Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy tuần 27 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Thứ bảy 27th Thường Niên.
Ai là người may mắn ơn phúc trong mắt chúng ta? Trong văn hóa Do Thái, chính chữ này chỉ người mà chúng ta được ra (vì một người đàn ông) và người mà chúng đã đã sinh ra (cho một người phụ nữ) điều đó đã quyết định sự may mắn của chúng ta. Đó là lý do tại sao trong bài ca Ngợi Khen ‘Magnificat’ Đức Maria đã nói, “Này từ đây mọi người sẽ khen tôi có phúc.” (Lc 1:48).
Tuy nhiên, Chúa Giêsu, không những chỉ thừa nhận những gì mà những người phụ nữ trong đám đông ã nói về Đức Maria, người được Thiên Cha ban cho có được phước để trở thành mẹ của Ngài, những còn đưa Mẹ uq khỏi lằn ranh giới của sự hiểu biết của người Do Thái về ơn phước hạnh phúc khi đến một chân trời mới. Như Ngài đã nói là phúc hơn cho những ai biết lắng ghe lời Chúa và biết giữ lời dạy của Ngài. Có ai biết được ai là người có phúc hơn khi nghe và biết thực hành lời Chúa? tất nhiên không ai hơn ngoài Đức Maria! Người không những chỉ biết nghe lời Chúa mà còn vâng lời Người, khi Đức Maria nói với thiên thần Gabriel (lúc truyền tin) – “Xin hãy thành sự cho tôi theo lời Ngài..” (Lc 1, 38).
Chữ vâng lời the tiếng Hy Lạp có nghĩa là (phylassein) mang ý nghĩa của người bảo vệ thành phố hay cái gì có một giá trị rất lớn. Vì vậy, khi chúng ta vâng lời Chúa, chúng ta đang nói với Chúa rằng chúng ta bảo vệ giá trị và bất cứ điều gì Chúa đã nói thì có một giá trị rất lớn đối với chúng ta.
Chúa Giê-su đưa ra sự vâng phục này đến với Lời Chúa bằng cách nói thêm, mẹ ta và các anh em của ta là những người biết nghe Lời Chúa và đưa lời Chúa vào sự thực hành (Lc 8:21). Để được họp mặt với Chúa và trong gia đình của Chúa thì chúng ta phải biết nghe tiếng Chúa, Lời Chúa. Và phài biết sống và thực thi những điều răn mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng ta. Xin Chúa giúp chúng ta luôn luôn tìm cách nghe lời Chúa qua Kinh Thánh và thực thi những gì Chúa đã dạy chúng ta qua các bài đọc trong các Thánh Lễ. Lạy Chúa, xin dạy chúng con biiết lắng nghe lời Chúa, để giữ lời Chúa bằng trái tim, tâm hồn chúng con.

Saturday 27th Week in Ordinary Time :  2019
Joel 4:12-21; Ps. 97(96):1-2,5-6,11-12; Lk. 11:27-28
Who are the blessed in our eyes? In the Jewish culture, it is from whom you descended (for a man) and to whom you gave birth (for a woman) — that determined your blessedness. That is why in the Magnificat, Mary says, “from now onwards all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).
However, Jesus, not only acknowledged what the woman in the crowd said about His mother Mary, being blessed to have been His mother, but pushed the boundary of the Jewish understanding of blessedness to a new horizon. He said, more blessed are those who “hear the word of God and keep it”. Whom do we know who is more blessed as to “hear and obey”? Mary of course! She not only heard the word of God but obeyed it, when she said to the angel Gabriel (at the annunciation) — “let what you have said be done to me” (Lk 1:38).
The Greek word for “obey” (phylassein) carries the meaning of “guard” or “value greatly”. So, when we obey God, we are saying to God that we “guard” and “value greatly” whatever God has spoken to us.
Jesus takes this obedience to God’s word further by saying, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice” (Lk 8:21). To be in Jesus’ family is to “hear” God’s Word and “practise it.”May we seek always to hear God’s word and keep it!Lord, train me to observe Your word, to keep it with my heart.

Saturday 27th Ordinary Time. Scripture
Opening Prayer: So many thoughts and feelings swirl within me, Lord, as I approach you. But you are the anchor of my heart. I turn away from the noise and put my attention on you, my Savior, my King, my Friend, my All. Speak to me, Lord, and hear the longings of my heart that I don’t even know how to express.
Encountering Christ:
Blessedness: Jesus began his first homily, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, with this shining word: Blessed. Blessedness is the biblical word for vibrant, lasting happiness. God blesses us, and we receive his blessing, and our lives take on the vitality and meaning they were meant to have. To be blessed is to live in the light of God’s love and from the power of God’s wisdom. All the philosophers and founders of religions throughout human history have sought the path to blessedness, though they have at times used different words. It is a universal human desire to be blessed, to live life to the full now and forever. Whenever we ask for a blessing or give a blessing, it is this we pray for: that God may touch our hearts and minds in a new, fresh way, so that our lives can grow in all that truly matters and fully satisfies. Christianity, our religion, the one fully true religion, is built on God’s desire to fulfill our desire to live a blessed life. May God be praised for opening the gates to blessedness!
True Blessedness: Christ’s words and presence moved this woman in the crowd so deeply that she couldn’t hold back her joy and amazement, so she cried out, Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed! Something about Jesus captured her heart and filled her soul with hope, joy, and love, so that it overflowed in this beautiful compliment, in this affirmation of the truly extraordinary goodness–greatness–of Jesus. By proclaiming his mother blessed, she was proclaiming him to be magnificent. Jesus heard the compliment, and surely it must have pleased him to see someone moved so deeply by his message. Yet, he wanted to bring this woman even further along the path of enlightenment. He wanted her not only to admire and enjoy him but to follow him. He wanted her not only to perceive his infinite goodness but to participate in that goodness herself. So, he took up her exclamation, Blessed is the womb…, and he elevated it. Natural happiness is one thing, but everlasting happiness is much, much more. And the latter springs not only from natural bonds and natural goodness, like that of motherhood and sonship, but from a supernatural communion with God. Jesus points out the sole path to that dynamic and fulfilling communion: Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. To hear God’s word and heed it; to discover God’s will and embrace it; to begin to see oneself, others, and the world as God does and to act in accordance with that spiritual insight: This is how we grow in intimacy with Christ and increase our experience of everything that gives true and lasting meaning to our lives. In this response of Our Lord, we hear an echo of what he taught us in the Our Father: Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done… If we consistently embrace and fulfill God’s will in our lives, we will consistently experience the peace and joy of his Kingdom.
Mary’s Greatness: Jesus’s correction of this listener’s exclamation may strike us as harsh. After all, the womb that bore him and the breasts at which he fed are those of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the greatest of saints. Maybe Jesus should have accepted the compliment more graciously in her honor. And yet, in pointing out the source of true and lasting blessedness, Jesus actually intensified the compliment given to his mother. Yes, Mary was blessed simply because of the gifts she was offered, but she achieved true blessedness by how she received those gifts: humbly, obediently, courageously. Mary is the first and best Christian, the one who “heard God’s word and obeyed it” to an incomparably marvelous degree. She is the first of Christ’s followers and the one who can best teach us Christian discipleship. Elsewhere in his Gospel, St. Luke describes beautifully how Mary consistently responded to God’s action in her life: But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19). She was continually hearing God’s word as it was spoken through all the events of her daily life, and she continually obeyed that loving word by nourishing her heart on it and fulfilling all that the Lord asked of her. That, truly, is the path of abundant life, of blessedness. May God grant each of us the grace to follow it.
Conversing with Christ: I too rejoice in your goodness, Lord, and in the abundant banquet of truth and beauty that you have laid out for me through the gift of faith. I bless you, Lord, and I beg you for your blessing! You know how hard it can be for me to hear your word, to listen to your quiet and respectful voice amid so much noise and dissonance. Help me, I beg you, Lord! Help me to hear and heed your word, to love your will as the place where our friendship grows, to follow Mary’s example of treasuring up all the gifts you give me and pondering them constantly in my heart.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will take stock of how well I am embracing and fulfilling your will by taking a few minutes to reread the Ten Commandments, to write out the current duties of my state in life, to list the challenging circumstances of my life, and to listen quietly to whatever insistent inspirations your Holy Spirit has been whispering into my heart. Thy Kingdom come, my Lord, Thy will be done!

Suy Niệm Thứ bảy 27th Thường Niên.
Bài đọc thứ nhất là một phần của lời cầu nguyện chung của cộng đồng người Do Thái thời kỳ đó. Qua những lời nguyện này dân Do Thái đả được Thiên Chúa Yavê của họ đảm bảo với họ rằng những chiến tranh và đau khổ mà họ đang trải qua sẽ được chấm dứt.
Thiên Chúa đã hứa ban cho họ sự phục hồi trong tương lai. Và chẳng bao lâu nữa, phước lành cuêa Thiên Chúa sẽ tuôn đổ ra trên những người Do Thái và trên xứ sở của họ. Trong thời gian này, lời cầu nguyện của hoọ cũng Thiên Chúa dang tay hành động trừng phạt trên những kẻ thù của Dân Do Thái.
Thiên Chúa Yavê sẽ tập hợp tất cả các quốc gia này để phán xét tại "Thung lũng Giô-sa-phát", ngôn ngữ dược dùng để chỉ đến cụm từ tiếng Do Thái (Hebrew) "sự Phán xét của Thiên Chúa".
Những hình ảnh trong bài đọc này được sử dụng cho sự phán xét của Thiên Chúa Yavê như là hình ảnh của một trận chiến. Các danh từ được dùng liên quan đến việc thu hoạch mùa màng hay đó là hình ảnh trong mùa gặt hái, chẳng hạn như "đặt lưỡi liềm vào" và "đến và bước đi" được sử dụng để xác định cuộc chiến khốc liệt của Thiên Chúa đối với kẻ thù của người Do Thái.
Kết hợp những điều này thì đây là ý tưởng về ngày sắp đến của Thiên Chúa, khi Chúa "rống lên từ Sion" và "làm cho tiếng của Ngài được nghe vang dội từ Jerusalem". Bằng cách này, Thiên Chúa đã bảo đảm với dân Do Thái là sự an toàn của họ khi họ biết rằng Chúa là "Thiên Chúa của họ". Bởi vì như lời hứa của Ngài, Ngài sẽ phục hồi dân tộc Do Thái dân riêng của Ngài.
Với sự trở lại của Chúa Jêsus, lời hứa với người Do Thái đã được Thiên Chúa thực sự đã được thực hiện. Khi một người phụ nữ trong đám đông kêu lên với sự ngưỡng mộ của bà đối với những việc làm và trí tuệ của Chúa Giêsu bằng cách khen ngợi người mẹ, người đã mang Ngài vào thế giới của chúng ta, Chúa Giêsu nhắc cho bà ta và tất cả chúng ta là sự may mắn và phúc lành thật sự đến trong việc nghe lời Chúa và giữ biết giữ lời Chúa . Sau cùng, phước lành và sự an toàn của chúng ta không phải được bắt nguồn từ nơi con người, mà được đến từ nơi Thiên Chúa Yavê.

REFLECTION Saturday 27th Ordinary Time
The passage in the first reading is part of Jewish communal prayer of that period. Through it, the people are assured that the sufferings undergone by them will come to an end.
God has promised them a future restoration. Soon, new blessings will pour forth on the people and on the land. At this point, the prayer also invokes God’s action on the enemies of Israel.
God will assemble all these nations for judgement at the “Valley of Jehoshaphat”, a term connected with the Hebrew phrase “Yahweh judges”.
Here, the image used for God's judgement comes in a form of a battle. The terms associated with harvest, such as, “put the sickle in” and “come and tread”, are used to identify the fierce battle to be waged by God against the enemies of Israel.
Closely linked to this is the idea of the imminent day of the Lord, when the Lord “roars from Zion” and “makes his voice heard from Jerusalem”. In this way, God assures the people that their ultimate security lies in knowing that the Lord is “your God”. His promises will be restored on Israel on the day of His coming. With the coming of Jesus, God’s promise to Israel has indeed come to fulfillment. When a woman in the crowd cries out her admiration for Jesus' deeds and wisdom by praising the mother who had brought him into the world, Jesus reminds her that true blessedness comes from hearing the word of God and in keeping it. Ultimately, our blessings and security come not from human sources, but from God Himself. Now we can give thanks to our Lord Jesus for helping us depend on Him alone because He is God Himself..

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy tuần 27 Thường Niên 2018
Trong thư gởi cho cộng đoàn Galatin hôm nay, thánh Phao-lô đáp lại câu hỏi mà một số người Do Thái đã hỏi: “Nếu Chúa Giêsu Kitô là sự mặc khải của Thiên Chúa, thì tại sao chúng ta có luật Torah?” Đối với người Do thái, sự mặc khải của Chúa được thấy trong sách luật Torah. Thánh Phao-lô đã cho chúng ta biết là sách Torah được ví như một “người giám thị, giữ kỷ luật” trong một trường học. Nhiệm vụ của người giám thị là đảm bảo các em giữ kỷ luật nhà trường, chú ý đến kỷ luật để bảo vệ chúng về thể chất và đạo đức. Giống như giám thị lo giữ kỷ luật, Sách Torah ban hành kỷ luật và giúp cho dân Israel biết sống theo giáo lý của Thiên Chúa là Chúa của họ. Cho đến khi Chúa Kitô đến thì kỷ luật được tự giác đích thực và có thể tự kiểm soát lấy.
Qua Chúa Kitô, dân Israel không còn như trẻ con phải được kiểm soát dưới quyền của "kỷ luật" nữa, nhưng tất cả đã trở thành con cái của Thiên Chúa trong đức tin. Bây giờ, không còn có sự khác biệt giữa chúng ta, bất kể nguồn gốc vì chúng ta đều được tập hợp lại với nhau và nên một trong Đức Kitô. Thánh vịnh hôm nay đã đưa ra ý tưởng về các hậu duệ của Abraham và Jacob được Thiên Chúa gom chung lại thành một..
Vì điều này mà mọi người chúng ta được mời gọi ngợi khen Thiên Chúa là Đấng trung thành với lời hứa của Ngài, vì Ngài đã hành động và đưa dân Ngài về đất hứa của họ. Không có gì ngạc nhiên trong đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay khi Chúa Giêsu, đáp lại lời khen ngợi của người phụ nữ, khen ngợi cho người mẹ của Ngài, người đã đưa Ngài vào thế giới của chúng ta. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đã chỉ chúng ta biết là chỉ có hạnh phúc thực sự không phải là do những mối quan hệ vật chất, nhưng là do những mối quan hệ tinh thần mà tất cả chúng ta cùng chia sẻ với Thiên Chúa và với nhau qua việc chúng ta biết nghe và giữ lời của Chúa. Lạy Chúa chúng con cảm ơn Ngài vì đã cgo con được làm con của Chúa.

Saturday 27th Ordinary Time REFLECTION even years
Paul’s writing, in today’s passage from the letter to the Galatians, is in response to the question asked by some Jews, “If Jesus Christ is God’s revelation, why then do we have the Torah?” To the Jews, God’s revelation is found in the Torah. Paul’s answer is that the Torah is likened to a ‘disciplinarian’ in a school. It was his or her task to make sure the children went to school, paid attention to the lessons, and where necessary, to discipline them in order to protect them physically and morally. Like the discipline teacher, the Torah provided discipline and restraint for the people of Israel. That is, until Christ came and made authentic self-discipline and self-control possible. Through Christ, the people are no longer children under a ‘disciplinarian’, but have become children of God by faith. Now, there are no differences among them, regardless their backgrounds, since they are all gathered together as one in Christ. Today’s psalm takes up the idea of the descendants Abraham and Jacob being gathered by God.
For this, the people are invited to praise God who is faithful to His promise, and who will act to bring the people home to their land. It is no wonder then that Jesus, in the Gospel passage, responds to the woman’s comment, that takes the form of praise for the mother who had brought him into the world, points out that that true happiness consists not in physical relationships, but in the spiritual relationship we all share with God and with one another through hearing and keeping the word of God.
Father, thank You for making me Your child.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu tuần 27 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Sáu tuần 27 Thường Niên

úa Giêsu nói với chúng ta trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, "Ai không đi với tôi thì là kẻ ấy là người chống lại tôi, và ai không cùng tôi thu góp là phân tán." Chúa Giêsu có thể đã bổ sung vào lời giải thích: "Kẻ nào không giúp ta vác thập giá, thì kẻ ấy đã thực sự làm cho thập giá đó nặng nề hơn; còn kẻ nào không đi với ta, nói chuyện với ta, làm việc với ta, và sống với ta, thì kẻ ấy chắc chắn đang theo một ai đó khác không phải là ta. "

Có phải chúng ta đang theo Chúa Kitô hay chúng ta đang chống lại Chúa Kitô? Có lẽ chúng ta đã tìm ra một câu trả lời rất đơn giản, dễ dàng bằng cách chúng ta hãy hỏi chính bản thân: "Tôi có giúp phụ vác thánh giá với Chúa Kitô?" Tôi có dám từ bỏ chính bản thân mình để giúp đỡ người khác khi họ đang có nhu cầu, đang cần sự giúp đỡ? Hãy nhớ là Chúa Kitô đã hiến mạng sống Ngài cho tất cả chúng ta. Chúng ta có dám sẵn sàng vác thập giá vì tình yêu thương Chúa Kitô cho người nghèo khổ, đói khát, không nhà và cô đơn? Chúng ta có dám hy sinh một chút thời giờ quý hoá, năng lực và tiền bạc của chúng ta để giúp những người khác có thể sống một cách xứng đáng hơn, trọn vẹn hơn và được hạnh phúc hơn?

Có bao giờ chúng ta có cùng một ý nghĩ với Chúa Kitô trong tư tưởng, trong lời nói và hành động của chúng ta? Đời sống cầu nguyện của chúng ta có được Chúa Kitô thường xuyên hiện diện với chúng ta và chúng ta có thật sự đối diện trực tiếp với Ngài? Chúa Giêsu là đường, là cách duy nhất để giúp đem chúng ta đến với hạnh phúc vĩnh cửu. Những chỉ khi nào chúng ta sống với Ngài và chết với Ngài, thì chúng ta mới có thể được ở bên Ngài trong Nước Chúa ở trên trời.

REFLECTION

Jesus tells us in today's Gospel, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Jesus might have added in explanation: "He who does not help me carry the cross, actually makes it heavier; he who does not walk with me and talk with me and work with me and live with me, he surely is following someone else not me."

Are we for Christ or against Christ? Perhaps we can easily find out by asking ourselves: "Am I helping Christ to carry his cross?" Am I denying myself to be of help to others when they are in need? Remember Christ gave his life for all of us. Are we willing to carry the cross out of love for the poor, the needy, the lonely? Can we sacrifice a little of our precious time, energy or money so that others may live more decently and more happily? Are we with Christ in our thoughts, words and actions? Is our prayer life such that Christ is often with us and we with him?" Jesus is the way, the only way to eternal happiness. Only if we live with him and die with him, can we be with him in his heavenly kingdom.

Friday 27th Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: I come to you today, Lord, to bless you for your infinite kindness. I thank you for your generous and constant outpouring of grace. I want to know you better and to know myself better because of this time of prayer. Teach me, Lord, to hear your voice, to heed your voice, and to echo your voice in all my thoughts, words, and actions throughout the day.

Encountering Christ:

Demons Are Real: In modern times, many so-called biblical scholars have often tried to reinterpret Gospel passages like the one the Church offers us today. It is so obvious from these passages that the devil and demons, the fallen angels who rebelled against God, are real and active in this world. And yet, that simple fact seems to make some modern and postmodern thinkers very uncomfortable. Therefore, they say that in ancient times people were just ignorant, so they superstitiously attributed merely psychological and physical ailments to demonic intervention. Of course, this line of reasoning wildly distorts the actual Gospel texts, which clearly distinguish between illness and demonic possession. Jesus is clear: Demons exist, and they are actively working against the truth, goodness, and beauty through which God draws us into intimate communion with himself. As the Catechism (414) puts it: “Satan or the devil and the other demons are fallen angels who have freely refused to serve God and his plan. Their choice against God is definitive. They try to associate man in their revolt against God.” As inconvenient or uncomfortable as this revealed doctrine may be, it is true nonetheless. And if we forget it, ignore it, or deny it, we will only increase the confusion and frustration that naturally accompany our journey through this fallen world.

Avoiding Exaggerations: Of course, it is possible to go to the other extreme as well, attributing every human foible, dysfunction, and challenge to direct demonic activity. This too is a dangerous deviation from the truth. Jesus clearly indicates in this passage that he is the Lord of life and history, and he has put limits on the devil’s attempted dominance over human affairs. To return to the Catechism (395): “The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his Kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries–of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature–to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history.” Jesus doesn’t want us to ignore demonic activity, but he doesn’t want us to be obsessed with it either. He wants us to recognize him as Lord, and courageously battle at his side for the advance of his Kingdom in our hearts and in the hearts around us. A healthy Christian is a balanced and dependable person, just like Christ himself.

Spiritual Blindness: Jesus was performing dramatic miracles and driving out demons, right before the very eyes of immense crowds, and yet so many of those eyes didn’t seem to see what was really happening. Some of the crowd accused him of being on Satan’s side, and others asked for more signs. What is it about our fallen human nature that resists the clear signs that God sends us? Why do we keep seeking more convincing indications of God’s love and presence than all the ones he continuously gives us—the marvelous beauties of nature, the amazingly coherent and complete teaching of the Church, the unbroken succession of saints and sacraments for two thousand years? This tendency to spiritual blindness never really leaves us. As Jesus points out in his parable, even when we welcome his grace into our lives, we remain vulnerable to backsliding, maybe even falling back to a worse state of ignorance and corruption than the one we started in. It is humbling to hear Jesus describe this. We can never rest on our laurels in the spiritual life. We must always continue to raise our hearts and minds to Christ and be ever watchful. One practice many spiritual masters through the centuries have recommended to help us stay on track is regular confession. Taking time every two weeks or every month to prayerfully examine the state of our soul and humbly approach the Lord for forgiveness and renewed strength is a wise discipline that can help keep our friendship with Christ fresh. May God grant us the humility to embrace it.

Conversing with Christ: I know that life on earth will always be a battle, Lord. My own fallen nature, the fallen world, the fallen angels—all these forces constantly pull me away from you. But you are stronger! You are the eternal King, my Lord, who promises to be with me until the end of time. I have nothing to fear if only I stay close to you. Thank you for coming to our rescue, for putting your omnipotence at our service, for never ceasing to send your grace among us so that we can fight faithfully and joyfully for your Kingdom as long as you ask us to.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will make some kind of small physical sacrifice as an offering to God in union with Christ’s self-sacrifice on the cross, and as a reminder to myself that earth is not heaven and I will need to resist the bent inclinations of my fallen nature throughout my Christian journey.

REFLECTION 2017

In the first reading the prophet Joel tells the careless and sinful people to prepare for the coming and judgment of the Lord by prayer and fasting. Yahweh comes as a fearful and just God.

In the Gospel reading Jesus contends with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who claim that he drives out evil spirits by the power of Beelzebub. Clearly he was not driving out evil spirits by the power of Beelzebub, the chief of the evil spirits: if so, the kingdom of Satan is divided and will fall.

And Jesus challenges his detractors: "But suppose I drive out demons by the finger of God, would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you?"

Due to their hardened hearts the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law have refused to see him as coming from God, despite his teaching and his wonderful works.

We pray that our faith in Christ may be confirmed. We pray that we may see God and his grace in his many good works and in the wonderful world he has given to us. We pray that we may see God in all things.

Friday 27th Ordinary

In the Gospel reading Jesus contends with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who claim that he drives out evil spirits by the power of Beelzebub. Clearly he was not driving out evil spirits by the power of Beelzebub, the chief of the evil spirits: if so, the kingdom of Satan is divided and will fall. And Jesus challenges his detractors: "But suppose I drive out demons by the finger of God, would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you?" Due to their hardened hearts the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law have refused to see him as coming from God, despite his teaching and his wonderful works.

Today Jesus tells us that "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Jesus might have added in explanation: "He who does not help me carry the cross, actually makes it heavier; he who does not walk with me and talk with me and work with me and live with me, he surely is following someone else not me." Are we for Christ or against Him? Perhaps we can easily find out by asking ourselves: "Am I helping Christ to carry his cross?" Am I denying myself to be of help to others when they are in need?

Remember Christ gave his life for all of us. Are we willing to carry the cross out of love for the poor, the needy, and the lonely? Can we sacrifice a little of our precious time, energy or money so that others may live more decently and more happily? Are we with Christ in our thoughts, words and actions? Jesus is the way, the only way to eternal happiness. Only if we live with him and die with him, then we can be with him in his heavenly kingdom. We pray that our faith in Christ may be confirmed. We pray that we may see God and his grace in his many good works and in the wonderful world he has given to us. We pray that we may see God in all things.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần 27 Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Tuần 27 Thường Niên

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa đã nhấn mạnh cho chúng ta thấy sức mạnh của lời cầu nguyện và sự cần thiết trong việc phải kiên trì trong sự cầu nguyện. Khi chúng ta cảm thấy rằng Thiên Chúa không nghe hoặc không đáp lại những lời cầu xin của chúng tai, có lẽ chúng ta phải nhớ rằng cách của Thiên Chúa làm việc không phải là cách làm việc của con người chúng ta và có lẽ Thiên Chúa đã có kế hoạch khác cho chúng ta, và có khi kế hoạch đó còn tốt hơn là những gì chúng ta đã xin.

Khi Chúa dạy các môn đệ cầu nguyện, Ngài cũng nhắc nhở chúng ta qua Tin Mừng là hãy nhớ cầu nguyện luôn. Chính vì trong khi cầu nguyện, chúng ta đã mở lòng với Thiên Chúa. Chính vì trong lời cầu nguyện mà chúng ta đã xác tín được sự tin tưởng của chúng ta ở nơi Thiên Chúa. Và chính vì trong lời cầu nguyện mà chúng ta xác tín được sự chân thành và thẳng thắn của chúng ta với Thiên Chúa.

Reflection:

Today's Gospel strongly emphasizes the power of prayer and the need to be persistent in prayer. When we feel that God is not listening or answering our prayers, perhaps we must remember that God's way is not man's way and perhaps the Lord has other plans for us. As the Lord taught his disciples to pray, he also reminds us through the Gospel to remember to pray. It is in prayer that we open ourselves to him. It is in prayer that we confirm our trust in him. It is in prayer that we confirm our sincerity and frankness with him.

Thursday 27th Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: I come to you today, Lord, believing firmly that you care about me and are interested in my life. I take comfort in the words from today’s first reading: “the Lord listened attentively.” I know you are listening to me, right now. You are loving me and smiling upon me, because, as you remind me in today’s first reading, I am “yours, your own special possession.” Teach me, Lord, to hear your voice and follow wherever you lead.

Encountering Christ:

Expectations: What do I expect from God? Jesus makes it abundantly clear that we should expect from God much more than we can possibly imagine: “How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” A merely human father knows how to give good gifts to his children. Our heavenly Father is infinitely more loving, attentive, wise, and powerful. He is infinitely more committed to us, to our welfare. Even the best of human fathers is only finite in his capacity to love and provide. God is all-loving, all-powerful, all-present. What a difference it would make if we believed with all our heart and soul in this truth that Jesus has revealed so energetically! When we look at the lives of the saints, we see an unbridled faith in God’s infinite goodness and commitment to us. That faith frees them from the shackles of earthly fears and insecurities. It unleashes the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that they experience more and more fully the divine goodness they believe in and spread that goodness around them. We all believe in this infinite goodness and loving interest of God. But we can believe in it more fully, more radically. Faith, like all Christian virtues, is a gift and a task. We have received the gift; now we need to exercise it more consciously, intentionally, and regularly so that it can grow and bear the fruit God wants it to.

Ask, Seek, Knock: Whenever the Jewish rabbis repeated one concept three times with three different words, it was a sign of extreme emphasis. That is what Jesus did in this case. He used two parables–the sleeping friend and the fish/egg vs. snake/scorpion–to illustrate how we must entrust ourselves and our needs to God, and so enter a true childlike relationship with him. And then he exhorted us to be very demanding with God by asking, seeking, knocking. Jesus knows that our hearts burn with deep and passionate desires–for meaning, for happiness, for peace, for wisdom, for counsel, for love, for blessings–our hearts are furnaces of desires! And they are thus because God has made them thus. Ours is not a religion that promises peace only by extinguishing desires. On the contrary, Jesus invites us to feed our good desires by expressing them insistently to the One who can fulfill them. Life itself, with all the yearnings it gives us, is God at work within us. Every good desire we experience is like a promise from the Lord—he wouldn’t give us hearts that yearn so much if he wasn’t able to satisfy beyond all expectations the yearnings we experience. As the Catechism puts it (1718): “This desire [for happiness] is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it.”

The Cynical Seduction: We have all prayed to God for so many things. We have asked him for so many graces and favors; we have sought and knocked so often, just like the importunate friend in the parable. But it seems that more often than not our petitions are ignored. Doesn’t it? Be honest. So many problems, so much suffering, so many difficulties and failures, sins and sorrows—if God really is the Good Father who wants to give us more than we even know how to ask for, why is life such an unending flow of tears and tribulations? If only we remember one thing, we will never get stuck in cynicism and discouragement. If only we remember what Jesus told Pilate just hours before he sacrificed his own life to redeem us from sin, we will learn to obey St. Paul’s bold injunction to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I shall say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). Jesus told Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The fulfillment he yearns to give us is much deeper than we realize, although he sometimes allows us to glimpse it even in earthly terms, as he did when answering the prayers of all Christendom in 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto (commemorated by today’s memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary). And so, when he doesn’t answer our askings, seekings, and knockings the way we expected, we can be sure that it’s only because what he has in mind is better than what we had in mind. And with that assurance, our hearts will never be seduced by the siren calls of soul-squelching cynicism.

Conversing with Christ: I will never give up on you, Lord. Just as I know you will never give up on me. I know that for you “one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). I renew my commitment to follow and obey you every single day of my life, no matter what. I will never stop asking, seeking, and knocking for the fulfillment of the longings you have placed with me. And I will never stop renewing my faith in your infinite goodness and in your personal commitment to my holiness and everlasting happiness. Thank you, my Lord! May your name be ever blessed!

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will compose my own “act of faith,” my very own prayer, written in my own words, that I will pray every day for the next week in order to exercise and thereby increase my faith in your omnipotent goodness.

Thur - 27th Week in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel, Jesus strongly emphasizes the power of prayer and the need to be persistent in prayer. When we feel that God is not listening to us or not answering to our prayers, perhaps we must remember that God's way is not our way and perhaps God always has other and better plans for us. We need to pray persistently; asking God to answer our prayers. The three words “Ask, Seek, Knock”' are in the present continuous tense. When Jesus say to us, to Ask, to Seek, to Knock; He is saying: “Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Don’t give up!” Just as the man went to his friend, in the middle of the night, to ask for bread for his guest;

Jesus says, “'persistence will be enough to make him (friend) get up and give his friend (the man) all he wants.” Why have such faith in God, when we Ask, when we Seek, and when we Knock? Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; Seek, and you will find; Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

As human parents, in their love for their children, give what is good for them, And “How much more” will the heavenly Father give to us. God will not just give us what we ask, that is good for us, God will give us the best gift ever the Holy Spirit. As the Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he also reminds us to remember to pray patiently and pray persistently. It is in prayer that we open ourselves to God. It is in prayer that we confirm our trust in God. It is in prayer that we confirm our sincerity and frankness with God.

Reflection:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you." This is a very often-quoted verse, and its appeal is not so surprising. Imagine, a God who gives you anything you want as long as you keep asking. Or so we, with our often misguided desires, would like to believe. But going back to the verse, Jesus did not initially say what it was. Did he really mean that God will grant us anything we ask of Him? Knowing Christ in His wisdom, it's highly unlikely that he meant it that way. As we read on, it becomes a little more evident what He did suggest.

At the end of the gospel passage, Jesus said, "Even you evil people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more then will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Here, He sets the parameters to what God will willingly and lovingly grant us: the Holy Spirit. We might ask for things that we believe we want or need, but these might not reflect our deepest desires, and will probably do us more harm than good. Sometimes, what we seek becomes muddled by the superficial priorities of the world, that we forget about what it is we truly seek. When we stop for a while to step back and get a glimpse of the deepest recesses of our hearts, there lies our true desire to know and love God with our whole being. But it is only in asking Him and seeking His infinite wisdom that we may receive this blessing.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư tuần 27 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Tư tuần 27 Thường Niên

Tại sao các môn đệ xin Chúa Giêsu dạy cho họ cách cầu nguyện ?. Có phải họ xin Chúa day họ cầu nguyện vì họ cũng giống rất nhiều người như chúng ta, những người giống như thánh Phaolô và Thánh Phêrô và Thánh Barnaba. Chúng ta tha thiết cầu nguyện và hành động nhưng hai việc này có thể làm trong sư mâu thuẫn! Làm thế nào để chúng ta có thể biết và làm theo như thánh ý của Thiên Chúa?

Một số người cho rằng lời cầu nguyện mà không bao giờ thất bại là lời cầu xin cho "Ý Cha được thể hiện" như những lời cầu xin của chúng ta, trong khi thực hiện những ước muốn của chúng ta là để được hiểu biết Thiên Chúa, chúng ta nên luôn luôn tin tưởng và đạt niềm tin của chúng ta trong ý muốn và kế hoạch của Thiên Chúa. Trong lời cầu nguyện của chúng ta, chúng ta phải lắng nghe Thiên Chúa, dành nhiều thời gian trong sự hiện diện của Thiên Chúa. Điều mà chúng ta cần phải cầu nguyện trước tiên là chúng ta cầu xin cho chúng ta biết thay đổi. Để lời cầu nguyện được thành sự thật, chúng ta phải mang theo trong mình, những nhu cầu của chúng ta, kẻ thù của chúng tôi và nỗi sợ hãi của chúng ta với Thiên Chúa và lắng nghe những gì Thiên Chúa muốn nơi chúng ta để Thiên Chúa có thể ban cho chúng ta những gì chúng ta thực sự cần thiết.

"Lạy Cha ở trên trời, Chúa đã ban cho chúng con một tâm trí để nhận biết Chúa, một ý chí để phục vụ Chúa, và một trái tim để yêu Mến Chúa. Xin hãy cho chúng con hôm nay những ân sủng và sức mạnh để chấp nhận thánh ý Chúa và lấp đầy trái tim của chúng con với tình yêu của Chúa rằng tất cả những ý định và hành động của chúng con để có thể làm Chúa được hài lòng. Xin giúp chúng con có lòng thương và tha thứ cho những người thân cận, bạn bè láng giềng của chúng con như Chúa đã dành cho chúng con".

REFLECTION

Why did the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray? Even if these men were not particularly pious, they would have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Jewish prayers. They must have been to the synagogue or perhaps the temple in Jerusalem a time or two. They had to be interested in God or knowing and associating with Jesus would not have held much of an attraction for them. Perhaps they ask because they are so much like us who are like Paul and Cephas and Barnabas. We earnestly pray and act but can be at odds! How can we know and do God’s will?

Some say that the prayer that never fails is: “Thy will be done.” Our prayers, while making our desires known to God, should always submit to God’s will and plan. In our prayer we must listen to God, spend time in God’s presence for just as we cannot be outside during daylight and be unaffected by the radiation of the sun, so we cannot be unaffected when we come into God’s presence. The first thing prayer always changes is us. In order to really pray we must bring ourselves, our needs, our enemies and our fears to God and listen to what God wants from us so that God can give us what we truly need.

May Your Kingdom come!

Wednesday 27th Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: As I enter this sacred time and space, I quiet my turbulent mind: You are all-powerful, Lord, and I can entrust to you all my worries and concerns as I seek simply to be with you and listen to your words of life. You know what I need, what I desire. I make mine the words of today’s psalm as I turn to you and praise and glorify you: “Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul” (Psalms 86:4).

Encountering Christ:

1. Jesus Was Praying?: Of all the Gospel writers, St. Luke shows Jesus praying most often. Jesus was praying in a certain place, he tells us. And he mentions this multiple times throughout his Gospel. Imagine that. Jesus, the incarnate Second Person of the Holy Trinity, going off alone every day to pray. Why would God himself need to take time away from his pressing activities to pray? This simple fact reveals so much. First, it gives us a glimpse into the life of the Trinity. Remember, the Trinity is three Persons in one Nature. Three real Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with real relationships. Jesus went off to pray because he cared about those relationships, about nourishing them and being nourished by them. Second, in his human nature, our Lord entered into the limits of time and space. His Trinitarian relationships, in some mysterious way, needed to participate in that. We share that same human nature, and we have been made participants in the divine nature through baptism. So we too can expect that the development of our relationships with the Trinity will require time alone with God. It’s all well and good to say that we are “always praying,” and that is indeed our ideal. But if Jesus himself felt a need to go off to be alone with his Father and the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, why would we ever think that we could make our Christian journey without doing the same? The Catechism (2697) puts it eloquently: “Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But we tend to forget him who is our life and our all… we cannot pray ‘at all times’ if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it. These are the special times of Christian prayer, both in intensity and duration.”

2. Teach Us to Pray: The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. They had been watching him. They had been traveling with him, seeing how he passed his time. Clearly, prayer was an anchor for the Lord. Clearly, the disciples recognized that their own life of prayer was not at the same level as Christ’s prayer. But they wanted to grow, to improve. They wanted their prayer life to be what it should be. So, they asked the master to teach them. That’s what disciples do: they learn from the master; they thirst for more and seek to grow. How is my thirst? How is my desire to grow, to learn, to follow Jesus more closely? To be someone’s apprentice means much more than learning some information about something. It is not just a part-time slice of one’s life. To be an apprentice, a disciple, is to learn a whole style of living; it’s a full-time adventure. And since Christ is infinite in his divine wisdom, we will always have more to learn from him. Our full-time adventure of discipleship will never end. We just have to keep nourishing our desire to live more like Jesus, to learn from him, to discover in all the ups and downs of our daily life all the lessons he wants to teach us and all the graces he wants to give us. Then, when we are ready for the everlasting adventure of heaven, he will take us home.

3. Merciful Father: The Gospels give us two versions of the Our Father, the basic Christian prayer. The one we are more familiar with is St. Matthew’s, but the one given today by St. Luke is recognizably the same in its structure and content. So many things strike us about this prayer, which is itself a revelation about what being a Christian really means. It shows that Christianity is eminently relational. We address God as “Father.” We address him together with our brothers and sisters: “Give us this day…” We address him in the context of needing not only material support but also relational healing: “forgive us our sins.” This great, unique religion of the Incarnation is a vibrant, ongoing restoration of relationships that sin has broken. Even our moral duties are presented by Our Lord in this prayer as relational: “for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us.” Christianity is not a moral code. Christianity is not a one-time acceptance of a creed. Christianity is a friendship journey, with all the vibrancy and drama that come with a commitment to any meaningful relationship. If it ever starts to feel dry, boring, or predictable, we can be sure that we have strayed from its true path.

Conversing with Christ: Lord, I echo the petition of your first disciples: Teach me to pray! I want my life of prayer to be all that you want it to be. I know that prayer is a mystery, that one who prays regularly is always going to find new challenges, new delights, new avenues to discover. Never let me neglect my prayer life. Never let me fall into routine. Never let me stop seeking to go deeper and deeper into the friendship you so generously offer me.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will make an appointment to talk with someone I respect about my prayer life, trying to identify how I am doing and what next step I can take to continue growing in prayer.

Reflection Wednesday 27th Ordinary 2018

In the first reading Paul writes about Peter as the apostle of the Jews and himself as the apostle of the pagans. He also mentions special concern for the poor.

In the Gospel reading Jesus gives us the most popular, perhaps the most important, prayer in our Christian tradition, the "Our Father." We learn so much from this prayer given by Jesus himself. When we pray we pray to our Father, not to the all powerful God and Creator, not to the Supreme Lord and Master.. Jesus invites us to share this intimacy with his Father in heaven and to experience this in prayer. So often and so many times in Sermon the Mount accccon Mathew Jesus spoke of his Father, of our Father. We pray that we always put God first; we pray that God's kingdom may rule and that his will be done. We pray that we do our share in establishing God's reign. We ask for our daily bread for our bodies and also for our souls and spirit, his body and his blood which he has lovingly left us in the Eucharist. We ask to be forgiven our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us: this was precisely his mission, to forgive our sins through his passion, death and resurrection. We pray for the grace to learn to forgive others. In the silence of our hearts, we know that when we pray to our Father, we are one not only with Jesus in heaven but also with our brothers and sisters in heaven and on earth. We are invited to pray that we may do God's will rather than our own will. We should ask, seek and knock so that we may discover what God's will is for us, and then ask for the courage and the strength to do it. As Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he also reminds us through the Gospel to remember to pray. So, when we pray, we must bring ourselves, our needs, our enemies and our fears to God and listen to what God wants from us so that God can give us what we truly need

REFLECTION 2018

In the first reading Paul writes about Peter as the apostle of the Jews and himself as the apostle of the pagans. He also mentions special concern for the poor.

In the Gospel reading Jesus gives us the most popular, perhaps the most important, prayer in our Christian tradition, the "Our Father."

We learn so much from this prayer given by Jesus himself.

When we pray we pray to our Father, not to the all powerful God and Creator, not to the Supreme Lord and Master.. Jesus invites us to share this intimacy with his Father in heaven and to experience this in prayer. So often and so many times in Matthew's Sermon the Mount Jesus spoke of his Father, of our Father. We pray that we always put God first; we pray that God's kingdom may rule and that his will be done. We pray that we do our share in establishing God's reign.

We ask for our daily bread for our bodies and also for our souls and spirit, his body and his blood which he has lovingly left us in the Eucharist. We ask to be forgiven our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us: this was precisely his mission, to forgive our sins through his passion, death and resurrection. We pray for the grace to learn to forgive others. In the silence of our hearts, we know that when we pray to our Father, we are one not only with Jesus in heaven but also with our brothers and sisters in heaven and on earth. We pray, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần 27 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tìn Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần 27 Thường Niên

Trong đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay đã giúp cho chúng ta có một sự phân biệt về sự chú tâm vào việc vào tiếp xúc Chúa Giêsu của hai chị bà Maria và bà Mattha. Để tiếp đón Chúa Giêsu vị khách quý của gia đình một cách chu đáo, bà Martha đã rất lo lắng và chú tâm tới các chi tiết tỉ mỉ trong việc tiếp đón Chúa, còn trong khi đó, Mary đã chỉ có biết chú ý tới Chúa Giêsu, Bà tiếp đón Chúa bằng cách ngồi nghe Chúa dạy, hầu hạ bên Ngài như là vị khách quý của họ. Thế nhưng Mary được ca ngợi, còm Martha thì bị trách mắng. Bà Martha bị Chúa Giêsu trách không phải là vì sự bận rộn của bà trong việc nấu ăn đãi tiệc mừng Chúa, nhưng vì bà đã quá lo lắng, bận tâm và cũng vì thái độ oán giận của bà. Bà Martha muốn có sự tiếp đón Chúa một long trọng. Mục đích của bà thật vô cùng đáng quý nhưng mục đích tốt của bà đã để lẫn lộn với rất nhiều động cơ khác. Vì thế Thánh Phanxicô de Sales nói rằng bà thiếu sự đơn sơ. Thật ra chỉ có một mục đích và chỉ có một động lực quan trọng nhất đó là đến với tình yêu Thiên Chúa, nhưng bà đã đánh mất vì sụ bận rộn của bà.

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta nhận thấy rằng có lẽ bà Martha đã quên rằng không phải chỉ có một mình bà đã mời Chúa Giêsu, nhưng Chúa Giêsu cũng đã mời bà. Những sự tiếp đón, hay lòng hiếu khách nào mà chúng ta đã sẵn sàn để tiếp đón cho những người khách của chúng ta? nếu chúng ta để họ ngồi một mình trong phòng khách váng lạnh, trong khi chúng ta quá bận rộn với việc nấu nướng, đài đàng mà không có thời giờ với họ? Nếu chúng ta muốn được gần gũi với Chúa, chúng ta cần phải dành thời giờ để gần với Chúa Giêsu, ngồi bên cạnh Ngài và lắng nghe những gì mà Chúa muốn nói với chúng ta. Đây là những gì Chúa Giêsu mong muốn nơi mỗi người chúng ta.

Tuesday 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the gospel passage we have a distinction between being attentive to the details of hosting and of being attentive to the guests. Martha was very anxious and attentive to the details of hosting whereas Mary was very attentive to Jesus as their guest. Mary is praised and Martha is challenged.

Martha is challenged not for being so busy but for being so anxious, for her attitude and for her resentment in her busyness. Francis de Sales says she lacked simplicity. Martha wanted to treat our Lord well. Her intention was extremely praise-worthy but it was so mixed up with so many other motives that the one and only important motive of loving God was lost. Simplicity means that we do not consider or do not have any other aim in all that we do but the single desire to please God. Simplicity is inseparable from charity, from the way we treat one another. We normally please God when we love our neighbor as ourselves: when we sincerely listen, kindly respond and graciously attend to the needs of another.

In today's Gospel we see that perhaps Martha forgot that not only had she invited Jesus but that Jesus had invited her. What kind of hospitality do we give our guest if we leave them alone while we are too busy to spend time with them? If we want to get close to the Lord, we need to take the time to go with Jesus, sit at his feet and listen to him. This is what Jesus expects of each and every one of us.

Lord, with Your grace may we attend to one another’s needs kindly and graciously, doing what needs to be done and being present and attentive to one another.

Tuesday 27th Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: I am so grateful to be able to set aside this time to be with you and contemplate your Word, O Lord. I am so grateful that you have given me the gift of faith, by which I know with utter certainty that you are the source of all the truth and grace I need to grow in wisdom and holiness. I consecrate this time to your glory and the advance of your eternal Kingdom. Open my heart to receive and embrace whatever you want to give me today.

Encountering Christ:

· Worried and Anxious: Jesus knows what we are going through. When Martha came to him with her complaint, he acknowledged and expressed clearly and precisely the turbulence she was experiencing: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. Surely he could say the same thing about us right now. How heavily the worries and anxieties of life weigh upon us! Something within us makes us think we need to solve them all, right away, and everyone around us should come to our aid. The voice of the Lord reaches out to us amid the noise of our self-absorption and invites us to release the tangle of worries that paralyzes our hearts: Only one thing is necessary: to stay close to the Lord, to listen to him, to trust in him, to do all things joyfully for him. Somehow, Martha’s good and loving desire to serve Jesus and his disciples had lost its purity and so lost its joyfulness. The same thing happens to us. We want to do good things. We want to build up Christ’s Kingdom. We want to fulfill the duties of our state in life. But as we engage in all our activity, we tend to lose sight of the real reason behind everything—simply to love God and love our neighbor. Whenever our loving work becomes a joyless burden, we need to do exactly what Martha did: burst in on Jesus, unburden our hearts, and listen carefully to whatever he has to say to us.

· St. Faustina’s Wisdom: Today is the optional liturgical memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, famous for her Diary, called Divine Mercy in My Soul. A Polish nun who lived during the first decades of the twentieth century, St. Faustina was privileged to receive visions and locutions from the Lord, through which Jesus wanted to give the Church and the world a remarkable and long-standing reminder of the power and the vastness of his redeeming mercy. The Diary contains many of St. Faustina’s dialogues with Jesus, but it also contains narrations and descriptions of her own spiritual journey. Reading the Diary straight through, one can’t help being struck by the difficulties and sufferings involved in the saint’s learning to trust Jesus more and more. Even after having received so many extraordinary graces, St. Faustina continually needed to follow in Martha’s footsteps—entering into Christ’s presence with her anxieties, worries, complaints, and confusions, seeking counsel and relief. We can take comfort in that, because we too identify very easily with St. Martha, who was burdened with much serving and who was anxious and worried about many things. We too need constant reminders that only one thing is necessary, and constant encouragement to choose the better part. Perhaps we can follow St. Faustina’s example and make, over and over again, the following resolution: “I will not allow myself to be so absorbed in the whirlwind of work as to forget about God. I will spend all my free moments at the feet of the Master hidden in the Blessed Sacrament” (Diary, 82).

· True God and True Man: Every Sunday we pray the Creed, and we publicly profess our faith in Jesus Christ as, “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God” who “was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.” Why would God, the all-powerful creator of the universe, become man? Why would he lower himself to the point that he could be sitting in Martha’s living room and get involved in a squabble between sisters? Isn’t that kind of thing below the dignity of God? Maybe if you think of God in some other way, it would be. But the one, true God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ clearly shows us that our most normal human experiences, even a squabble between sisters, even an impertinent outburst flowing from stress and worry, is meant to be a place of grace, a space to encounter and embrace Jesus in a new and enriching way. Jesus speaks directly into Martha’s complaint and points out a truth that we can live by. Jesus was so close to Martha and Mary that Mary felt comfortable sitting at his feet as he spoke in the living room, and Martha felt comfortable complaining and bringing him right into the nitty-gritty of her family affairs. Is Jesus that close to me? Am I that real in my conversations with him, or do I feel as if I have to put on some kind of show and hide my true self from the Lord? To what extent has Jesus truly become incarnate in my life?

Conversing with Christ: Lord, when I picture you responding to Martha’s complaint, I picture you smiling. You know how weak we are, and how petty we can become when we feel stressed out. I want to learn to go to you as soon as I lose my interior peace, as soon as I lose my spiritual balance. I want to learn to see your smile and hear your gentle corrections and guidance. I want to learn to be content and joyfully satisfied with the one thing necessary, and to choose every single day, every single moment of my life, “the better part.” St. Faustina, please pray for me!

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will take a few moments to write down in my own words what “the one thing necessary” means to me and what “choosing the better part” looks like for me in the current season of my life.

Tuesday 27th Ordinary Time REFLECTION

In the first reading the people of Nineveh did penance and reformed at the preaching of Nineveh and the compassionate God did not destroy the city as he had threatened. In the Gospel reading we see the sisters Martha and Mary welcoming Jesus and his disciples as their guests. Martha busied herself with the food preparations while Mary "sat at the Lord's feet to listen to his words."

Martha forgot that not only had she invited Jesus but that Jesus had invited her. What kind of hospitality do we give our guest if we leave them alone while we are too busy to spend time with them? Our daily lives are filled with a whole variety of tasks to do: work, rest and recreation, time with family and friends, a thousand-and-one things to do and finish.

We all have to be busy like Martha: we need work for our livelihood, food must be prepared, the house must be maintained, and guests must be taken care of. Doing all this indeed is doing God's work in our daily lives: do we find God somehow in these ordinary and extraordinary chores? Mary teaches us another lesson: to be quiet and be with the Lord. This too is as important, if not more, than what we need to do to live.

If we want to get close to the Lord, we need to take the time to go with Jesus, sit at his feet and listen to him. This is what Jesus expects of each and every one of us. If we don’t know what to say to Him, Rosary could be the best tool to start the conversation with Him through the Virgin Mary his mother.

Do we have time for the Lord in prayer? Do we somehow remember the Lord in our busy workdays? The important thing is to live our lives in God's presence, for the greater glory of God. Let’s ask our Lord Jesus gives us the knowledge of how to find love and serve God in the midst of our daily routines lives.

REFLECTION

People frequently interpret today's Gospel story as giving an insight into Jesus' attitude toward two states of life, the contemplative and the active. Martha, they see as embodying the active type of person, and Mary the contemplative. And, of course, Jesus tells Martha that her sister, Mary, has chosen the better part. And so they conclude Jesus therefore thinks the contemplative way of life is superior to the active. But you can't establish it from today's Gospel story. Jesus was not suggesting that Martha's activity-filled life was a less worthy type of service or was morally or spiritually less acceptable than Mary's contemplative way. Martha's service to Jesus was very much in line with the activity of the Good Samaritan in yesterday's Gospel, showing kindness to, being concerned about people ... and we saw how Jesus praised the Samaritan.

It's not a matter of measuring Martha against Mary or activity against contemplation. Both were needed in the early days of the Church, and both are necessary today. And both should be part of the life of every individual Christian. On one occasion Jesus' lifestyle was so active that his family thought he might be going out of his mind. On another occasion we see him so weary that he was sleeping in a boat, undisturbed by a fierce storm that had his companions, experienced fishermen, crying out in terror. So weary, the storm did not wake him up. Luke also notes, however, that Jesus was always going off to a quiet place to spent time listening to his Father.

Why did Jesus chide Martha? Not, surely, because Martha was activity-prone. You could say this about Jesus himself. Rather because Martha criticized Mary, who took time to sit and listen to Jesus, to be contemplative. Active people tend today to lose themselves in activity as did Martha then. We need also to incorporate into our active lives a bit of the contemplative.

REFLECTION

Mary lives by the spirit, and Jesus declares this to be of first importance. He is not, however, condemning Martha's hospitality. Jesus knows Martha's faith. But there is a greater kind of hospitality, and Mary has found it. It is in listening to the Lord, opening not only our house but also our mind and heart to Jesus. Most of us are, or have been, the Martha type. We rush around and work long hours, perhaps for motives that are far less noble than Martha's. Martha was working overtime to please Jesus, to take care of his needs, to honor him. But what of our own motives? When we work long hours, is it because we aim to increase our income so that we can maintain a fine house and every comfort? We often forget that we can't take our wealth with us beyond the grave.

In today's Gospel we see that perhaps Martha forgot that not only had she invited Jesus but that Jesus had invited her. What kind of hospitality do we give our guest if we leave them alone while we are too busy to spend time with them? If we want to get close to the Lord, we need to take the time to go with Jesus, sit at his feet and listen to him. This is what Jesus expects of each and every one of us.

Suy NiệmTin Mừng Thứ Hai, tuần 27 Thường Niên.

Suy NiệmTin Mừng Thứ Hai, tuần 27 Thường Niên.

Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay nhắc nhở chúng ta về ba vấn đề: lề luật, tình yêu và cuộc sống vĩnh cửu. Vấn đề chính yếu nhất đó là tình yêu. Tình yêu có thể đưa con người đạt tới hạnh phúc vĩnh cửu, và tình yêu sẽ giúp con người chu toàn mọi lề luật. Không có tình yêu con người không thể tìm thấy sự sống đời đời. Không có tình yêu thì mọi luật lệ chỉ là một cái ách đè nặng con người. Nếu Thiên Chúa là tất cả tình yêu thương và từ bi, vậy thì tại sao con người chúng ta còn quá nhiều đau khổ và nhiều việc xấu xa vẫn còn xảy ra trên thế giới này? Những người vô đạo từ chối và không tin vào Chúa vì vấn đề này dường như không thể giải quyết được Nếu Thiên Chúa là tình yêu thì sự dữ và đau khổ phải bị loại bỏ ra khỏi thế giới của chúng ta dưới mọi hình thức. Bằng nhiều cách khác nhau, Chúa Giêsu dạy chúng ta về cách sống siêu nhiên đầy thú vị, và Ngài còn cho chúng ta những suy tư để giúp chúng ta hiểu rõ hơn về việc Thiên Chúa đã đối xử với con người chúng ta trong những tình huống khác nhau, và cho phép chúng ta phát triển thêm trong việc nhận thức về sự hiện diện của Thiên Chúa trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, và như vậy Ngài mở lòng chúng ta giúp chúng ta đón nhận chân lý và tình yêu sáng tạo của Thiên Chúa.

Như trong đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay, Người Thông luật Do thái trong câu chuyện thật sự đã làm chúng ta ngạc nhiên về câu hỏi của Chúa Giêsu, nhưng sau khi khen ngợi ý tưởng Chúa, và rồi sau đó anh ta đã hơi bất ngờ với lời tóm tắt của Chúa Giêsu là "Anh trả lời đúng lắm. và cứ làm như vậy thì anh sẽ được sống".(Lk 10:28). Vì vậy, anh ta muốn chứng tỏ bản thân đạo đức và sự hiểu biết của mình và nên anh ta đã cố gắng để tiếp tục thảo luận. Nhưng tại thời điểm này, Chúa Giêsu đã dạy cho anh ta và tất cả chúng ta ai là láng giếng của chúng ta? Qua câu chuyện ngụ ngôn của Chúa Giêsu đã kể hôm nay, cho thấy tình yêu thương và lòng thương xót của Thiên Chúa rộng lớn như thế nào đối với mọi người, không phân biệt màu da, tôn giáo...Chúa Giê-su cho chúng ta biết gì về tình yêu thương thật sự đối với người lân cận? Trước tiên, chúng ta phải sẵn sàng giúp đỡ ngay cả khi người khác tự mang rắc rối cho mình do lỗi hoặc sơ suất của họ.

Thứ hai, tình yêu thương và sự quan tâm và việc giúp đỡ những người đang gặp khó khăn của chúng ta phải thiết thực. Có ý định tốt và thể hiện sự thương xót, cảm thông với người khác, là chưa đủ. Và cuối cùng, tình yêu của chúng ta dành cho người khác cũng phải rộng rãi và bao trùm như tình yêu của Thiên Chúa. Thiên Chúa không loại trừ ai ra khỏi sự chăm sóc và quan tâm của Ngài. Tình yêu của Thiên Chúa là thật sự vô điều kiện. Vì vậy, chúng ta phải sẵn sàng làm điều tốt cho người khác vì lợi ích của họ, cũng như Thiên Chúa đã đối xử tốt với chúng ta. Chúa Giê-su không những chỉ dạy chúng ta cách yêu thương của Thiên Chúa, Ngài còn cho chúng ta thấy Thiên Chúa luôn sẵn sàng chia sẻ nỗi đau khổ của chúng ta và khôi phục cho chúng ta trở lại trong sự sống hạnh phúc trọn vẹn với Ngài. Chúa Giê-su đã chiến thắng tội lỗi, đau khổ và sự chết nhờ chiến thắng trên thập tự giá. Cái chết của Ngài đã mang lại cho chúng ta sự tự do không còn nô lệ cho tội lỗi và đem chúng ta đến với lời hứa ban sự sống đời đời với Thiên Chúa. Chúa Giêsu sẵn lòng chia sẻ nỗi đau khổ của chúng ta để đưa chúng ta đến nguồn ơn chữa lành đích thực và sự tự do và thoát khỏi tội lỗi và sự áp bức của ma quỷ.

Lòng trắc ẩn chân chính không chỉ xác định và cảm thông với người đang đau khổ, mà còn gánh lấy nỗi đau khổ đó cho chính mình để mang lại sư tự do và phục hồi cho người khác..Lạy Chúa, Chúng con cần đôi mắt với lòng từ bi của Chúa hôm nay, Xin giúp chúng con biết nhìn xa hơn sự thiển cận riêng của mình. Xin Chúa đưa chúng con ra khỏi cái cái rốn vũ trũ của chính bản thân của chúng con. Và giúp chúng con nhìn thấy nhu cầu cần thiết của những người chung quanh. Xin Chúa thay đổi trái tim của chúng con, được giống như trái tim của Chúa để chúng con được thấy như Chúa đã thấy, và biết xúc động như trái tim của Chúa, để mọi hành động của chúng con được giống như Chúa. Chúng con chỉ mong có thể được như thế thôi, Lạy Chúa.

Reflection

The many different ways in which Jesus responds to people make a very interesting study and spiritually repays much reflection as it helps us to understand better how God deals with us in different situations and enables us to grow in awareness of God’s presence in our lives and so open our hearts to God's liberating truth and creative love. As in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus not infrequently answers a question by asking another question. This is not any kind of condescending pettiness but a rather effective pedagogical method: rather than receive a ready-made answer from a master, it is more profitable in general that we be formed to reflect on our own experience. The man in today’s story was obviously taken aback at Jesus’ question followed by praise and finally his somewhat abrupt summing up “Do this and you shall live”. So he wished to justify himself and tried to continue the discussion. At this point, Jesus assumed his role as a teacher and answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The phrase “Good Samaritan” has entered into all our language and societies in some way — an indication that Jesus spoke deeply to human experience.

Lord, grant us the grace to reflect on Your words and our life experiences and so learn how to inherit everlasting life.

Monday 27th Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer: You have given me the gift of this new day. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for creating me, for redeeming me, for giving me the gift of faith, for wanting to spend this time with me. I need your grace, and you deserve my praise. Help me to approach this time with you with a truly docile heart and a mind undimmed by self-centeredness and unhealthy self-absorption.

Encountering Christ:

1. Jesus Wants Us to Live: Jesus’s response to the curious scholar who correctly answered his own question should fill us with hope: Do this and you will live. A full life, a meaningful life, a fulfilling life—isn’t that the deepest desire of every human heart? Isn’t that the desire we find at the core of every other desire? All the choices we make, all the decisions and the sacrifices we make, are made because we think they will help us live life more fully, more satisfactorily, more happily. This core desire of ours is also Christ’s core desire for us: “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He created us. He wrote this core desire into the depths of our souls. He wants to satisfy it. In fact, that’s why he came to earth: to give us the light and grace to know and to follow the path to a more and more fulfilling life both here on earth and forever in heaven. All we need to do is follow that path—Christ’s path. Nothing else really matters. How firmly do I believe that? How courageously am I willing to give that direction to my daily life?

2. Who Is My Neighbor?: The scholar who questioned Jesus “wished to justify himself.” He wanted to show how much he knew. He wanted to show off. He wasn’t really interested in the truth; he was interested in making a good impression. And yet, Jesus took advantage of the conversation to give the world one of his most unforgettable parables. He linked the two great loves–love for God and love for neighbor–in one great commandment, and then he clarified what he meant by “neighbor.” If we want to experience the fullness of life, all we need to do is follow this teaching of the double love. The problem comes when we run across someone who is difficult to love. Usually, that person is very close to us, as close as he was to the priest and the Levite—roads were not wide in those days, and the half-dead victim was so close that a passerby like them could easily see the color of his eyes. Only the Samaritan, the foreigner, actu ally had mercy on this man. The others ignored him, avoiding him. Of all the people close to me, the people I see and interact with every day, which ones do I truly see? All people are in need of love, of acceptance, of being treated like the children of God they truly are. And yet, how easy it is for our own fears, concerns, or preoccupations to make us blind and insensitive! Our neighbors, the people right next to us, our family members and colleagues, and yes, even perhaps our actual next-door neighbors—these are the ones who have the nearest claim on our love.

3. Our Mission Starts Here: St. Francis of Assisi didn’t start out as a saint. He started out just like we did—as a sinner with his own unique personality, inclinations, and family and social background. In fact, he was a vain and spoiled troublemaker before he welcomed God’s grace into his life. He longed to achieve fame and glory by fighting in foreign wars and becoming a great Christian knight. He set off to do just that, not once, but twice. The first time he ended up being captured by his foes and imprisoned for a year. The second time he came back quickly of his own accord, having discerned a different path. God did indeed have a great mission for this dandy of a merchant’s son, but it was a mission that began close to home—in his own hometown, in fact. He began his simple, radical living of the Gospel right there, in spite of his father’s opposition and the initial mockery of his friends and neighbors. The Franciscan revolu tion, which is still pumping out grace all over the world eight hundred years later, began in Francis’s backyard, with a leprous neighbor he met and embraced on a road close to home. Maybe God is offering something similar for us. Maybe the revolution each one of us is called to spark is right on our doorstep, just waiting for us to embrace it.

Conversing with Christ: Life seems so complicated, Lord. Can it really be as simple as you are telling me it is? To love you, to love my neighbor—is that really the path to the fullness of life that I yearn for so drastically? I know it is. You have made it so clear by your own example, the example of so many saints—and yet, here I am, still looking for another way. Free me from my fears, from my arrogance, from my ignorance! Enlighten my mind, O Lord, and strengthen my heart, so that I can give you the joy of doing your will and receiving your gift of a more abundant life.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will take the time necessary to truly encounter the people you put in my path, to see them as you see them, to hear them and listen for their real needs, and offer them the balm of sincere appreciation and acceptance.

REFLECTION 2018

In the first reading Paul insists on the truth of the one Gospel he preaches, which he had received as a revelation from God. Other gospels are false and should be rejected. The Gospel reading about the good Samaritan answers the question, "Who is my neighbor?" "The one who had mercy on him."

Considering the enmity among Jews and Samaritans, the parable teaches us that true love of neighbor comes from the heart: it is for everyone in need, All of us are called to be compassionate and merciful, especially to the disadvantaged and the poor, the sick and the down-trodden. Who are these in our lives? We will be judged on how we acted towards our neighbors.

FINALLY, WE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ASKED OUR PRAYERS AND FOR THOSE WHO NEED OUR PRAYERS THE MOST

Reflection:

Jesus asked, "Which of these three made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" So how do I make myself a neighbor to others?

During the wake and burial of my mother, my sisters and I were surprised with the presence of many persons whom we did not know. Listening to their stories, we came to know that these were the persons who were helped by our mother. They came not only to condole with us but also to say thank you for the good done to them by our mother. She was a neighbor to them! Being a neighbor is to be kind, to care, to respect, to share, to listen, maybe to do little things for others but done because of LOVE. Your neighbor need not be beside you. They can come from far away, no relations to you, but when you do something good out of love for them, this makes a difference in their lives. Jesus told the teacher of the law to go and do the same - to have compassion on other people. This is the same command given to us today in this very individualistic and materialistic world where many just think of their own lives. Me first! Gone are the days when our neighbors can be three blocks away from us and yet they are cared for. How are we treating the persons around us? Let us remember that we can only enter heaven through them and with them. Our love shown in works of mercy is our passport to the Kingdom of God.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật 27 Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật 27 Thường Niên

Trong cuộc sống của đa số chúng ta hôm nay, dường một số người đã không đã đánh giá cao và có sự hiểu biết của Bí Tích Hôn nhân, đặc biệt là trong xã hội với sự phổ biến của việc ly hôn, Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta hãy suy ngẫm về những kế hoạch ban đầu của Thiên Chúa, đó là, khi một người đàn ông sẽ bỏ cha mẹ mình và sống với vợ mình, và cả hai nên một xương, một thịt. Sự kết hợp như vậy của người đàn ông và người phụ nữ được kết hợp như một mãi mãi, để rồi sự kết hợp này sẽ trở thành một đáp ứng cho cuộc sống trong sự trung thành với lời mời gọi của Thiên Chúa.

Tin Mừng hôm nay Chúa Giêsu muốn mời gọi chúng ta nên biết cảm nhận, tri ân và hiểu biết hơn về Bí Tích Hôn Phối để chúng ta có thể hình dung ra những buổi ban đầu mà Thiên Chúa đã tạo dựng ra con người chúng ta. Đối với những cặp vợ chồng vẫn đang còn sống với nhau, chúng ta cầu nguyện xin Chúa sẽ tiếp tục chúc lành cho sự kết hợp và hiệp nhất của họ. Đối với những người đã chia tay vì lý do nào đó, những người đã phải tìm kiếm cho hôn nhân của họ có một cơ hội khác. Và đối với những người đang nghĩ đến việc kết hôn, xin hãy suy nghĩ cẩn thận, không chỉ suy nghĩ có hai lần nhưng thật nhiều lần với những lời hứa cam kết hôn nhân mà chúng ta đang tìm hiểu và chúng ta cần suy xét một cách nghiêm túc. Nếu chúng ta thực sự sẵn sàng vì tình yêu và sự tôn trọng mà chúng ta đang dành cho nhau, Thì chúng ta có thể yên tâm rằng Thiên Chúa sẽ ban phát cho chúng ta bất cứ những gì là cần thiết để chúng ta có thể giữ cho cuộc sống hôn nhân đó được bền bỉ. Khi làm như vậy, chúng ta thực sự mới trở thành bí tích của Thiên Chúa, và lúc đó mới chính là lúc mà chúng ta có thể chứng kiến ​​sự hiện diện của Thiên Chúa đang hiện diện ngay giữa chúng ta.

REFLECTION

In our times today, there are people who do not believe in marriage. They claim "Why get tied down when live-in is a possibility?" Commitment seemingly becomes a hindrance to true freedom. Yet, we know that it is only when we commit ourselves, we truly become free. We are freer to love the other person and think of their welfare. Some would say that it is just a document that would attest to the state of these persons. Why go for an extra step of marriage when love is already present? Exactly, it is borne out of love that people would want to share and announce it to all. Hence, we say about premarital practices: just because many people do it does not make it right. In the light of the seeming lack of appreciation and understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage particularly with the popularity of divorce, Jesus invites us then to ponder on the original plan of God, that is, when a man leaves his father and mother and stays with his wife, and the two of them become one flesh. Such union of man and woman is destined forever. It then becomes a response to live in fidelity to the call of God.

The Good News is an invitation to a better appreciation and understanding of the Sacrament of Matrimony as originally envisioned by God. For those who have stayed together, we pray that the Lord will continue to bless your union. For those who have parted ways, one has to seek the necessary steps to give the marriage another chance. And for those who are thinking of marriage, please think not only twice but many times of the commitment you are seriously considering. If you are truly ready because of the love and respect you have for one another, then you can be assured that God will provide whatever is necessary in order to keep that marriage. In doing so, you truly become sacraments of God, an actual witnessing of God's presence in our midst.

Sunday 27th Ordinary Time. B

Opening Prayer: As I turn to you on this Lord’s Day, I ask you to send me the light and grace I need to fulfill the mission you have given me. I want to worship you as you deserve to be worshipped and to live my life in perfect harmony with your goodness and truth. Teach me, Lord, to “walk in your ways” (Psalms 128:1).

Encountering Christ:

1. Gender Fluidity Is Not Part of the Christian Worldview: Jesus revealed clearly and forcefully in this conversation with the Pharisees that an essential part of God’s purpose for the human family is the fundamental complementarity between man and woman, between male and female. We were created by God in God’s own image and likeness, the Book of Genesis reminds us, and that image and likeness includes the complementarity between the two sexes: “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:17). Popular culture today denies this basic truth. Popular culture today violently denies this truth and constantly attacks it. We live in the midst of and surrounded by this popular culture. Perhaps it would be wise for us to respond to Jesus’s reminder in today’s Gospel simply by taking some time to renew our adherence to God’s wise and loving plan for the human fam ily, to explicitly say to the Lord, “Lord, I believe you created the world and everything in it out of love. I believe you created the human family in your image, out of love. I accept your wise plan and I renew my commitment to live in accordance with it. Thank you.”

2. The Beauty of Marriage: Jesus’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage has been one of his most difficult ones for twenty centuries. Throughout the history of the Church, high-profile and low-profile Christians alike have tried to wriggle around it or water it down. This is because a life of marital fidelity is not easy. Of course, Jesus never promised that it would be easy. He just elevated the natural institution of marriage to a sacrament, reinforcing the natural marital bonds with sacramental force. This means that marriage, which was God’s invention at the very beginning, continues to be one of the most beautiful ways we have of imaging God’s own trinitarian love. When a man and a woman marry, they “become one flesh”; they give themselves to each other wholly and wholeheartedly, creating a space in the universe for something far beyond the passing pleasure and comfortable convenience that comes from merely hooking up. The beauty of the marriage vocation is not a static beauty or a fairy-tale beauty, but it truly is beautiful. If it is true that every stage of a married couple’s journey brings new challenges and sufferings, it is also true that working through those challenges likewise brings new manifestations of beauty, greater growth in wisdom, and deeper experiences of God’s fulfilling love. If we believe in God, we will also believe in the wisdom and the beauty of his plan for marriage.

3. Two Pitfalls. Jesus’s teaching on the complementarity of the sexes and the indissolubility of marriage are difficult teachings, especially in a culture that blatantly rejects and ridicules those teachings. And so, we who adhere to them must avoid two pitfalls. The first pitfall is to be ashamed of these teachings. We all shy away from being unpopular, and so we can shy away from upholding and defending these unpopular teachings. But we mustn’t! The truth about gender and marriage opens up a pathway to a meaningful and fulfilling life. If we are ashamed of these teachings, we will lose opportunities to help our neighbors discover this truth and so leave behind the darkness and frustration that comes from embracing false doctrines. The second pitfall is to become hard-hearted. We are surrounded by people who have embraced lifestyles directly contrary to the Gospel in these areas. We cannot condone those lifestyles, but neither can we condemn those peo ple. We are called to treat all people, every single person, with the dignity inherent in their being created by God and redeemed by Christ. To learn to continue loving the sinner even while never condoning the sin is to learn Christlike wisdom. May God grant that we are good learners.

Conversing with Christ: My Lord, I want to be simple and humble in accepting the truth that you have so clearly revealed—simple and humble like a child, welcoming your Kingdom in my heart and so experiencing the peace and vitality that comes from that Kingdom. I don’t always have an answer for the many objections people raise to your teaching, but I want always to be faithful to you, to trust in the beauty of your plan and the wisdom of your doctrine. Jesus, never let me be separated from you.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will speak of the beauty of God’s plan for marriage and of the complementarity of the sexes in at least one conversation, giving witness to Jesus and strengthening my own convictions by sharing them with someone else.