Suy Niệm bài đọc thứ Hai Tuần 28 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm bài đọc thứ Hai Tuần 28 Thường Niên
Qua bài Tin Mừng chúng ta Chúa Giêsu đã từ chối những đòi hỏi người Do Thái yêu cầu đó là làm các phép lạ hay đưa ra những dấu lạ đương thời cho thấy để họ tin. Nhưng Ngài đã chỉ cho họ biết về những dấu lạ riêng của Ngài qua hình ảnh ôngGiona và những lời cảnh báo của Giona!
Ma quỷ cũng có đòi hỏi những việc như thế, trong khi ngài ăn chay và bị cám dỗ, Chúng đã thử lòng Ngài và xúi ngài ném mình xuống từ đỉnh cao của đền thờ (Lc. 9-11). Chúa Giêsu đã khiêm tốn và hạ mình, Ngài đã không thực hiện những đìều lạ và kỳ diệu để phô trương quyền năng và sức mạnh của Ngài.
Hôm nay, chúng ta đã chứng kiến cảnh đám đông người đã vội vàng xô lấn nhau để tới phiên mình "chữa bệnh" và họ mong muốn rằng sẽ nhìn thấy phép lạ chữa lành của Chúa được xảy ra ngay trước mắt họ!
Phần chúng ta hôm nay, Chúng ta hãy tự hỏi chính mình coi, Sự cải hoá cá nhân của chúng ta có phải là một nhiệm vụ cấp bách đối với chúng ta? Dấu hiệu của Giô-na có ý nghĩa gì đối với chúng ta, và chúng ta phải làm thế nào để đáp ứng với những lời Chúa Giêsu cảnh cáo chúng ta hôm nay.
Lạy Chúa, Chúa đã Chết đi và đi vào trong lòng đất ba Ngày như ông Giôna đã sống trong bụng cá voi ba ngày, Và chính Chúa đã sống lại hiển vinh để cứu rỗi và cho chúng con có được cuộc sống mới trong Chúa. Xin Chúa Hướng Hẫn và Thánh Hoá chúng con, để chúng con được sống đời với Chúa trên nước Thiên Đàng.
 
Reflection Monday 28 Ordinary Time
When we are very busy, yes, even obsessed with ourselves, we are unable to see goodness in others, (outside ourselves). God is surely present and active in our life, our world. It takes courage to burst out of our own selves to behold his presence and plan in and through others. Yet there are many signs of his presence and love; but if we are not open for him in others, we will suffocate in our own selves. The presence and call of God are very real in our life, history and the world. The Ninevites were outside Israel, yet they listened to Jonah’s preaching, and responded to God’s call to repentance: from the king to the last animal!
Jesus refuses his contemporaries their request for a sign, other than his own person and message he proclaimed, and the person of Jonah and his preaching! The devil too had such a demand in asking Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple (Lk. 9-11). Jesus refuses to make any show of such feats of power. Today, we witness crowds who rush to “healing” sessions, eager to see miracles of healing happening before their very eyes!  Is personal conversion an urgent task for us? What does the ‘sign of Jonah’ mean to me, and how do I respond to Jesus
 
Monday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” Luke 11:29–30
Do you ever find yourself looking for signs from God? Often when we go through life, navigating through the ups and downs we all experience, we can easily find ourselves looking for signs from God about what we should do about this or that. And though God certainly communicates to us at times through special graces that are signs from Heaven, the passage above gives clarity to what sign we must be most attentive to.
The simple message in this Gospel passage from our Lord is that we must discover the meaning of the most profound sign ever given and use that as the foundation of all our decisions in life. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were not only the source of eternal life, they are also the clearest sign we need as we make all of our decisions in life.
A sign is some action that reveals a deep and hidden mystery. One mystery that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection reveals is that if we are to share in the new life won for us by His Cross, then we must follow the example He set by living a life of selfless sacrifice, laying down our lives for others, so that they will discover and embrace the new life of Christ’s Resurrection. Practically speaking, if you find yourself looking for answers in life, seeking signs from God about what you should do at times, then turn your eyes to the life of Christ and ponder ways in which you can more fully imitate His life in every daily practical decision you make. This is true whether you are discerning some important decision in life or some small practical decision. 
It is common to engage in such a discernment by looking at ourselves in a more selfish way. It’s difficult to move away from this line of thinking, but if we are to use the “sign” of the Son of Man, then we will discern our life decisions very differently. When we use the life, death and resurrection of our Lord as the source of our discernment and decision making in life, then we will end up making decisions that imitate His selfless sacrifice of love. So if you are faced with a decision, you will not ponder what is easier or what you prefer; rather, you will ponder what is more selfless and best for others. What is it that best imitates the sacrificial love of Jesus?
Reflect, today, upon any decision you are trying to make. Then reflect upon how you are going about this decision. Do you use the witness Jesus gave to us as the foundation of your discernment? Do you reflect upon how you can lay your life down as a sacrificial gift for others? Do you look at love from the point of view of the Cross of our Lord and strive to imitate His glorious and selfless dedication to the salvation of those whom He loves? Seek to imitate our Lord, using the witness of His actions as the foundation of all of your discernment and decisions in life, and you will have discovered the only true sign you need to navigate the challenges of life.
My perfect Lord, every decision You made in life was made out of love and was in accord with the perfect will of the Father. Give me the grace I need to make every decision in life in imitation of Your perfect example. May my life imitate You as You laid down Your life for others. I choose You and Your glorious sacrificial life as the sign by which I am directed in life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Monday 28^th Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you for making me your child and gracing me with true freedom. Teach me to use my freedom properly to grow in love and holiness. Do not let me fall into my old ways of sin, but remember always how good it is to dwell in your house.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Sign of Jonah: In the Gospel, Jesus refers to the story of Jonah and invites us to contemplate the parallels between Jonah’s story and his. Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish. Three days later, he was vomited ashore by the fish and was restored to life by God. The Book of Jonah implies that Jonah did not remain alive for three days and nights in the fish. Jonah died and went to the realm of the dead. His prayer reads: “I called to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried” (Jonah 2:2). “Thus, when the fish vomits Jonah out onto the land, it is vomiting up his corpse.” The first word to Jonah on the shore is “arise.” “This is the same Semitic word that Jesus uses when he raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead. … In other words, the story of Jonah is the story of his death and resurrection” (Pitre, The Case for Jesus, 188). After his death in the sea and restoration to life, Jonah preached in the great city of Ninevah, the capital of the Assyrian empire, which was one of Israel’s fiercest pagan enemies. The Ninevites, Jesus recalls, repented at the preaching of Jonah. And so, the real miracle in the book of Jonah, even more than his restoration to life, is the repentance of the Gentiles (Pitre, The Case for Jesus, 188).
2. The Sign of the Conversion of the Gentiles: We can now contemplate how the story of Jonah is recapitulated and surpassed by the story of Jesus. Jesus was cast into the earth after dying on the cross for us. He was swallowed into the “heart of the earth” for three days. On the third day, he rose from the dead and sent his apostles to preach the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. Peter and Paul both preached in Rome, the capital of the Roman empire. In due time, the Gentiles of the Roman Empire embraced the Good News, repented from the former ways, and became followers of Christ. “It is not just [Jesus’] resurrection from the dead that will be a reason for believing in him. It is also the inexplicable conversion of the pagan nations of the world – the Gentiles. As Jesus says: the pagans ‘repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here’ (Matthew 12:41; Luke 11:32). In Jonah’s case, only one Gentile city repents, and that only for a time. In Jesus’s case, countless Gentile nations, cities, even empires would go on to repent, cast away their idols, and turn to the God of Israel” (Pitre, The Case for Jesus, 189).
3. Paul’s Allegory about the Old and New Covenants: In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul interprets the story of Hagar and Sarah allegorically. He says that the two women, each giving Abraham a son, represent two different covenants. Hagar, a slave woman, represents the Old Covenant mediated by Moses on Mt. Sinai and practiced in the earthly Jerusalem. Sarah, a freeborn woman, represents the New Covenant mediated by Jesus on Mt. Zion and symbolized by the heavenly Jerusalem. Paul uses the allegory to argue that the Galatians, who have embraced salvation and justification through faith in Jesus in the New Covenant, should not add the burdensome requirements of the Old Covenant to the New and submit themselves to them. The Judaizers, who are promoting this addition of Old Covenant ceremonies, dietary restrictions, and social norms to the New, are trying to turn the Galatians away from the Gospel preached by Paul and inviting them to embrace once again the yoke of slavery. Paul’s Gospel, by contrast, proclaims that we are children of God born into the freedom and blessedness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you fulfilled the story of Jonah in a truly marvelous way. Jonah was restored to earthly life. You were resurrected, body and soul, to heavenly glory. Jonah’s preaching made one city repent. You have merited forgiveness and have brought repentance to the entire world!
 
Monday 28^th Ordinary Time 2023
Opening Prayer: Lord, again I come before you, coming into your presence with a humble heart in need of hearing your voice speak to me words of hope and encouragement. I know you never stop thinking of me and desiring for me to stay close to you. As I pray and reflect on your words today, I want to be open to the grace of a conversion of heart to live in the truth of who I am and how I can come closer to you. Enlighten and strengthen me, Lord, to have the courage to follow what you ask of me.
Encountering Christ:
1. What Are We Looking For?: Why is it that we need tangible signs and ratifications for what we believe? Why are we so stubborn and slow of heart to overlook what has been revealed to us in the person of Jesus? Jonah preached God’s salvation to the Gentiles of Nineveh, and the wisdom of Solomon attracted the Gentile Queen of Sheba. Such conversions of non-Jews were powerful signs to the Jews of that time. Jesus makes it clear that in him is something even more superior. Yet many rejected and refused to accept him as the Messiah. Jesus himself came to establish the kingdom of God, and so fulfill the promise of blessedness to the descendants of Abraham. What more do we seek? What other signs, proof, or confirmation are we looking for? We need to contemplate every day the reality of his claim, to see in him (not just in passing marvels or supernatural phenomena) how this truth gives perspective and meaning to our lives as his faithful friends. Am I content and open to accepting Jesus as my Lord and savior, or do I hesitate and wait for “signs” as proof? 
2. Repentance: Through the preaching of Jonah, many hearts were converted. In contrast, the scribes and Pharisees remained obstinate, refusing to repent. They were discontent with the miracles and wonders of Jesus and demanded more signs. They wanted Jesus to submit himself to their criteria. They wanted him to fit into the framework of their idea of the Messiah. There was no openness for possible conversion in them. But Jesus did not submit himself to their request. The only sign he gave them was his resurrection. This is the sign given to all of us. Jesus, who was condemned to death and death on the cross, who rose from the dead through the power of God, will continue to resurrect in many ways the lives of those who believe in him. The sign which converts is not the miracles but the witness of life! Let us ask for the grace to be open to seeing and being converted by the many ways his grace brings life, hope, and joy to our lives. 
3. Heart of the Matter: We can easily become critical and doubt the power of Christ in our lives when we are inundated with the chaos and evil unleashed in the world around us. Jesus is greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon. For us Christians, he is the principal key for interpreting the events of our daily life. Do I believe that there is no space, circumstance, or time that Jesus is not lord and cannot bring some good, no matter the challenge? Jesus criticizes the scribes and the Pharisees who managed to deny the evidence, rendering themselves incapable to recognize the call of God in the events. As a Christian in today’s world, do I deserve the same criticism from Jesus? Today, the calls of reality are an invite to a change and conversion of heart. Whatever the political unrest, injustice, violence, cause, etc. what is the call of God in my reality?
Conversing with Christ: Lord, you know how easily I get swept up in the pace of life, how I seek clarity, affirmation, consolations, and assurances through the seductions of worldly comforts, wealth, and popularity. I have so many concerns in temporal realities that I forget to open my eyes to the marvels of your grace that actively shape my life. Open the eyes of my heart to recognize that following only you and your will gives lasting fruitfulness. Help me desire to treasure every word you have revealed to me of yourself in Scripture to discern and follow your will. 
Resolution: Lord, today, by your grace, I will seek you for a moment in adoration to contemplate who you are as my creator and the redeemer of all things, the all-powerful and all-loving God. With gratitude and awe, I will place before you every area of my life, trusting in the power of the Resurrection to order all things for your glory and my eternal place with you in heaven.