Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc chúng ta về câu chuyện Chúa Giêsu đi trên mặt nước. Trong Kinh Thánh, Nước là một biểu tượng của sự nguy hiểm. Ngay từ đầu, Thánh thần Thiên Chúa bay lơ lửng trên mặt nước. Điều này báo hiệu cho sự thống trị của Thiên Chúa trên tất cả các quyền năng và những sự rối loạn.
Trong cả bốn Tin Mừng đều nhắc đến câu chuyện về Chúa Giêsu làm chủ trên những con sóng bão. Chiếc thuyền với Phêrô và các môn đệ khác là gợi mở cho chúng ta thấy đó Giáo Hội Công Giáo của chúng ta. Giáo Hội này đã trải qua các vùng nước như sông hồ biển cả... và Giáo Hội đã đi qua thời gian. Giáo Hội cũng đã từng trải những sóng to bão lớn, những hỗn loạn, tham nhũng, ngu xuẩn, nguy hiểm, bắt bố, tù đầy và việc chết vì Đạo chắc chắn sẽ xảy ra.
Bây giờ chúng ta đang ở trong canh thứ tư của một đêm dài, đó là khoảng thời gian đen tối nhất của canh đêm, Chúa Giêsu đi bộ trên mặt biển, điều này có nghĩa là một sự khẳng định về tính thiêng liêng của Ngài: cũng giống như Thánh Thần của Thiên Chúa lơ lửng trên vùng biển lúc ban đầu, và vậy Chúa Giêsu đã vượt qua mặt nước ngay bây giờ, Ngài đã nói với các môn đệ đang sợ hãi của Ngài là: "Hãy can đảm, đừng sợ, thầy đây. ” Nhưng còn nhiều hơn thế nữa: các con có thể cùng tham gia và chia sẻ vào sức mạnh của thầy. “Phêrô ra khỏi thuyền và bắt đầu đi trên nước về phía Chúa Jêsus.” Đây là câu chuyện của tất cả các thánh, nhừng người đã không biết sợ hãi và theo Chúa.
In Gospel today is the story of Jesus walking on the water. Water is, throughout the Scriptures, a symbol of danger. At the very beginning, the spirit of the Lord hovered over the surface of the waters. This signals God’s lordship over all of the powers of disorder
In all four Gospels there is a version of this story of Jesus mastering the waves. The boat, with Peter and the other disciples, is evocative of the Church. It moves through the waters, as the Church will move through time. Storms—chaos, corruption, stupidity, danger, persecution—will inevitably arise.
Now during the fourth watch of the night, which is to say the darkest time of the night, Jesus comes walking on the sea. This is meant to be an affirmation of his divinity: just as the spirit of God hovered over the waters at the beginning, so Jesus hovers over them now. So he says to his terrified disciples: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” But even more than that: you can participate in my power. “Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.” This is the story of all the saints.
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Matthew 13:43
This passage concludes Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Weeds in the Field. Recall that in this parable there were good seeds sown in a field. The Sower is the Son of Man, Jesus, and the seed He sows are the children of the Kingdom, which includes all those who are in a state of grace. The field is the whole world. Thus, Jesus is saying that He has sent His followers, each one of us, into the world to build His Kingdom. But the evil one also sows his “children,” which refers to all of those who live evil lives that are contrary to the will of God. The passage above refers to the reward that the children of the Kingdom receive, whereas the passage just prior to this points out that at the end of the age, the children of the evil one will be condemned and sent “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
The end result of being the children of the Kingdom is quite hopeful. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.” This promise from our Lord should be pondered, believed and become the driving force of our hope in life.
Hope is an essential virtue that we often do not speak of enough. The gift of hope is not simply wishful thinking, such as when one hopes they win the lotto. The theological virtue of hope is a gift from God that is based on truth. The truth that it is based on is the promise of eternal life in Heaven if we accept all that God speaks to us and if we fulfill His glorious will in our lives.
By analogy, say that you have a large mortgage on your home. And say that the bank was doing a promotion in which they were going to pay off the mortgage for one lucky family. And that family was yours. They contacted you and let you know that all you need to do is fill out an application for this grant and that it would then be given to you. What would you do? Of course you would go and fill out the application. The bank is trustworthy, and you are confident that if you do what they ask, a small task of filling out the application, then they will follow through with the promise they made of paying off your mortgage. In a sense, there is hope established within you once you learn of this offer; and that hope, which is based on a true promise, is what drives you to do the small task of filling out the application.
So it is with God. The “mortgage” that He promises to pay is the debt of all our sin. And the requirement to receive this promise is fidelity to all He commands of us for our good. The problem is that we often do not fully understand the reward we are promised. That is: to “shine like the sun” in the Kingdom of our Father in Heaven. Having your mortgage paid off by the bank is something concrete and clear and very desirable. But the reward of shining like the sun in the Kingdom is of infinitely greater value. Do you believe that?
The best way to strengthen the virtue of theological hope in our lives is to become more and more certain of the truthful promise of our Lord. We need to understand Heaven and the infinite value we receive by obtaining it. If we truly understood what Jesus was promising us, we would become so intensely driven to do all that He commands us to do that this would become the single focus of our life. The hope would become a strength so strong that we would become consumed with doing anything and everything necessary to obtain such a reward.
Reflect, today, upon the depth of hope you have in your life. How driven are you by the promises made by our Lord? How clearly do you understand those promises? If you struggle with hope, then spend more time on the end reward that is promised to you by Jesus. Believe what He says and make that end goal the central focus of your life.
My glorious King, You invite all people to share in the glories of Heaven. You promise us that if we are faithful, we will shine like the sun for all eternity. Help me to understand this glorious gift so that it becomes the single object of my hope and the drive of all that I do in life. Jesus, I trust in You.
Trong Tin Mừng, ông Phêrô có thể bước đi trên mặt nước trên hồ, khi ông biết tập trung vào Chúa. Trong khoảng khắc lo lấng, ông mất sụu tập trung vao Chúa nên sự sợ hãi đã dìm kéo ông và ông đã bị nhận chìm trong nước.
Đôi khi, chúng ta đã quá lo lắng về nhũng thú vật chất của thế giới, chúng ta cũng đã làm mất đi sụ tập trung vào Chúa và do đó đức tin của chúng ta cũng đã bắt đầu bị chìm trong trong nhũung côn sóng vật chất. Chúng ta đừng nên để những lo lắng của thế giới lấy đi sự tập trung của chúng ta ra khỏi tầm tay của Thiên Chúa.
Lạy Chúa, xin ban cho chúng con có được nhũung ân sủng và biết tập trung vào Chua luôn luộn, cũng như giúp chúng con biết tin tưởng vào Chúa mãi mãi.
In the Gospel, Peter is able to walk on the water as long as he is focused on the Lord. The moment he loses that focus, the fear of the water grips him and he sinks into the water. Sometimes, caught up in the worries of our world, we also lose our focus on the Lord and as a result start sinking in our faith. Let not the worries of the world take away our focus from the Lord.
Lord, grant us the grace to be focused on You always as we put our trust in You.
Faith is a free gift from God and is beyond our logical understanding and human control. And this is why pray for the gift of faith even as small as a mustard seed. This takes grace from above and we must continually strive to beg for this grace. We cannot expect our faith to grow through our human efforts and constraints.
As much as faith is a gift from God, fear is a human trait. It is in our daily experiences that we have fears to face. It is perhaps this reason why we bend our knees to seek for God's assuring presence in our world. .
In today's Gospel reading, we hear Jesus asking us to have complete trust in him, as he chastises Peter as he began to sink while walking on the water, "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mt14: 31)
Indeed why did Peter doubt when our Lord was so close by?
Now is the time for us to believe and the trust that our Lord is always close by our side.
Let us pray for faith in Christ to help us live on confidently amidst many uncertainties in our lives. And when we feel overwhelmed, at that very instant, he will take us and pull us to safety. Lord, please help us to always have faith. Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
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