. Jesus exhorted his followers to shout the good news from the rooftops — fear nothing! Even the insignificant sparrow does not fall to the ground without God’s knowledge, and we are worth much more than sparrows. Jesus did not say that we would not suffer, only that God will know, and more importantly, God will care deeply. Let us never be afraid to do and say what is right or to speak of God’s goodness. Lord, grant me courage and assurance.
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Matthew 10:27
What is it that our Lord speaks to you in the “darkness” and what is it that you “hear whispered” by Him? This is an important question to consider, since whatever it is that is spoken that way must be spoken “in the light” and proclaimed “on the housetops.”
Recall that when people first came to Jesus, curious about Him, He would often speak in a veiled way, in figures of speech and in parables. This method of teaching is the first step in Jesus’ ongoing deepening revelation to us. His parables and various figures of speech are meant to draw the listener in so that they are attentive to the deeper message.
Recall, also, that Jesus said to His disciples, “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father” (John 16:25). In which way does our Lord speak to you?
As we grow in faith, and become more and more familiar with our Lord, He will begin to “lift the veil,” so to speak, and will begin to whisper His deepest truths to us within the depths of our souls. He will communicate to us in ways that go far beyond the veiled message of His parables and figures of speech and will communicate His very self to us, in ways that are beyond words.
The Gospel passage above, when taken by itself, seems to clearly indicate that there is much God wants to say to us in a clear way. But He wants to speak it to us in the “darkness” of our interior life and with gentle whispers that can only be heard when we give Him our full attention. Saint John of the Cross, for example, speaks much of the “darkness of faith” by which the deepest communications from our Lord are received. These communications are beyond words, concepts and images and can only be communicated in a direct and spiritual way through infused prayer. Infused prayer is not something you can accomplish on your own; it is a gift by which God continually draws you deeper, you respond and are called even deeper, and you continue to respond.
The Gospel passage above also clearly indicates that God wants us to share this most pure faith with others. To share it in the light and to proclaim it on the housetops. This is first done by the witness of our lives, by allowing the transforming grace of God to shine forth through us in ways that He can only do. It is also done by being attentive to those moments when God wants to use you to share His deeper and often veiled truths with others. God must first speak them to you, and then at the promptings of His grace, He will, at times, use you to share Him with others.
Reflect, today, upon this twofold action commanded by our Lord. First listen to Him. Listen to Him in the “darkness of faith.” Let Him draw you into the deepest and most certain convictions about His love and mercy and His very Self. Then, as you savor these hidden and holy communications from our Lord, look for ways by which He wants to speak to others through you. You do not have to initiate this proclamation, you only need to respond when He directs you. By building a deep level of prayer in this way, you will not only come to know our Lord in ways that are beyond words, you will also know how and when He wants to speak to others through you.
My good Jesus, You desire to speak to me and all Your children in ways that are deep, profound and beyond words. Please do draw me deeper into these communications of Your love so that I may see beyond the veil and come to know You as You are. Please also use me, dear Lord, to speak to others as You choose. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saturday 14th Ordinary 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, what an awesome task you have entrusted me with! I am called to bring your Word to my family, friends, coworkers, and community. I know my limitations and yet I trust in you and your grace. Empowered by your Spirit, I will be fearless as I proclaim your Word.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Mission of Isaiah to Judah: Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Hosea were all prophets in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They sought to turn Israel away from idolatrous worship and back to God. Some twenty years before the fall of Israel (722 B.C.), the Prophet Isaiah was called by God to prophesy to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Today’s First Reading tells us about this extraordinary event and calling which occurred in the year that King Uzziah died (742/740 B.C.). We are told that Isaiah had a vision of the Lord God enthroned as a king, yet whose greatness cannot be contained. Before the throne, Seraphim praised God as the most holy, as the commander of armies, and affirmed that God’s glory fills the whole earth. Isaiah’s experience of God's holiness seems to take place in the Temple, during an offering of a sacrifice on the altar. “The holiness of God simultaneously reveals the uncleanness of Isaiah, who fears for his life. But his uncleanness is purified when a seraph burns away his sin and guilt by touching his lips with a burning coal taken from the altar. There is a connection between Isaiah’s lips and his mission to speak: in order for Isaiah to speak the words of the holy God, his lips must be pure” (Leclerc, Introduction to the Prophets, 167).
2. Purification and Empowerment: The smoke Isaiah saw was no longer the smoke from the sacrificial offering, but rather the cloud of God’s presence. The voices he heard were no longer those of the earthly choir, but those of the angelic choir. Isaiah was empowered by his purification and responded enthusiastically to God’s question: “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah responds: “Here I am! Send me!” Just as Isaiah needed to be purified and empowered to preach God’s words, so also Jesus’ disciples needed to be purified and empowered by the Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. At the Last Supper, the Apostles are sanctified by the truth of God’s word. Jesus prays that evening that the Father draw the Apostles toward him and into his holiness. The Apostles were drawn deep within God by being immersed in the Word of God. “The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being” (Benedict XVI, April 9, 2009).
3. Fearlessness: Jesus tells the Apostles not to fear those who can kill the body. Jesus is the master who will himself be killed. His disciples will follow their master and will share in Jesus’ suffering and death. The proclamation of the Gospel by the Apostles will lead to their martyrdom. In this way, the Apostles bear witness to the truth. We learn, today, that despite our weakness, failings, and sin, God sends us out into the world to proclaim the Gospel. If we allow God into our lives, he will purify us, strengthen us, and guide us. The message we preach, the saving doctrine we teach, is not our own. Rather, we have received it at the foot of the altar, at the feet of Jesus himself. Like Isaiah and the Apostles, we are fragile vessels that bear a great treasure, a pearl of great price: the Word of God and the Charity of God.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you can do all things. I hear your voice and the gentleness of your call. Grant me your grace and pour out your Spirit so that I may respond to you with generosity. Help me as I discern your will today.
Living the Word of God: When I am in prayer, do I hear the voice of God? Am I listening to myself? Or the world? Or the temptations of the evil one? Do I know how to discern what comes from God? What criteria do I use in this discernment?
Saturday 14th Ordinary 2023
Opening Prayer: Lord, I’m here with you again in spirit to have a heart-to-heart conversation. Help me to open myself up to you so that you can inflame my faith, hope, and charity. Help me to see that everything I am is in your hands and that nothing I do or happens to me goes unnoticed by you. Lord, increase my trust!
Encountering Christ:
1. Disciples like the Master: “No disciple is above his teacher,” Our Lord says in today’s Gospel. However, he does make a qualification: “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher.” For the Apostles and for us, this is the essence of our Christian lives—transformation into other Christs. We are transformed when we go about doing good, suffering, loving, and blessing as he did despite obstacles. Our Lord had many enemies, so we might also, right? Christ simply tells us, “Therefore do not be afraid of them.” Instead, we pray, “Jesus I trust in you.”
2. All in God’s Hands: Christ tells us that two sparrows are practically worthless from an earthly perspective, yet “not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.” Everything that happens to us, everything we do, happens under the loving gaze of God the Father. What an enduring source of comfort! Nothing in our life is meaningless because the Lord knows and loves us—he knows the number of hairs on our heads and promises we are “worth more than many sparrows.”
3. Acknowledging Christ: The relationship Jesus offers transforms us to the degree that we open ourselves to his love. As we are filled with his love, our hearts can’t help but love reciprocally! And what person who truly finds himself in love keeps that love hidden? It seems unthinkable. Jesus tells us that when we acknowledge our love for him before others, he acknowledges us before the Father. May we be evangelists—souls so in love with Christ that we share his truth without fear or hesitation.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, may my life be a transformation process into you; help me consciously work toward this goal. Help me to see how the Father holds me in his hands with love and sees everything in my life with the greatest understanding. Lord, give me the strength to proclaim your name boldly to others, propelled by your love!
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will take a moment to pray before I start and end my work.
Saturday 14th Ordinary
Opening Prayer: Lord, help me to be more and more like you with each passing day. Help me to see in others the worth you see in me. Most of all, go before me—I will follow and will lead others to your perfect love.
Encountering Christ:
1. More and More like the Master: An up-and-coming actor agreed to play the biographical role of a very famous actor, now deceased. To prepare for the role, this actor listened every morning to recordings of the famous actor’s voice. In this way, he was able to train himself to be more and more like his master. Jesus invites us to be more and more like him and to do that we need to listen to his word, reflect on it deeply, and receive him in the sacraments frequently. The more we hear, the more we meditate, the more we try to live his word, and the more like him we will become.
2. Proclaim the Good News from the Housetops: What a beautiful picture these verses paint of a believer proclaiming the Good News from a housetop! Where are our modern housetops? Social media? Religious statues or pictures in our homes or workplaces? How “public” is our devotion to the Lord? If we were challenged, would we profess our faith, or make excuses for it? Do we pray for the courage to face threats to our faith, or do we seek the safety of the trending popular culture? Where can we proclaim the Good News today?
3. Even the Hairs on Your Head: These verses call to mind a new mother, stroking her baby’s little forehead and counting his fingers and toes. Jesus wants to love us this intimately. Everything about us, every detail, every part of us, has been created in his image. Would we want to approach him with a tongue that had been gossiping, eyes that had seen images or media we shouldn’t be watching, or hands used for idle distractions instead of useful work? May our mind and heart be pure so as to offer a proper dwelling place for Jesus most holy.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, how I long to be more like you! Help me to resist the temptations that lead me away from you and from your love. Knowing how you value me, help me to value others and to treat them with the tenderness you demonstrate to me.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I resolve to find a “rooftop,” a place, however small I may think it is, where I can proclaim your truth.
REFLECTION
The first reading depicts the reconciliation of sinful Israel with God. After God punished Israel for her unfaithfulness, He restores her and gives her His grace to follow Him again. It is God who destroys and who builds up Israel. We, too, after a period of disobeying and offending God, should turn back to Him for healing. Whomever God chastises, He can also heal. There is no sin that God cannot erase if we only ask for His mercy with sincerity.
The Gospel depicts the persecution of the missionaries and disciples of Jesus. It tells us that if we are true followers of Jesus, we may one day also be persecuted for our faith. But we should not be afraid because God will give us the courage and wisdom to speak the right words in the name of Jesus. Let us lead Christian lives so that, when confronted with challenges, we will, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, have the courage to proclaim our faith in Jesus.
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