Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần thứ 17 Thường
Niên
Hôm nay, bài Tin Mừng cho chúng
ta thấy Chúa Giêsu dậy cho các môn đệ. Như thói quen, Ngài dạy các ông trong
hình thức các dụ ngôn, Ngài dùng hình ảnh đơn giản hàng ngày để giải thích
những mầu nhiệm và bí ẩn to lớn của Nước Trời. Bằng cách này mà tất cả mọi
người từ những người thông minh nhất đến những người đơn sơ thấp kém nhất cũng
có thể hiểu được ý nghĩa Lời của Chúa.
"Nước Trời giống như hạt
cải" (Mt 13:31) hạt cải là những hạt hết sức là nhỏ bé nó to gần như là
hạt cát mịn, nhưng nếu chúng ta trồng nó xuống đất, bun xới, chăm sóc tốt mỗi
ngày ... kết quả, nó sẽ trở thành một cây lớn lớn. “Nước thiên đàng giống như
men mà một người phụ nữ trộn lẫn với ba đấu bột (...)” (Mt 13:33). Nấm men thì
vô hình, nhưng nếu nó không được trộn và ủ trong bột làm bánh mì thì bột không
nổi và bánh mì sẽ cứng khô. Đó là những cách cần thiết cho cuộc sống Kitô hữu
của chúng ta. Một cuộc sống trong ân sủng: cho dù không thấy được sự bộc lộ ở
bên ngoài; cũng không có một âm thanh làm vang dội cho người khác nghe, nhưng
... nếu chúng ta cho phép những ân sủng của Chúa đến và ở trong trái tim của
chúng ta, thì ân sủng của Thiên Chúa sẽ là phân bón nuôi dưỡng hạt giống và biến
đổi con người tội lỗi như chúng ta trở thành như các thánh của Chúa.
Chúng ta nhận được ân sủng của Thiên Chúa qua đức tin,
qua lời cầu nguyện, qua các bí tích, qua tình yêu của Thiên Chúa. Nhưng ân sủng
cho cuộc sống này phải là trên tất cả những ân sủng mà chúng ta đã hy vọng và phải
chờ mong, nhưng chúng ta phải mong muốn trong sự khiêm tốn. Những hồng ân của
Thiên Chúa mà những người khôn ngoan trên thế giới này không biết đánh giá cao,
không biết kính trọng nhưng mà Chúa là Thiên Chúa của chúng ta muốn truyền ban cho
những ai biết khiêm tốn, hèn hạ và biết chấp nhận thánh ý Chúa.
Đấy là một
điều thật tuyệt vời nếu khi Ngài đi tìm kiếm chúng ta, những người biết tự nhận
ra chính bản thân mình là những người tội lỗi yếu đuối, nhưng biết tin tưởng
vào sự tốt lành của Thiên Chúa. Bằng cách này, hạt cải nơi chúng ta sẽ phát
triển thành cây lớn, các men của Lời Chúa sẽ đem lại cho chúng ta những hoa trái
của sự sống đời đời bởi vì như thánh Augustinô có nói: “Trái tim càng biết
khiêm tốn trong sự thấp hèn, thì nó sẽ càng được nâng lên để được hoàn thiện”
(Saint Augustine).
Reflection Monday 17th Ordinary Time:
Today, the Gospel shows us Jesus preaching to his
disciples. He does so, as is His custom, in the form of parables, using simple
everyday images to explain the great hidden mysteries of His Kingdom. In this
way he could be understood by everyone from the most highly educated to the
simplest of individuals.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed” (Mt 13:31) The mustard seed is so tiny it is almost invisible,
but if we take good care of it and water it properly... it ends up becoming a
large tree. «The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and
buried in three measures of flour (...)» (Mt 13:33). The yeast is invisible,
but if it weren't present the dough would not rise. Such is the way for life
lived as a Christian, the life of grace: you don't see it externally; it
doesn't make a sound, but… if one lets it introduce itself in one's heart,
divine grace nourishes the seed and converts people from sinners to saints.
We get this divine grace through
faith, through prayer, through the sacraments, through love. But this life of
grace is, above all, a gift that we must wait and hope for, that we must desire
with humility. A gift which the wise and learned of this world do not know how
to appreciate, but that Our Lord God wants to transmit to the humble and
uncomplicated. It would be great if, when He looks for us, he finds us, not in
the group of the proud, but amongst the humble, the ones who recognize
themselves as weak sinners, but very grateful for, and trusting in, the
goodness of the Lord. This way the mustard seed will grow into the large tree,
the yeast of the Word of God will bring about for us the fruit of eternal life
because «the more the heart is lowered in humility, the higher it is raised to
perfection» (Saint Augustine).
Monday 17th Ordinary Time 2024
Monday
of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
He
spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a
woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch
was leavened.” Matthew
13:33
Yeast
is powerful. Though it often accounts for only about 1% of a loaf of bread, it
causes that loaf to more than double in size. Of course, it also has the
amazing effect of turning the dough soft and flexible as it rises. Without
yeast, the dough would remain stiff and much smaller in size. The dough would
not become the bread it was meant to be.
The
Church Fathers offer many interpretations of this short, one-sentence parable.
Some say that the three measures of flour represent the spirit, soul and body
into which the Gospel is inserted. Others say the three measures of flour
represent either three different kinds of persons or three levels of
fruitfulness in our lives. The yeast is understood by some as the message of
the Gospel in the Scriptures and by others as charity that must permeate our
lives and the world as a whole. Of course, the parables of Jesus, as well as
every teaching contained within the Scriptures, offer us many levels of
understanding and meaning that are all correct and consistent with each other.
One of the most important questions to ponder is this: What does God want to
say to you through this parable?
If
you consider yourself to be the three measures of flour, and the yeast to be
God, His holy Word and His gentle but clear Voice speaking to you, in what
concrete ways do you see your life rising as a direct result? How do you see
yourself becoming that which you are intended to be as a result of God entering
your life? And do you see the effect as one that is truly transforming and even
exponential?
Sometimes
the Word of God has little to no effect on our lives. That, of course, is not
the fault of the Word of God; rather, it’s because we do not allow God to do
His transforming work. For yeast to work, the dough has to sit still for a
while. So in our lives, for God to do His work, we must allow Him to gently and
powerfully work. This process requires that we internalize all that God speaks
to us. Then His actions must prayerfully be permitted to work within us, and we
must allow the change to be slow and certain in accord with His divine plan.
Sometimes
we can also become impatient with the workings of God. Again, the yeast takes
time to work. If we are impatient with God’s grace, then it may be like taking
the dough and kneading it over and over before it even has a chance to work.
But if we are prayerfully patient, allowing God to do His work in our lives
according to His will and in His time, then little by little we will experience
the transformation that He initiates.
Reflect,
today, upon this short but powerful parable. See yourself as that dough and see
God and His action in your life as the yeast. As you sit with that image in a
prayerful way, let God reveal how He wants to work within you and how He wants
to transform you. Pray for patience. Trust that if you receive His transforming
Word into your soul, then He will do what He wants to do. And trust that if
this happens, you will indeed become the person God wants you to become.
My
transforming Lord, You desire to enter deeply into my life and to permeate all
that I am. You desire to change me, little by little, making me into the person
You want me to become. Please help me to be attentive to all that You desire to
do in me and to patiently await the transformation that You have already begun.
Jesus, I trust in You.
Reflection Monday 17th Ordinary Time:
In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus teaching his disciples
again in parables. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like…" Instead
of using abstract ideas in his teachings, our Lord used parables with examples
that we see or experience daily. This has the advantage of timeless and
universal application.
Also, the parables could be more easily understood by those not
highly educated or sophisticated people. What did he mean by the "kingdom
of God"? We know that it is not a place.
But if we translate it as the "reign of God," we can
better understand and apply it across time and space. God reigns in any place
or action which proclaims his values and everything He stands for. Since he is
love, wherever or whenever love is present in any activity, he is also there as
Lord and King. Like a little mustard seed, in any little good thing we do or
witness, the kingdom of God is in our midst.
Like the yeast in the dough, the Lord also reigns in the loving
but unseen actions and activities of his faithful. These little acts of loving
all inspired by the Spirit of Love will be the catalyst for the transformation
of society and the world. That is why our Lord taught us to pray for the
"coming of God's kingdom."
Every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, let us reflect and ask
ourselves if our actions are helping or hindering the reign of God in our lives
and in the world around us. Is he the Lord of our hearts and the Lord of our
lives? Since most of us repeatedly fail, we then also ask the Lord to
"forgive us our trespasses. "
REFLECTION
In the first
reading today the prophet uses the image of a belt buried in water which
destroys it for the people of Israel and Judah who will be destroyed because
they have refused to listen to God's commandments.
In the Gospel reading Jesus uses two parables
to teach people about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is like a
really small mustard seed which grows into the biggest of garden plants. The
kingdom of heaven is like the yeast which makes the dough rise and grow.
The kingdom of heaven grows quietly but
surely, like the mustard seed planted in the garden. The kingdom of heaven's
growth is like that of the yeast in the dough; its effects are hidden and
unseen and yet very effective. The kingdom of heaven grows quietly and surely
where love abounds, in the many loving and caring deeds of so many.
Are we doing our
part in hastening the arrival and growth of the kingdom of heaven in our lives
and in the lives of those we touch?
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