Suy Niệm Chúa Nhật thứ 14 Thường Niên BTrong cuộc sống hiện tại. tất cả chúng ta ai cũng đều có những phạm sai phạm hay có những lúc chúng ta đã đưa ra những quyết định sai lầm trong suốt cuộc sống. Một số sai lầm khiến chúng ta phải trả giá rất ít nhiểu về sức khỏe, thể chất, thời gian hoặc tiền bạc. Những sai lầm khác có thể làm cho người ta phải thay đổi cuộc sống; vì những sai lầm đó làm tan vỡ ước mơ và những cơ hội tốt cho tương lai.
Tất cả chúng ta ai cũng thế, mỗi khi chúng ta quyết định sai, hay đã làm sai điều gì đó mà sau này, chúng ta hối hận. Tương tự như vậy, chúng ta đã không làm được điều gì đó mà bây giờ chúng ta nghĩ rằng chúng ta nên làm. Đôi khi sự lựa chọn hoặc quyết định sai lầm của chúng ta đến sau khi chúng ta đã được người khác cảnh báo hoặc khuyên nhũ nên tránh. có những lúc, chúng ta đi ngược lại với cảm giác hoặc trực giác bên trong lòng nhưng chúng ta vẫn coi là vô nghĩa. Đôi khi chúng ta hạ thấp những gì là điều đúng đắn cần làm hoặc tránh né bằng những lập luận có vẻ hợp lý có lợi cho chúng ta. Chúng ta gọi việc đó là hợp lý hóa. Thậm chí có những trường hợp mà chúng tôi không chấp nhận lời khuyên của người khác, bởi vì bản thân họ đã sai sót. Tuy nhiên, trong mọi trường hợp, việc chúng ta không hành động theo cách thực sự đúng đắn là bởi vì chúng ta ích kỷ!
May mắn thay, Bài đọc hai hôm nay, Thánh Phaolô đã dạy chúng ta rất nhiều điều hữu ích về chủ đề này. Tiên tri Êzêkiêu là một nhà tiên tri bị lưu đày trong nhóm đầu tiên bị đưa đến Babylôn. Tuy nhiên, ông tiếp tục cảnh báo những người ở lại Jerusalem và Đất Hứa rằng họ phải thay đổi. Nếu như họ sẽ không thay đổi lối sôing của họ thì ho sẽ phải đối mặt với một quả báo và hình phạt thậm chí còn thảm hoạ hơn.
Tiên tri Êzêkiêu nhắc nhở người Do thái rằng trước đây họ đã phạm tội đủ mọi cách trước Thiên Chúa Và bây giờ đã đến lúc họ cần phải thay đổi về mặt đạo đức, xã hội, chính trị và tinh thần. Nhưng họ đã không làm như vậy. Họ không để ý đến những lời cảnh báo của tên tri. Sự ích kỷ cá nhân của họ đã chế ngự là ngơ trước lời nói của Thiên Chúa. Kết quả là họ bị chiến tranh tàn phá và bị lưu đày; với thành thánh và Đền thờ Jerusalem của họ đã biến thành đống gạch đổ nát.
Trong bài Tin Mừng, Chúa Giêsu là Lời Thiên Chúa nói với Dân Chúa những người được Chọn như là Tiếng con người của Thiên Chúa. Tuy nhiên, khi đến quê hương Nazareth, phần lớn Chúa đã bị chống chối, mỉa mai và bị từ chối. “Bởi đâu tay Người làm được những sự lạ thể ấy? Ông này chẳng phải bác thợ mộc con bà Maria, anh em với Giacôbê, Giuse, Giuđa và Simon sao? Làm sao mà Người có thể giỏi hơn chúng mình?? Người nghĩ mình là ai? Người không giỏi hơn những người còn lại trong chúng ta! Chúng ta biết gia đình và người thân của Người mà, và họ không có gì đặc biệt! ”
Đáng buồn thay, qua bài Tin Mừng cho chúng ta thấy Chúa Giêsu chẳng thể làm được phép lạ to lớn gì ở đây, vì dân chúng Nazareth đã thiếu lòng tin. Họ đã đóng kín tâm hồn và lòng trí của họ và con tim của họ đã chai đá. Bằng cách nào đó, họ nhìn thấy những sai sót nơi Chúa Giêsu nhưng trái ngược lại Chúa đã hoàn toàn không có điều gì sai sót cả!
Thánh Phaolô nhận thấy mình là một tông đồ đầy những thiếu sót. Trước đó, ông đã bắt bớ môn đệ của Chúa và những người Kitô hữu tiên khởi. Nhưng thánh Phaolô đã thay đổi sau khi được Chúa gọi vả trải qua cơn thử thách trên đường đến Đamáscô. Thánh Phao-lô đã đạt được nhiều thành công và đã truyền bá Tin Mừng của Chúa Giêsu ngày càng rộng rãi khặp các miền dân ngoại..
Tuy nhiên, hôm nay Thánh Phalô nói với chúng ta rằng ông đã có một thời gian rất khó khăn với bất cứ điều gì đã khiến ông phải đau khổ. Thánhn Phalô không nói đó là nỗi đau thể xác, sự đau khổ về tinh thần hay sự phản kháng chính trị. Nhưng nó vẫn ở đó, tuy nhiên; và Chúa đã từ chối loại lấy đi nỗi đau khổ này.
Thay vào đó, Chúa nói với ông Phaolô rằng ông có thể trông cậy vào ân sủng của Thiên Chúa; Thần lực của Chúa lớn hơn bất cứ những sự yếu đuối nào của con người! Đây là lời nhắc nhở rằng Phaolô là chúng ta cần phải trông cậy vào Thiên Chúa trong mọi việc!
Lời của Chúa đến với chúng ta bằng nhiều cách khác nhau. Có thể là qua những người bạn của chúng ta, những người, một cách không ích kỷ, đã cho chúng ta những lời khuyên bổ ích; Nhưng cũng có thể là một người thù nghịch của chúng ta. Cũng co thể là một trong những nhà tiên tri trong hiện tại đang cảnh báo chúng ta về về những biến hoạ trong sự biến đổi khí hậu; và việc sử dụng sai mục đích hoặc lạm dụng tài nguyên thiên nhiên. Có thể là lời cảnh báo ở nơi những người thách thức sự thất bại về chính trị, kinh tế, xã hội, văn hóa và đạo đức của quốc gia chúng ta và thế giới. Cũng có thể là trong Giáo hội, trong Dân Thiên Chúa, những người đã kết hợp với nhau, được hướng dẫn bởi Chúa Thánh Thần.
Tuy nhiên, gần nhất, Tiếng hay Lời của Chúa là tiếng trong lương tâm của chúng ta. Tiếng nói của Chúa là Tiên tri của Lương tâm cảnh báo chúng ta nên tránh xa những sai lầm, và sự trừng phạt chúng ta khi chúng ta đã làm sai.
Nếu chúng ta ngăn chặn hay tránh né Tiếng nói đó là chung ta đóng cửa lòng trí và tâm hồn của chúng ta và cứng lòng đối với Thiên Chúa và chân lý, lẽ thật của Ngài! Có người da đỏ đã nói rằng “Lương tâm là thứ nhỏ bé nằm trong trái tim tôi. Nó quay vòng vòng khi tôi làm sai. Tuy nhiên, nếu tôi không nghe nó, các mép cạnh của nó sẽ trở nên cùn đi. Và, tôi sẽ sớm không còn cảm nhận nó được nữa! ” Ba cạnh của tam giác đó là một biểu tượng cổ xưa chỉ về Thiên Chúa. Hôm nay, chúng ta hãy cầu nguyện xin Chúa giúp chúng ta luôn biết lắng nghe và chú ý đến Tiếng nói của Thiên Chúa, tuy nhiên chúng ta không biết Tiếng đó sẽ đến từ đâu và khi nào.!
14th Ordinary Sunday July 4, 2021 “The Voice of God
My Brothers and Sisters in the Lord –
We all make mistakes. We all make bad decisions during the course of our life. Some mistakes cost us little in terms of physical health, time, or money. Others can be life-changing; they shatter dreams and eliminate opportunities for the future. All of us have done something wrong that, later, we regret. Likewise, we have failed to do something that we now know we should have done. Sometimes our wrong choice or decision comes after we have been cautioned or warned by someone else. At other times, we go against an inner feeling or intuition that we disregard as nonsense. Sometimes we discount what is the right thing to do or avoid with seemingly logical arguments in our own favor.
This is called rationalization. There are even those situations wherein we discount the sound advice of another, because they are flawed themselves. Nevertheless, in any case, our failure to act in the truly right way is because we are selfish!
Fortunately, the scriptures for today have much to teach us regarding this topic. Ezekiel was a prophet who was exiled in the first group who were taken to Babylon. However, he continued to warn those who remained in Jerusalem and in the Promised Land that they must change. They would have to change or face an even greater retribution and punishment.
Ezekiel reminded them that they had failed before God in every possible way in the past. It was time to change morally, socially, politically, and spiritually. But they did not. They failed to heed his warnings. Their personal selfishness overrode the voice of God. The result was that they were conquered and exiled – with their city and Temple reduced to rubble.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus is the Word of God who speaks to the Chosen People as the human Voice of God. However, when he came to his hometown of Nazareth, he was resisted and rejected, for the most part. “How can this Jesus be everything that we have heard about him? Who does he think he is, anyway? He’s no better than the rest of us! We know his family and relatives – and they are nothing special!” Sadly, St. Mark tells us that Jesus could do very little for the people of Nazareth because of their lack of faith. They had closed their minds and hardened their hearts. Somehow, they saw flaws in Jesus when there were absolutely none at all!
St. Paul saw himself as a flawed disciple and apostle. Formerly, he had persecuted Jesus in those members of the Christian community whom he had arrested. But Paul had changed after his extraordinary experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul enjoyed many successes and had spread the Gospel of Jesus far and wide. Yet, today, he tells us that he had a very difficult time with whatever was causing him to suffer. Paul doesn’t say whether it was physical pain, spiritual suffering, or political resistance. But it was there, nevertheless; and God refused to eliminate it.
Instead, God told Paul that he could count on God’s grace; God’s divine power was greater than any human weakness! This was a reminder that Paul needed to rely on God for everything!
Brothers and Sisters, the Voice of God comes to us in many different ways. It is in our friends who, unselfishly, give us good advice; But it can even be in our enemies. It is in those modern prophets who warn us about our part in climate change; and the misuse or abuse of natural resources. It is in those who challenge the political, economic, social, cultural, and moral failure of our nation and the world. It is in the Church, in the People of God, in the leadership and the faithful – who, joined together, are guided by the Holy Spirit.
However, closest of all, the Voice of God is our conscience. The Voice of God is the Prophet of our Conscience that warns us away from mistakes – and chides us when we have done wrong. To stifle that Voice is to close our minds and harden our hearts to God and His truth! There is an old Native American teaching that says: “Conscience is a little three-cornered thing in my heart. It spins when I do wrong. However, if I don’t listen to it, the edges become dulled – And, soon, I don’t feel it anymore!” That “three-cornered thing” is a triangle – an ancient symbol for God. Let us pray, today, that we always hear and heed that Voice of God, however and whenever it comes!
homily for 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Last Sunday, you remember, we had that very lovely Gospel of Jesus healing the little girl. Jesus heals.
And the father, who was full of grief, now turns to joy and happiness, and the family is made whole again. And the little daughter, near death, Jesus brings her back to a new life and new love. It was a very touching Gospel for all of us and there was a little thing at the end which was very nice: everybody was oohing and aahing about Jesus doing these wonders and signs, but Jesus himself said to them, “It’s time to feed her.” Because she was sick many days and she had no food. And it was Jesus who decided that, first things first, feed the child. Which is very touching.
Today we have a different Gospel. It’s a little more puzzling. It’s a little bit unhappy. In fact, it’s downright impossible to really understand it. Because today we have a radical change when Jesus turns to his own home in Nazareth. Now, Nazareth is his home. Nazareth is where he was, not born, that was in Bethlehem, but he was raised in Nazareth, and he knew everyone there, and he was, to them all, a carpenter’s son.
But now, he has gone off to become a preacher and a teacher. And some months pass and he decides that now as he’s in the area he will visit his home town and they invite him to speak in the synagogue. And, of course, they bring in the big book and they lay it down and Jesus begins to read. And he begins also to preach and to teach them. And while they’re listening, they have two feelings.
The first one is: how did this young carpenter’s son, in this little village, how did he get such an incredible wisdom. And it seems that he was touching their hearts for the first time. And this was a different Jesus. This was a Jesus that was going to make demands. And this is a Jesus who we might not be able to control like we could control him when he was a little boy, and we all knew him and we knew his father and we knew his mother and we knew everything. And they began to talk themselves into doubting about Jesus. Very sad.
And so Jesus, because he couldn’t perform any miracles, he did a few healings. And after having done a few healings, what he did was, he went on to another place. It’s a puzzling kind of a … It’s very puzzling. Because, at first, of course, the people, the hometown crowd, they’re all rooting for their son, their relative, and he’s making out good and he’s got a big name and all of that. So they all cheer and yell and jump up and down and invite him home and they let him read.
And then, all of a sudden, they begin to realize he’s no different from they are. Think of that. They realize he’s no different from they are. They saw him grow up, they saw him grow into a crying baby and then a pain in the neck teenager or whatever it was. And they began to say, “Oh (inaudible) that he is the Messiah or anything like it. And so it comes upon him that he has to leave the place. But before he leaves, they begin to get angry at him. They begin to feel that, “Well, if he’s such a smart guy, how come he doesn’t do his family good, and how come he doesn’t bring us ahead in the world,” all these thoughts that run through a group of people that have known somebody who made good, we all make good, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It’s an ordinary scene in an ordinary time in an ordinary situation and we can understand. And Jesus is absolutely stunned by this reaction. Because Jesus came to do something different, right? Jesus didn’t come to make the family better, make the family richer, make everybody believe that if you work hard and work long and then you become a success and you follow that route… Jesus was going to offer them something that was even much, much, much more difficult to swallow.
He was going to tell them, “The old ways are not good enough: not good enough, not for God, but not good enough for you. You’ve been kind of putting your nose into things, worrying about things, becoming successful or whatever it is that drives you. And it’s all not what I came for.” And then, of course, he will tell them what he came for. And when he tells them what he came for, they get very angry at him. In fact they’re going to throw him off the little cliff at the end of this village. But Jesus walks away.
I think the one thing that I’d like to maybe point out … What Mark, see Mark’s voice is in all this, it’s not Jesus, although Jesus might provide the action and the language, but Mark has got it all figured out. And he deliberately puts it in this part of the Gospel, just when Jesus has become a success, he begins to realize, and he wants everybody to realize, that Jesus was failure. You must remember that. Jesus was a failure. He was a failure at being born. He was born in a rubbish heap in a beat-up old stable. He had to run away with his father and mother all the way to Egypt, because they were out to kill them. They had no peace, they had no money, they had nothing.
They had to wait and wait, and people would help them out, and then they came back and they went up to Nazareth and the carpenter began to work again, but the carpenter’s trade wasn’t much.
And all this time they’re carrying this secret in their hearts, because they believe that this is the Messiah, the Son of God. Anyhow, it’s beginning to dawn on Mark that what he has to do is to tell these stories, the negative stories, to tell these stories so that you might know that Jesus came for a very specific purpose. He was the messenger of God to announce a whole new world. And he was going to do it by being not strong and mighty, but by being poor and weak. It is the weakness of God that is stronger than the strength of men. And so it is that Jesus begins, in a way, his rejection, in the place that he grew up. He was rejected there and he went on.
I’m sure what passed through their minds was they would say, “Why were we making such a fuss over him? He’s just like us.” We say that all the time, “He’s just one of us, just like us. Got a few little things that he’s pretty good for, maybe he speaks well, he gives nice talks and stuff like that, but he’s just one of us.” And Jesus lets them know, not just by word, but by his presence, that he’s doing the opposite. He has come that they may be one like him, because he is the Son of God. They must make his eyes their eyes, his heart their heart, his way their way. And, of course, this is very, very hard for people who are used to all the old ways. I have written here what Jesus was saying was, “I have become one with you, not to be like you, but for you to be one like me.” And for this he was rejected by his own friends and relatives. Now, I’m going to talk and tell you, just as a finale here, a little story.
You’ve all heard of the philosopher, he died in 1900s though, you must have learned him in school, Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche the great philosopher, Nietzsche who everybody accused of being an atheist, Nietzsche who was kind of a fiery strong opinionated one at a time when everything was in turmoil. Now, this is at the end of the 1800s, and Nietzsche was a great controversial teacher. And Nietzsche had a very, very difficult life, because he had mental illness along with his brilliance, and he was slowly going out of his mind, you see. And one of his stories I’d like to tell you, because I think it’s very appropriate. \
When everybody was complaining to Nietzsche, you know, “Why don’t you live like other people? Why aren’t you like other people? Why don’t you teach like other people?” and on and on, Nietzsche would just tell this one story and the story goes like this.
There was in Germany, in a kind of a farming section, there was a little village. And the village was full of ordinary little working-class people doing their daily tasks and raising children. And at night they would all come out and they would all sit around and they’d discuss. And they talked about everything: the gossip and the bad news and the good news and this and that and who was sick and who was a pain in the neck and who they’d like to get out of that village, and blah, blah, just like it was a little village, you see. And it’s very important to them, but if anybody else went into that village, nobody would care about it.
Well, someone did come into that village. One night they were all sitting around chatting and sharing all these gossipy stories and everything, and there appears at the corner of the village a naked man, totally naked.
And he’s got fire in his eyes and he hasn’t combed his hair for maybe ten, twenty or thirty years. And he runs into the village and he starts screaming at the top of his voice. “God is dead! God is dead!” And the people at first are really frightened, you see. And then they begin to see that, well, he’s harmless, he doesn’t have anything, because he’s got no clothes on. So what happens then is they begin to smile, and then they begin to laugh, you know, because he’s kind of funny. So he’s running all around the water pool in the center of the village. And he’s running around and he jumps into the water and he jumps up on top of the landing.
And he raises his hand and he says, “God is dead and you have killed him!” Think of that one now, the people sitting there: “God is dead and you have killed him.” That’s not atheism. That’s means we’ve taken a God, a good God, a true God, a wonderful God, and we’ve made Him something that makes the village run better, or that makes everybody feel safer or not so worried as…
What Jesus was preaching, remember, Jesus came and he said, “I have come to make a new world. I have come to light fire on the earth and I cannot leave it till it is ignited.” That’s the end of the story. Go home and think about this, though. It’s a very powerful story. Many, many people roam around the world and they don’t know anything about anything.
Are these villagers’ terrible people? No.
Are they angry people?
No, they’re quite happy people.
Well, what’s wrong with these villagers?
And I’ll tell you what’s wrong. This is what Nietzsche wants you to remember.
Think of the scene now: this poor man is out of his mind, screaming and yelling, he’s naked, he has nothing. If one of them in the village, just one of them, went over to the man and put their arms around him and said, “Sir, come to my house and I will feed you,” that would be the difference between the rule of Jesus and the rule of the village. And that is what Jesus was up against when he went to that little village. He was going to take away the things that they felt they couldn’t live without. And what couldn’t they live without?
It wasn’t love. They could live without love. It wasn’t caring for each other. They could live without that.
What couldn’t they live without? They couldn’t live without giving their whole lives, giving every ounce of their person, not to just one or two people, but to make that village a place, a village, that would be a house of God, and that little naked men could be received and brought in and cared for and loved. And what would that do?
That would make these people the kind of people that Jesus had in mind when he came into this world and said, “I have come not for me to imitate you, but for you to imitate me. “And if you come with me, leave everything behind and come with me, then we will fashion the world that everybody dreams of, a world of peace and love and caring, and where little naked men do not scream out anymore, “Where is God? God is dead.” They will say, “In this village, God is everywhere.”
the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Liturgical Year B.
Theme: WE ARE TO BE THE PROPHETS OF GOD TO SPEAK THE WORD OF GOD
The readings today tell us that we are to be the prophets of God to speak the word of God!
In the year 2001 there was a synod of the world’s bishops in Rome on the duties of the bishop. The synod concluded that the duties of the bishop was to be prophet, priest and king, that is, to preach and teach the word of God (prophet), to celebrate the sacraments, especially the Eucharist (priest), and to build the Christian community, the Church, and the Kingdom of God (king). But of the three, the first is to preach and teach the word of God! The first is to be a prophet of God!
The duties of the priest is also to be prophet, priest, and king, that is, to preach and teach the word of God; to celebrate the sacraments, especially the Eucharist; and to build the Christian community, the Church, and the Kingdom of God. But again, the first duty of the priest is to preach and teach the word of God. The first duty of the priest is to be a prophet of God!
The priest is not only a priest; he is also a prophet and a king. The “pastoral work” of the priest is not only “sacramentalization”, but also “evangelization”! Indeed, the word of God gives faith, and only with faith can we celebrate the sacraments, and when we celebrate the sacraments with faith, the risen Lord will give us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will help us build the community of love and unity, and the community will become a sign of salvation for the world.
Indeed, the Church is not a gasoline station or a service station where we come for baptism, marriage, and the other sacraments, etc., but the Church is a Christ centered community, that is, centered on the Word and Eucharist that the Lord has given us. And when we celebrate the Word and Eucharist, the risen Lord will give us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will help us build a community of love and unity, and the community will become a sign of salvation for the world. The identity of the priest cannot be separated from the nature of the Church!
2. The gospel today tells us that Jesus himself was a prophet, but he was rejected by his own people. But Jesus continued preaching and teaching the word of God until his death and resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit for the salvation of the world! We have to preach the word of God even in the face of opposition because it is the word of God and the word of God will prevail! Thus we read in the gospel:
“And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country among his
