Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần thứ 15 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần thứ 15 Thường Niên
Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu nói với chúng ta "gánh nặng của ta thì nhẹ nhàng". Có một câu chuyện đã kể về một người đàn ông đã gặp một cô bé khoảng 10 tuổi đang cõng một đứa em trai tật nguyền trên lưng. Ông ta nói "Đó là một gánh nặng cho con, mà sao con cứ phãi cõng nó hoài thế kia?. Con có mệt không?" Nhưng cô bế đã lên tiếng đáp lại: Thưa đàn ông, nó đâu có nặng đâu, nó là em con mà!”. Thật vậy, khi chúng ta có phải vác một gánh nặng tới đâu đi nữa, nhưng chúng ta vác nó với tình yêu thương và đem nó vào trong tình byêu của chúng ta, thì gánh nặng đó Không còn là một gánh nặng nữa. Khi chúng ta mang ách cuộc sống của chúng ta với Chúa Giêsu, Ngài cũng mang lấy gánh nặng của chúng  ta với chúng ta và Ngài còn cho chúng ta sức mạnh của Ngài để giúp chúng ta làm theo cách yêu thương của Ngài. Vì thế chúng ta nên tìm kiếm niềm vui trong lúc nghỉ ngơi với sự hiện diện của Chúa Giêsu và cùng đồng hành với Chúa hàng ngày trên con đường mà Chúa đã dành cho chúng ta.
            Chúa Giêsu đã ban cho chúng ta một vương quốc mới trong sự công chính, bình an và hạnh phúc. Trong vương quốc của Ngài tội lỗi không những chỉ tha thứ mà thôi nhưng còn được loại bỏ, và sự sống đời đời được ban cho tất cả những ai là công dân của Nước Trời. Đây không phải là một vương quốc chính trị, nhưng là một vương quốc thần linh. Ách thống trị trong vương quốc của Chúa Kitô, quy tắc vương giả của Ngài và lối sống, sẽ giải thoát chúng ta khỏi những gánh nặng của tội lỗi và những sự áp bức của thói quen tội lỗi và những sự thù ghét. Chỉ có Chúa Giêsu mới có thể nhấc nổi cái gánh nặng tội lỗi và sức nặng của sự tuyệt vọng nơi chúng tôi.
            Chúa Giêsu đã dùng một ách để so sánh và giải thích chúng ta hiểu rõ là làm thế nào để có thể trao đổi những gánh nặng của tội lỗi và sự tuyệt vọng, để nhận lấy sự vinh quang và chiến thắng với Ngài. Cái Ách mà Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta hãy ôm ấp lấy là cách của sống yêu thương như Chúa, Với ân sủng và sư tự do khỏi quyền lực của tội lỗi.
            Lạy Chúa xin ban cho chúng con có niềm tin vững mạnh vào tình yêu của Thiên Chúa và biết phó thác cuộc sống riêng của chúng con theo như ý Chúa và trong kế hoạch mà Chúa đã định sẵn cho cuộc sống của chúng con.
 
Meditation Thursday 15^th Ordinary Time: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me"
What does the yoke of Jesus refer to in the Gospel? The Jews used the image of a yoke to express submission to God. They spoke of the yoke of the law, the yoke of the commandments, the yoke of the kingdom, and the yoke of God. Jesus says his yoke is "easy". The Greek word for "easy" can also mean "well-fitting". Yokes were tailor-made to fit the oxen well. Oxen were yoked two by two. Jesus invites us to be yoked with him, to unite our life with his life, our will with his will, and our heart with his heart. To be yoked with Jesus is to be united with him in a relationship of love, trust, and obedience.
Jesus carries our burdens with us 
Jesus also says his "burden is light". There's a story of a man who once met a boy carrying a smaller crippled lad on his back. "That's a heavy load you are carrying there," exclaimed the man. "He ain't heavy; he's my brother!" responded the boy. No burden is too heavy when it's given in love and carried in love. When we yoke our lives with Jesus, he also carries our burdens with us and gives us his strength to follow in his way of love. Do you know the joy of resting in Jesus' presence and walking daily with him along the path he has for you?
Freed from the burden of sin and guilt 
Jesus offers us a new kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy. In his kingdom sins are not only forgiven but removed, and eternal life is poured out for all its citizens. This is not a political kingdom, but a spiritual one. The yoke of Christ's kingdom, his kingly rule and way of life, liberates us from the burden of guilt and from the oppression of sinful habits and hurtful desires. Only Jesus can lift the burden of sin and the weight of hopelessness from us. Jesus used the analogy of a yoke to explain how we can exchange the burden of sin and despair for a weight of glory and victory with him. The yoke which Jesus invites us to embrace is his way of love, grace, and freedom from the power of sin. Do you trust in God's love and submit to his will and plan for your life?
            "Lord Jesus, inflame my heart with love for you and for your ways and help me to exchange the yoke of rebellion for the yoke of submission to your holy and loving word. Set me free from the folly of my own sinful ignorance and rebellious pride that I may wholly desire what is good and in accord with your will."
 
Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time 2023
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Matthew 11:29–30
For those first followers of Jesus, a “yoke” was a familiar term. Many would have worked with oxen and other animals on a regular basis to plow their fields. To do so, they would place a wooden yoke over the oxen, which was a form of harness that was also attached to the plow, making it easier for the oxen to till the soil. To be strapped with a yoke was an indication of servitude, since that was the role of the oxen.
In commenting upon this passage, Saint Augustine (in Sermon 126) analogized the yoke of Christ with the wings of a bird. A bird’s wings are large in comparison to its body. As a result, if someone were to conclude that removing the wings from a bird would make its life easier by ridding it of that excess weight, such an action would have the effect of keeping it bound to the earth. But give its wings back and that “yoke” will enable it to soar through the skies.
So it is with the yoke of our Lord. If we accept the invitation to be a servant of God and we take upon ourselves the yoke of Christ for the fulfillment of our mission of service, we will discover that the act of serving lightens us, refreshes us, invigorates us and energizes us. Service of God is what we are made for, just as a bird is made to have wings. And like the bird, if we remove the yoke of service of God from our lives, then we are weighed down and cannot accomplish the good we are meant to do.
We are also told in this passage that we are not to carry our yoke; rather, we are meant to carry Christ’s yoke. “Take my yoke upon you…,” Jesus said. Carrying Jesus’ yoke means we are called to live our lives with Him and in Him. He came to serve and to give His life for others. It is our duty to do the same by allowing Him to do so within us. It is Christ and His servitude that must be the motivation and foundation of our lives.
Reflect, today, upon your call to be a servant in Christ. How is God calling you to serve? Whom is God calling you to serve? And as you answer that question, how do you see your act of service? Does service seem burdensome to you? Or do you understand that it is what you are made for? If you do see humble service as a burden, then perhaps that is because you have not actually tried to serve with and in Christ Himself. Try to ponder Jesus placing His yoke upon your shoulders. Say “Yes” to that act and to the mission of humble service you are called to fulfill. Doing so wholeheartedly will not only refresh you, it will also give meaning and purpose to your life.
My gentle Lord, You came to us to serve and to give Your life out of love. Give me the grace I need to accept Your act of service to me and to also imitate and participate in the service to which I am called. May I take Your yoke upon me, dear Lord, so that I can fulfill the mission that You have entrusted to me. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday 15^th Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I want to shoulder the yoke today with your Son at my side. I need to learn from him and be transformed in the depths of my heart. Do not let my pride and vanity rear their ugly head. I want to be gentle and meek of heart. I want true humility and to enjoy the peaceful rest of eternal life.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Message of Isaiah 13-25: Several chapters in the Book of Isaiah are oracles against foreign nations (Isaiah 13:1-23:18). These include prophesies and oracles against Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, Egypt, Cush, and Tyre. These nations have exalted themselves in the face of the Lord and, due to their pride and arrogance, they will be brought down. These prophecies and oracles prepare God’s judgment of the whole world in Isaiah 24. The prospect is bleak for those who have transgressed God’s law, violated God’s statutes, and broken God’s covenant (Isaiah 25:5). The kings of the earth, Isaiah says, will be gathered into a pit and punished. The Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and will manifest his glory (Isaiah 24:21-23). Mount Zion is where God will set a feast for all peoples a feast and offer choice wine. Death will be swallowed up forever, every tear will be wiped away and the reproach of God's people will be taken away. The people will say: “This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 24:6-9). On that day, the people will sing praises to God.
2. The Song of Praise: Our First Reading today is taken from that song of praise. The song praises God for protecting his people and leading the just along level paths. The people long for the Lord and seek him; they cry out to him. The Lord hears the cry of his people and delivers them. The Lord will give life to those who have died; their bodies will rise. Salvation does not come from the world but from God. Deliverance from evil and the gift of divine life are also present in today’s Gospel. Jesus knows that we are burdened by sin and that we labor and struggle as we make our way to the Lord God. Just as Israel and Judah cried out to God and sought him, we too cry out to God and seek him.
3. The Good King: Jesus is unlike the wicked kings of Israel and Judah. The wicked kings exploited their subjects and took from them. Jesus, by contrast, is a good king and a good shepherd. He doesn’t take and exploit. He gives generously and raises people up. On the one hand, Jesus gives good things that give life and nourishment, things like the cleansing waters of Baptism, the eucharistic Bread of Life, and the Blood of Salvation, the healing mercy of Reconciliation, and the power of the Spirit. On the other, Jesus also gives us our Cross and our yoke. The yoke of Christ is the Cross, an instrument of humiliation and an instrument of salvation. When we shoulder our daily cross, we learn the way of humility. We fall several times along the way, and each time we are able to get back up if we grasp the merciful hand of God. When we shoulder our daily cross, we learn the way of salvation. We understand the hideousness of sin and the power of grace. We see that sin only enslaves and that grace makes us free. Sin shackles us down and makes us stumble; life in Christ draws us along smooth paths to the Father.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I contemplate you each day and see that you truly are meek and humble of heart. Meekness is not weakness. Humility is not false self-deprecation. Meekness is the gentleness of one who loves. Humility is about living the truth of who we are – creatures who have been redeemed and are sanctified, servants who lay down their lives for others. May I truly be mee
Living the Word of God: Do I know how I can grow in meekness and humility? What is God the Father asking me to do to transform my heart into the heart of his Son?
 
Thursday 15^th Ordinary Time 2023
Introductory Prayer: Almighty and ever-living God, I seek new strength from the courage of Christ, our shepherd. I believe in you, I hope in you, and I seek to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I want to be led one day to join the saints in heaven, where your Son Jesus Christ lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
Petition: Lord Jesus, meek and humble of heart, help me to take on your yoke.
1. Come to Me: If you struggle daily to do what is morally right even when those around you take shortcuts, then come to Jesus. If the life of selfish pleasure and illicit gain seems exceedingly attractive, then come to Jesus. If you are burdened with your patterns of sin and weaknesses of character that affect your vocation as a spouse, a parent, a friend, a consecrated soul, a Christian…, then come to Jesus. If life seems unfair and God seems distant at best, then come to Jesus. He calls us not to a set of principles and noble ideals, but his very person. We do not follow the rules for the sake of rules; we follow Jesus. Only when we first come to him will we understand the need for the rules that help protect this relationship's dignity.
2. Learn from Me: St. Paul admonishes the Galatians to live in the freedom of Christ: "For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). Yet in his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul invites us to be "slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (6:5). To be a slave means that I submit to the will of another or am subordinated (unwillingly) to one stronger than I in some way. One who is a slave of passion, vanity, selfishness or any other vice is subject to that vice as something more powerful than oneself. But Jesus calls us friends and not slaves (cf. John 15:14-15). So to be a "slave" of Christ means to entrust my life to him freely with the intention of following where he leads. Experience shows that he always guides us down the path that leads to our happiness and fulfillment, even when it entails the cross.
3. Rest for Yourselves: These words mean “rest,” not in the sense of cessation from work and struggle, but the sense of peace of soul, joy, and profound happiness. This is the rest that we all long for, the rest that will one day be uninterrupted in the bliss of heaven. We have each met individuals who experience this peace and joy despite their circumstances. Notice that Jesus does not promise to take away the burdens, the trials, the sufferings. But if we take his yoke upon ourselves, if we submit to his plan, his will, his love, he guarantees the joy. If you have never experienced it, then begin today; give him what you know in your heart he is asking of you. Although it may hurt at first, as does every yoke, this one brings the lightness of peace and the ease of joy.
Conversation with Christ: Blessed Lord, you lead me towards everlasting peace if I will follow, but the following does not always seem simple. Give me the very things you ask of me: faith, generosity, courage, trust, love. With these gifts and your grace, I will have the strength necessary for the journey.
Resolution: Today, I will pray an extra decade of the rosary for the persons farthest from Jesus. 
 
Thursday 15^th Ordinary Time 2022
Opening Prayer: “For your way and your judgments, O Lord, we look to you; your name and your title are the desire of our souls. My soul yearns for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world’s inhabitants learn justice. O Lord, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done” (from today’s first reading from Isaiah).
Encountering Christ:
Labors and Burdens: In this context, Jesus speaks to those who labor and are burdened by the law, as expounded by the scribes and Pharisees. Further in the Gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus rebuking the Pharisees, for “They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4). What we can learn from this exchange is that the burden of faith we bear, often a weight we carry not only for ourselves but also for loved ones who are outside the faith, is lifted when we ask Our Lord to enter into our burdens. Jesus, through His cross, lifts our burdens onto his own shoulders and carries them with us. 
Rest: The rest Jesus invites us into is the Father’s will. Sown into our human nature through original sin is the lie that the Father’s will is a burden, a set of rules limiting our freedom. Jesus leads us on the path to truth, and we find our way by being meek and humble of heart. To be meek like Jesus means to willingly place our power at the service of God, much like a bridled horse who allows itself to be tamed to serve his master. Humble of heart means to freely submit our will to God. To be meek and humble of heart is difficult on our own due to our fallen nature, and our concupiscence. Through Jesus, “It (concupiscence) cannot harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the grace of Jesus Christ” (CCC 1264).
Jesus’ Yoke: Kateri Tekakwitha, the saint whose feast day we celebrate today, took the yoke of Jesus upon herself when she, at eleven years old, accepted the gift of the Catholic faith through Jesuit missionaries who visited her Mohawk tribe in 1667. She practiced her religion unflinchingly in the face of almost unbearable opposition. She lived a life of remarkable virtue despite the many in her tribe who engaged in the carnage, debauchery, and idolatrous frenzy. Even in the bitterest winter, every morning, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at four and remained there until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist, and Jesus crucified. Upon her death, devotion to her began immediately to be manifested by her people, and many were converted to Catholicism. Kateri’s steadfast devotion to Jesus teaches us how to resist concupiscence by living a life of virtue. We lean upon the grace of Jesus Christ so that he lifts the burdens we carry for ourselves and our people. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, to rest in you is to do the Father’s will, and I confess, I often find it a burden difficult to carry, especially when I feel I am also carrying it for others. I want to learn from you that faith is not a burden but a gift to appreciate and treasure. Fill me with your grace, Jesus. 
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will begin a practice of thanking you first thing every morning and last thing every night. 
 
Reflection
Today, Jesus' words resound intimate and close. We are conscious that contemporary men and women suffer a considerable psychological pressure. This world keeps on turning round and round, we cannot stand up the pace anymore and have neither time nor inner peace to assimilate these changes. Quite often we move away from the evangelic simplicity by loading ourselves up with rules, commitments, planning and objectives. We feel overwhelmed and tired of continuously struggling without our effort being worth its while. Recent investigations affirm that nervous breakdowns are on their way up all the time. What are we lacking to feel actually well?\
            Today, at the light of the Gospel, we may review our conception of God. How do I live and feel God in my heart? What feelings uncover his presence in my life? Jesus offers us his understanding when we feel weary and want to rest: «Come to me, all you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens and I will refresh you» (Mt 11:28). Maybe we have fought for perfection while, deep inside, the only thing we wanted was to feel loved. In Jesus' words we find a response to our crisis of meaning. Our ego plays some dirty tricks on us by preventing us from being as good as we would like to. At times we may not see the light. St. Juliana of Norwich, English mystic of the fourteenth century, had a revelation, heard Jesus’ message, and wrote: «All will go well, everything will go well».
            Jesus' proposal «Take my yoke upon you and learn from me...» (Mt 11:29)— implies following his benevolent style of life (to wish good to everybody) and his heart’s humility (virtue referring to keep our feet on the ground for only the divine grace can make us ascend). To be a disciple demands our accepting Jesus' yoke, while remembering his yoke is «good» and his burden is «light». I do not know, however, whether we are convinced this is really so. To live as a Christian in our present context is not such an easy thing, for we have to opt for values that go upstream. Not to get carried away by money, prestige or power demands a great effort. If we want to achieve it by ourselves, it may become an impossible task. But with Jesus everything is possible and good.