Theo Chúa không phải dễ
dàng, Theo Chúa, là chúng ta phải bỏ lại
tất cả những mớ hành lý kiềng kàng, vô
ích, không cần thiết cho cuộc sống, những thứ vật chất
của trần thế, hay những niềm
vui, thoải mái riêng cá nhân. Đó chính là
con đường khó khăn với nhiều thách thức mà chúng ta phải
đối mặt nếu chúng ta thực sự theo Chúa.
Như những người trong bài Tin mừng hôm nay, đến nói với Giêsu rằng anh sẽ theo Ngài bất cứ nơi nào Chúa đi. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu bảo cho anh ta là” Con chồn có hang, Con chim có tổ, nhưng đối vời Ngài thì không có nơi nào chấp nhận và không có chỗ nghĩ chân”. Đây là sự thách thức đầu tiên để theo Chúa Giêsu; không phải ai trong chúng ta cũng dễ dàng sẵn sàng chấp nhận cam kết đi theo Ngài. Một số người, ngay cả những người thân yêu của chúng ta cũng có thể không đồng ý mà còn ngăn cản cuộc hành trình về đức tin của chúng ta và thậm chí có thể còn trở thành những trở ngại lớn của chúng ta.Trong cuộc gặp gỡ thứ hai, người môn đệ xin theo Ngài nhưng xin hoãn để về an táng người cha quá cố, nhưng Chúa đã nói với anh ta là việc ưu tiên trước nhất là theo Chúa, vì theo Ngài còn quan trọng hơn bất cứ thứ gì khác.
Có một câu nói của ai đó đã để đời như sau: "Nếu bạn đang sống, thì bạn vẫn còn có hy vọng." Không giống như người chết, cuộc sống vẫn có cơ hội để chuyển đổi bản thân và làm vinh danh Chúa. Đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta là theo Chúa Giêsu, chúng ta phải trả bằng vói giá của sự hy sinh., Như Chính Chúa đã hy sinh chính mạng sống của Ngài cho sự cứu rõi con người của chúng ta. Lạy Chúa Giêsu, Xin ban cho chúng con sự tự do chúng ta cần để chúng con có thể theo Chúa bất cứ nơi nào Chúa muốn chúng con đi và xin cho chúng con can đảm biết gạt bỏ qua một bên tất cả những gì dẫn đưa chúng con vào sự cám dỗ của trần gian..
Reflection 2016
We Christians pray, proclaiming to all, that we "will follow the Lord wherever he goes."
In our daily life, do we really do so? Don't we usually tell our Lord, "I need to work as I have a deadline to meet or I need to rush to buy stuff in the supermarket or the mall because of the one-day sale, or fix the car, or relax in the beach, etc. and then I will pray! By that time, we are tired and spent and ready to sleep out. Doesn't it seem like we are allocating our lowest energy time to our Lord, thus putting him at lowest priority, he created us and sustains us?
Jesus' statement that the "Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" emphasizes our imbalance of values or priorities. He keeps knocking into each person's heart for a place to reside and many times we simply choose to ignore him, and prefer to pursue our day-to-day day routines and tasks and to attend instead to our mundane needs.
Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
2024
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Matthew 8:19–20
It is unclear from this passage alone why Jesus answered this scribe the way He did. At first, the statement of the scribe seems very devout: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” But many of the Church Fathers, in their reflections of this conversation between Jesus and the scribe, offer helpful insights.
First of all, note that Jesus neither accepts the proposal of the scribe to be His follower nor rejects it. Rather, Jesus simply makes a statement which clarifies just what is involved in being His follower. Some Church Fathers suggest that this scribe was desirous of following Jesus because he thought there would be great rewards given to him by doing so. After all, Jesus was a miracle worker, was becoming quite popular, and showed potential to be a great leader. Therefore, the interior motivation of this scribe to follow Jesus wherever Jesus went was a questionable motivation. Did he want to follow Jesus because he thought it would benefit him in some worldly way?
Jesus’ response to this scribe does two things. First, it removes all misconceptions of what it means to follow Jesus. If the scribe wanted to follow Jesus, then he had to be prepared to follow Him into poverty and homelessness rather than riches and possessions. Jesus wanted it to be clear to the scribe just what he was choosing. Secondly, Jesus’ response was certainly an invitation to the scribe to follow Him, but only in the light of this new knowledge. In other words, Jesus was saying, “Yes, come follow me. But be aware of what that means. Following me will not result in your earthly riches but in your earthly poverty.”
Why do you follow Jesus? It’s important to consider your motivations at times. Some choose to follow Jesus because this was simply the way they were raised. Others do so because it makes them feel better to do so. And still others do so because they think it will make their lives better in various ways. But what is the ideal motivation for following our Lord? The ideal motivation for following Jesus in a total and unwavering way is very simple: we follow Him because He is the Son of God and the Savior of the World. Jesus came to call us to Himself and has invited us to live in union with Him through faith. So ideally, we will follow Jesus simply because it is the right thing to do. We will not do so because of the so-called benefits. Love, in its purest form, does not love the other because of what we get out of it. Pure love is a gift given to another because they are worthy of our love. And with Jesus, He is worthy of our love and worship simply because of Who He is.
Reflect, today, upon Jesus inviting you to follow Him into poverty, detachment from all, simplicity of life and ultimately the sacrifice of your entire life. Do you understand what it means to be a follower of Christ Jesus? Do you understand that following Jesus cannot be done for selfish reasons? Do you realize that saying “Yes” to our Lord is saying “Yes” to His Cross? Ponder Jesus’ life and reflect upon whether or not you are willing to follow Him to the poverty of the Cross. If you can make the choice to follow our Lord, knowing full well what you are saying “Yes” to, then the end result will also be a glorious sharing in His resurrected life.
My glorious Lord, You walked through this world in poverty, rejection and suffering. You had no earthly home of Your own but now live in the riches of Heaven. Help me to follow You, dear Lord, wherever You lead me in this life. If You lead me to worldly poverty and suffering, I thank You. I thank You and choose to follow You no matter what. Give me the grace I need to follow You purely out of love for You, for You are God and are worthy of all my praise and worship. Jesus, I trust in You.
Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I promise today to heed your call and follow your Son. I cannot do it alone and need the gift of your grace. Your grace, granted through your Son and Spirit, moves me to respond in faith to you and empowers me to do the good works that lead to eternal life.
1. Amos’ Oracles against the Nations and Israel: Over the next eight weeks our First Reading on weekdays will be taken from eight different prophets – Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Ezekiel. Three weeks ago, we heard about the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who were sent by the Lord to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C. The two prophets opposed the idolatrous worship of Baal in Israel and sought to bring Israel to repent and uphold the covenant with the Lord. This week we will read from the Book of Amos. Amos was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He was a shepherd and orchard worker. He was not trained to be a prophet, yet the Lord called him and sent him to prophesy in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the year 762 B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam II and forty years before the Assyrian invasion and fall of Israel. What Amos first communicates in his book are eight judgments against the kingdoms (Amos 1:3-2:16). The first seven judgments are on kingdoms – Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah – that were either vassals or allies of Israel. While the other kingdoms are accused of breaches of treaty, war crimes, and violence, the accusation against the Southern Kingdom of Judah concerns offenses against God. At the same time, the judgment against Israel, which is today’s First Reading, is the goal of the entire series (2:6-16). Israel is accused of exploiting the poor and the weak, selling their debtors into slavery, corruption in their courts, committing sexual sins, and falling into idolatry. In contrast to the infidelity and sins of Israel, God was faithful, cared for his people, delivered them from Egypt, gave them the gift of land, and raised up prophets and consecrated Nazirites. Prayer: If God were to judge me right now, what would he say?
Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer: Jesus, I find my pride, vanity, and sensuality always fighting to keep me from giving myself fully to your love and service. Help me through this time of prayer to deepen my spirit of surrender to your call of love.
I Will Follow: “I will follow you wherever you go.” Although our hearts desire to follow Jesus wherever he leads us, without his grace it’s impossible. We have too great a tendency to sin and selfishness. But God’s grace is real and bigger than any selfish inclinations we may have! By our baptism, we have been given not only sanctifying grace but the infused theological virtues of faith, hope, and love that equip us as they are exercised and matured to truly follow the call of Jesus as his children. We have all the tools we need to share the Gospel with those around us.
Mon 2nd July 2018 - 13th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Justice has always been an essential part of our relationship with God. God has made it very clear that he is not interested in our worship or rituals unless we also treat others with justice, mercy, and compassion. We might argue that we have oppressed no one, but we create, and we benefit from unjust political and economic systems. On behalf of God, Amos raged at the Israelites for their economic oppression of the poor and their willingness to treat others as objects or slaves.
In our relationship with God, let us always be vigilant that our words and our love is expressed in deeds, and that we have a special concern for the poor and weak; just as God does! It is easy, in a burst of enthusiasm, to express a desire to follow Jesus. He warned those who came to him that there would be a price — a sacrifice of comfort, convenience, and control of one’s life. Even the foxes and birds would have more stability and security, for they had a nesting place.
Jesus and those who follow him would always live from moment to moment, relying totally on God. Likewise, with family obligations — following the Lord was even more important than these. Jesus repeatedly exhorts those who come to him to follow, wherever that may lead. Do we have the courage and the trust?
Lord, grant me the freedom and trust to follow You.
Như những người trong bài Tin mừng hôm nay, đến nói với Giêsu rằng anh sẽ theo Ngài bất cứ nơi nào Chúa đi. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu bảo cho anh ta là” Con chồn có hang, Con chim có tổ, nhưng đối vời Ngài thì không có nơi nào chấp nhận và không có chỗ nghĩ chân”. Đây là sự thách thức đầu tiên để theo Chúa Giêsu; không phải ai trong chúng ta cũng dễ dàng sẵn sàng chấp nhận cam kết đi theo Ngài. Một số người, ngay cả những người thân yêu của chúng ta cũng có thể không đồng ý mà còn ngăn cản cuộc hành trình về đức tin của chúng ta và thậm chí có thể còn trở thành những trở ngại lớn của chúng ta.Trong cuộc gặp gỡ thứ hai, người môn đệ xin theo Ngài nhưng xin hoãn để về an táng người cha quá cố, nhưng Chúa đã nói với anh ta là việc ưu tiên trước nhất là theo Chúa, vì theo Ngài còn quan trọng hơn bất cứ thứ gì khác.
Có một câu nói của ai đó đã để đời như sau: "Nếu bạn đang sống, thì bạn vẫn còn có hy vọng." Không giống như người chết, cuộc sống vẫn có cơ hội để chuyển đổi bản thân và làm vinh danh Chúa. Đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta là theo Chúa Giêsu, chúng ta phải trả bằng vói giá của sự hy sinh., Như Chính Chúa đã hy sinh chính mạng sống của Ngài cho sự cứu rõi con người của chúng ta. Lạy Chúa Giêsu, Xin ban cho chúng con sự tự do chúng ta cần để chúng con có thể theo Chúa bất cứ nơi nào Chúa muốn chúng con đi và xin cho chúng con can đảm biết gạt bỏ qua một bên tất cả những gì dẫn đưa chúng con vào sự cám dỗ của trần gian..
We Christians pray, proclaiming to all, that we "will follow the Lord wherever he goes."
In our daily life, do we really do so? Don't we usually tell our Lord, "I need to work as I have a deadline to meet or I need to rush to buy stuff in the supermarket or the mall because of the one-day sale, or fix the car, or relax in the beach, etc. and then I will pray! By that time, we are tired and spent and ready to sleep out. Doesn't it seem like we are allocating our lowest energy time to our Lord, thus putting him at lowest priority, he created us and sustains us?
Jesus' statement that the "Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" emphasizes our imbalance of values or priorities. He keeps knocking into each person's heart for a place to reside and many times we simply choose to ignore him, and prefer to pursue our day-to-day day routines and tasks and to attend instead to our mundane needs.
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Matthew 8:19–20
It is unclear from this passage alone why Jesus answered this scribe the way He did. At first, the statement of the scribe seems very devout: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” But many of the Church Fathers, in their reflections of this conversation between Jesus and the scribe, offer helpful insights.
First of all, note that Jesus neither accepts the proposal of the scribe to be His follower nor rejects it. Rather, Jesus simply makes a statement which clarifies just what is involved in being His follower. Some Church Fathers suggest that this scribe was desirous of following Jesus because he thought there would be great rewards given to him by doing so. After all, Jesus was a miracle worker, was becoming quite popular, and showed potential to be a great leader. Therefore, the interior motivation of this scribe to follow Jesus wherever Jesus went was a questionable motivation. Did he want to follow Jesus because he thought it would benefit him in some worldly way?
Jesus’ response to this scribe does two things. First, it removes all misconceptions of what it means to follow Jesus. If the scribe wanted to follow Jesus, then he had to be prepared to follow Him into poverty and homelessness rather than riches and possessions. Jesus wanted it to be clear to the scribe just what he was choosing. Secondly, Jesus’ response was certainly an invitation to the scribe to follow Him, but only in the light of this new knowledge. In other words, Jesus was saying, “Yes, come follow me. But be aware of what that means. Following me will not result in your earthly riches but in your earthly poverty.”
Why do you follow Jesus? It’s important to consider your motivations at times. Some choose to follow Jesus because this was simply the way they were raised. Others do so because it makes them feel better to do so. And still others do so because they think it will make their lives better in various ways. But what is the ideal motivation for following our Lord? The ideal motivation for following Jesus in a total and unwavering way is very simple: we follow Him because He is the Son of God and the Savior of the World. Jesus came to call us to Himself and has invited us to live in union with Him through faith. So ideally, we will follow Jesus simply because it is the right thing to do. We will not do so because of the so-called benefits. Love, in its purest form, does not love the other because of what we get out of it. Pure love is a gift given to another because they are worthy of our love. And with Jesus, He is worthy of our love and worship simply because of Who He is.
Reflect, today, upon Jesus inviting you to follow Him into poverty, detachment from all, simplicity of life and ultimately the sacrifice of your entire life. Do you understand what it means to be a follower of Christ Jesus? Do you understand that following Jesus cannot be done for selfish reasons? Do you realize that saying “Yes” to our Lord is saying “Yes” to His Cross? Ponder Jesus’ life and reflect upon whether or not you are willing to follow Him to the poverty of the Cross. If you can make the choice to follow our Lord, knowing full well what you are saying “Yes” to, then the end result will also be a glorious sharing in His resurrected life.
My glorious Lord, You walked through this world in poverty, rejection and suffering. You had no earthly home of Your own but now live in the riches of Heaven. Help me to follow You, dear Lord, wherever You lead me in this life. If You lead me to worldly poverty and suffering, I thank You. I thank You and choose to follow You no matter what. Give me the grace I need to follow You purely out of love for You, for You are God and are worthy of all my praise and worship. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I promise today to heed your call and follow your Son. I cannot do it alone and need the gift of your grace. Your grace, granted through your Son and Spirit, moves me to respond in faith to you and empowers me to do the good works that lead to eternal life.
1. Amos’ Oracles against the Nations and Israel: Over the next eight weeks our First Reading on weekdays will be taken from eight different prophets – Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Ezekiel. Three weeks ago, we heard about the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who were sent by the Lord to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C. The two prophets opposed the idolatrous worship of Baal in Israel and sought to bring Israel to repent and uphold the covenant with the Lord. This week we will read from the Book of Amos. Amos was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He was a shepherd and orchard worker. He was not trained to be a prophet, yet the Lord called him and sent him to prophesy in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the year 762 B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam II and forty years before the Assyrian invasion and fall of Israel. What Amos first communicates in his book are eight judgments against the kingdoms (Amos 1:3-2:16). The first seven judgments are on kingdoms – Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah – that were either vassals or allies of Israel. While the other kingdoms are accused of breaches of treaty, war crimes, and violence, the accusation against the Southern Kingdom of Judah concerns offenses against God. At the same time, the judgment against Israel, which is today’s First Reading, is the goal of the entire series (2:6-16). Israel is accused of exploiting the poor and the weak, selling their debtors into slavery, corruption in their courts, committing sexual sins, and falling into idolatry. In contrast to the infidelity and sins of Israel, God was faithful, cared for his people, delivered them from Egypt, gave them the gift of land, and raised up prophets and consecrated Nazirites. Prayer: If God were to judge me right now, what would he say?
Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer: Jesus, I find my pride, vanity, and sensuality always fighting to keep me from giving myself fully to your love and service. Help me through this time of prayer to deepen my spirit of surrender to your call of love.
I Will Follow: “I will follow you wherever you go.” Although our hearts desire to follow Jesus wherever he leads us, without his grace it’s impossible. We have too great a tendency to sin and selfishness. But God’s grace is real and bigger than any selfish inclinations we may have! By our baptism, we have been given not only sanctifying grace but the infused theological virtues of faith, hope, and love that equip us as they are exercised and matured to truly follow the call of Jesus as his children. We have all the tools we need to share the Gospel with those around us.
Justice has always been an essential part of our relationship with God. God has made it very clear that he is not interested in our worship or rituals unless we also treat others with justice, mercy, and compassion. We might argue that we have oppressed no one, but we create, and we benefit from unjust political and economic systems. On behalf of God, Amos raged at the Israelites for their economic oppression of the poor and their willingness to treat others as objects or slaves.
In our relationship with God, let us always be vigilant that our words and our love is expressed in deeds, and that we have a special concern for the poor and weak; just as God does! It is easy, in a burst of enthusiasm, to express a desire to follow Jesus. He warned those who came to him that there would be a price — a sacrifice of comfort, convenience, and control of one’s life. Even the foxes and birds would have more stability and security, for they had a nesting place.
Jesus and those who follow him would always live from moment to moment, relying totally on God. Likewise, with family obligations — following the Lord was even more important than these. Jesus repeatedly exhorts those who come to him to follow, wherever that may lead. Do we have the courage and the trust?
Lord, grant me the freedom and trust to follow You.
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