Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần thứ Nhất Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai Tuần thứ Nhất Thường Niên Mark 1:14-20
Chúa Giêsu đã chịu phép Rửa, Chúa Cha đã xác nhận sứ mệnh của Ngài, và bây giờ Ngài bắt đầu giảng dạy về Nước Thiên Chúa.  Trong đoạn Tin Mừng  hôm nay đã mô tả việc Chúa Giêsu kêu gọi các môn đệ đầu tiên. Chúa Giê-su đã có sức quyến rũ qua những rao giảng và mời gọi của Ngài mà các ông Simon và Andrew, James và John, con trai của Zebedee có sự cảm hứng, ngay lập tức rời bỏ công việc đang dở dang và bỏ cha mình và đi theo Chúa.
Chữ “ngay lập tức” thì vô cùng quan trọng. Theo lời tường thuật trong Tin Mừng Thánh Gioan, bốn người họ đã gặp Chúa Giêsu. Tuy nhiên, theo thánh Macô kể lại thì cuộc gặp gỡ đặc biệt của 4 môn đệ này với Chúa Giêsu, Ngài đã kêu gọi họ đi theo Ngài trong một cuộc gặp gỡ thật khác thường và bất ngờ họ sẵn sàng rời bỏ mọi thứ để theo Chúa ngay lập tức. Họ không ngần ngại suy tính lợi hại, Họ không nghĩ về tương lai hay quá khứ. Họ chỉ biết vâng phục và chấp nhận mọi rủi ro và sự mong muốn bất ngờ này đã mang lại cho họ sự thỏa mãn trái tim của họ.
Có một sự khác biệt rất lớn giữa việc biết về Chúa Giêsu và gặp gỡ Người. Có thể khi chúng ta        được rửa tội khi còn nhỏ, hoặc khi đã trưởng thành mới đáp lại món quà đức tin của Chúa, chúng ta đã biết về Chúa Giêsu. Tin Mừng hôm nay kêu gọi chúng ta đến với một cuộc gặp gỡ thân mật hơn với Chúa Giêsu là Chúa và Cứu Chúa của chúng ta. Lạy Chúa Giêsu, xin ban cho con có được đặc ân là có được một cuộc gặp gỡ sâu sắc, cá nhân với Ngài và làm thay đổi cuộc sống của chúng con.
 
Monday 1st week of Ordinary Time
Jesus has been baptized; the Father has confirmed his mission and now he starts to teach about the Kingdom of God. As a teacher, he began to gather disciples who would participate in his mission.
Today’s passage from Mark’s Gospel describes the calling of the first disciples. Jesus used words of invitation, which were so inspired and so strong that Simon and Andrew, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, immediately left their works and followed him.
The word immediately is extremely important.  According to the account in St John’s Gospel, the four of them had already encountered Jesus. However, Mark tells of a special encounter with Jesus, who called them to follow him. This encounter was so unusual and so deep that they were ready to leave everything in order to follow him, immediately. They did not think about the future or the past. They just took a risk and yielded to this sudden desire, which fulfilled their hearts.
There is a huge difference between knowing about Jesus and meeting him. Baptized as children perhaps, or as adults responding to God’s gift of faith, we have learned about Jesus. The Gospel calls us to a more intimate encounter with Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Jesus, grant me the grace of a deep, personal, and life-changing encounter with You.
 
Monday 1st week of Ordinary Time
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” Mark 1:14–15
We have now completed our Advent and Christmas Seasons, and thus we begin the liturgical season of “Ordinary Time.” Ordinary Time must be lived in our lives in both an ordinary and extraordinary way.
First of all, we begin this liturgical season with an extraordinary calling from God. In the Gospel passage above, Jesus begins His public ministry by proclaiming that “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” But He then goes on to state that, as a result of the new presence of the Kingdom of God, we must “repent” and “believe.”
It’s important to understand that the Incarnation, which we especially celebrated in Advent and Christmas, changed the world forever. Now that God had united Himself with human nature in the Person of Jesus Christ, God’s new Kingdom of grace and mercy was at hand. Our world and our lives are changed because of what God did. And as Jesus began His public ministry, He begins to inform us through His preaching of this new reality.
The public ministry of Jesus, as it is transmitted to us through the inspired Word of the Gospels, presents to us the very Person of God and the foundation of His new Kingdom of grace and mercy. It presents us with the extraordinary calling of holiness of life and an unwavering and radical commitment to following Christ. Thus, as we begin Ordinary Time, it’s good to be reminded of our duty to immerse ourselves in the message of the Gospel and to respond to it without reserve.
But this calling to an extraordinary way of life must ultimately become ordinary. In other words, our radical calling to follow Christ must become who we are. We must see the “extraordinary” as our “ordinary” duty in life.
Reflect, today, upon the beginning of this new liturgical season. Use it as an opportunity to remind yourself of the importance of both daily studying and prayerfully pondering the public ministry of Jesus and all He taught. Recommit yourself to a faithful reading of the Gospel so that it becomes an ordinary part of your daily life.
My precious Jesus, I thank You for all You have spoken and revealed to us through Your public ministry. Strengthen me during this new liturgical season of Ordinary Time to devote myself to the reading of Your holy Word, so that all that You have taught us becomes an ordinary part of my daily life. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Monday 1st week of Ordinary Time 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, help me to hear the words of your Son today, repent from my sinful ways with your grace, and believe more fully in the Good News of salvation. Help me to leave behind those things that keep me from you and hold me back from following your Son more closely.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Kingdom and Salvation: Jesus began his ministry in Galilee. This was to fulfill a prophecy in the Book of Isaiah about the people in the region of “Galilee of the Gentiles” seeing a great light (Isaiah 8:23-9:1). Jesus and the Gospel he proclaimed are the great light that enlightens not just Israel and Judah, but all nations. Jesus announced the “time of fulfillment,” and this means that everything promised and foretold in the Old Testament – especially about the restoration of the Kingdom of David and the Good News of salvation – is being brought to fulfillment and completion in his person and by his ministry. By announcing in Galilee that the Kingdom of God is at hand, Jesus is announcing that the first tribes of Israel to experience exile in 722 B.C., are the first to hear the preaching of the Gospel of salvation and the arrival of the Kingdom of God. This announcement invites a twofold response: repentance (metanoia) from sin and a turning toward God; and belief in the Gospel. Jesus is inviting the people to have a faith that flourishes in and works through love.
2. Fishers of Men: The call of four fishermen by Jesus to come after him was also a fulfillment of a prophecy. The Lord God promised through the prophet Jeremiah that he would send out hunters and fishermen to gather his scattered people (Jeremiah 16:16). The restoration of the Kingdom of David as the Kingdom of God begins with Jesus calling the first of 12 men to be his 12 apostles. The number 12 symbolizes that the New Israel has begun. The apostles will follow Jesus and be sent out to gather the people into the family and Kingdom of God. Simon and Andrew left their nets to follow Jesus. James and John left their father to follow Jesus. Even though they abandoned their earthly nets and earthly family, they will take up the spiritual nets of salvation and be incorporated into the spiritual family of the Church, the Body of Christ.
3. Who is Jesus? For the next four weeks, our First Reading will be taken from the Letter to the Hebrews. The letter seeks to answer the important question of whether or not Jesus was a priest. The problem was Jesus’ genealogy. Jesus was not a priestly descendant of Levi or Aaron. He was a royal descendant of David. The solution of the letter will be to identify Jesus as belonging to a more ancient and superior priesthood, that of Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-20). Before getting to this solution, the letter, which reads more like a sermon or homily, seeks to establish Jesus’ true identity. The author begins the letter by making sure that his audience knows that Jesus is more than a prophet and more than an angel. While the prophets of the past communicated the word of God to our ancestors in many diverse and partial ways, the Son of God speaks to us in a definitive and complete way. While the angels are excellent beings, the Son of God is more excellent. He sustains all creation by his mighty word, accomplished the purification of our sins, and sits at God’s right hand. The Son, the refulgence of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being, is worthy of angelic worship.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I honor and adore you today with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength. You are my faithful and merciful high priest. Intercede for me at the Father’s right hand and unite my humble and imperfect offering to your powerful and perfect sacrifice.
 
Monday 1st week of Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer: Lord, quiet my mind. Help me to take a step back from my anxieties, cares, and worries and just rest quietly with you. I long to follow you and answer your call. Please give me the grace to do so today. 
Encountering Christ:
John Arrested: John was enormously popular and regarded as a prophet. He publicly criticized King Herod for taking his own sister-in-law from his brother Philip and making her his wife. Herod was fascinated and confused by John the Baptist. His confusion was a result of hearing the truth but not wanting to make any changes in his life. When Herod arrested John, we can only imagine the impact that made on the crowds who revered John and had witnessed the amazing events surrounding the Baptism of Jesus. It was a period of growing uncertainty and political unrest. However, instead of being fearful or cautious, Jesus boldly used this moment to proclaim the time of fulfillment and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Nothing ever kept Jesus from speaking Truth. By his example, we are encouraged to put aside all fears of reaching out to others with Christ’s love.
The Fishermen: Jesus called two sets of busy working men, Simon (Peter) and Andrew, and the brothers James and John, to abandon the tools of their livelihood and follow him. This is one of many times in Scripture where we see God call working people as they went about the business of their lives. Whether they were working the fields, fishing, or tending a flock, they were asked to abandon these tasks and answer his call. And so often, those called by God were simple folk, not particularly well-equipped for missionary activity. This certainly highlights the divine nature of the call. Only by the power of God can we fulfill our unique calling. “The Holy Spirit is the protagonist, ‘the principal agent of the whole of the Church's mission” (CCC 852). 
They Left Their Nets: How many pivotal times in the Bible we see God counting on a human “yes!” Moses agreed to confront Pharaoh, David accepted the call to defeat Goliath and become king. Most profoundly, Mary’s fiat brought the Messiah into the world. Here we see four more “yes” responses to the call of the Spirit. Why does our all-powerful God seek a “yes” from human beings? Our “yes” to God is an expression of our free will, a gift God gave each of us so as to unite ourselves to him in love. “By free will, [man] is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection ‘in seeking and loving what is true and good’” (CCC 1704). Every call is an invitation to love God more perfectly, and through him to love others. 
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I may not be called to be one of the Apostles, to be a king, or to be a famous follower of yours. I know that you are calling me to follow you nonetheless. I know that you are strong even though I am weak. Help me to trust in your strength. Today, as I ponder on this particular Gospel, I ask that you make me open to your call for my life. Grant me wisdom and a servant’s heart as I follow you. 
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will say a decade of the rosary, praying to discern more deeply God’s call in my life.
 
REFLECTION
Christ's call to conversion exempts no one. All of us stand in need of turning more and more away from selfishness and laziness, from pride and stubbornness, or from greed and possessiveness. Who of us can say that we have no sins of omission to repent of? Sins like neglecting hospitality and courtesy, failing to return something borrowed, to say thanks for a favor, or avoiding responsibility and prayer. But turning away from sin is only half the conversion  process.
The other half is to turn towards something better to bring us closer to God. The easiest way to root out a bad habit is to replace it with a good one, like developing discipline to displace our irresponsibility, sharing more to stem our selfishness, or taking time to pray to cut down on our television viewing. To believe in the good news challenges us to get involved in a good cause, like the war on poverty, or fighting injustice and corruption in all its forms. It certainly does take courage to change, whether personally in our battle with something like alcohol, or socially in our struggle with something like injustice. But change is possible. For some of us, change is a must if we are ever going to hear the good news and walk the path that leads to goodness. Moreover, according to our Lord, the time is now, not later. The kingdom is here, not some place else. Like the four disciples called in the Gospel, we need to have the urgency to act at once, before it is too late.