Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 29 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 29 Thường Niên
Nhiều người thường nghĩ là Chúa Giêsu đến thế giới này để thuyết dạy con người trong sự mềm giẻo trong giáo lý của Ngài. Họ nghĩ rằng là những Kitô giáo, thì họ có thể sống một cuộc sống không bị xáo trộn và yên bình nếu như họ hoàn thành một số nghĩa vụ như đi lễ như luật buộc nhất định. Đối với họ, thì những giá trị như sự tha thứ và bình an được Thiên Chúa ban cho không mà không đòi hỏi họ phải có những nỗ lực ở nơi họ.
Tuy nhiên, trong Tin Mừng ngày nay, Chúa Giêsu nhắc nhở chúng ta rằng những sứ điệp của Ngài đòi hỏi chúng ta là những Kitô hữu phải hoàn thành nghĩa vụ của chúng ta nhiều hơn nữa chứ không phài là việc đi nhà  thờ đi lễ mà thôi. Ngài mời gọi và muốn chúng ta cam kết hoàn toàn với cuộc sống của Ngài. Điều này có nghĩa là chúng ta phải có quyết định một là theo Ngài hay hai là chống lại Ngài. Vì chúng ta không thể trở thành một Kitô Hữu với cái tên... Để trở thành một người Kitô giáo có nghĩa là chúng ta phải biết từ bỏ mọi thứ hay mọi người đang cẳn bước chúng ta trên con đường đến với Đức Kitô mà chúng ta đã hứa.
Đây là lý do tại sao làm môn đệ Chúa Kitô là phải chấp nhận sự tổn thất hoàn toàn. Thật ra, sự lựa chọn theo Đức Kitô có thể gây ra cho chúng ta sự phân chia và mâu thuẫn ngay trong gia đình hay trong cộng đồng. Khi đối mặt với những điều này, là Người Kitô hữu chúng ta  cần phải biết nắm giữ giá trị phúc âm và có những sự ưu tiên rõ ràng. Sự cam kết của chúng ta với Chúa Giêsu không phải là chủ yếu dựa vào quan hệ con người nhưng là việc biết biết để tâm  lắng nghe và làm theo lời của Chúa.
Vì thế chúng ta phải dành cho Chúa Giêsu những gì? Nếu chúng ta không hứa sống hoàn toàn với Chúa Jêsus, Chúa Jêsus cảnh báo là thời gian của chúng ta vẫn còn để cho chúng ta làm một quyết định. Chúa đã đến để đốt cháy trái đất này. Với ơn Chúa Thánh Thần, Ngài đã bắt đầu tách lúa mì ra khỏi nhỗng nhánh rơm khô. Vì vậy, đừng chờ đợi quá lâu. Bởi vì trước khi chúng ta biết điều đó, thì giờ phán xét đã đến với chúng ta.
Lạy Chúa, giúp chúng con luôn giữ mãi lời hứa với Ngài
 
Reflection: (2018)
Many people think that Jesus came to preach a soft gospel. They think that as Christians they can live an untroubled and peaceful life by fulfilling certain religious obligations and rituals. To them, values such as forgiveness and peace are readily given and require no effort on their part.
In today’s Gospel, however, Jesus reminds us that there is a side to his message that demands Christians to do more than fulfill obligations or participate in rituals. He demands that we commit our lives totally to him. This means that we have to decide whether we are for him or against him. It is not enough to be a Christian by name. To be a Christian means that we forsake everything and everyone who stands in the way of our total commitment to Christ.
This is why Christian discipleship is costly. The choice that we make for Christ may even cause divisions and conflicts in the family and community. In the face of these, a Christian needs to hold on to a clear set of gospel values and priorities. This commitment to Jesus is not based primarily on human kinship but on hearing and doing God’s word.
So are we totally for Jesus? If we have not committed ourselves totally to Jesus, then there is still time for a decision, warns Jesus. He has already come to set the earth on fire. And by sending the Holy Spirit, he has started to separate the wheat from the chaff. So do not wait too long. Because before we know it, the time for judgement will be upon us. Lord, help us to commit ourselves to You totally.
 
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!” Luke 12:49–50
There is much that we can take from these teachings of our Lord. Not only did Jesus say, “I have come to set the earth on fire…” He also said that it’s His desire that this fire be “blazing!”
Fire is powerful. A blazing fire, for example, can purify the precious metal gold. When heated to a liquid state, the impurities rise to the surface for easy removal. Fire can also consume. When a blazing fire completes its burning, what’s left are only ashes. Many great saints have reflected upon the image of fire as an image of the purification God wants to do within our souls. Saint John of the Cross, for example, reflected in depth upon this image. He explained that entering into divine union was similar to a log burning. At first, as the log begins to burn, it crackles and pops. This is because the impurities within the wood, such as moisture or sap, do not burn as the wood burns. But as a log continues to burn, as Saint John explains, eventually the log becomes one with the fire. At first, you can distinguish the log from the fire when only part of the log is burning. But once the entire log is engulfed in the flames and all the impurities are burnt out, you have a piece of wood that is one with the fire. It glows and emits light and heat.
When we ponder these words from Jesus regarding His desire to “set the earth on fire,” we must first see this as His desire to purify our souls. Within our souls, there are many impurities that need to be removed if we are to become one with God, emitting His radiance and glory.  This purification involves a process of allowing God to bring our sins to the surface so that they are seen and can be removed. But this is only possible if we allow the blazing fire of God’s purifying love to consume us.
Oftentimes in life, we are content with simply being mediocre in our faith journey. We pray, go to Mass on Sunday, and try to be good. But this is not the life our Lord wants for us. He wants a life that is radically consumed with the blazing fire of His love. He wants us to become so purified from our sin that He is able to become one with us, sending forth the radiance of His glory through our lives. 
Reflect, today, upon this image of a blazing and purifying fire. Use the image of gold melting to the point that all impurities rise to the surface. Or use the image that Saint John of the Cross uses with the log. God wants so much more from you. He wants to transform you and use you in ways beyond your imagination. Do not be afraid to make the radical decision to allow the blazing and purifying fire of our Lord’s mercy to transform you. And don’t wait for this to start tomorrow—kindle that flame today.
My purifying Lord, You deeply desire to set my heart and soul on fire with the transforming mercy of Your love. Please give me the grace I need to permit You to kindle this fire of love in my heart so that it will truly become blazing and all-consuming. May this blaze ignite me in the inner depths of my heart so that You will shine brightly in my life, bringing forth the warmth of Your love into our world. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time. 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, send forth your Spirit into my heart that I may understand your divine Word. Grant me the gift of counsel so that I may know what to say and how to act within my family. I want to bring all my family members to share in your divine life.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Prince of Peace or Bringer of Division? The Gospel passage we read is not an easy one to understand. If Jesus is the “prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6) and gives the gift of peace to his Apostles after the Resurrection, then why does he say in today’s Gospel that he came not to give peace but to bring division? How can we reconcile this with his message of love, communion, mercy, eternal life, and salvation? Before speaking about the interfamilial division he will bring about, Jesus tells us that he came to cast fire on the earth and that he will be baptized. The fire Jesus brings is not an earthly fire. Rather, fire is an image of God’s presence and love. It is an image of God’s judgment of sinners. It is also a symbol of divine purification. Jesus, then, brings us the fire of God’s love: he invites sinners to repent, and he purifies them from sin. And when Jesus speaks about his baptism, he isn’t speaking about his past baptism by John in the River Jordan, but about his future baptism on the Cross. He desires to purify and save us, and he will do this by being sacrificed for our sins.
2. Unleashing the Tribulation: To understand the type of division Jesus brings, we need to recall that the prophets (like Micah 7:6) foresaw a time of tribulation, characterized by a time of interfamilial strife and division, before the coming of the Kingdom and the salvation of the New Exodus (see Pitre, Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile, 216). When Jesus speaks about the division he will bring, he is saying that he is unleashing the time of tribulation foreseen by the prophets. The time of tribulation precedes the age of salvation. By unleashing the time of tribulation, Jesus then can establish the Kingdom of God and lead the New Exodus. When Jesus began his ministry, the people of Israel were in exile. They were waiting for the Shepherd who would restore them and bring them into one flock. With the coming of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the exile ends and the New Exodus begins. This New Exodus leads not to an earthly promised land but to a heavenly one. We, who have been baptized into Christ, are on this New Exodus. We are walking with Jesus, the New Moses, and are led by the cloud and fire of the Holy Spirit to our heavenly home.
. Paul’s Five Petitions: Like Jesus, who speaks about deep mysteries, Paul also speaks about very deep mysteries in his prayer for the Ephesians. Paul kneels before God the Father in prayer and makes five petitions for his readers (see Williamson, Ephesians, 96-101). First, he asks that they be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit. Second, he asks that Jesus may dwell in their hearts. This is where Jesus wants to dwell and reign. As Christians, we live in Christ, and he lives in us. Third, Paul asks that they may understand. This likely refers to God’s loving plan of salvation and the wisdom of the Cross. Fourth, Paul wants his readers to know the love of Christ. Each day, we have to experience Christ’s merciful love. Lastly, Paul wants the Ephesians to be filled with the fullness of God. This sums up the other petitions. Through grace, the Trinity dwells in us, and we share in the wisdom of the Son and the love of the Spirit. Through grace, we are granted the wisdom to see things from God’s perspective and are enabled to love God and our neighbor. As we journey through the desert to our heavenly home, we are led by Jesus and the Spirit, sustained with the New Manna of the Eucharist, guided by the New Law of charity, and enjoy the peace of the New Covenant. We are called to invite all men and women to share in these riches and journey with us to heaven, where every tear will be wiped away and where sin and death are no more.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I do not know how to pray as I ought. I need to sit again and again at your feet and learn from you. Guide my thoughts and prayers so that I may ask for good things from the Father.
 
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time. 2023
Opening Prayer: My Lord, send forth your Spirit and enkindle in me the fire of your love. In a world so divided, help me to be part of your divine solution.
Encountering Christ:
1. Fire, Anguish, Strife: Powerful words such as fire, anguish, and strife paint the backdrop for a striking statement by the Lord which we can call a “mission statement” in the truest meaning of the words: “I have come to…” Jesus’s words in today’s Gospel allows us to more deeply contemplate his heart and discover how he understood his mission in this world. And what we see is a rock in the storm, a bastion of confidence, a heart ablaze. Let’s subjugate ourselves to this blazing Sacred Heart.
2. “I Have Come to Set the Earth on Fire”: Jesus had come to save the world, to die for us, and to defeat death. But his mission was not reduced to the last hours of his earthly life. His whole life was part of that redemption, during which he revealed the mystery of who God is. Today, he shows us the passionate, epic character of God’s love. Let’s ask for the grace to share in the Lord’s passion.
3. Imitating Christ: To love like Christ loved means to quest and strive for the good that he yearned for: the salvation of men. It also means that we are to seek ways to give of ourselves lovingly—a “baptism with which I must be baptized.” Today as we commemorate St. John Paul II, we can identify an excellent example of a man who followed Christ closely and sought to imitate him in the way he loved–passionately, joyfully, generously–a man who adopted Christ’s mission statement wholeheartedly in his own life. May we do so as well.
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, you have come to love mankind and to save the world, and you have also made this mission our mission. As your disciple, I acknowledge that it is also my mission to love like you and to bring the message of your salvation to all people in my path. 
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will look for an occasion to live out my mission as a Christian by imitating your love and spreading your message.
 
Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Năm Tuần 29 Thường Niên-Y-1
Trong cuộc sống hàng ngày của chúng ta, đã bao nhiêu lần chúng ta bị thối thúc hay cám dỗ bởi những sự mong muốn của riêng của mình và trở thành nô lệ cho những sự ham muốn vật chất và biến chúng ta thành con người ích kỷ? Trong quá trình xác nhận những ước nguyện của chúng ta, một số người trong chúng ta đã đi lầm đường, lạc lối và đã đi đến hậu quả là làm mất lòng Thiên Chúa. Vì chúng ta làm mất đi sự kiểm soát về sự công bình và đã dẫn chúng ta đến với tội lỗi và làm nô lệ cho xác thịt. Vâng, thật vậy, còn bao nhiêu người trong chúng ta vẫn chưa hoàn toàn nhận ra những gì gây ra tội lỗi.
            Trong cộng đoàn của chúng ta, chúng ta có lẽ đã gặp những người rất tích cực trong việc phúc âm hóa. Mỗi khi họ có một cơ hội để nói về Thiên Chúa hay Lời Chúa trong Tin Mừng, họ đã làm cho chúng ta cảm nhận được rằng chúng ta như đang có cảm giác là "thế giới" đang châm mồi, bật lửa để họ được bùng cháy. Nơi họ toát những đặc tính tốt của tình yêu nồng nàn, chân thành và lòng trung thành toàn diện của Thiên Chúa. Ngọn lửa đốt cháy trong họ dường như lan rộng đến tất cả những người nghe. Nhưng có lửa bên trong chúng ta là không đủ.  Chúng ta cần nhớ rằng Thiên Chúa là nguồn gốc của ngọn lửa đó, và qua Ngài, chúng ta tiếp tục được "nung đốt" trong đức tin và sẽ dùng năng lượng này để đem truyền về đức tin đó cho người khác.
            Lạy Chúa, Xin vì tình yêu của Chúa thiêu đốt tâm hồn và lòng trí của  chúng con, xin biến đổi cuộc sống của chúng con để chúng con  thực sự chỉ biết mong muốn những gì trong cuộc sống với Chúa. Xin hãy ban cho chúng con được mạnh mẽ trong tình yêu và sự trung thành mà không có gì có thể cản trở chúng con trong việc làm theo ý muốn của Chúa."
 
REFLECTION
            In our daily lives, how often do we become driven by own wishes and become slaves to our physical or spiritual desires and subject to our own selfishness? In the process of confirming our wishes, some of us have went astray only to suffer later because of these consequences and lose control of righteousness that leads us to be slaves of sin. Yet how many more of us do not fully realize just what sin entails.
            In our own communities, we probably have met people who are very active with evangelization. Whenever they have a chance to talk about God and his words, they give us the feeling that the "word" ignites them and sets them "on fire". They exude characteristics of ardent love, sincerity and full of the faithfulness and love of God. The fire that burned within them seems to spread to all who listen. But having that fire within us is not enough. We need to remember that God is the source of that fire, through him we continue to be "burning" with faith and use that energy to channel that faith to others.
            "Lord, may your love consume me and transform my life that I may truly desire nothing more than life with you. Make me strong in love and fidelity that nothing may hinder me from doing your will."