Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần Thứ 6 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu Tuần Thứ 6 Thường Niên (Mark 8:34 -)
Nếu như có một tiên tri nào đó “sống lại” mời chúng ta theo ông với những điều kiện là phải chịu đau khổ, chịu bắt bớ, chịu lăng nhục, thử hỏi có ai trong chúng ta có đủ can đảm để bỏ cuộc sống ấm cúng, an vui của chúng ta để đi theo người đó. Chắc chắn chúng ta sẽ thẳng thừng từ chối, vì nghĩ ràng mình chưa đến nỗi quá điên rồ như thế. Là con người, Thiên Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta tự do và những sự lựa chọn. Và chắc chắn rằng chúng ta sẽ không bao giờ nghĩ tới sự lựa chọn một con đường đầy khó khăn, giông tố và đau khổ?
            Tại sao tình yêu lại là lý do và là yếu tố quan trọng ở đây? Các anh em chiến sĩ tham dự vào các trận chiến không phải vì họ ngu khờ vì không biết cái chết trước mắt, họ biết sẽ phải hy sinh, nhưng họ chiến đấu vì lý tưởng để bảo vệ đất nước, quê hương sở sở, gia đình và dân tộc của họ để chống lại những ngoại xâm. Các em học sinh chắc không ngu gì khi phải tự nguyện để tham dự những kỳ thi thử thách khó khăn để cố vào được các trường Đại học nổi tiếng, mắc tiền....nhưng các em đã chịu hy sinh, chịu khổ cực để cố gắng thi vào vì các em nghĩ rằng có cố gắng mới tạo cho mình và gia đình có một tương lai và một cuộc sống tốt đẹp và khá hơn.
            Chúng ta theo Chúa Kitô không dễ như theo cha mẹ hay bạn bè đi chơi ngoài phố. Nhưng đó là sự yêu thương mà chúng ta cam kết khi Ngài đã chứng minh tình yêu của ngài bằng sự cống hiến chính mạng sống của Ngài cho chúng ta bằng cái chết trên thập giá. Đó là cái giá  tình yêu chân thực của tình thầy trò.  Có những lúc chúng ta nghĩ là cuộc đời này sẽ tốt hơn cho chúng ta nếu chúng ta thảnh thơi dạo phố, hay ngồi quán cà phê nhâm nhi thưởng thức một ly cà phê hơn là nghĩ và nhớ đến Chúa. Nhưng biết đâu sẽ có những khoảnh khắc bóng tối sẽ bất ngờ đến và bao trùm cuộc sống chúng ta, vì cuộc này không có gì gọi là chắc chắn cả. Khi cuộc đời đi đến khúc quanh, bập bềnh, giông tố, Thiên Chúa vẫn luôn tìm kiếm và cùng đồng hành với chúng ta ngay bên cạnh. Chúa sẵn sàng tiếp sức và giúp đưa chúng ta thoát được những cơn bảo tồ kinh hoàng của cuộc sống, nếu chúng ta biết nhớ đến Ngài.
            Chúng ta hãy xin Chúa  ban cho chúng ta các ân sủng của Ngài, Nhất ơn kiên trì, để tất cả những gì xảy ra với chúng ta hôm nay và trong những ngày tới, chúng ta có thể luôn luôn biết tìm thấy chính mình trong việc phục vụ Đức Kitô, người đã yêu chúng ta trước.
            "Lạy Chúa Giêsu, chúng con muốn được theo Chúa để làm môn đệ của Chúa. Chúng con sẵn sàng dâng lên Chúa tất cả những gì chúng con có cho Chúa.  Xin Chúa hãy nhận chính cuộc sống của chúng con như là của lễ hy sinh dâng để chúc tụng vinh danh và làm đẹp lòng Chúa."
 
REFLECTION
Perhaps if some prophet invited us to follow him and one of the conditions was to suffer, we definitely would be having second thoughts. Who in their right mind would freely choose to take a path filled with hardship, pain and misery? At the onset, the journey looks more precarious than it should. 
            That's why love becomes the essential factor here. Soldiers engage in battle not because they know that death is a high possibility. They fight to defend our country and those nearest and dearest to them even at the risk of offering up their own lives. Students don't voluntarily undergo the mental challenges of long tests and exams because they are masochists. They study because they want to make the best of this blessing given to them by their families.
            We follow Christ not because it will be a walk in the park. It is our loving commitment to him as he demonstrated this total dedication to us by his death on the cross. That is the true cost of discipleship. It would be nice to take a leisurely stroll and occasionally enjoy a cup of coffee at a local café as we stay on this path of light. But there will be moments of darkness and uncertainty. When the going gets rough, will our Lord still find us by his side?  Let us continue to pray for the grace of persistence. No matter what happens to us today and in the coming days, may we always find ourselves at the service of the one who loved us first.
 
Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
“What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Mark 8:36
This short and direct question is worth much meditation. In Mark’s Gospel, this line comes within the context of Jesus teaching about the requirements of being His disciple. And it comes after Jesus began to explicitly teach that He Himself would suffer and die as the Christ.
Think about this question above, starting with the first part of the question. “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world…” Do you want to gain the whole world? For most people, such a possibility is quite enticing. To “gain the whole world” is to gain everything this world has to offer. Imagine being offered unlimited wealth in this world. What if you were to win the largest jackpot any lottery ever offered and more? What if you were able to have beautiful mansions around the world, your own private jet, every modern convenience, the most expensive of cars, and the ability to do whatever you wanted for the rest of your life? Is this enticing? Certainly it is on a superficial level. But it is also a very deceptive enticement, because all of this could not make you any happier or more fulfilled than you already are.
The second part of this question is also easy to address. Would you want to forfeit your life? Certainly not. So Jesus offers two contrasting statements in one sentence. Most people would want to gain the whole world but would never want to forfeit their lives. Jesus sets up this contrast as a way of telling us very clearly that we cannot desire one without also choosing the other. In other words, if your heart’s desire is for the riches of this world, then you do indeed forfeit your very life to the extent that you give into that desire. On the contrary, if you choose the salvation of your soul, then you must forfeit the desire for the riches and enticements of this world. You cannot desire and choose both.
With that said, there might be a very rare soul who has many things in this world but has no attachment to them at all. They live completely detached from the things of this world, finding true satisfaction only in God and His holy will, becoming indifferent to any material things they have. Of course, this is a very difficult interior disposition for one to arrive at when they have accumulated much wealth.
Alternately, there are those in this world who have very little. They are truly poor in the literal sense. However, they spend their days dreaming about riches and covet all that they do not have. Sadly, this poor soul is, in fact, just as materially attached as the one who has made riches the goal and focus of life. And that interior attachment will do great spiritual damage.
Reflect, today, upon this question of Jesus: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Use that question as a source of prayer, meditation and self-examination. Try to be honest about your desires. If you find that you spend much time daydreaming about riches, then pay particular attention to this question. Life in its fullness can never be obtained through those desires or the fulfillment of those desires. God and God alone fulfill. Seek God above all else and you will find that nothing this world has to offer comes close to the riches of the Kingdom of God.
Lord, You and You alone are the source of fulfillment in life. Please purify my desires so that I ultimately desire only You and Your holy will. Free me from every deception and false enticement in life so that I will find satisfaction only in You. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
 
Friday 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, guide me along the path of self-denial and true humility. Help me understand how I am tempted, where I am weak, and how I can be victorious in the battle.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Follow Me: In the Gospel, Jesus is about to begin his final journey to Jerusalem. He needs to impart his final teachings about true discipleship before he undergoes his passion and death. The first lesson concerns the paradoxical need to sacrifice one’s life to gain life, to lose life to save it. Jesus’ disciples need to reject the temptation to gain this world to gain eternal life. The world offers pleasure, possessions, earthly, prestige, power, and influence. “Jesus warns that disciples must be so committed to him that they are willing to endure persecution, hardship, and even death. The faithful, he assures them, will find resurrection and glory beyond the hardships of this life” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, 1803). One day, at the end of time, Jesus will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Those who saved their worldly life will lose it. Those who denied themselves, took up their cross, and followed Jesus, will be welcomed into eternal life.
2. The Kingdom of God: Jesus began his public ministry by announcing that the kingdom of God was at hand. He taught that the word of the Kingdom of God will be sown like seed, start very small, and grow mysteriously to welcome all nations (Mark 4:1-34). In today’s Gospel, “Jesus promises to inaugurate his kingdom within the lifetime of the apostles (Mark 1:15). This begins with Christ’s heavenly enthronement (Mark 16:19) and the birth of the Church. Its authority is manifest with the termination of the Old Covenant, when Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed with fire (Luke 21:31-32). The kingdom, while present in mystery in the Church, will be fully manifest at the consummation of history” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, 1803). Thus, the Kingdom of God will come when Jesus suffers and dies in A.D. 30, when Jerusalem is destroyed in A.D. 70, and, at the end of time, when Jesus comes in glory. 
3. The Sin of Babel: After the renewal of the covenant of creation with Noah and his family, Genesis tells how sin again proliferated. “After the flood, Noah settles down and builds a vineyard. He takes the fruit of the vine, gets drunk, and ends up naked in his tent, a scene echoing Adam’s eating of the forbidden fruit and recognizing his nakedness” (Cavins and Gray, Walking with God, 27). Noah’s evil son, Ham, exploits his father’s drunkenness, while his righteous sons do not. Just as a righteous line descended from Adam’s son, Seth, and a sinful line from Adam’s firstborn son, Cain, so also a righteous line descends from Noah’s son, Shem, and a sinful line from Ham’s son, Canaan. The people of Babel were descendants of Nimrod, who was from the line of Ham. Instead of calling upon the name of the Lord, the people of Babel proposed to build a tower to the heavens to make a name for themselves. Thus, like Adam and Eve, who were tempted to be like gods and determine for themselves what is good and evil, the people of Babel were tempted by pride to be like gods and ascend to the heavens in their own way and by the work of their hands. God intervened and judged Babel, whose sin and rebellion resulted in division and exile. “The fresh start made with Noah has once again gone astray. But the genealogy of Shem, which follows the confusion of Babel, points to another new beginning. While much of the world rebelled, one family line was faithful: Shem’s line, the line that will result in Abram (Genesis 11:27). God will call Abram (later Abraham) and his descendants to undo the mess made by Adam, Noah, and much of their families. The question is whether Abram will be faithful” (Cavins and Gray, Walking with God, 32).
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me to follow you and bear my cross. I offer my life to you as your disciple. I embrace the mission to extend your Kingdom in the world and bring all men and women to share in your divine life.