Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Tư, tuần 13 Thường
Niên
Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay cho chúng ta biết là ma quỷ hiện hữu và chúng luôn tìm cách xâm nhập vào tâm hồn và ngay cả thân xác của chúng ta để hãm hãi chúng ta. Ma quỷ luôn cố gắng tìm cách để tách biệt chúng ta ra khỏi Thiên Chúa bằng cách cám dỗ và làm cho chúng ta mù quáng không nhìn nhận thấy sự thật, và ngăn cản chúng ta làm những gì đẹp lòng Thiên Chúa.
Làm thế nào ma quỷ hay nhhững sự gian ác có thể thành công trong việc đạt được mục tiêu của chúng? Ma quỷ sẽ tìm cách và làm bất cứ điều gì khiến mọi người chúng ta phải tách rời xa Thiên Chúa, ví dụ như cách chúng làm cho chúng ta tin rằng chúng ta là bậc thầy của chính mình, bằng cách tập trung và đạt sự chú tâm của chúng ta vào các giá trị bên ngoài.
Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay cho chúng ta biết là ma quỷ hiện hữu và chúng luôn tìm cách xâm nhập vào tâm hồn và ngay cả thân xác của chúng ta để hãm hãi chúng ta. Ma quỷ luôn cố gắng tìm cách để tách biệt chúng ta ra khỏi Thiên Chúa bằng cách cám dỗ và làm cho chúng ta mù quáng không nhìn nhận thấy sự thật, và ngăn cản chúng ta làm những gì đẹp lòng Thiên Chúa.
Làm thế nào ma quỷ hay nhhững sự gian ác có thể thành công trong việc đạt được mục tiêu của chúng? Ma quỷ sẽ tìm cách và làm bất cứ điều gì khiến mọi người chúng ta phải tách rời xa Thiên Chúa, ví dụ như cách chúng làm cho chúng ta tin rằng chúng ta là bậc thầy của chính mình, bằng cách tập trung và đạt sự chú tâm của chúng ta vào các giá trị bên ngoài.
Wednesday13th Week in Ordinary Time
Due to the rapid and advanced development of science today, people hardly believe that the evil spirit is still around us trying to mislead us or influence our daily decisions and lives. Nonetheless, why does the Bible, which is called the book of love and truth, bother to tell us about the evil spirit? Because the evil spirit is trying to separate us from God, blind us from seeing the truth, stop us from doing what pleases God.
How could evil succeed in achieving its goal? It would do anything that leads people away from God, for example by making one believe that he is the master of oneself, by directing one’s attention and focus on external values.
Once we are away from love and truth, then darkness, desolation, and lies will take hold of us. However, we are not hopeless even if we are in such a situation, because God will empower us with grace and rescue us as Jesus liberated the man in today's gospel. The only thing we need to do is to put our trust in him and his infinite love, confident that he will never abandon us.
Lord, liberate us from the siege of evil.
Wednesday13th Week in Ordinary Time
Why would “the whole town” beg Jesus to leave their district as a result of Jesus delivering two of their fellow townsmen from demons? This event took place on the northeast edge of the Sea of Galilee near a town of the Gadarenes who were not of Jewish background, which accounts for the fact that there was such a large herd of swine (the Jewish people did not eat pork). Two of the Gadarenes were possessed by demons, and Scripture reports that “They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.” And when Jesus delivers them from this awful plight, instead of rejoicing in gratitude, the townspeople begged Jesus to leave.
Saint Jerome says that it is possible that the people were actually acting in humility, in that they did not consider themselves worthy to be in the presence of someone as great as Jesus. Like Saint Peter who fell at the feet of Jesus and cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8), these townspeople may have been in such awe at what Jesus did for them that they did not see themselves as being worthy of His presence. However, other Church Fathers point out that it is more likely that these townspeople signify those who are stuck in their life of sin and do not want to come face-to-face with the Gospel or with the Person of Jesus. They prefer to close their ears to the truth and to remain in their life of ignorance and sin.
It’s also helpful to reflect upon the relationship between the townspeople and these two demoniacs. Ideally, when the townspeople saw these two men completely freed of the demons who tormented them, they would have rejoiced in a way similar to the way the father of the Prodigal Son rejoiced when his son returned to him. Sadly, in this case, there seems to be a tremendous lack of excitement by their fellow townsmen over the freedom these two demoniacs experienced. This shows a clear lack of love for these two men within the town. Perhaps many of the townspeople took a twisted form of pleasure in their mockery of these two men over the years, and they enjoyed telling stories about how crazy they were. Now, they were faced with these two men who were completely changed, and they may have found it difficult to speak well of them because of their pride.
This negative example set by these townspeople gives us an opportunity to reflect upon how we think about and treat those who have changed their ways and have turned from evil to good. Perhaps you have a family member who has sincerely tried to change. Or perhaps someone at work, a neighbor or some other acquaintance has gone from a life of sin to a life seeking virtue. The real question to ponder is whether you rejoice over the goodness of others, over their ongoing conversion and pursuit of holiness, or whether you struggle with truly expressing joy as you see people you know change for the good. It’s often very easy to criticize but much more difficult to rejoice in the holy transformation of another.
Reflect, today, upon those in your life, those close to you and those with whom you are mere acquaintances, who have been set free by our Lord in some way and have moved from a life of sin toward a life of virtue. How do you react to them? Are you able to sincerely rejoice in the goodness of others? Or do you find yourself struggling with jealousy, anger, envy and the like? As you do see the goodness of God at work in others, try to put on the mentality suggested by Saint Jerome above. Allow yourself to be in awe of God’s action in their lives. As you do, humble yourself before the transforming power of God, admitting that you are not worthy to witness His transforming power but rejoice in gratitude nonetheless.
My all-powerful Lord, You overcame the power of the evil one and cast demons from these two men who suffered through this oppression for many years. Give me the eyes I need to see You at work in our world and to joyfully bear witness to Your transforming action in the lives of others. May I always humble myself before Your saving actions and learn to express true gratitude for all that You do. Jesus, I trust in You.
Wednesday13th Week in Ordinary Time 2025
Encountering the Word of God
1. From Promises to Covenants: When we read the Genesis story of Abram, later named Abraham, we see how God elevates each of his three promises to Abram to covenants. The first promise was that God would make Abram a great nation. As the years passed, Abram grew somewhat impatient when he didn’t see the fulfillment of that promise. In the First Reading, we hear him complain that he has no children and that one of his servants was going to end up as his heir. God responded to Abram’s complaint by asking him to contemplate the stars and number them: “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be.” Abram responded to God with faith, not doubt. Now, on a clear night away from the city, we can only see between 2,000 and 4,500 stars. You reach this number of descendants in 11 to 12 generations. In response, Abram trusted that God would be faithful to his promise and covenant and that his descendants would be numerous. God added that Abram’s descendants would possess the land of Canaan. And when Abram asked for a sign, the Lord God responded by making a binding covenant. The Lord passed through the sacrificed animals alone, signifying that he would be faithful to his promise and covenant. Abram believed the Lord God, and this act of faith was rewarded with the “grant covenant” of nationhood and land: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates.”
2. The Lord Remembers His Covenant Forever: Psalm 105 is a prayer that contemplates the fidelity of the Lord to his covenants. “The psalm accents the Lord’s faithfulness to Israel: all the miracles, provisions, and acts of deliverance displayed in early biblical history show that God went to great lengths to fulfill his covenant oath to give Abraham’s offspring ‘the land of Canaan … for an inheritance’ (105:11)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 920). The covenant that God made with Abraham was reiterated to his son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob (Israel) (Psalm 105:9-11). We notice that God did not require Abram to walk between the covenant pieces. This means that it was a grant covenant, like that given to Noah. Just as Noah believed God, so also Abram believed. And just as God swore to Noah that he would not destroy the earth again with a flood, so also God swore to Abram that he would father a great nation and his descendants would occupy the land of Canaan. God is faithful to his covenants, even when we are not.
3. Warning against False Prophets: In the Gospel today, Jesus warns his followers to be on guard against false prophets, who claim to speak for God but actually teach in opposition to the Gospel. False prophets are wolves dressed like sheep. How can we distinguish false prophets from true teachers? “Jesus tells us to examine their behavior. On the principle that like produces like, we are to evaluate the fruits of their lives. If their actions and their character show forth good things, such as grapes and figs, then the prophet is a good and trustworthy tree. However, if the works of the alleged prophet produce prickly thistles or a harvest of bad fruit, then he has blown his cover – the self-styled prophet is really a rotten tree that cannot be trusted” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 120). With time, the sheepskin the false prophet wears will fall off, and the fruit of their works will be revealed as rotten. With time, the works of true prophets reveal that they are good and lasting. They are true sheep who faithfully heed the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the Davidic king and good shepherd who protects me from the ravenous wolves dressed as sheep. Take the fruit I produce today, purify it, transform it, and offer it to the Father as a pleasing sacrifice.
No comments:
Post a Comment