Mở

Ông Gioan nói với Đức Giêsu : "Thưa Thầy, chúng con thấy có người lấy danh Thầy mà trừ quỷ. Chúng con đã cố ngăn cản, vì người ấy không theo chúng ta".
Đức Giêsu bảo :"Đừng ngăn cản người ta, vì không ai lấy danh nghĩa Thầy mà làm phép lạ, rồi ngay sau đó lại có thể nói xấu về Thầy. Quả thật, ai không chống lại chúng ta là ủng hộ chúng ta.
(Mc 9,38-40)

Baptism, the Way to Freedom
When parents have their children baptised they indicate their desire to have their children grow up and live as children of God and brothers or sisters of Jesus, and be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Through birth a child is given to parents; through baptism a child is given to God. At baptism the parents acknowledge that their parenthood is a participation in God's parenthood, that all fatherhood and motherhood comes from God. Thus baptism frees the parents from a sense of owning their children. Children belong to God and are given to the parents to love and care for in God's name. It is the parents' vocation to welcome their children as honored guests in their home and bring them to the physical, emotional, and spiritual freedom that enables them to leave the home and become parents themselves. Baptism reminds parents of this vocation and sets children on the path of freedom.

 Baptism, the Way to Community 
 Baptism is more than a way to spiritual freedom. It also is the way to community. Baptising a person, whether child or adult, is receiving that person into the community of faith. Those who are reborn from above through baptism, and are called to live the life of sons and daughters of God, belong together as members of one spiritual family, the living body of Christ. When we baptise people, we welcome them into this family of God and offer them guidance, support, and formation, as they grow to the full maturity of the Christ-like life.

Baptism, a Call to Commitment
Baptism as a way to the freedom of the children of God and as a way to a life in community calls for a personal commitment. There is nothing magical or automatic about this sacrament. Having water poured over us while someone says, "I baptise you in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," has lasting significance when we are willing to claim and reclaim in all possible ways the spiritual truth of who we are as baptised people.
In this sense baptism is a call to parents of baptised children and to the baptised themselves to choose constantly for the light in the midst of a dark world and for life in the midst of a death-harbouring society.

Lên xuống

Người lại nói: "Thật, tôi bảo thật các anh, các anh sẽ thấy trời rộng mở, và các thiên thần của Thiên Chúa lên lên xuống xuống trên Con Người." (Ga 1,51)

Baptism and Eucharist
Sacraments are very specific events in which God touches us through creation and transforms us into living Christs. The two main sacraments are baptism and the Eucharist. In baptism water is the way to transformation. In the Eucharist it is bread and wine. The most ordinary things in life - water, bread, and wine - become the sacred way by which God comes to us.
These sacraments are actual events. Water, bread, and wine are not simple reminders of God's love; they bring God to us. In baptism we are set free from the slavery of sin and dressed with Christ. In the Eucharist, Christ himself becomes our food and drink. (Nouwen G)

Hỏi

Hôm ấy, Đức Giêsu cầu nguyện một mình. Các môn đệ cũng ở đó với Người, và Người hỏi các ông rằng: "Dân chúng nói Thầy là ai? " (Lc 9,18)

The Sacredness of God's Handiwork 
How do we live in creation? 
Do we relate to it as a place full of "things" we can use for whatever need we want to fulfill and whatever goal we wish to accomplish? 
Or do we see creation first of all as a sacramental reality, a sacred space where God reveals to us the immense beauty of the Divine? 
As long as we only use creation, we cannot recognise its sacredness because we are approaching it as if we are its owners. 
But when we relate to all that surrounds us as created by the same God who created us and as the place where God appears to us and calls us to worship and adoration, then we are able to recognise the sacred quality of all God's handiwork.
(Nouwen G)

Rao

Người sai các ông đi rao giảng Nước Thiên Chúa và chữa lành bệnh nhân.(Lc 9,2)

The Created Order as Sacrament
When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, the uncreated and the created, the eternal and the temporal, the divine and the human became united. This unity meant that all that is mortal now points to the immortal, all that is finite now points to the infinite. In and through Jesus all creation has become like a splendid veil, through which the face of God is revealed to us.
This is called the sacramental quality of the created order. All that is is sacred because all that is speaks of God's redeeming love. Seas and winds, mountains and trees, sun, moon, and stars, and all the animals and people have become sacred windows offering us glimpses of God.

Vatican II: The Council of Rapprochement

John W. O’Malley, S.J.

Georgetown University

(This article was published originally in French

in the September 2012 issue of Études)

         When the Second Vatican Council ended almost fifty years ago, Catholics were convinced something of great importance had happened.   They felt its impact immediately in the changes in the liturgy: mass celebrated in the vernacular, the priest turned to face the congregation, and the first part of the mass, “the liturgy of the word,” risen to new prominence.  Even five years earlier such changes would have been unthinkable.

         But there was much more.  For the first time in history Catholics were encouraged to foster friendly relations with non-Catholic Christians and even to pray with them.  The church entered into formal dialogues with other churches and revisited doctrines that had for centuries divided Catholics from both the Orthodox and the Protestants.  Breaking with a long-standing tradition, the council affirmed the principle of religious liberty and, in so doing, reaffirmed fidelity to conscience as the norm for moral decision-making.  In the long shadow cast by the Holocaust, it categorically repudiated anti-Semitism.

         Important though these and similar changes were in their own right, they do not singly or collectively capture the sense pervasive at the time of the council that something further happened, something of which the particulars were but manifestations. The council’s import, that is to say, included but also transcended its specific enactments.

          To express this larger import people began to speak of “the spirit of the council.”  They did not mean to imply that the “spirit” was at odds with the “letter” of the council’s documents, but, rather, that it, while building on the letter, rose to a higher level of generalization.  In so doing it served as a lens in which to interpret the particulars and to fit them into more general patterns.

         But questions arose about the expression.  What, in this context, did one mean by “spirit”?   Was it not a slippery term, susceptible to manipulation?  Your “spirit of Vatican II” may not be my “spirit of Vatican II”!  The expression became suspect, and in some quarters it was contemptuously dismissed as frothy and unsubstantial, unworthy of the council.  It distorted the council’s true meaning, which was to be found exclusively in its specific enactments.

         There are, certainly, problems with the expression, but we should be loathe to abandon it. After all, the distinction between spirit and letter is venerable in the Christian tradition. Based loosely on 2 Corinthians 3:6 (“the letter kills, the spirit gives life”), it for centuries served theologians and exegetes as a standard and indispensable category of interpretation.   It is, moreover, a distinction often made in everyday speech, which suggests a certain cognitive validity.  I here argue that, in fact, it (or some equivalent) is not only useful for understanding Vatican II but indispensable.

         “The spirit of Vatican II” properly understood points to a set of basic orientations that are clearly expressed not simply in one or two documents of the council but that run through them almost from the first to the last. In so doing, it points also to the style in which those orientations are formulated.  It is therefore solidly based on “the letter” in the fullest sense, which includes both form and content.  If understood in this way, the expression emerges as a key for unlocking the council’s larger meaning.

         In comparison with other councils, Vatican II is special because its documents considered as a single corpus evince such orientations.  As a set of issues-under-the issues or issues-across-the-issues or even leitmotifs, the orientations imbue the council with a coherence unique in the history of such meetings.  In other words, the documents of Vatican II are not a grab-bag of discreet units.  When examined not one by one but as a single, though complex, corpus, the pervasiveness of certain issues clearly emerges and vindicates the intuition that the council had a message to deliver to the church and to the world that was bigger than any document considered in isolation.

          Among such issues was rapprochement—or reconciliation.  How was the church to deal with certain realities it had for long considered anathema?  Could it and should it seek reconciliation with them?  Pope John XXIII placed the problem before the council on the day it opened, October 11, 1962, in his remarkable address to the prelates assembled in Saint Peter’s. In it he tried to provide the council with its orientation.  He distanced it from the scolding and suspicious attitude toward “the world” that had pervaded official Catholic thinking for over a century, as if everything modern was bad.  The council, according to the pope, should not simply wring its hands and deplore what was wrong but engage with the world so as to work with it for a positive outcome.   It should, more generally, “make use of the medicine of mercy rather than of severity” in dealing with everyone.  It should eschew as far as possible the language of condemnation.

         Although Pope John did not use the word reconciliation, that was what he was speaking of.  He asked for reconciliation with “the world” —with the world as it is, not as it was supposed to be according to the fantasy of an idealized “Christian Middle Ages” that still held many Catholics in thrall.  He wanted to end the siege mentality that had gripped Catholic officialdom in the wake of the French Revolution and the subsequent seizure of the Papal States, a mentality that feared all things modern.

         John XXIII, we must remember, had a unique experience of “the world,” wider than any pope for centuries.  As a young priest he had served as a medical orderly and then as chaplain in the Italian army during World War I.  He afterward spent decades as a papal diplomat among either predominantly Orthodox or predominantly Muslim populations. While stationed in Istanbul during World War II he at first-hand experienced the plight of refugees from Nazi persecution and did his best to help them.  He later performed well as nuncio in Paris at a most delicate moment for the church in the immediate post-war years.  Then, just before his election as pope, he served with distinction as bishop (technically, patriarch) of Venice.

         We should not be surprised, therefore, that at the crucial moment of the council’s opening he introduced the theme of reconciliation. It was not a new theme with him. When he three and half years earlier, in 1959, announced his intention to convoke the council, he gave as one of the its two principal aims the extension of a “cordial invitation to the faithful of the separated communities to participate with us in this quest for unity and peace, for which so many long in all parts of the world.”  His invitation found response from other Christian bodies that was as positive as it was unanticipated, and it resulted in the extraordinary phenomenon of the presence at the council of sometimes as many as a hundred or more representatives of the Protestant and Orthodox churches.  Nothing like this had ever happened before.

         Thus, even before the council opened reconciliation had begun to take hold as an issue and goal.  During the council its scope broadened.  The first document the council approved, the decree On the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, implicitly asked the church to break out of its Eurocentrism and to admit other cultures as partners.  The church had of course consistently presented itself as catholic in the sense of embracing all peoples and cultures.   Although there was considerable truth in that claim,Catholicism was so strongly imprinted with the culture of the West as to seem identical with it.  With the voyages of discovery of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries came the shock of large populations and altogether different cultures that had not heard of Christianity. The discoveries severely challenged the claim of universality.

         A vigorous program of evangelization followed, which in virtually every case entailed the simultaneous introduction of Western traditions and values, as if these were inseparable from the gospel message.  There were important exceptions, as with the Jesuits in China led by Matteo Ricci.  Out of respect for their hosts the Jesuits in Beijing tried in their life-style and mind-sets to become Chinese.  They even won permission to celebrate mass in Chinese, and they published a Chinese missal. The Jesuits undertook similar experiments in Japan and in parts of India.

         In the eighteenth century the Holy See condemned such experiments.  Then, during the great surge of missionary activity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, both Catholic and Protestant missionaries saw themselves as bearing “the white man’s burden” of bringing Western ways to their flocks. It was this approach the council gently but firmly repudiated. 

         Sacrosanctum concilium set the council on its course when it affirmed, “The Church cultivates and fosters the qualities and talents of different races and nations” and admits their customs “into the liturgy itself, provided they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit.” (37) In subsequent documents the council repeatedly took upthe theme of reconciliation with cultures other than Western, most notably in the decree on the church’s missionary activity.

         Of course, the most obvious and direct act of reconciliation were the decrees On Ecumenism and On Non-Christian Religions.  The former opens, “The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.” (1)  It bids Catholics to respect the beliefs of those not in communion with the church, and, as mentioned, sets in motion a process of respectful dialogue with them.  These steps might seem cautious and minimal, but they constituted a dramatic reversal of course from condemning all other Christian bodies and counseling Catholics to avoid as far as possible all contact with them. The Code of Canon Law of 1918 forbade Catholic participation in any non-Catholic religious service, even weddings and funerals.

         In the middle of the seventeenth century the conclusion of the catastrophic Thirty Years’ War brought to a close a century of wars between differentChristian churches waged in the name of the God of love.  From that point forward the church eschewed violence as a means of settling religious differences, but until the eve of the council Catholic theologians and apologists denigrated other churches and cast them in the worst possible light.  On a higher and less contemptuous level, Pope Pius XI in 1928 in his encyclical Mortalium animos forbade all Catholic participation in the ecumenical movement.

         The decree On Ecumenism signaled a change of 180 degrees, so much so that a small minority during and after the council denounced it as heretical.  As the result, however, of decades of study and conversation carried on semi-officially and behind the scenes, the council accepted it with unexpected ease.  After centuries of alienation, the time had arrived for seeking common ground and reconciliation.

         In the council Nostra aetate, the decree On Non-Christian Religions, did not enjoy the same easy course.  The opposition to it was so severe that at one point it was almost withdrawn from the agenda. John XXIII himself had been responsible for putting it there. Out of his deep concern about anti-Semitism and Christian responsibility regarding the Holocaust, he mandated that the council consider a document On the Jews. In its early drafts, therefore, Nostra aetate dealt exclusively with them.  Objections were raised against it on theological grounds—were not the Jews an accursed race?—but also on political.   The prospect of a document On the Jews stirred up fear in Arab countries that this was a step toward Vatican recognition of the state of Israel, which up to that point it had not done.  Those countries made their objections well known to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

         The council was finally able to convince them that Nostra aetate had nothing to do with Israel.  Exegetes and theologians were able to convince virtually all the bishops of the theological acceptability of the document.  With such problems resolved, Nostra aetate won approval, but only after it was expanded to include other non-Christian believers, most notably the Muslims. The small minority that rejected the decree On Ecumenism rejected this one even more adamantly.               

         Nostra aetate treats the Muslims at much greater length than any of the other religious group, except the Jews.  No longer were they “our eternal and godless enemy,” as Pope Paul III described them in 1542 in his bull convoking the Council of Trent, but people deserving respect, who shared with Christians many of the same religious traditions going back to the common patriarch, Abraham.

         Few decrees of the council seem more timely today in our post-9/11 era.  Nostra aetate sounds a note of reason and compassion.  It is the diametrical opposite of hate-inspired polemics, and it invests Catholics with a special role as agents of reconciliation in the present tense international situation. In this regard Pope John Paul II performed a marvelous service.  His gestures of reconciliation with the Jews are well known.  Less well known but today perhaps more important were the many times he met with Muslim groups in attempts to increase mutual understanding and decrease tensions. 

         The council’s final document was entitled “The Church in the Modern World.”

  Although the church-world relationship was not on the agenda when the council opened, it had clearly emerged by the end of the council’s first year.  No wonder, for it in fact took up the theme of reconciliation with the modern world that John XXIII proposed in his address opening the council.  The title is significant: not the church for the modern world; not the church against the modern world; not the church either above or below the modern world, but simply in the modern world.  The title is a simple recognition of fact.  Every member of the church lives, perforce, “in the world.”  There is no alternative, even for cloistered religious.  We mere mortals cannot escape from time and space.

         Beyond recognizing the fact that the church is now and ever has been “in the world,” the document goes the further step of recognizing the consequences of that fact:  church and world are reciprocally dependent and interdependent, “The church, which is both a visible organization and a spiritual community, travels the same journey as does all humanity and shares the same earthly lot with it.”(40)  The church is to act as a leaven, but it also receives from the world as well as gives to it.  Obvious though such an affirmation might seem, it was unprecedented in official church documents, most especially since rampant suspicion of modernity began to dominate Catholic officialdom.

         By being addressed to all men and women of good will, whether believers or not, the document extended the reconciliation theme to its ultimate limits.  The council, “as witness and guide to the faith of all God’s people, [wants to express] this people’s solidarity, respect, and love for the whole human family.”   It “offers the human family the sincere cooperation of the church in fostering a sense of sisterhood and brotherhood.” (3)

         John XXIII’s speech opening the council sounded the theme of reconciliation but in an understated and altogether generic way.  The council took it up as a fundamental orientation and imbued it with a remarkable scope. It extended it to the church’s relationship to non-Western cultures, to non-Catholic Christians, to non-Christian believers, and, in this final document, to “all humanity.” (became Catholic)

         There is, however, an even more pervasive level at which the theme operated so as to substantiate the intrinsic relationship between spirit and letter.  We must return to John’s opening address.  When he asked to council to refrain from condemnations, he introduced the question of the style of discourse the council was to adopt.  On the very first working day of the council, October 22, 1962, Cardinal Joseph Frings of Cologne explicitly brought that question to the floor of the council. Other prelates subsequently took it up.  By the end of that first period of the council, the question had become a major issue and was already on the way to a remarkable resolution.

         As the second period opened in the fall of the next year, discussion began on a drastically revised draft of On the Church, now titled Lumen gentium. With that document the council had found its distinctive voice. The first chapter was strikingly different from the earlier version in that it was filled with biblical images and patristic allusions.  This feature intensified by the time the document achieved its final form, which almost overflows with images of the church and its members that suggest fecundity, dignity, abundance, charism, goodness, safe haven, welcome, tenderness, warmth, communion, and reconciliation.

         The council began to speak in a new style.  It began to speak through a literary form and a vocabulary that was new for councils.  The most common literary form for councils up to that point had been the canon, that is, a short ordinance prescribing or proscribing some action, to which penalties were generally attached for non-compliance.  Most canons ended with anathema. The Roman Synod of 1960 was an assembly of the clergy of the diocese of Rome, which was considered at the time  the “dress rehearsal” for Vatican II.  The Synod issued 755 canons.

         Vatican II, which concluded five years later, issued not a single one.  Instead of issuing such ordinances it held up ideals for emulation.  For instance, in the decree On Bishops, Christus Dominus, it painted the picture of the ideal bishop and proposed goals for him.  Through its new language the council wanted to touch consciences to strive for positive goals. It tried to present the church in all its aspects in accord with John XXIII’s description of it in his opening address, “the loving mother of all, benign, patient, full of goodness and mercy.” The council chose to praise the positive aspects of Catholicism and establish the church’s identity on that basis rather than by trying to make the church look good by making others look bad.

         A most remarkable feature of Lumen gentium, little commented upon, is “the call to holiness,” the subject of the fifth chapter in the final version.  That call then became a leitmotif of the council recurring again and again in the documents.  Holiness, the council said, is what the church is about.  This is an old truth, of course, and in itself not remarkable.  Yet previous councils, intent on exterior compliance with regulations, had never explicitly asserted this ideal and certainly never developed it so repeatedly and at length as did Vatican II.  

         The literary forms and vocabulary of those councils, arising from the assumption that councils were judicial-legislative bodies, inhibited the emergence of such a theme, just as the form and vocabulary of Vatican II encouraged it.  The call to holiness is something more than external conformity to an enforceable code of conduct.  It is a call of conscience that, though it must have external forms, originates in the God-given higher impulses of the human spirit, which in the council often got specified in commitment to the service of others and to the search for communion with them.    

         The shift in form required adopting a vocabulary that was new to councils, in which the theme of reconciliation, though expressed in a variety of terms, emerged with dominant force.

Instead of words consisting primarily in anathemas and verdicts of guilty-as-charged, the council spoke most characteristically in words of friendship, partnership, kinship, brotherhood, sisterhood, reciprocity, dialogue,  collegiality, conscience, and a call to interiority—a call to holiness. 

         Such words occur too frequently and too consistently in the documents of the council to be dismissed as mere window-dressing or casual asides.  They imbue Vatican II with a literary and, hence, thematic unity unique among church councils.  They express an overall orientation and a coherence in outlook. They are central to understanding the council.

         They express values. The values are anything but new to the Christian tradition.  They are as common in Christian discourse, or more common, than their opposite numbers.  But they are not common in councils, nor did they up to that time play such a determinative role in official church pronouncements.  Vatican II did not invent the words or imply they were not already fundamental in a Christian way of life.  Yet, taken as a whole, they convey the sweep of a newly formulated and forcefully specified way of proceeding that Vatican II held up for contemplation, admiration, and actualization.  That way of proceeding was the most pervasive of the issues-under-the-issues or the issues-across-the-issues at Vatican II.  It was the essence of the “spirit of Vatican II.”

         A simple pairing of the model implied by this vocabulary with the model it wanted to replace or balance conveys the vocabulary’s import: from commands to invitations, from laws to ideals, from threats to persuasion, from coercion to conscience, from monologue to dialogue, from ruling to serving, from exclusion to inclusion, from hostility to friendship, from suspicion to trust, from rivalry to partnership, from fault-finding to appreciation, and from behavior-modification to inner appropriation.

         In promoting the values implicit in this model, the council did not deny the validity of the contrasting values.  No institution can, for instance, be simply open-ended. Sooner or later decision is required.  No institution can be all-inclusive and not in the process lose its identity.  Certainly, no institution whose very reason for existence is proclaiming the gospel message can be so committed to reconciliation as to compromise that message. Yet, what is more constitutive of the message than love of neighbor?

         The opening words of Gaudium et spes encapsulate the message and take us to the heart of Vatican II: “The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the men and women of our time, especially those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and affliction of the followers of Christ as well.  Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts.” (1)       

 The council was a rich and complex event, in which it is easy to get lost in the trees and lose sight of the forest.  If it is important to reflect on how the council changed us in certain particulars, it is even more important to grasp the new orientation the council envisaged for the church and, in so doing, for every Catholic.  Despite the way leaders in the council sometimes expressed themselves, they fully realized that Vatican II as a self-proclaimed pastoral council was for that reason also a teaching council.  Vatican II taught many things but few more important than the style of relationships that was to prevail in the church.  It did not “define” that teaching but taught it on virtually every page though the form and vocabulary it adopted. By examining the form and vocabulary, the “letter,” we arrive at the “spirit,” which is not a momentary effervescence but a consistent and verifiable reorientation. 

The council therefore issued a message bigger than any particular.  Bold yet soft-spoken, the message was meant to find resonance in the hearts of all persons sensitive to the call of conscience.  It inculcated reconciliation with others and a search for communion.  It inculcated those goods, we must remember, not only in relationships with those outside the church but also with those within.

Today, in a world increasingly wracked with discord, rancor, name-calling, hate-spewing blogs, pre-emptive strikes, war and the threat of war, the message could not be more timely.  It is a message counter-cultural while at the same time responsive to the deepest yearnings of the human heart.  Peace on earth.  Good will to men. ###

Sáng

Vì chẳng có gì bí ẩn mà lại không trở nên hiển hiện, chẳng có gì che giấu mà người ta lại không biết và không bị đưa ra ánh sáng. (Lc 8,17)

When Jesus says:  "Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Luke 21:33), he shows us a direct way to eternal life.  The words of Jesus have the power to transform our hearts and minds and lead us into the Kingdom of God.  "The words I have spoken to you," Jesus says, "are spirit and they are life"  (John 6:63).
Through meditation we can let the words of Jesus descend from our minds into our hearts and create there a dwelling place for the Spirit.  Whatever we do and wherever we go, let us stay close to the words of Jesus.  They are words of eternal life. (Nouwen G)

Thực tế

"Người gieo giống đi ra gieo hạt giống của mình. Trong khi người ấy gieo, thì có hạt rơi xuống vệ đường, người ta giẫm lên và chim trời ăn mất. Hạt khác rơi trên đá, và khi mọc lên, lại héo đi vì thiếu ẩm ướt. Có hạt rơi vào giữa bụi gai, gai cùng mọc lên, làm nó chết nghẹt. Có hạt lại rơi nhằm đất tốt, và khi mọc lên, nó sinh hoa kết quả gấp trăm.” (Lc 8,5-8)

Lạc quan & thực tế.
Lạc quan: thế nào cũng có những hạt rơi vào đất tốt.
Thực tế: không chỉ có đất tốt.
Điều quan trọng: cần biết đối tượng là đất gì: tốt, gai, sỏi, chai?
Và tâm hồn mình: đất gì?
Mỗi tối: nhổ cỏ, nhặt sỏi, cày mềm...

Theo

Người bảo ông: "Anh hãy theo tôi! " Ông đứng dậy đi theo Người. (Mt 9,9) So sánh 2 Tin Mừng Mc và Mt. Nhờ theo Chúa mà Thánh Matthêu phát huy được mọi tài năng và ảnh hưởng của ông thật vô cùng lớn lao.

Soi

Chị đứng đằng sau, sát chân Người mà khóc,
lấy nước mắt mà tưới ướt chân Người.
Chị lấy tóc mình mà lau,
rồi hôn chân Người và lấy dầu thơm mà đổ lên. (Lc 7,36)

 Rửa mặt soi gương.
Gương soi là Chúa và Lời của Ngài.
Tha nhiều thì yêu nhiều.
Điều kỳ diệu xẩy ra.

Khó chiều

Vậy tôi phải ví người thế hệ này với ai? Họ giống ai?
Họ giống như lũ trẻ ngồi ngoài chợ gọi nhau mà nói:
"Tụi tôi thổi sáo cho các anh,
mà các anh không nhảy múa;
tụi tôi hát bài đưa đám,
mà các anh không khóc than.
(Lc 7,31-32)

Thăm

"Một vị ngôn sứ vĩ đại đã xuất hiện giữa chúng ta,
và Thiên Chúa đã viếng thăm dân Người" (Lc,7-16)

Làm sao cảm nhận được Chúa viếng thăm
giữa những lúc tăm tối nhất?
Thực ra lúc nào Chúa cũng ở với tôi,
và sự viếng thăm đây
chính là những nụ hôn thần thiêng Chúa dành cho tôi.
Những nụ hôn mang lại tràn thề sức sống và tình thương.

Phán

"Thưa Ngài, không dám phiền Ngài quá như vậy, vì tôi không đáng rước Ngài vào nhà tôi. Cũng vì thế, tôi không nghĩ mình xứng đáng đến gặp Ngài. Nhưng xin Ngài cứ nói một lời, thì đầy tớ của tôi được khỏi bệnh. (Mc 7,6-7)

A Comedian and a Cardinal Open Up on Spirituality

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN, NYT,Sept 15,2012

The comedian Stephen Colbert and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York bantered on stage Friday night before 3,000 cheering, stomping, chanting students at Fordham University, in what may have been the most successful Catholic youth evangelization event since Pope John Paul II last appeared at World Youth Day.

The evening was billed as an opportunity to hear two Catholic celebrities discuss how joy and humor infuse their spiritual lives. They both delivered, with surprises and zingers that began the moment the two walked onstage. Mr. Colbert went to shake Cardinal Dolan’s hand, but the cardinal took Mr. Colbert’s hand and kissed it — a disarming role reversal for a big prelate with a big job and a big ring.

Cardinal Dolan was introduced as a man who might one day be elected pope, to which he said, “If I am elected pope, which is probably the greatest gag all evening, I’ll be Stephen III.”

The event would not have happened without its moderator, the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and prolific author who has made it his mission to remind Catholics that there is no contradiction between faithful and funny. His latest book is “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life.”

Father Martin said in an interview earlier this week that the idea came from two young theology professors at Fordham University. The president of Fordham, the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, invited Cardinal Dolan to participate, and he readily accepted. Father Martin, who has made enough appearances on “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central to earn the title “official chaplain,” invited Mr. Colbert.

The event was announced with much fanfare by Fordham, and CNN was considering broadcasting it, Father Martin said. But then the university announced that it was closed to the media, without any explanation. Three thousand students and faculty members filled the Rose Hill Gymnasium, stomping on the bleachers, doing the wave, and chanting “Ste-PHEN” like the revved-up audiences for Mr. Colbert’s studio show.

Some journalists were admitted as guests, and the cone of silence was shattered when many students and an editor from the Catholic magazine Commonweal sent out live tweets narrating the most memorable one-liners of the evening.

Mr. Colbert shed his character for the evening, and offered several sincere insights into how he manages to remain a faithful Catholic while making fun of his own religion and most others.

“Are there flaws in the church?” Mr. Colbert said, “Absolutely. But is there great beauty in the church? Absolutely.”

He said he did not make jokes about the sacraments, or put a picture of the crucifixion on screen. But he said he liked to poke fun at the use and misuse of religion, especially in politics. “Then I’m not talking about Christ,” he said, “I’m talking about Christ as cudgel.”

Mr. Colbert is the youngest of 11 children, raised by Catholics who both attended Catholic colleges. His father and two of his brothers died in a plane crash when Mr. Colbert was 10. He said that after the funeral, in the limousine on the way home, one of his sisters made another sister laugh so hard that she fell on the floor. At that moment, Mr. Colbert said he resolved that he wanted to be able to make someone laugh that hard.

He is raising his children as Catholics, and he teaches Sunday school at his parish in New Jersey. “The real reason I remain a Catholic is what the church gives me, which is love,” he said.

Cardinal Dolan introduced Mr. Colbert’s wife, Evelyn, who was sitting in the audience, and brought her up to the stage. The cardinal put his arm around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and when Mr. Colbert feigned offense, the cardinal said, in a remark that brought down the house, “I can kiss your wife. You can’t kiss mine.”

Mr. Colbert used his time onstage with the cardinal to air his complaints about the new English translation of the Mass, which was just introduced in American parishes this year.

“Consubstantial!” Mr. Colbert exclaimed, using a particularly cumbersome word that is now recited in the Nicene Creed. “It’s the creed! It’s not the SAT prep.”

The audience sent in questions by Twitter and e-mail, which Father Martin pitched to the two men. Among them: “I am considering the priesthood. Would it be prudent to avoid dating?”

Cardinal Dolan responded that, on the contrary, “it’s good” to date, partly to discern whether the celibate life of a priest is what you want. Then he added, “By the way, let me give you the phone numbers of my nieces.”

Mr. Colbert said, “It’s actually a great pickup line: I’m seriously considering the priesthood. You can change my mind.”

Another question was even more pointed: “So many Christian leaders spread hatred, especially of homosexuals. How can you maintain your joy?”

Cardinal Dolan responded with two meandering anecdotes — one about having met this week with Muslim leaders, and another about encountering picketers outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

But Mr. Colbert’s response was quick and unequivocal. “If someone spreads hate,” he said, “then they’re not your religious leader.” ###

Là ai?

Đức Giêsu và các môn đệ của Người đi tới các làng xã vùng Xêdarê Philípphê. Dọc đường, Người hỏi các môn đệ: "Người ta nói Thầy là ai?" (Mc 8,27)

Công chúa Ja Mying Go vì biết về căn tính cũng như sứ mệnh của mình quá muộn màng nên đã không kịp cứu đất nước mình khỏi diệt vong, và không cứu được vua cha cũng như mẫu hậu khỏi cái chết thê thảm. Bản thân công chúa cũng chết nhức nhối sau khi giết chết kẻ đã làm hại đất nước mình là hoàng tử Hođông.
Biết mình là ai là điều hết sức quan trọng. Và muốn biết được căn tính của mình thì phải biết Chúa Giêsu là ai trước đã.

Gươm

Khi ấy, cha và mẹ Chúa Giêsu đều kinh ngạc về những điều đã nói về Người. Simêon chúc lành cho hai ông bà, và nói với Maria Mẹ Người rằng: "Ðây trẻ này được đặt lên, khiến cho nhiều người trong Israel phải sụp đổ hay được đứng dậy, và cũng để làm mục tiêu cho người ta chống đối. Về phần Bà, một lưỡi gươm sẽ đâm thấu tâm hồn Bà, để tâm tư nhiều tâm hồn được biểu lộ." (Lc 2, 33-35)

POPE ARRIVES IN LEBANON AS A FRIEND OF ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Vatican City, 14 September 2012 (VIS) - Shortly before 2 p.m. local time today, Benedict XVI arrived at the international airport of Beirut, which is named after Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon who was killed in a bomb attack in 2005.
The Holy Father was greeted by Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, His Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites; Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, and Naguib Miqati, prime minister of Lebanon.
(http://www.vis.va/vissolr/index.php?vi=all&dl=61fc6426-e64b-9dd8-7d44-5053129ed842&dl_t=text/xml&dl_a=y&ul=1&ev=1)

Pope press conference on flight to Beirut
(Vatican Radio) On his flight over to Beirut on Friday, Pope Benedict responded to journalists' questions about war and violence in the Middle East, about the exodus of Christians, the Arab Spring and a growing fundementalism in the region.
Below please find Vatican Radio's unofficial translation of the press conference:

Q: Holy Father, in these days we’re marking terrible anniversaries, such as 9/11 or the massacre at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. Close to Lebanon’s borders a bloody civil war is being waged and the threat of violence is always close at hand in other countries as well. With what feelings are you undertaking this journey? Was there a possibility, or did anyone suggest that you should cancel it for security reasons?
A: I am very grateful for this opportunity to talk with you. No one ever advised me to cancel this trip and I never took that idea into consideration, because I know that as the situation becomes more complicated, it is even more necessary to offer a sign of fraternal encouragement and solidarity. Therefore the aim of my visit is an invitation to dialogue, to peace and against violence, to go forward together to find solutions to the problems. My feelings are above all feelings of gratitude to be able to visit at this time this great country, which – as John Paul II said – is a message of encounter for the three religions in this region. I am grateful to the Lord who has given me this possibility, grateful to all the institutions and people who have worked and continue to work for this occasion. And I am grateful for all those accompanying me in prayer, for this protection through prayer. I am happy and I’m sure that we can be of real service to peace and to people here.

Q: Many Catholics are expressing concern about a growing fundamentalism in different parts of the world and about attacks that target Christians in many places around the globe. In this difficult and often bloody context, how can the Church respond to the imperative of dialogue with Islam that you have always insisted upon?
A: Fundamentalism is always a falsification of religion and goes against the meaning of religion which is, instead, an invitation to share God’s peace throughout the world. Therefore the commitment of the Church and of religions is to undertake a purification of such temptations, to illuminate consciences and to try and provide everyone with a clear image of God. We must all respect each other. Each of us is an image of God and we must mutually respect each other. The basic message of religion must be against violence which is a falsification like fundamentalism, it must be education and the illumination and purification of conscience to promote dialogue, reconciliation and peace.

Q: In the context of the wave of desire for democracy which is underway in many countries of the Middle East through the so-called Arab Spring, and given the social conditions in the majority of these countries where Christians are a minority, is there not a risk of inevitable tensions between the dominant majority and the survival of Christianity?
A: In itself, the Arab spring is a positive thing: a desire for greater democracy, more liberty, more cooperation and a new Arab identity. This cry for liberty, which comes from a more culturally educated and professional young people, who want greater participation in political and social life, is positive progress which has been hailed by Christians as well. Bearing in mind the history of revolutions, we naturally know that this vital and positive cry for freedom risks forgetting one aspect – a fundamental dimension for freedom – which is tolerance of the other. The fact is that human freedom is always a shared freedom, which can only grow through sharing, solidarity and living together with certain rules. This is always the danger, as it is in this case. We must do all we can so that the concept of freedom, the desire for freedom goes in the direction of true freedom and does not forget tolerance and reconciliation which are essential elements for freedom. Thus also the Arab Spring requires a renewal in this centuries -old history. Christians and Arabs have built these lands and must live together. I also believe that it’s important to see the positive elements in these movements and, do all that is possible to ensure that freedom is correctly conceived and corresponds to a greater dialogue rather than the dominion of one over the other.

Q: Holy Father, in Syria, as in Iraq a while ago, many Christians feel obliged to leave their country with heavy hearts. What does the Catholic Church intend to do or say to help in this situation and to stem the flow of Christians from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries?
A: First of all I must say that not only Christians are leaving, but also Muslims. There is a great danger that Christians leave these lands and lose their presence there and we must do all that is possible to help them to stay. The most essential help would be the end of war and violence which causes this exodus. Therefore we must do all we can to halt the violence and encourage the possibility of staying together for the future. What can we do against war? Of course we can always spread a message of peace, insist that violence never resolves problems and strengthen the forces of peace. The work of journalists is important as they can help a great deal to show how violence destroys rather than builds anything, that it is of no use to anyone. Then maybe Christian gestures, days of prayer for the Middle East, for Christians and Muslims, to show the possibilities of dialogue and solutions. I also believe that there must be an end to the import of arms: without weapons, war could not continue. Instead of importing weapons, which is a grave sin, we should import ideas, peace and creativity. We should accept others in their diversity and make visible the mutual respect of religions, the respect for man as God’s creation and love of neighbour as a fundamental element of all religions. We must promote all possible actions, including material ones, to support the end of war and violence so that all can contribute to the rebuilding of the country.

Q Holy Father, You are bringing an Apostolic Exhortation addressed to all Christians in the Middle East. Nowadays this is a suffering population. Apart from prayer and expressions of solidarity, do you see concrete measures that the Churches and Catholics in the West, especially in Europe and America, can take to support their brothers in the Middle East?
A We need to influence public opinion. We must urge politicians to really tackle this issue with all their strength and using all means possible, to work with creativity for peace and against violence. All of us must contribute to this. In a certain sense, it’s a very necessary task on our part of warning, education and purification. In addition, our charity organisations should help in a material sense as well. We have organisations like the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, just for the Holy Land, but similar organisations could also provide material, political and human help in these countries. I would like to say once again that visible signs of solidarity, days of public prayer, can have an impact on public opinion and produce real results. We are convinced that prayer has an effect if it is done with much trust and faith. ###

Cao

Như ông Môsê đã giương cao con rắn trong sa mạc, Con Người cũng sẽ phải được giương cao như vậy, để ai tin vào Người thì được sống muôn đời. Thiên Chúa yêu thế gian đến nỗi đã ban Con Một, để ai tin vào Con của Người thì khỏi phải chết, nhưng được sống muôn đời. (Ga 3,15-16)

Remaining Anchored in Love
When we are anxious we are inclined to overprepare. We wonder what to say when we are attacked, how to respond when we are being interrogated, and what defence to put up when we are accused. It is precisely this turmoil that makes us lose our self-confidence and creates in us a debilitating self-consciousness.
Jesus tells us not to prepare at all and to trust that he will give us the words and wisdom we need. What is important is not that we have a little speech ready but that we remain deeply anchored in the love of Jesus, secure about who we are in this world and why we are here. With our hearts connected to the heart of Jesus, we will always know what to say when the time to speak comes.
(Nouwen G)

Xin cho con luôn nhớ có Chúa đồng hành.
Xin cho con luôn ý thức con là con yêu dấu của Chúa, đang chia sẻ sứ mạng với Chúa.
Xin cho trái tim con luôn nối liền với trái tim của Chúa.

Kẻ thù

Hãy yêu kẻ thù và làm ơn cho kẻ ghét anh em (Lc 6,27)

Holding Our Ground
In a world so full of social and political turmoil and immense human suffering, people of faith will often be ridiculed because of their so-called ineffectiveness. Many will say: "If you believe that there is a loving God, let your God do something about this mess!" Some will simply declare religion irrelevant, while others will consider it an obstacle to the creation of a new and better world.
Jesus often tells his followers that, as he was, they will be persecuted, arrested, tortured, and killed. But he also tells us not to worry but to trust in him at all times. "Make up your minds not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict" (Luke 21:14-15). Let's not be afraid of skepticism and cynicism coming our way, but trust that God will give us the strength to hold our ground.
(Nouwen G)

Khốn

"Khốn cho các ngươi là những kẻ giàu có, vì các ngươi đã được phần an ủi của mình rồi."
"Khốn cho các ngươi, hỡi những kẻ bây giờ đang được no nê, vì các ngươi sẽ phải đói."
"Khốn cho các ngươi, hỡi những kẻ bây giờ đang được vui cười, vì các ngươi sẽ phải sầu khổ khóc than."
"Khốn cho các ngươi khi được mọi người ca tụng, vì các ngôn sứ giả cũng đã từng được cha ông họ đối xử như thế." (Lc 6,24-26)

Guarding Our Souls
The great danger of the turmoil of the end-time in which we live is losing our souls. Losing our souls means losing touch with our center, our true call in life, our mission, our spiritual task. Losing our soul means becoming so distracted by and preoccupied with all that is happening around us that we end up fragmented, confused, and erratic. Jesus is very aware of that danger. He says: "Take care not to be deceived, because many will come using my name and saying, 'I am the one' and 'The time is near at hand' Refuse to join them" (Luke 21:8).
In the midst of anxious times there are many false prophets, promising all sorts of "salvations." It is important that we be faithful disciples of Jesus, never losing touch with our true spiritual selves. (Nouwen G) 


“Kẹo xin lỗi” trên máy bay
TTO - Lo lắng hai đứa con sinh đôi mới 14 tuần tuổi sẽ quấy khóc làm phiền hành khách cùng chuyến bay, một đôi vợ chồng trẻ đã có sáng kiến "gói kẹo xin lỗi". Câu chuyện "bố mẹ chu đáo" này đang thu hút cư dân mạng.
http://tuoitre.vn/Nhip-song-tre/Tinh-yeu-loi-song/510441/%E2%80%9CKeo-xin-loi%E2%80%9D-tren-may-bay.html

Cuối

Trong những ngày ấy, Đức Giêsu đi ra núi cầu nguyện, và Người đã thức suốt đêm cầu nguyện cùng Thiên Chúa. Đến sáng, Người kêu các môn đệ lại, chọn lấy mười hai ông và gọi là Tông Đồ (Lc 6,12)

Living in the End-Time
We are living in the end-time! This does not mean that creation will soon come to its end, but it does mean that all the signs of the end of time that Jesus mentions are already with us: wars and revolutions, conflicts between nations and between kingdoms, earthquakes, plagues, famines, and persecutions (see Luke 21:9-12). Jesus describes the events of our world as announcements that this world is not our final dwelling place, but that the Son of Man will come to bring us our full freedom. "When these things begin to take place," Jesus says, "stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand" (Luke 21:28). The terrible events surrounding us must be lived as ways to make us ready for our final liberation.
Opportunities to Witness
Jesus teaches us how to live in the present time. He identifies our present time as the end-time, the time that offers us countless opportunities to testify for Jesus and his Kingdom. The many disasters in our world, and all the tragedies that happen to people each day, can easily lead us to despair and convince us that we are the sad victims of circumstances. But Jesus looks at these events in a radically different way. He calls them opportunities to witness!
Jesus reminds us that we do not belong to this world. We have been sent into the world to be living witnesses of God's unconditional love, calling all people to look beyond the passing structures of our temporary existence to the eternal life promised to us.(Nouwen G)

Pattaya
Pattaya (Thai: พัทยา, พัทยา (help·info), RTGS: Phatthaya, Thai pronunciation: [pʰát.tʰā.jāː]) is a city in Thailand, a beach resort popular with tourists and expatriates. It is located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung (Banglamung) in the province of Chonburi. Pattaya City (Thai: เมืองพัทยา; RTGS: Mueang Phatthaya) is a self governing municipal area which covers the whole tambon Nong Prue and Na Kluea and parts of Huai Yai and Nong Pla Lai. The City is situated in the heavily industrial Eastern Seaboard zone, along with Si Racha, Laem Chabang, and Chonburi. It has a population exceeding 100,000 (2007). Pattaya is also the center of the Pattaya-Chonburi Metropolitan Area, the conurbation in Chonburi Province, with a total population exceeding 1,000,000 (2010).

Mở

Người kéo riêng anh ta ra khỏi đám đông, đặt ngón tay vào lỗ tai anh, và nhổ nước miếng mà bôi vào lưỡi anh. Rồi Người ngước mắt lên trời, rên một tiếng và nói: "Épphatha", nghĩa là: hãy mở ra! Lập tức tai anh ta mở ra, lưỡi như hết bị buộc lại. Anh ta nói được rõ ràng. (Mc 7,33-35)

Mastering Evil with Good
The apostle Paul writes to the Romans: "Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them. ... Never pay back evil with evil. ... Never try to get revenge. ... If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink. ... Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good" (Romans 12:14-21). These words cut to the heart of the spiritual life. They make it clear what it means to choose life, not death, to choose blessings not curses. But what is asked of us here goes against the grain of our human nature. We will only be able to act according to Paul's words by knowing with our whole beings that what we are asked to do for others is what God has done for us.

Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya  is the capital of Ayutthaya province in Thailand. Located in the valley of the Chao Phraya River. The city was founded in 1350 by King U Thong, who went there to escape a smallpox outbreak in Lop Buri and proclaimed it the capital of his kingdom, often referred to as the Ayutthaya kingdom or Siam. 
Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. Its remains, characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries, give an idea of its past splendour. It is estimated that Ayutthaya by the year 1600 CE had a population of about 300,000, with the population perhaps reaching 1,000,000 around 1700 CE, making it one of the world's largest cities at that time. 
In 1767, the city was destroyed by the Burmese army, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom. 
The Ayutthaya historical park is the ruins of the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam. It is the site of mass murder, rape and enslavement of Siamese people and destruction of the Ayutthaya city, its art and buildings by the Burmese in 1767, which is recognized internationally as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was refounded a few kilometers to the east. The city is sometimes called "Venice of the East".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_(city)

Chọn

Ông Giuse, chồng bà, là người công chính và không muốn tố giác bà, nên mới định tâm bỏ bà cách kín đáo. Ông đang toan tính như vậy, thì kìa sứ thần Chúa hiện đến báo mộng cho ông rằng: "Này ông Giuse, con cháu Đavít, đừng ngại đón bà Maria vợ ông về, vì người con bà cưu mang là do quyền năng Chúa Thánh Thần. (Mt 1,19-20)

Choosing the Blessings
It is an ongoing temptation to think of ourselves as living under a curse. The loss of a friend, an illness, an accident, a natural disaster, a war, or any failure can make us quickly think that we are no good and are being punished. This temptation to think of our lives as full of curses is even greater when all the media present us day after day with stories about human misery.
Jesus came to bless us, not to curse us. But we must choose to receive that blessing and hand it on to others. Blessings and curses are always placed in front of us. We are free to choose. God says, Choose the blessings! (Nowen G)

Ăn sáng không đủ chất dễ ngất xỉu
Công nhân “khoái ăn sang”
TT - Với 1.000-2.000 đồng, bạn chưa đổi được phân nửa tấm vé giữ xe máy, chưa mua nổi thanh kẹo cao su. Thế nhưng, số tiền ít ỏi đó có thể là cả bữa sáng của nhiều công nhân tại các khu công nghiệp - khu chế xuất (KCN-KCX) trên địa bàn TP.HCM...
Chị Hoa nói: “Bây giờ, mức giá 1.000 đồng thì chỉ có thể ăn khoai chứ mì gói loại rẻ nhất cũng phải ngàn mấy, hai ngàn đồng rồi. Ăn khoai riết cũng nóng ruột, nhưng được cái rẻ tiền, uống thêm chai nước đem theo từ nhà, vậy cho có cảm giác no bụng mà đi làm cả ngày thôi”...
Bữa sáng là bữa ăn quan trọng nhất với công nhân trong ngày, vì sau buổi tối kéo dài 10-12 giờ, cơ thể rất đói. Buổi sáng lại là buổi làm việc nhiều giờ với cường độ năng suất cao. Bữa sáng cung cấp năng lượng và dưỡng chất cần thiết cho người lao động làm việc tốt, tập trung, nhanh nhẹn và sáng tạo, hạn chế sơ suất và tai nạn lao động. Nếu chỉ ăn bánh bò, bánh tiêu, bánh mì không, bún nước tương... thì chỉ có chất bột đường, sẽ thiếu đạm dẫn đến mau đói và không tỉnh táo, dễ giảm đường huyết, ngất xỉu khi đang lao động.
Đối với công nhân chỉ có một khoản tiền rất ít để ăn sáng (dưới 10.000 đồng) thì nên tự nấu ăn tại nhà để tiết kiệm tiền, vừa đảm bảo vệ sinh. Có thể ăn cơm với thức ăn của bữa tối để lại, chiên lại cơm nguội, chọn món ăn ít tiền nhưng đủ chất như bánh mì thịt, xôi đậu, mì gói thêm rau thịt, hủ tiếu thịt heo, bún chả cá, bánh ướt chả lụa...
http://tuoitre.vn/Chinh-tri-Xa-hoi/Phong-su-Ky-su/510569/Cong-nhan-%E2%80%9Ckhoa%CC%81i-an-sang%E2%80%9D.html

Hàn Mặc Tử (1912-1940)
Thử lấy ví dụ trăng, yếu tố quan trọng nhất trong thơ Hàn: tại sao Hàn Mặc Tử có thể tạo ra những trăng khác thường, không giống bất cứ một thứ trăng nào có trước? - Bởi Hàn có óc tưởng tượng phi thường... Hàn Mặc Tử không nhìn trăng như những nhà thơ cổ điển và những nhà thơ mới. Trong thơ Hàn, trăng không còn là trăng nữa. Bởi Hàn không coi trăng như một hình ảnh cố định trên trời, mà Hàn cho trăng một nội dung, một ngoại hình khác hẳn. Nhìn trăng trước mặt, Hàn liên tưởng tới những hình ảnh khác, vắng mặt, và nói theo Bachelard, thì trí tưởng tượng đã giúp Hàn thoát khỏi hình ảnh đầu tiên tiếp nhận được về trăng, để đi đến một chuỗi hình ảnh khác đang lang thang đâu đó trong tâm trí của Hàn. Vì vậy, trăng của Hàn luôn luôn thay đổi hình hài, luôn luôn di chuyển và hành động, chứ không cố định, bất động như trăng “thật”:
Hỡi trăng hãy chặt khóm thùy dương (Tiếng vang)
Sương đẫm trăng lồng bóng thướt tha (Vịnh hoa cúc)
Trăng nằm sóng soải trên cành liễu / Đợi gió đông về để lả lơi (Bẽn lẽn)
Ô kià, bóng nguyệt trần truồng tắm / Lộ cái khuôn vàng dưới đáy khe (Bẽn lẽn)
Bóng Hằng trong chén ngả nghiêng / Lả lơi tắm mát làm duyên gợi tình (Uống trăng)
Có ai nuốt ánh trăng vàng / Có ai nuốt cả bóng nàng tiên nga (Uống trăng)
Mở cửa nhìn trăng, trăng tái mặt / Khép phòng đốt nến nến rơi châu (trích theo bài của Chế Lan Viên)...
Thơ Hàn có cả thiên đường lẫn địa ngục. Giữa hai cực tương phản ấy, Hàn dùng những thực thể vật chất để nối kết, bắc cầu: đó là trăng và nước. Trăng, một tinh cầu đất đá, nhờ thuật luyện kim kỳ dị của Hàn, trở thành tinh cầu nước. Trăng và nước hoá thân trong nhau, đã là nhau:
Nước hoá thành trăng, trăng ra nước
Lụa là ướt đẫm cả trăng thơm
Người trăng ăn vận toàn trăng cả (Say trăng).
Trăng và nước trong thơ Hàn gắn bó với nhau như hồn với xác, và nước cũng ẩn trong thơ Hàn như nhạc. Kể cả những bài thơ không nói đến nước, như bài Mùa xuân chín, nước vẫn đẫm trong thơ...
(Thụy Khê)
... http://www.hopluu.net/D_1-2_2-95_4-1954/

Mới

Nhưng rượu mới thì phải đổ vào bầu mới (Lc 5,38)

Blessing One Another
To bless means to say good things. We have to bless one another constantly. Parents need to bless their children, children their parents, husbands their wives, wives their husbands, friends their friends. In our society, so full of curses, we must fill each place we enter with our blessings. We forget so quickly that we are God's beloved children and allow the many curses of our world to darken our hearts. Therefore we have to be reminded of our belovedness and remind others of theirs. Whether the blessing is given in words or with gestures, in a solemn or an informal way, our lives need to be blessed lives. (Nouwen S)

Bán tóc để được đến trường
Cô nữ sinh luôn tâm niệm: “Cố gắng học thật giỏi dù là bổ túc cũng được”. Cho đến ngày Chi làm thủ tục đăng ký nhập học, các thầy ở Trung tâm giáo dục thường xuyên nhận hồ sơ và thông báo phải nộp trước bốn tháng học phí. Nghe tới đây, cô nữ sinh như đứng không vững vì số tiền quá lớn với ba mẹ con, tương đương tiền công của cả chục ngày làm việc quần quật của mẹ. Cô bé lẳng lặng suy nghĩ và quyết định bán mái tóc dài đen nhánh nữ sinh của mình lấy 500.000 đồng.
“Em nộp học phí hết 325.000 đồng, còn lại mua sách vở cho năm học mới và mua gạo cho mẹ hết 25.000 đồng” - cô bé hồn nhiên nói.
Nhưng sau khi cắt đi mái tóc đen dài của mình, Chi luôn ủ rũ: “Từ độ em bán tóc về chẳng ngủ được. Cứ quen đưa tay vuốt lên tóc lại thấy trống trải rồi khóc”. Bà Huệ cũng chỉ biết ôm con vào lòng rồi òa khóc...
http://tuoitre.vn/Chinh-tri-Xa-hoi/Phong-su-Ky-su/510037/Ban-toc-de-duoc-den-truong.html

Bangkok: BisCom 8 participants developing new communications strategies

2012-09-07 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The 8th meeting of the Asian Bishops’ Institute for Social Communications, BisCom-8, is underway this week in Bangkok, Thailand. Participants are exploring the theme: Social Media: Surfing, Networking, Blogging, Gaming, Addiction - Challenges and Opportunities for Communication Ministry in Asia. A featured speaker at BisCom 8, Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski is the Director of the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives and the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation at the University of Dayton in the US state of Ohio. She is also a former world president of the International Catholic Association for Radio and Televsion, and has served on the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. She told Vatican Radio that the participants are helping the bishops think through the challenges facing them as communicators of the Gospel in the 21^st century. “The BisCom bishops are coming together and seriously looking at the new digital culture – or digital civilisation – and [are] trying to come to terms with what that means for communicating faith in the 21^st century,” Sr. Angela explained. She said Catholic leaders need to find and develop new communications strategies. “We need to find those new ways to communicate that speak to this new digital age that has led to a different kind of consciousness, a different way of thinking – so that impacts our methodologies, and also the language that we use to communicate.”

http://www.news.va/en/news/bangkok-biscom-8-participants-developing-new-commu

Lời nói

Thấy vậy, ông Simôn Phêrô sấp mặt dưới chân Đức Giêsu và nói: "Lạy Chúa, xin tránh xa con, vì con là kẻ tội lỗi! " (Lc 5,8)

Choosing Words Wisely
Words are very important. When we say to someone: "You are an ugly, useless, despicable person," we might have ruined the possibility for a relationship with that person for life. Words can continue to do harm for many years.
It is so important to choose our words wisely. When we are boiling with anger and eager to throw bitter words at our opponents, it is better to remain silent. Words spoken in rage will make reconciliation very hard. Choosing life and not death, blessings and not curses often starts by choosing to remain silent or choosing carefully the words that open the way to healing.

Speaking Words of Love
Often we remain silent when we need to speak. Without words, it is hard to love well. When we say to our parents, children, lovers, or friends: "I love you very much" or "I care for you" or "I think of you often" or "You are my greatest gift," we choose to give life.
It is not always easy to express our love directly in words. But whenever we do, we discover we have offered a blessing that will be long remembered. When a son can say to his father, "Dad, I love you," and when a mother can say to her daughter, "Child, I love you," a whole new blessed place can be opened up, a space where it is good to dwell. Indeed, words have the power to create life. (Nouwen)