Bài Phúc âm hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu chữa người đàn bà bị
quỷ ám gập lưng trong đền Thánh vào ngày Sabat không ngoài mục đích để dậy cho
người phái siêu và người do thái bài học là họ phải giữ ngày Sabat, nhưng không
phải chỉ giữ khơi khơi bằng môi bằng miệng, nhưng họ phải biết dùng ngày nghĩ để
thờ phượng Chúa và làm việc ngay lành phúc đức. Nếu họ biết dùng ngày nghĩ để
thả trâu, thả bò, thả gia súc đi ăn, đi uống nước tại sao họ lại cấm Chúa chữa
bệnh ngày sabat... Đúng là bọn giả hình. Còn Chúng ta thì sao, chúng ta có giữ
ngày chúa nhật như điều răn thứ ba trong mười điều răn của Chúa. Có người trong
chúng ta chẳng những không giữ xác ngày Chúa nhật mà còn không đi lễ ngày Chúa
nhật, một số chúng ta vì công ăn việc làm, điều đó có thể chập nhận được nhưng
cần phải kiếm thời gian đi dự thánh lễ Chúa Nhật, nhưng còn một số không nhỏ
trong chúng ta, có tiền có bạc rủng rỉng, chẳng phải đi làm ngày Chúa Nhật,
nhưng thích du hí, trên các tàu con du lịch vào ngày cuối tuần.. tha hồ vui
chơi chẳng còn nhớ ngày chúa Nhật chẳng còn nhớ thánh lễ buộc trong ngày Chúa
Nhật. Ngày Chúa Nhật là ngày của Chúa, Chúa muốn chúng ta nghỉ ngơi có thời
gian để đến với chúa, có thời giờ để nghĩ tới Chúa, tới người anh chị em chung
quanh chúng ta.
Bài Phúc âm Chúa Giêsu dậy
cho chúng ta thấy ma quỷ có quyền năng, chúng có quyền phép để hành hạ thân xác
và tinh thần con người chúng ta nếu chúng ta yếu đuối hoặc để chúng tự do hành
động. Nhưng quyền năng của ma quỹ chí có thể hủy hoại con người chứ không thể gải
thoát con người khỏi cảnh tù đày trong hố sâu của tội lỗi. Thiên Chúa là người
mới có quyền phép để giải thòat chúng ta khỏi sự dữ, sự đau khổ nơi thân xác và
tinh thần. Vì thế chúng ta cần siêng đến Chúa, nhất là các ngày lễ Chúa nhật để
chúng ta được thêm sức mạnh phần hồn và phần xác qua của ăn chúa ban cho chúng
ta bằng chính máu và thịt của Chúa Giêsu. Chúng hãy để thân xác nghĩ ngơi để lời
chúa đến và được lắng đọng trong tâm hồn, để lời Chúa đem lại cho chúng bình an
và tự do và không bị ràng buộc những thèm khát cám dỗ của Satan.
Meditation:
Is there
anything that keeps you bound up or oppressed? Infirmity, whether physical,
emotional, or spiritual, can befall us for a variety of reasons and God can use
it for some purpose that we do not understand. When Jesus encountered an
elderly woman who was spent of her strength and unable to stand upright, he
gave her words of faith and freedom and he restored her to health. She must
have suffered much, both physically and spiritually for eighteen years, since Jesus
remarked that Satan had bound her. How can Satan do this?
The scriptures indicate that Satan can act in the
world with malice and can cause injuries of a spiritual nature, and indirectly
even of a physical nature. Satan's power, however, is not infinite. He cannot
prevent the building up of God's kingdom or reign in our lives. Jesus
demonstrates the power and authority of God's kingdom in releasing people who
are oppressed by physical and emotional sickness, by personal weakness and sin,
and by the harassment of the evil one in their lives. It took only one word from
Jesus to release this woman instantly of her infirmity. Do you believe in the
power of Jesus to release you from affliction and oppression?. The Jewish leaders were indignant that
Jesus would perform such a miraculous work on the Sabbath, the holy day of
rest. They were so caught up in their ritual observance of the Sabbath that
they lost sight of God's mercy and goodness. Jesus healed on the Sabbath
because God does not rest from showing his mercy and love, ever. God's word has
power to change us, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Is there anything
that keeps you bound up or that weighs you down? Let the Lord speak his word to
you and give you freedom. "Lord Jesus, you grant freedom to those who seek
you. Give me freedom to walk in your way of love and to praise and worship you
always. Show me how I can bring your mercy and healing love to those in need
around me.”
Monday 30th Ordinary Time
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant
that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six
days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the
sabbath day.” The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of
you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?” Luke
13:14–15
Why would the leader of
the synagogue be “indignant” that Jesus cured a woman on the sabbath? She was
crippled for eighteen years! Imagine, especially, her family. They would have
seen her many years of suffering and shared them with her through years of
compassion. If they were present when Jesus healed her on the sabbath, would
they have immediately thought, “How dare Jesus do this healing of our mother,
wife or sister on the sabbath?” Of course not! They would have rejoiced and
been filled with awe, gratitude, and even tears. This normal reaction that her
family would have had upon witnessing this miracle is the right response. And,
of course, the reaction of the leader of the synagogue was deeply
disordered.
Why would this leader of
the synagogue do such a thing? Though he and many other scribes, Sadducess,
Pharisees and scholars of the law struggled with envy and hypocrisy, others may
sometimes react similarly to this leader of the synagogue for other reasons.
One such reason is scrupulosity.
Scrupulosity is the
tendency to see God and His holy will through the lens of legalism. “Legalism”
is not just being faithful to the Law of God, because that is a good thing.
Legalism is a misinterpretation of God’s Law by which one tends to put more emphasis
upon themselves than upon God. A scrupulous person is preoccupied with
themself. They tend to be far more concerned with sin than with God Himself.
And though it’s vital to be concerned with sin, when fear of sinning becomes a
form of obsession, then that obsession has the effect of clouding the pure will
of God and leaves a person heavily burdened and unable to joyfully live out the
authentic will of God.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
was one saint who openly shared her struggles with scrupulosity in her
autobiography. Of this struggle, which she referred to as “oversensitivity,”
she said, “One would have to pass through this martyrdom to understand it well,
and for me to express what I experienced for a year and a half would be
impossible.” However, she eventually experienced what she called a “complete
conversion” by which the heavy burden of oversensitivity was lifted. Though
this oversensitivity oppressed her in various ways, one way it affected her was
that she feared that even some of her random thoughts were mortal sins and that
she would be condemned for them.
Though the leader of the
synagogue was most likely not struggling with “oversensitivity” in the same way
as Saint Thérèse, he was acting with an extreme scrupulosity which led him to
be harshly judgmental and condemning of our Lord for His good deed done to this
crippled woman.
Reflect, today, upon any
tendency you may have with these heavy burdens. Do you worry in an irrational
way about sin? Do you ever find yourself obsessing over decisions, worrying
that you may make the wrong one? Do you think about yourself far more than you
think about God and others? If so, you may also be carrying a similar heavy
burden that our Lord wants to lift. Serving God and His holy will must become
the deepest joy of our lives, not a heavy burden. If you find your Christian
Walk more of a burden, then turn your eyes away from yourself and look to the
merciful God. Run to Him with the utmost confidence of a child, as Saint
Thérèse eventually did, and allow yourself to love Him more authentically,
freed of scrupulous and self-imposed burdens.
My merciful Lord, You
desire to free me from all that burdens me. You desire that I turn to You with
the confidence of a child. Please do free me, dear Lord, from any way that I
impose burdens upon myself by my obsessions and irrational worries. May I always
understand Your infinite love for me and always walk freely and joyfully in
Your ways. Jesus, I trust in You.
Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary
Time - Luke 13:10-17
Opening Prayer: Dear
Lord, in today’s psalm you remind me that you are a God who bears our burdens…
who is our salvation. That’s why I come to you today in prayer. You know my
burdens. You know how I long to experience the spiritual freedom that comes
from your healing grace. All my trust is in you, my God; show me that path of
salvation.
Encountering Christ:
The Harshness of
Hypocrisy: Once again Jesus came face to face with the sin that seems to
stir his anger the most: hypocrisy, putting on the appearance of having virtues
that one in fact does not have. The synagogue leader was perfectly happy indirectly
excoriating Jesus for healing (considered a form of work forbidden by the
Sabbath laws) on the Sabbath, while at the same time contentedly caring for his
livestock on the Sabbath. This shows hypocrisy because the virtue behind
keeping the Sabbath is faith in an all-powerful and loving God (thus we can
take one day a week for rest without fearing that our lives and livelihoods
will unravel), not legalistic perfectionism. The synagogue leader claimed to
know and love God, as evidenced by his minute observance of Sabbath laws, but
he couldn’t see how Jesus healing this oppressed, crippled woman was a
magnificent manifestation of God’s power and love, deserving of praise and
rejoicing. Yet, the many other worshippers did see it, and the whole crowd
rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him. How often we fall into the same
deadly harshness of hypocrisy! We are so focused on perfectionism, or the
appearance of perfectionism, that we blind ourselves to the wonders the Lord is
working all around us! For a clue to our own unconscious hypocrisy, all we need
to do is reflect prayerfully on all the things we tend to complain about. What
do those complaints tell us about ourselves? Are they healthy and balanced, or
are they a bit too harsh, a bit too strident, a bit too turbulent, revealing
our own attachments and petty self-righteousness?
King of Kings: The
most obvious lesson in this Gospel passage may slip by unnoticed if we’re not
careful. Jesus points out that this woman has been suffering from a
debilitating physical ailment for eighteen years. He also points out that the
origin of this ailment was demonic. We don’t get any more details, except to
see that Jesus was able to completely cure her with a word and a touch. Jesus
is the Lord of life and history. His Kingdom is the definitive, everlasting
Kingdom. The powers of evil will not prevail over Christ and his Kingdom: …I
will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it
(Matthew 16:18). This power of Christ, and his solemn promise, is the source of
our hope. And our hope is the source of our spiritual energy as well as our
joy. Whenever we feel that energy or that joy wane, we can be sure we have lost
sight of the power of Christ and his promise. To keep up our hope and our
spiritual energy, we need only to keep gazing at Christ and all his loving
omnipotence.
The Unhealed: Many
people are not healed of their maladies in this life. Many people suffer
physical or psychological ailments for more than eighteen years, despite many
prayers and sacrifices offered to the Lord. Why is this? Each case is unique because
each person is unique. But one thing we know for sure: God hears all our
prayers. If he doesn’t answer a petition the way we wanted, we can rest assured
that his way of answering will be better. In other words, suffering is not in
itself contrary to growth in holiness, to growth in faith and hope and love.
Ever since Jesus himself redeemed us through the immense suffering of his
Passion, this unavoidable reality has become one of God’s favorite channels of
grace. St. Paul puts this beautifully in today’s first reading. He points out
that we are God’s children, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and
joint-heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be
glorified with him (Romans 8:17). Whatever God permits in our lives, for as long
as he permits, can be woven into the tapestry of his redemption and our
salvation, fitting us for the glories of heaven and the joys of deeper
communion with God.
Conversing with Christ: I
believe in your goodness and your wisdom, Lord. And I want to stay humble
enough to always see that goodness and wisdom at work in my life and in the
world around me. Please save me from the harshness of hypocrisy. Please
enlighten me so that my own sufferings and challenges never become an obstacle
to growth in grace. I hope in you, Lord; help me to hope more firmly.
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