"Thầy không gọi các con là tôi tớ mà là bạn hữu thân tình".
Chúa gọi các môn đệ là để họ trở thành bạn tri kỷ của Chúa, chia sẻ sứ mạng cứu độ với Ngài.
Họ thành bạn tâm giao với Chúa để sau đó kết bạn với mọi người và làm cho mọi người đi vào tình bạn thắm thiết với Chúa.
Thánh Anrê đã thể hiện rõ nét tình bạn này. Từ niềm vui thấy mình được là bạn nghĩa thiết của Chúa, ông đã có khả năng giao lưu với người khác cách nhanh chóng, và mau mắn làm cho nhiều người trở thành bạn tốt của Chúa, đó là Phêrô, cậu nhỏ với năm chiếc bánh và hai con cá, các người Hy Lạp...
Tình bạn thắm thiết với Chúa là tất cả hạnh phúc và ý nghĩa đời người.
Thứ Sáu, 30 tháng 11, 2012
Thứ Năm, 29 tháng 11, 2012
Ngẩng đầu
"Anh em hãy đứng thẳng và ngẩng đầu lên, vì anh em sắp được cứu chuộc." (Lc 21,28)
Chúa đã bỏ loài người! Chúa đã bỏ tôi rồi, cuộc đời của tôi thế là tiêu ma!? Không, cho dẫu khốn khổ cay đắng đến đâu, tôi vẫn "đứng thẳng và ngẩng đầu lên". Vì đằng sau nhữg biến cố kinh hoàng, "Con Người sẽ đến đầy quyền năng và vinh quang". Tôi sẽ cùng với Ngài làm cho Trời mới Đất mới được tỏ hiện.
Chúa đã bỏ loài người! Chúa đã bỏ tôi rồi, cuộc đời của tôi thế là tiêu ma!? Không, cho dẫu khốn khổ cay đắng đến đâu, tôi vẫn "đứng thẳng và ngẩng đầu lên". Vì đằng sau nhữg biến cố kinh hoàng, "Con Người sẽ đến đầy quyền năng và vinh quang". Tôi sẽ cùng với Ngài làm cho Trời mới Đất mới được tỏ hiện.
Thứ Ba, 27 tháng 11, 2012
Sụp đổ
"Những gì anh em đang chiêm ngưỡng đó sẽ có ngày bị tàn phá hết, không còn tảng đá nào trên tảng đá nào." Họ hỏi Người: "Thưa Thầy, vậy bao giờ các sự việc đó sẽ xảy ra, và khi sắp xảy ra, thì có điềm gì báo trước? " (Lc 21,6-7)
Muôn ngàn cảnh kinh hoàng vẫn hằng xẩy ra mỗi ngày. Điều này cho thấy: mọi sự trên thế gian, cho dù lộng lẫy huy hoàng xinh đẹp đến mấy đi nữa, cũng sẽ có ngày sụp đổ. Chỉ mình Thiên Chúa là tồn tại vĩnh viễn. Vì thế, sẽ chỉ là khôn ngoan khi biết xây dựng mối tương quan với Chúa mỗi ngày một bền chặt thắm thiết hơn.
Muôn ngàn cảnh kinh hoàng vẫn hằng xẩy ra mỗi ngày. Điều này cho thấy: mọi sự trên thế gian, cho dù lộng lẫy huy hoàng xinh đẹp đến mấy đi nữa, cũng sẽ có ngày sụp đổ. Chỉ mình Thiên Chúa là tồn tại vĩnh viễn. Vì thế, sẽ chỉ là khôn ngoan khi biết xây dựng mối tương quan với Chúa mỗi ngày một bền chặt thắm thiết hơn.
Thứ Hai, 26 tháng 11, 2012
Quan tâm
Người cũng thấy một bà goá túng thiếu kia bỏ vào đó hai đồng tiền kẽm.(Lc 21,2)
Mối quan tâm hàng đầu của tôi là gì và là những ai? Là tiền bạc và những người giáu có? Là quyền lực và những người có địa vị?
Còn mối quan tâm của Chúa Giêsu? Những người thu hút cái nhìn của Chúa không phải những người giàu có, ăn mặc lộng lẫy, bỏ nhiều tiền vào thùng dâng cúng. Mà là một bà goá nghèo bỏ và thùng tiền mấy đồng xu thôi. Chúa hằng quan tâm đến người nghèo nên hiểu ngay tâm hồn và hoàn cảnh của bà. Chúa biết bà đã dâng cúng tất cả những gì bà có. Mối quan tâm hàng đầu của Chúa Giêsu là những người nghèo. Còn tôi?
Focusing on the Poor
Like every human organization the Church is constantly in danger of corruption. As soon as power and wealth come to the Church, manipulation, exploitation, misuse of influence, and outright corruption are not far away.
How do we prevent corruption in the Church? The answer is clear: by focusing on the poor. The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation. When the Church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. It gets caught up in disagreements, jealousy, power games, and pettiness. Paul says, "God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This is the true vision. The poor are given to the Church so that the Church as the body of Christ can be and remain a place of mutual concern, love, and peace. (Nouwen G)
Mối quan tâm hàng đầu của tôi là gì và là những ai? Là tiền bạc và những người giáu có? Là quyền lực và những người có địa vị?
Còn mối quan tâm của Chúa Giêsu? Những người thu hút cái nhìn của Chúa không phải những người giàu có, ăn mặc lộng lẫy, bỏ nhiều tiền vào thùng dâng cúng. Mà là một bà goá nghèo bỏ và thùng tiền mấy đồng xu thôi. Chúa hằng quan tâm đến người nghèo nên hiểu ngay tâm hồn và hoàn cảnh của bà. Chúa biết bà đã dâng cúng tất cả những gì bà có. Mối quan tâm hàng đầu của Chúa Giêsu là những người nghèo. Còn tôi?
Focusing on the Poor
Like every human organization the Church is constantly in danger of corruption. As soon as power and wealth come to the Church, manipulation, exploitation, misuse of influence, and outright corruption are not far away.
How do we prevent corruption in the Church? The answer is clear: by focusing on the poor. The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation. When the Church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. It gets caught up in disagreements, jealousy, power games, and pettiness. Paul says, "God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This is the true vision. The poor are given to the Church so that the Church as the body of Christ can be and remain a place of mutual concern, love, and peace. (Nouwen G)
Chủ Nhật, 25 tháng 11, 2012
Vua tình yêu
Ông Philatô trở vào dinh, cho gọi Đức Giêsu và nói với Người: "Ông có phải là vua dân Do Thái không?" (Ga 18,33b)
Thánh Gioan đang kể lại vụ án Giêsu, một vụ án nổi tiếng nhất lịch sử nhân loại, cũng là một vụ xử án bất công nhất, có nhiều mâu thuẫn nhất và có hiệu quả to lớn bao trùm cả vũ trụ.
Vụ xử án bất công nhất vì bị cáo là người hoàn toàn vô tội, hoàn toàn thánh thiện, nhưng lại phải chịu một bản án nặng nhất: tử hình. Và bị xử tử một cách nhục nhã nhất, khủng khiếp nhất: chết khốn khổ trên thập giá sau khi bị tra tấn dã man.
Vụ án có nhiều mâu thuẫn nhất, vì bị cáo chính là thẩm phán tối cao của toàn thể lịch sử vũ trụ, một thẩm phán chí công vô tư. Còn kẻ xử án Ngài trong vụ kiện này lại là kẻ tội lỗi; khi kết án Giêsu, họ đang kết án chính mình. Họ sẽ rụng rời kinh khiếp khi sau này ra trước toà tối cao Giêsu.
Tại sao Chúa lại để cho một vụ án bất công trái khoáy như vậy xẩy ra và giáng xuống trên chính bản thân của mình? Thưa vì Ngài là Vua! Một vị vua không giống vua trần gian. Không làm vua để đè đầu cưỡi cổ thần dân, nhưng yêu thần dân của Ngài đến tận cùng. Thần dân của Ngài là tất cả nhân loại tội lỗi, ai cũng đáng bị xét xử và nhận phần phạt. Yêu thần dân mình đến cùng, Giêsu muốn lãnh tội và lãnh phần phạt thay cho tất cả, để mang lại ơn tha thứ cho tất cả mọi người. Những ai sám hối để đến với Giêsu đều nhận được ơn tha tội và được đưa vào vương quốc của Ngài, vương quốc của tình yêu và sự thật, vương quốc của bình an và hiệp nhất.
Thánh Gioan đang kể lại vụ án Giêsu, một vụ án nổi tiếng nhất lịch sử nhân loại, cũng là một vụ xử án bất công nhất, có nhiều mâu thuẫn nhất và có hiệu quả to lớn bao trùm cả vũ trụ.
Vụ xử án bất công nhất vì bị cáo là người hoàn toàn vô tội, hoàn toàn thánh thiện, nhưng lại phải chịu một bản án nặng nhất: tử hình. Và bị xử tử một cách nhục nhã nhất, khủng khiếp nhất: chết khốn khổ trên thập giá sau khi bị tra tấn dã man.
Vụ án có nhiều mâu thuẫn nhất, vì bị cáo chính là thẩm phán tối cao của toàn thể lịch sử vũ trụ, một thẩm phán chí công vô tư. Còn kẻ xử án Ngài trong vụ kiện này lại là kẻ tội lỗi; khi kết án Giêsu, họ đang kết án chính mình. Họ sẽ rụng rời kinh khiếp khi sau này ra trước toà tối cao Giêsu.
Tại sao Chúa lại để cho một vụ án bất công trái khoáy như vậy xẩy ra và giáng xuống trên chính bản thân của mình? Thưa vì Ngài là Vua! Một vị vua không giống vua trần gian. Không làm vua để đè đầu cưỡi cổ thần dân, nhưng yêu thần dân của Ngài đến tận cùng. Thần dân của Ngài là tất cả nhân loại tội lỗi, ai cũng đáng bị xét xử và nhận phần phạt. Yêu thần dân mình đến cùng, Giêsu muốn lãnh tội và lãnh phần phạt thay cho tất cả, để mang lại ơn tha thứ cho tất cả mọi người. Những ai sám hối để đến với Giêsu đều nhận được ơn tha tội và được đưa vào vương quốc của Ngài, vương quốc của tình yêu và sự thật, vương quốc của bình an và hiệp nhất.
Thứ Bảy, 24 tháng 11, 2012
Can đảm
Nhưng khi người ta bắt nộp các con, thì các con đừng lo nghĩ phải nói thế nào và nói gì. Vì trong giờ ấy sẽ cho các con biết phải nói gì: vì chưng, không phải chính các con nói, nhưng là Thánh Thần của Cha các con nói trong các con... Vì danh Thầy, anh em sẽ bị mọi người thù ghét. Nhưng kẻ nào bền chí đến cùng, kẻ ấy sẽ được cứu thoát. (Mt 10,19-20.22)
Khi tôi đã từng sống với Chúa mỗi ngày, suy niệm Lời Chúa mỗi ngày, tự khắc tôi sẽ biết nói những gì trong những lúc khó khăn. Chúa Thánh Thần sẽ soi sáng cho tôi. Và lời tôi chia sẻ trong Thánh Thần sẽ góp phần xây dựng cộng đoàn. Chính vì tôi đã đưa kinh nghiệm đời tôi vào cuộc đời của những người khác khi họ đón nhận những chia sẻ của tôi.
A Courageous Life
"Have courage," we often say to one another. Courage is a spiritual virtue. The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means "heart. A courageous act is an act coming from the heart. A courageous word is a word arising from the heart. The heart, however, is not just the place where our emotions are located. The heart is the centre of our being, the centre of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.
When the flesh - the lived human experience - becomes word, community can develop. When we say, "Let me tell you what we saw. Come and listen to what we did. Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us. Wait until you hear whom we met," we call people together and make our lives into lives for others. The word brings us together and calls us into community. When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.
Spiritual Courage
Courage is connected with taking risks. Jumping the Grand Canyon on a motorbike, coming over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or crossing the ocean in a rowboat are called courageous acts because people risk their lives by doing these things. But none of these daredevil acts comes from the centre of our being. They all come from the desire to test our physical limits and to become famous and popular.
Spiritual courage is something completely different. It is following the deepest desires of our hearts at the risk of losing fame and popularity. It asks of us the willingness to lose our temporal lives in order to gain eternal life.
Khi tôi đã từng sống với Chúa mỗi ngày, suy niệm Lời Chúa mỗi ngày, tự khắc tôi sẽ biết nói những gì trong những lúc khó khăn. Chúa Thánh Thần sẽ soi sáng cho tôi. Và lời tôi chia sẻ trong Thánh Thần sẽ góp phần xây dựng cộng đoàn. Chính vì tôi đã đưa kinh nghiệm đời tôi vào cuộc đời của những người khác khi họ đón nhận những chia sẻ của tôi.
A Courageous Life
"Have courage," we often say to one another. Courage is a spiritual virtue. The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means "heart. A courageous act is an act coming from the heart. A courageous word is a word arising from the heart. The heart, however, is not just the place where our emotions are located. The heart is the centre of our being, the centre of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.
When the flesh - the lived human experience - becomes word, community can develop. When we say, "Let me tell you what we saw. Come and listen to what we did. Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us. Wait until you hear whom we met," we call people together and make our lives into lives for others. The word brings us together and calls us into community. When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.
Spiritual Courage
Courage is connected with taking risks. Jumping the Grand Canyon on a motorbike, coming over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or crossing the ocean in a rowboat are called courageous acts because people risk their lives by doing these things. But none of these daredevil acts comes from the centre of our being. They all come from the desire to test our physical limits and to become famous and popular.
Spiritual courage is something completely different. It is following the deepest desires of our hearts at the risk of losing fame and popularity. It asks of us the willingness to lose our temporal lives in order to gain eternal life.
Thứ Sáu, 23 tháng 11, 2012
Nhà cầu nguyện
Khi ấy, Chúa Giêsu vào đền thờ, Người liền xua đuổi các người buôn bán tại đó và phán bảo họ rằng: "Có lời chép rằng: Nhà Ta là nhà cầu nguyện, các ngươi đã biến thành sào huyệt trộm cướp". Và hằng ngày Người giảng dạy trong Ðền thờ. Các thượng tế, luật sĩ và kỳ lão trong dân tìm cách hại Người, nhưng họ không biết phải làm cách nào, vì dân chúng hết thảy đều chăm chú nghe Người.(Lc 19, 45-48)
Chúa thanh tẩy đền thờ bằng Lời của Ngài: "Và hằng ngày Người giảng dạy trong Ðền thờ". Ngài đưa con người vào cuộc đối thoại ân tình với Chúa, và đó là cầu nguyện: "Nhà Ta là nhà cầu nguyện".
Tâm hồn con cũng là nhà cầu nguyện, nơi con lắng nghe Chúa nói và cũng là nơi con tâm sự với Chúa.
Listening With Our Wounds
To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own pain is seldom helpful for someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen with great attentiveness and love to a depressed friend without mentioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a suffering person's attention to ourselves. We have to trust that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to others with our whole beings. That is healing. (Nouwen G)
Chúa thanh tẩy đền thờ bằng Lời của Ngài: "Và hằng ngày Người giảng dạy trong Ðền thờ". Ngài đưa con người vào cuộc đối thoại ân tình với Chúa, và đó là cầu nguyện: "Nhà Ta là nhà cầu nguyện".
Tâm hồn con cũng là nhà cầu nguyện, nơi con lắng nghe Chúa nói và cũng là nơi con tâm sự với Chúa.
Listening With Our Wounds
To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own pain is seldom helpful for someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen with great attentiveness and love to a depressed friend without mentioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a suffering person's attention to ourselves. We have to trust that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to others with our whole beings. That is healing. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Năm, 22 tháng 11, 2012
Ủ ấp
Phải chi ngày hôm nay ngươi cũng nhận ra những gì đem lại bình an cho ngươi (Lc 19,41)
Điều mang lại bình an đó là Đức Giêsu ở trong tôi với quyền năng của Thánh Thần. Cùng với Ngài, cõi lòng của tôi có thể mở rộng để ủ ấp tiếp xúc với toàn thể vũ trụ.
Embracing the Universe
Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Therefore when Jesus lives within us through his Spirit, our hearts embrace not only all people but all of creation. Love casts out all fear and gathers in all that belongs to God.
Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge. (Nouwen G)
Điều mang lại bình an đó là Đức Giêsu ở trong tôi với quyền năng của Thánh Thần. Cùng với Ngài, cõi lòng của tôi có thể mở rộng để ủ ấp tiếp xúc với toàn thể vũ trụ.
Embracing the Universe
Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Therefore when Jesus lives within us through his Spirit, our hearts embrace not only all people but all of creation. Love casts out all fear and gathers in all that belongs to God.
Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Tư, 21 tháng 11, 2012
Dâng
Lễ Đức Mẹ dâng mình vào đền thờ
Dâng mình vào đền thờ là một hành vi của một đức tin sâu thẳm. Vì Tin không chỉ là chấp nhận một chân lý, mà là đón nhận một ngôi vị, đi vào tương quan với một Đấng. Đây là tương quan với một Đấng tối cao, và tôi là hư vô. Những gì tôi có đều do Đấng ấy. Nên về phía tôi, tương quan này là một tương quan phó thác, phó dâng. Như Mẹ Maria dâng mình vào đền thờ.
Dâng mình vào đền thờ là một hành vi của một đức tin sâu thẳm. Vì Tin không chỉ là chấp nhận một chân lý, mà là đón nhận một ngôi vị, đi vào tương quan với một Đấng. Đây là tương quan với một Đấng tối cao, và tôi là hư vô. Những gì tôi có đều do Đấng ấy. Nên về phía tôi, tương quan này là một tương quan phó thác, phó dâng. Như Mẹ Maria dâng mình vào đền thờ.
Lùn
Ông ta tìm cách để xem cho biết Đức Giêsu là ai, nhưng không được, vì dân chúng thì đông, mà ông ta lại lùn.(Lc 19,3)
Napoleon: "Chiều cao một người được tính từ đầu lên tới trời!" Cách đo đạc đó chỉ xẩy ra khi người ta tìm cách vươn lên trời.
Gia kêu đã làm được điều ấy. Ông lùn. Nhưng ông đã vươn lên trời. Nhờ tìm và gặp Giêsu.
Napoleon: "Chiều cao một người được tính từ đầu lên tới trời!" Cách đo đạc đó chỉ xẩy ra khi người ta tìm cách vươn lên trời.
Gia kêu đã làm được điều ấy. Ông lùn. Nhưng ông đã vươn lên trời. Nhờ tìm và gặp Giêsu.
Thứ Hai, 19 tháng 11, 2012
Tăm tối
Đức Giêsu dừng lại, truyền dẫn anh ta đến. Khi anh đã đến gần, Người hỏi: "Anh muốn tôi làm gì cho anh? " Anh ta đáp: "Lạy Ngài, xin cho tôi nhìn thấy được." (Lc 18,40-41)
Đời lắm lúc rơi vào tắm tối. Mong chút ánh sáng của ánh mắt yêu thương, nụ cười khích lệ, lời nói cảm thông. Như Giê su. Và cùng với Giê su. Cho anh em tôi.
Acting in the Name of Jesus
Ministry is acting in the Name of Jesus. When all our actions are in the Name, they will bear fruit for eternal life. To act in the Name of Jesus, however, doesn't mean to act as a representative of Jesus or his spokesperson. It means to act in an intimate communion with him. The Name is like a house, a tent, a dwelling. To act in the Name of Jesus, therefore, means to act from the place where we are united with Jesus in love. To the question "Where are you?" we should be able to answer, "I am in the Name." Then, whatever we do cannot be other than ministry because it will always be Jesus himself who acts in and through us. The final question for all who minister is "Are you in the Name of Jesus?"" When we can say yes to that, all of our lives will be ministry. (Nouwen G)
Đời lắm lúc rơi vào tắm tối. Mong chút ánh sáng của ánh mắt yêu thương, nụ cười khích lệ, lời nói cảm thông. Như Giê su. Và cùng với Giê su. Cho anh em tôi.
Acting in the Name of Jesus
Ministry is acting in the Name of Jesus. When all our actions are in the Name, they will bear fruit for eternal life. To act in the Name of Jesus, however, doesn't mean to act as a representative of Jesus or his spokesperson. It means to act in an intimate communion with him. The Name is like a house, a tent, a dwelling. To act in the Name of Jesus, therefore, means to act from the place where we are united with Jesus in love. To the question "Where are you?" we should be able to answer, "I am in the Name." Then, whatever we do cannot be other than ministry because it will always be Jesus himself who acts in and through us. The final question for all who minister is "Are you in the Name of Jesus?"" When we can say yes to that, all of our lives will be ministry. (Nouwen G)
Chủ Nhật, 18 tháng 11, 2012
Từ bỏ
Ai muốn theo tôi, phải từ bỏ chính mình, vác thập giá mình hằng ngày mà theo.(Lc 9,23)
Yêu là cho. Và cho là từ bỏ. Từ bỏ là sinh hoạt của tình yêu. Những lúc nào tôi không từ bỏ, không hy sinh, thì đấy là những khoảnh khắc vô vị, thiếu tình yêu.
In Memory of Jesus and the Saints
Belonging to the communion of saints means being connected with all people transformed by the Spirit of Jesus. This connection is deep and intimate. Those who have lived as brothers and sisters of Jesus continue to live within us, even though they have died, just as Jesus continues to live within us, even though he has died.
We live our lives in memory of Jesus and the saints, and this memory is a real presence. Jesus and his saints are part of our most intimate and spiritual knowledge of God. They inspire us, guide us, encourage us, and give us hope. They are the source of our constant transformation. Yes, we carry them in our bodies and thus keep them alive for all with whom we live and work.
Yêu là cho. Và cho là từ bỏ. Từ bỏ là sinh hoạt của tình yêu. Những lúc nào tôi không từ bỏ, không hy sinh, thì đấy là những khoảnh khắc vô vị, thiếu tình yêu.
In Memory of Jesus and the Saints
Belonging to the communion of saints means being connected with all people transformed by the Spirit of Jesus. This connection is deep and intimate. Those who have lived as brothers and sisters of Jesus continue to live within us, even though they have died, just as Jesus continues to live within us, even though he has died.
We live our lives in memory of Jesus and the saints, and this memory is a real presence. Jesus and his saints are part of our most intimate and spiritual knowledge of God. They inspire us, guide us, encourage us, and give us hope. They are the source of our constant transformation. Yes, we carry them in our bodies and thus keep them alive for all with whom we live and work.
Thứ Bảy, 17 tháng 11, 2012
Còn không?
Nhưng khi Con Người đến, liệu sẽ còn gặp được lòng tin trên mặt đất nữa chăng? (Lc 18,8)Yếu đuối là thân phận của con người. Sa ngã khiến niềm tin của con lung lay. Ý thức như thế, con thường xuyên bám vào Chúa bằng lời cầu nguyện, bằng cách đọc Lời Chúa mỗi ngày. Cứ như thế từng ngày. Và khi Con Người đến...
Remaining Faithful
Many people live with the unconscious or conscious expectation that eventually things will get better; wars, hunger, poverty, oppression, and exploitation will vanish; and all people will live in harmony. Their lives and work are motivated by that expectation. When this does not happen in their lifetimes, they are often disillusioned and experience themselves as failures.
But Jesus doesn't support such an optimistic outlook. He foresees not only the destruction of his beloved city Jerusalem but also a world full of cruelty, violence, and conflict. For Jesus there is no happy ending in this world. The challenge of Jesus is not to solve all the world's problems before the end of time but to remain faithful at any cost. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Sáu, 16 tháng 11, 2012
Ngày của Con Người
Và cũng như thời ông Nôê, sự việc đã xảy ra cách nào, thì trong những ngày của Con Người, sự việc cũng sẽ xảy ra như vậy. (Lc 17,26)
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.
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.
The Coming of the Son of Man
The spiritual knowledge that we belong to God and are safe with God even as we live in a very destructive world allows us to see in the midst of all the turmoil, fear, and agony of history "the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27). Even though Jesus speaks about this as about a final event, it is not just one more thing that is going to happen after all the terrible things are over. Just as the end-time is already here, so too is the coming of the Son of Man. It is an event in the realm of the Spirit and thus not subject to the boundaries of time.
Those who live in communion with Jesus have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the second coming of Jesus among them in the here and now. Jesus says: "Before this generation has passed away all will have taken place" (Luke 21:32). And this is true for each faithful generation.
(Nouwen G)
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.
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.
The Coming of the Son of Man
The spiritual knowledge that we belong to God and are safe with God even as we live in a very destructive world allows us to see in the midst of all the turmoil, fear, and agony of history "the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27). Even though Jesus speaks about this as about a final event, it is not just one more thing that is going to happen after all the terrible things are over. Just as the end-time is already here, so too is the coming of the Son of Man. It is an event in the realm of the Spirit and thus not subject to the boundaries of time.
Those who live in communion with Jesus have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the second coming of Jesus among them in the here and now. Jesus says: "Before this generation has passed away all will have taken place" (Luke 21:32). And this is true for each faithful generation.
(Nouwen G)
Thứ Năm, 15 tháng 11, 2012
Ở giữa
Triều Đại Thiên Chúa đang ở giữa các ông (Lc 17,21)
Heart As Wide As the World
The awareness of being part of the communion of saints makes our hearts as wide as the world. The love with which we love is not just our love; it is the love of Jesus and his saints living in us. When the Spirit of Jesus lives in our hearts, all who have lived their lives in that Spirit live there too. Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents; our teachers and their teachers; our pastors and their pastors; our spiritual guides and theirs - all the holy men and women who form that long line of love through history - are part of our hearts, where the Spirit of Jesus chooses to dwell.
The communion of saints is not just a network of connections between people. It is first and foremost the community of our hearts.(Nouwen G)
The Fruit of Our Communal Life
Our society encourages individualism. We are constantly made to believe that everything we think, say, or do, is our personal accomplishment, deserving individual attention. But as people who belong to the communion of saints, we know that anything of spiritual value is not the result of individual accomplishment but the fruit of a communal life.
Whatever we know about God and God's love; whatever we know about Jesus - his life, death, and resurrection - whatever we know about the Church and its ministry, is not the invention of our minds asking for an award. It is the knowledge that has come to us through the ages from the people of Israel and the prophets, from Jesus and the saints, and from all who have played roles in the formation of our hearts. True spiritual knowledge belongs to the communion of saints.
Embracing the Universe
Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Therefore when Jesus lives within us through his Spirit, our hearts embrace not only all people but all of creation. Love casts out all fear and gathers in all that belongs to God.
Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge.
Heart As Wide As the World
The awareness of being part of the communion of saints makes our hearts as wide as the world. The love with which we love is not just our love; it is the love of Jesus and his saints living in us. When the Spirit of Jesus lives in our hearts, all who have lived their lives in that Spirit live there too. Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents; our teachers and their teachers; our pastors and their pastors; our spiritual guides and theirs - all the holy men and women who form that long line of love through history - are part of our hearts, where the Spirit of Jesus chooses to dwell.
The communion of saints is not just a network of connections between people. It is first and foremost the community of our hearts.(Nouwen G)
The Fruit of Our Communal Life
Our society encourages individualism. We are constantly made to believe that everything we think, say, or do, is our personal accomplishment, deserving individual attention. But as people who belong to the communion of saints, we know that anything of spiritual value is not the result of individual accomplishment but the fruit of a communal life.
Whatever we know about God and God's love; whatever we know about Jesus - his life, death, and resurrection - whatever we know about the Church and its ministry, is not the invention of our minds asking for an award. It is the knowledge that has come to us through the ages from the people of Israel and the prophets, from Jesus and the saints, and from all who have played roles in the formation of our hearts. True spiritual knowledge belongs to the communion of saints.
Embracing the Universe
Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Therefore when Jesus lives within us through his Spirit, our hearts embrace not only all people but all of creation. Love casts out all fear and gathers in all that belongs to God.
Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge.
Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 11, 2012
Biết ơn
Một người trong bọn, thấy mình được khỏi, liền quay trở lại và lớn tiếng tôn vinh Thiên Chúa (Lc 17,15)
Biết ơn là nhận biết được điều kỳ diệu người khác làm cho mình: nhìn ra sự kỳ diệu của cuộc đời.
Biết ơn là nhận biết những mối tương quan trong xã hội, nhờ đó mình nhận được những điều kỳ diệu.
Biết ơn là nhận ra bổn phận phải đáp trả bằng cách chính mình phải tạo ra những điều kỳ diệu cho cuộc đời bằng cách làm đẹp những mối tương quan.
Biết ơn là nhận biết được điều kỳ diệu người khác làm cho mình: nhìn ra sự kỳ diệu của cuộc đời.
Biết ơn là nhận biết những mối tương quan trong xã hội, nhờ đó mình nhận được những điều kỳ diệu.
Biết ơn là nhận ra bổn phận phải đáp trả bằng cách chính mình phải tạo ra những điều kỳ diệu cho cuộc đời bằng cách làm đẹp những mối tương quan.
Thứ Ba, 13 tháng 11, 2012
Đầy tớ
Chúng tôi là những đầy tớ vô dụng. Chúng tôi chỉ làm việc theo bổn phận đấy thôi (Lc 17,10b)
Telling the Story of Jesus
The Church is called to announce the Good News of Jesus to all people and all nations. Besides the many works of mercy by which the Church must make Jesus' love visible, it must also joyfully announce the great mystery of God's salvation through the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The story of Jesus is to be proclaimed and celebrated. Some will hear and rejoice, some will remain indifferent, some will become hostile. The story of Jesus will not always be accepted, but it must be told.
We who know the story and try to live it out, have the joyful task of telling it to others. When our words rise from hearts full of love and gratitude, they will bear fruit, whether we can see this or not. (Nouwen G)
Telling the Story of Jesus
The Church is called to announce the Good News of Jesus to all people and all nations. Besides the many works of mercy by which the Church must make Jesus' love visible, it must also joyfully announce the great mystery of God's salvation through the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The story of Jesus is to be proclaimed and celebrated. Some will hear and rejoice, some will remain indifferent, some will become hostile. The story of Jesus will not always be accepted, but it must be told.
We who know the story and try to live it out, have the joyful task of telling it to others. When our words rise from hearts full of love and gratitude, they will bear fruit, whether we can see this or not. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Hai, 12 tháng 11, 2012
Bao dung
Dù nó xúc phạm đến anh một ngày đến bảy lần… thì anh cũng phải tha cho nó (Lc 17,4)
The Authority of Compassion
The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realize how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.
There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.
The Authority of Compassion
The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realize how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.
There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.
Chủ Nhật, 11 tháng 11, 2012
Hơn
"Thầy bảo thật anh em: bà goá nghèo này đã bỏ vào thùng nhiều hơn ai hết (Mc 12, 43)
Going to the Margins of the Church
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention.
We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us. (Nouwen G)
Going to the Margins of the Church
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention.
We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Bảy, 10 tháng 11, 2012
Nghèo
Ai trung tín trong việc rất nhỏ, thì cũng trung tín trong việc lớn; ai bất lương trong việc rất nhỏ, thì cũng bất lương trong việc lớn. Anh em không thể vừa làm tôi Thiên Chúa, vừa làm tôi Tiền Của được. (Lc 16,10.13)
Becoming the Church of the Poor
When we claim our own poverty and connect our poverty with the poverty of our brothers and sisters, we become the Church of the poor, which is the Church of Jesus.
Solidarity is essential for the Church of the poor . Both pain and joy must be shared. As one body we will experience deeply one another's agonies as well as one another's ecstasies. As Paul says: "If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy" (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Often we might prefer not to be part of the body because it makes us feel the pain of others so intensely. Every time we love others deeply we feel their pain deeply. However, joy is hidden in the pain. When we share the pain we also will share the joy.
Who Are the Poor?
The poor are the center of the Church. But who are the poor? At first we might think of people who are not like us: people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes. But the poor can be very close. They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces. Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.
It is precisely when we see and experience poverty - whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts - that we need to become the Church; that is, hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another's wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread. Thus, as the poor we recognise Jesus, who became poor for us.
Becoming the Church of the Poor
When we claim our own poverty and connect our poverty with the poverty of our brothers and sisters, we become the Church of the poor, which is the Church of Jesus.
Solidarity is essential for the Church of the poor . Both pain and joy must be shared. As one body we will experience deeply one another's agonies as well as one another's ecstasies. As Paul says: "If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy" (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Often we might prefer not to be part of the body because it makes us feel the pain of others so intensely. Every time we love others deeply we feel their pain deeply. However, joy is hidden in the pain. When we share the pain we also will share the joy.
Who Are the Poor?
The poor are the center of the Church. But who are the poor? At first we might think of people who are not like us: people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes. But the poor can be very close. They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces. Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.
It is precisely when we see and experience poverty - whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts - that we need to become the Church; that is, hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another's wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread. Thus, as the poor we recognise Jesus, who became poor for us.
Thứ Sáu, 9 tháng 11, 2012
Đền thờ
Các ông cứ phá huỷ Đền Thờ này đi; nội ba ngày, tôi sẽ xây dựng lại (Ga 2,19)
Meeting Christ in the Church
Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions. It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself. This is true not only for the "little" people - the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten - but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church.
To love the Church means to be willing to meet Jesus wherever we go in the Church. This love doesn't mean agreeing with or approving of everyone's ideas or behavior. On the contrary, it can call us to confront those who hide Christ from us. But whether we confront or affirm, criticize or praise, we can only become fruitful when our words and actions come from hearts that love the Church. (Nouwen G)
Meeting Christ in the Church
Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions. It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself. This is true not only for the "little" people - the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten - but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church.
To love the Church means to be willing to meet Jesus wherever we go in the Church. This love doesn't mean agreeing with or approving of everyone's ideas or behavior. On the contrary, it can call us to confront those who hide Christ from us. But whether we confront or affirm, criticize or praise, we can only become fruitful when our words and actions come from hearts that love the Church. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Năm, 8 tháng 11, 2012
Tha thứ
Giữa triều thần Thiên Chúa, ai nấy sẽ vui mừng vì một người tội lỗi ăn năn sám hối (Lc 15,10)
Forgiving the Church
When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ.
When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer. (Nouwen G)
Woe to the Republic!
Over at HotAir, they're talking about what the election means. Ed Morrissey mentions last night proved 2010 was the anomoly, that 2008 and 2012 represent the new norm, realignment to the Left. But I don’t see this as a realignment towards the Left. I think it is a realignment AWAY from the Right. I think Americans are relatively sane in regards to big government. But they simply don’t trust Republicans and are even frightened of them.
While the Democrats use it as an excuse to pretend their Leftist agenda is awesome despite public disapproval, I think it is very true for the GOP. I think the Republicans have a messaging problem.
Some more thoughts:
Romney is a great guy and I think he would have been a good president. But he played right into voters’ fears by being a rich white guy and he didn't do enough to transcend that stereotype.
The President went small in the campaign. Romney went big. But not big enough. In retrospect, Romney should have made this election not about the economy, but a referendum on the Future. Right or Left? Small government or Big government? Fiscal sanity or Fiscal disaster?
Romney should have made it clear that a vote for the President was a vote to embrace and cement the new norm of greater entitlement and regulation of society, which America can no longer afford.
To put it simply, Romney failed to message how high the stakes were in the election. Every nation gets the government it deserves.
Forgiving the Church
When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ.
When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer. (Nouwen G)
Woe to the Republic!
Over at HotAir, they're talking about what the election means. Ed Morrissey mentions last night proved 2010 was the anomoly, that 2008 and 2012 represent the new norm, realignment to the Left. But I don’t see this as a realignment towards the Left. I think it is a realignment AWAY from the Right. I think Americans are relatively sane in regards to big government. But they simply don’t trust Republicans and are even frightened of them.
While the Democrats use it as an excuse to pretend their Leftist agenda is awesome despite public disapproval, I think it is very true for the GOP. I think the Republicans have a messaging problem.
Some more thoughts:
Romney is a great guy and I think he would have been a good president. But he played right into voters’ fears by being a rich white guy and he didn't do enough to transcend that stereotype.
The President went small in the campaign. Romney went big. But not big enough. In retrospect, Romney should have made this election not about the economy, but a referendum on the Future. Right or Left? Small government or Big government? Fiscal sanity or Fiscal disaster?
Romney should have made it clear that a vote for the President was a vote to embrace and cement the new norm of greater entitlement and regulation of society, which America can no longer afford.
To put it simply, Romney failed to message how high the stakes were in the election. Every nation gets the government it deserves.
-- Joseph de Maistre, Lettres et Opuscules
Thứ Tư, 7 tháng 11, 2012
Thuộc về ai?
Ai trong anh em muốn xây một cây tháp, mà trước tiên lại không ngồi xuống tính toán phí tổn, xem mình có đủ để hoàn thành không? (Lc 14,28)
Being in the Church, Not of It
Often we hear the remark that we have to live in the world without being of the world. But it may be more difficult to be in the Church without being of the Church.
Being of the Church means being so preoccupied by and involved in the many ecclesial affairs and clerical "ins and outs" that we are no longer focused on Jesus. The Church then blinds us from what we came to see and deafens us to what we came to hear.
Still, it is in the Church that Christ dwells, invites us to his table, and speaks to us words of eternal love.
Being in the Church without being of it is a great spiritual challenge.
BREAD, CIRCUSES AND THE WAR ON THE UNBORN
The US Presidential Elections in an Historical Context
By Elizabeth Lev
As we enter into the final days of the presidential election in the United States, the constant mantra from the entertainment industry for the reelection of President Barack Obama has been the promotion of “reproductive rights.” Starlets and aging glamour queens have come out of the woodwork to tout the importance of Planned Parenthood (the world’s largest abortion provider), the necessity of taxpayer-funded contraception (including abortifacients and sterilization), and the supposed “war on women” of the Republican party.
In a country faced with real terrorist threats (including the recent murder of US ambassador Chris Stevens), a severe economic crisis and a natural disaster in the form of hurricane Sandy, this fixation on sex and entertainment is bizarre—yet, for students of history, strangely familiar. A similar campaign was waged by Emperor Vespasian in 70 AD, when he sought to distract the Romans from fire, ruin and invasion with the games of the Coliseum.
The Coliseum, more precisely known as the Flavian Amphitheater, is probably the best known monument from Ancient Rome. Millions of people flock to its skeletal remains every year, delighting in the tales of the gladiators, marveling at its size, and posing for photographs with costumed Roman soldiers in the arena of death. The Flavian amphitheater, however, much like the colossal remains of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, would be much less pleasant if it were still active today. The building should not only serve to delight, but also to teach.
The Coliseum was built during a very precarious era for the Empire. Nero had proved himself not only unworthy of his exalted title of “Augustus,” but had left the city depleted of men and money after the great fire of Rome. His Golden House parked in the middle of Rome’s prime real estate had been the final straw for an exasperated population, which rioted and forced the emperor out of the city, where he ultimately killed himself.
Thus the next Emperor, Vespasian, inherited an angry Empire. Businesses had been lost, life savings dissipated and many lives gone. It would be very difficult indeed to convince the Romans that the Empire was a better solution than the recently extinct Republic. Vespasian, whose greatest gift seems to have been an ability to appear as a “people’s emperor” (history records many down-to-earth quips that still bring a smile today), found a way to quell the rising dissatisfaction: the entertainment industry.
This was not entirely original with him. The Roman Republic had outlawed theaters, claiming they were breeding grounds for rebellion, which captivated the idle with tragic stories designed to incite dissent. Pompey the Great circumvented this law in 52BC, becoming the darling of the people, and Julius Caesar, not one to lose an advantage, quickly built another theater, which he never lived to see completed. The successful demagoguery of the proto-Emperors was not lost on Vespasian, who knew that, more than appealing to piety or philanthropy (two qualities highly prized by the Romans) the quickest way to make the populace succumb to his will was to give them entertainments, which, in the Empire, were called “munera” or gifts. Juvenal, a Roman poet who witnessed the first years of the Coliseum, saw clearly the teetering moral foundations of the Empire. In Satire X, he laments, “The public has long since cast off its cares; the people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things----Bread and Games!”
This was the Rome of Vespasian, a people turned inward to its own desires, ignoring the good of the nation and its nobler pursuits, and seeking only to be fed and amused. In this world, a gladiator could rise to sway the populace as did Spartacus, whose prowess in the arena was equated with the ability to lead the polity. Our modern age does not throw condemned criminals and prisoners of war into the ring to die for our amusement, although, thanks to cinema and video games, this human appetite is still fully appeased.
Our era, like the Romans, looks to sex for its ultimate entertainment, the unfettered ability to take pleasure however and whenever we like. Seemingly more pacific than the murders in the arena, rampant sexuality encourages people to exploit each other for amusement, under the guise that this is a harmless pastime as long as both are consenting. The philosopher Seneca, watching the games even before the age of the Coliseum, already understoodhow a little “harmless entertainment” would transform his people. He wrote,
“There is nothing so ruinous to good character as to idle away one's time at some spectacle. Vices have a way of creeping in because of the feeling of pleasure that it brings. Why do you think that I say that I personally return from shows greedier, more ambitious and more given to luxury?”
Pope Benedict XVI has identified the obsession with sexuality as a form of escapism similar to drugs. In his book “Light of the World,” while speaking of sex tourism and drug addiction, the Holy Father noted that the West feels a need for these “drugs” as it has “A craving for happiness has developed that cannot content itself with things as they are…. The destructive processes at work in that are extraordinary and are born from the arrogance and the boredom and the false freedom of the Western world.” A pagan philosopher and a Catholic theologian singing in harmony?
But are these modern games victimless? Does really no one get hurt? In the arena, the Romans at least threw to the amusements of the people condemned criminals, men who had fought against the empire or disobeyed its most serious laws. In the eyes of the Roman people, these people had lost their status as human beings by defying the might and order of the Empire.
Today the victims that are sacrificed for the pleasures of the citizens are wholly innocent: the unborn. As much as we would like to separate them, sex and human life are still intertwined. But the savage agenda of “reproductive rights,” treats the unborn like the condemned criminal of Rome--as less than human, an unwanted by-product of bedroom entertainments. Unlimited abortion and contraception including abortifacients, paid for by every American taxpayer, wages war on these innocent lives. In Vespasian’s amphitheater, the games were free, a gift of the military spoils of a generous emperor, but in the abortion arena, every American, working to raise a family, will be paying for the emperor’s sinister pandering
There are, of course, many cases where abortion and contraception are resorted to out of hardship, violence and very difficult situations, but Planned Parenthood did not become a 4 billion dollar a year industry by catering to women who are victims of rape and incest. The abortion business has given 12 million dollars to the Obama campaign and Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, has taken a leave of absence to campaign full time for the incumbent.
When those promoting the right to abortion are the same who make sexually provocative entertainments, it is not rape victims they are championing. The Playboy Foundation’s status as major donor to Planned Parenthood is not motivated by concern for victims of rape and incest, but rather seeks to snuff out the unwanted consequences of the freewheeling lifestyle it promotes. A television ad likening voting for the first time to losing one’s virginity, seems par for the course for these people, attempting to titillate young people into the voting booths.
Sadly, among the starlets like Scarlett Johansson and Eva Longoria, Meryl Streep has also declared her belief that the crusade to de-fund Planned Parenthood and place legal limits on abortion amounts to a “War on Women.” She stands like a modern Spartacus, ready to rally others to an ill-conceived and ill-fated quest. Dozens of actors and actresses have spoken out in support of the radically permissive abortion stance of the present administration.
The Romans and Greeks, however, as seduced as they were by the games, were never foolish enough to believe the words of an actor. The Greek word for actor “hypokrites" was understood, at least by the Greek speaking authors of the New Testament, to mean one who says one thing and does another. Actors are paid to make you believe they are aliens or angels, presidents or prostitutes. Indeed, many of our modern “hypokrites" play the noble artist among their fans Stateside, but hawk toothpaste and soft drinks in advertisements on the other side of the globe. Are these the people who should guide Americans in the decisions that will affect their children and their grandchildren?
In the ancient world, it was scholars and philosophers who stood up to decry the folly of a regime that would manipulate its people through bread and circuses. In our own Brave New World, such students of reason are needed more than ever.
* * *
Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus and University of St. Thomas' Catholic Studies program. Her new book, The Tigress of Forlì: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici" was published by Harcourt, Mifflin Houghton Press Fall 2012. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org
Being in the Church, Not of It
Often we hear the remark that we have to live in the world without being of the world. But it may be more difficult to be in the Church without being of the Church.
Being of the Church means being so preoccupied by and involved in the many ecclesial affairs and clerical "ins and outs" that we are no longer focused on Jesus. The Church then blinds us from what we came to see and deafens us to what we came to hear.
Still, it is in the Church that Christ dwells, invites us to his table, and speaks to us words of eternal love.
Being in the Church without being of it is a great spiritual challenge.
BREAD, CIRCUSES AND THE WAR ON THE UNBORN
The US Presidential Elections in an Historical Context
By Elizabeth Lev
As we enter into the final days of the presidential election in the United States, the constant mantra from the entertainment industry for the reelection of President Barack Obama has been the promotion of “reproductive rights.” Starlets and aging glamour queens have come out of the woodwork to tout the importance of Planned Parenthood (the world’s largest abortion provider), the necessity of taxpayer-funded contraception (including abortifacients and sterilization), and the supposed “war on women” of the Republican party.
In a country faced with real terrorist threats (including the recent murder of US ambassador Chris Stevens), a severe economic crisis and a natural disaster in the form of hurricane Sandy, this fixation on sex and entertainment is bizarre—yet, for students of history, strangely familiar. A similar campaign was waged by Emperor Vespasian in 70 AD, when he sought to distract the Romans from fire, ruin and invasion with the games of the Coliseum.
The Coliseum, more precisely known as the Flavian Amphitheater, is probably the best known monument from Ancient Rome. Millions of people flock to its skeletal remains every year, delighting in the tales of the gladiators, marveling at its size, and posing for photographs with costumed Roman soldiers in the arena of death. The Flavian amphitheater, however, much like the colossal remains of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, would be much less pleasant if it were still active today. The building should not only serve to delight, but also to teach.
The Coliseum was built during a very precarious era for the Empire. Nero had proved himself not only unworthy of his exalted title of “Augustus,” but had left the city depleted of men and money after the great fire of Rome. His Golden House parked in the middle of Rome’s prime real estate had been the final straw for an exasperated population, which rioted and forced the emperor out of the city, where he ultimately killed himself.
Thus the next Emperor, Vespasian, inherited an angry Empire. Businesses had been lost, life savings dissipated and many lives gone. It would be very difficult indeed to convince the Romans that the Empire was a better solution than the recently extinct Republic. Vespasian, whose greatest gift seems to have been an ability to appear as a “people’s emperor” (history records many down-to-earth quips that still bring a smile today), found a way to quell the rising dissatisfaction: the entertainment industry.
This was not entirely original with him. The Roman Republic had outlawed theaters, claiming they were breeding grounds for rebellion, which captivated the idle with tragic stories designed to incite dissent. Pompey the Great circumvented this law in 52BC, becoming the darling of the people, and Julius Caesar, not one to lose an advantage, quickly built another theater, which he never lived to see completed. The successful demagoguery of the proto-Emperors was not lost on Vespasian, who knew that, more than appealing to piety or philanthropy (two qualities highly prized by the Romans) the quickest way to make the populace succumb to his will was to give them entertainments, which, in the Empire, were called “munera” or gifts. Juvenal, a Roman poet who witnessed the first years of the Coliseum, saw clearly the teetering moral foundations of the Empire. In Satire X, he laments, “The public has long since cast off its cares; the people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things----Bread and Games!”
This was the Rome of Vespasian, a people turned inward to its own desires, ignoring the good of the nation and its nobler pursuits, and seeking only to be fed and amused. In this world, a gladiator could rise to sway the populace as did Spartacus, whose prowess in the arena was equated with the ability to lead the polity. Our modern age does not throw condemned criminals and prisoners of war into the ring to die for our amusement, although, thanks to cinema and video games, this human appetite is still fully appeased.
Our era, like the Romans, looks to sex for its ultimate entertainment, the unfettered ability to take pleasure however and whenever we like. Seemingly more pacific than the murders in the arena, rampant sexuality encourages people to exploit each other for amusement, under the guise that this is a harmless pastime as long as both are consenting. The philosopher Seneca, watching the games even before the age of the Coliseum, already understoodhow a little “harmless entertainment” would transform his people. He wrote,
“There is nothing so ruinous to good character as to idle away one's time at some spectacle. Vices have a way of creeping in because of the feeling of pleasure that it brings. Why do you think that I say that I personally return from shows greedier, more ambitious and more given to luxury?”
Pope Benedict XVI has identified the obsession with sexuality as a form of escapism similar to drugs. In his book “Light of the World,” while speaking of sex tourism and drug addiction, the Holy Father noted that the West feels a need for these “drugs” as it has “A craving for happiness has developed that cannot content itself with things as they are…. The destructive processes at work in that are extraordinary and are born from the arrogance and the boredom and the false freedom of the Western world.” A pagan philosopher and a Catholic theologian singing in harmony?
But are these modern games victimless? Does really no one get hurt? In the arena, the Romans at least threw to the amusements of the people condemned criminals, men who had fought against the empire or disobeyed its most serious laws. In the eyes of the Roman people, these people had lost their status as human beings by defying the might and order of the Empire.
Today the victims that are sacrificed for the pleasures of the citizens are wholly innocent: the unborn. As much as we would like to separate them, sex and human life are still intertwined. But the savage agenda of “reproductive rights,” treats the unborn like the condemned criminal of Rome--as less than human, an unwanted by-product of bedroom entertainments. Unlimited abortion and contraception including abortifacients, paid for by every American taxpayer, wages war on these innocent lives. In Vespasian’s amphitheater, the games were free, a gift of the military spoils of a generous emperor, but in the abortion arena, every American, working to raise a family, will be paying for the emperor’s sinister pandering
There are, of course, many cases where abortion and contraception are resorted to out of hardship, violence and very difficult situations, but Planned Parenthood did not become a 4 billion dollar a year industry by catering to women who are victims of rape and incest. The abortion business has given 12 million dollars to the Obama campaign and Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, has taken a leave of absence to campaign full time for the incumbent.
When those promoting the right to abortion are the same who make sexually provocative entertainments, it is not rape victims they are championing. The Playboy Foundation’s status as major donor to Planned Parenthood is not motivated by concern for victims of rape and incest, but rather seeks to snuff out the unwanted consequences of the freewheeling lifestyle it promotes. A television ad likening voting for the first time to losing one’s virginity, seems par for the course for these people, attempting to titillate young people into the voting booths.
Sadly, among the starlets like Scarlett Johansson and Eva Longoria, Meryl Streep has also declared her belief that the crusade to de-fund Planned Parenthood and place legal limits on abortion amounts to a “War on Women.” She stands like a modern Spartacus, ready to rally others to an ill-conceived and ill-fated quest. Dozens of actors and actresses have spoken out in support of the radically permissive abortion stance of the present administration.
The Romans and Greeks, however, as seduced as they were by the games, were never foolish enough to believe the words of an actor. The Greek word for actor “hypokrites" was understood, at least by the Greek speaking authors of the New Testament, to mean one who says one thing and does another. Actors are paid to make you believe they are aliens or angels, presidents or prostitutes. Indeed, many of our modern “hypokrites" play the noble artist among their fans Stateside, but hawk toothpaste and soft drinks in advertisements on the other side of the globe. Are these the people who should guide Americans in the decisions that will affect their children and their grandchildren?
In the ancient world, it was scholars and philosophers who stood up to decry the folly of a regime that would manipulate its people through bread and circuses. In our own Brave New World, such students of reason are needed more than ever.
* * *
Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus and University of St. Thomas' Catholic Studies program. Her new book, The Tigress of Forlì: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici" was published by Harcourt, Mifflin Houghton Press Fall 2012. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org
Thứ Ba, 6 tháng 11, 2012
Tiệc
Phúc thay ai được dự tiệc trong Nước Thiên Chúa (Lc,14,15)
Jesus, Our Food and Drink
Jesus is the Word of God, who came down from heaven, was born of the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, and became a human person. This happened in a specific place at a specific time. But each day when we celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus comes down from heaven, takes bread and wine, and by the power of the Holy Spirit becomes our food and drink. Indeed, through the Eucharist, God's incarnation continues to happen at any time and at any place.
Sometimes we might think: "I wish I had been there with Jesus and his apostles long ago!" But Jesus is closer to us now than he was to his own friends. Today he is our daily bread!
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)
Jesus, Our Food and Drink
Jesus is the Word of God, who came down from heaven, was born of the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, and became a human person. This happened in a specific place at a specific time. But each day when we celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus comes down from heaven, takes bread and wine, and by the power of the Holy Spirit becomes our food and drink. Indeed, through the Eucharist, God's incarnation continues to happen at any time and at any place.
Sometimes we might think: "I wish I had been there with Jesus and his apostles long ago!" But Jesus is closer to us now than he was to his own friends. Today he is our daily bread!
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)
Thứ Hai, 5 tháng 11, 2012
Nghèo
Nhưng khi ông dọn tiệc, ông hãy mời những người nghèo khó, tàn tật, què quặt và đui mù, thì ông sẽ được phúc, bởi họ không có gì đền ơn cho ông: vì chưng, khi những người công chính sống lại, ông sẽ được đền ơn (Lc 14,14)
The Weakest in the Center
The most honored parts of the body are not the head or the hands, which lead and control. The most important parts are the least presentable parts. That's the mystery of the Church. As a people called out of oppression to freedom, we must recognize that it is the weakest among us - the elderly, the small children, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the hungry and sick - who form the real center. Paul says, "It is the parts of the body which we consider least dignified, that we surround with the greatest dignity" (1 Corinthians 12:23).
The Church as the people of God can truly embody the living Christ among us only when the poor remain its most treasured part. Care for the poor, therefore, is much more than Christian charity. It is the essence of being the body of Christ.
Focusing on the Poor
Like every human organization the Church is constantly in danger of corruption. As soon as power and wealth come to the Church, manipulation, exploitation, misuse of influence, and outright corruption are not far away.
How do we prevent corruption in the Church? The answer is clear: by focusing on the poor. The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation. When the Church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. It gets caught up in disagreements, jealousy, power games, and pettiness. Paul says, "God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This is the true vision. The poor are given to the Church so that the Church as the body of Christ can be and remain a place of mutual concern, love, and peace.
Going to the Margins of the Church
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention.
We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us.
Who Are the Poor?
The poor are the center of the Church. But who are the poor? At first we might think of people who are not like us: people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes. But the poor can be very close. They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces. Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.
It is precisely when we see and experience poverty - whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts - that we need to become the Church; that is, hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another's wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread. Thus, as the poor we recognise Jesus, who became poor for us.
The Poverty of Our Leaders
There is a tendency to think about poverty, suffering, and pain as realities that happen primarily or even exclusively at the bottom of our Church. We seldom think of our leaders as poor. Still, there is great poverty, deep loneliness, painful isolation, real depression, and much emotional suffering at the top of our Church.
We need the courage to acknowledge the suffering of the leaders of our Church - its ministers, priests, bishops, and popes - and include them in this fellowship of the weak. When we are not distracted by the power, wealth, and success of those who offer leadership, we will soon discover their powerlessness, poverty, and failures and feel free to reach out to them with the same compassion we want to give to those at the bottom. In God's eyes there is no distance between bottom and top. There shouldn't be in our eyes either.
Becoming the Church of the Poor
When we claim our own poverty and connect our poverty with the poverty of our brothers and sisters, we become the Church of the poor, which is the Church of Jesus. Solidarity is essential for the Church of the poor . Both pain and joy must be shared. As one body we will experience deeply one another's agonies as well as one another's ecstasies. As Paul says: "If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy" (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Often we might prefer not to be part of the body because it makes us feel the pain of others so intensely. Every time we love others deeply we feel their pain deeply. However, joy is hidden in the pain. When we share the pain we also will share the joy.
(Nouwen G)
The Weakest in the Center
The most honored parts of the body are not the head or the hands, which lead and control. The most important parts are the least presentable parts. That's the mystery of the Church. As a people called out of oppression to freedom, we must recognize that it is the weakest among us - the elderly, the small children, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the hungry and sick - who form the real center. Paul says, "It is the parts of the body which we consider least dignified, that we surround with the greatest dignity" (1 Corinthians 12:23).
The Church as the people of God can truly embody the living Christ among us only when the poor remain its most treasured part. Care for the poor, therefore, is much more than Christian charity. It is the essence of being the body of Christ.
Focusing on the Poor
Like every human organization the Church is constantly in danger of corruption. As soon as power and wealth come to the Church, manipulation, exploitation, misuse of influence, and outright corruption are not far away.
How do we prevent corruption in the Church? The answer is clear: by focusing on the poor. The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation. When the Church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. It gets caught up in disagreements, jealousy, power games, and pettiness. Paul says, "God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This is the true vision. The poor are given to the Church so that the Church as the body of Christ can be and remain a place of mutual concern, love, and peace.
Going to the Margins of the Church
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention.
We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us.
Who Are the Poor?
The poor are the center of the Church. But who are the poor? At first we might think of people who are not like us: people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes. But the poor can be very close. They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces. Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.
It is precisely when we see and experience poverty - whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts - that we need to become the Church; that is, hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another's wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread. Thus, as the poor we recognise Jesus, who became poor for us.
The Poverty of Our Leaders
There is a tendency to think about poverty, suffering, and pain as realities that happen primarily or even exclusively at the bottom of our Church. We seldom think of our leaders as poor. Still, there is great poverty, deep loneliness, painful isolation, real depression, and much emotional suffering at the top of our Church.
We need the courage to acknowledge the suffering of the leaders of our Church - its ministers, priests, bishops, and popes - and include them in this fellowship of the weak. When we are not distracted by the power, wealth, and success of those who offer leadership, we will soon discover their powerlessness, poverty, and failures and feel free to reach out to them with the same compassion we want to give to those at the bottom. In God's eyes there is no distance between bottom and top. There shouldn't be in our eyes either.
Becoming the Church of the Poor
When we claim our own poverty and connect our poverty with the poverty of our brothers and sisters, we become the Church of the poor, which is the Church of Jesus. Solidarity is essential for the Church of the poor . Both pain and joy must be shared. As one body we will experience deeply one another's agonies as well as one another's ecstasies. As Paul says: "If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy" (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Often we might prefer not to be part of the body because it makes us feel the pain of others so intensely. Every time we love others deeply we feel their pain deeply. However, joy is hidden in the pain. When we share the pain we also will share the joy.
(Nouwen G)
Chủ Nhật, 4 tháng 11, 2012
Chọn yêu
Yêu mến Thiên Chúa hết lòng, hết trí khôn, hết sức lực, và yêu người thân cận như chính mình, là điều quý hơn mọi lễ toàn thiêu và hy lễ. (Mc 12,33)
Choosing Love
How can someone ever trust in the existence of an unconditional divine love when most, if not all, of what he or she has experienced is the opposite of love - fear, hatred, violence, and abuse? They are not condemned to be victims! There remains within them, hidden as it may seem, the possibility to choose love.
Many people who have suffered the most horrendous rejections and been subject to the most cruel torture are able to choose love. By choosing love they become witnesses not only to enormous human resiliency but also to the divine love that transcends all human loves. Those who choose, even on a small scale, to love in the midst of hatred and fear are the people who offer true hope to our world.
Small Steps of Love
How can we choose love when we have experienced so little of it? We choose love by taking small steps of love every time there is an opportunity. A smile, a handshake, a word of encouragement, a phone call, a card, an embrace, a kind greeting, a gesture of support, a moment of attention, a helping hand, a present, a financial contribution, a visit ... all these are little steps toward love.
Each step is like a candle burning in the night. It does not take the darkness away, but it guides us through the darkness. When we look back after many small steps of love, we will discover that we have made a long and beautiful journey.
Doing Love
Often we speak about love as if it is a feeling. But if we wait for a feeling of love before loving, we may never learn to love well. The feeling of love is beautiful and life-giving, but our loving cannot be based in that feeling. To love is to think, speak, and act according to the spiritual knowledge that we are infinitely loved by God and called to make that love visible in this world.
Mostly we know what the loving thing to do is. When we "do" love, even if others are not able to respond with love, we will discover that our feelings catch up with our acts.
Witnesses of Love
How do we know that we are infinitely loved by God when our immediate surroundings keep telling us that we'd better prove our right to exist?
The knowledge of being loved in an unconditional way, before the world presents us with its conditions, cannot come from books, lectures, television programs, or workshops. This spiritual knowledge comes from people who witness to God's love for us through their words and deeds. These people can be close to us but they can also live far away or may even have lived long ago. Their witness announces the truth of God's love and calls us to act in accordance with it.
Knowing One Another in Christ
Often we think that we first have to know and understand one another before we gather around the Eucharistic table. Although it is good if those who share in the Body and Blood of Christ know one another personally, coming together regularly for the Eucharist can create a spiritual unity that goes far beyond the various levels of "knowing one another" in human ways. As we enter together into the sacred mysteries of the death and resurrection of Jesus by participating in the Eucharist, we gradually become one body. We truly come to know one another in Christ.
(Nouwen G)
Choosing Love
How can someone ever trust in the existence of an unconditional divine love when most, if not all, of what he or she has experienced is the opposite of love - fear, hatred, violence, and abuse? They are not condemned to be victims! There remains within them, hidden as it may seem, the possibility to choose love.
Many people who have suffered the most horrendous rejections and been subject to the most cruel torture are able to choose love. By choosing love they become witnesses not only to enormous human resiliency but also to the divine love that transcends all human loves. Those who choose, even on a small scale, to love in the midst of hatred and fear are the people who offer true hope to our world.
Small Steps of Love
How can we choose love when we have experienced so little of it? We choose love by taking small steps of love every time there is an opportunity. A smile, a handshake, a word of encouragement, a phone call, a card, an embrace, a kind greeting, a gesture of support, a moment of attention, a helping hand, a present, a financial contribution, a visit ... all these are little steps toward love.
Each step is like a candle burning in the night. It does not take the darkness away, but it guides us through the darkness. When we look back after many small steps of love, we will discover that we have made a long and beautiful journey.
Doing Love
Often we speak about love as if it is a feeling. But if we wait for a feeling of love before loving, we may never learn to love well. The feeling of love is beautiful and life-giving, but our loving cannot be based in that feeling. To love is to think, speak, and act according to the spiritual knowledge that we are infinitely loved by God and called to make that love visible in this world.
Mostly we know what the loving thing to do is. When we "do" love, even if others are not able to respond with love, we will discover that our feelings catch up with our acts.
Witnesses of Love
How do we know that we are infinitely loved by God when our immediate surroundings keep telling us that we'd better prove our right to exist?
The knowledge of being loved in an unconditional way, before the world presents us with its conditions, cannot come from books, lectures, television programs, or workshops. This spiritual knowledge comes from people who witness to God's love for us through their words and deeds. These people can be close to us but they can also live far away or may even have lived long ago. Their witness announces the truth of God's love and calls us to act in accordance with it.
Knowing One Another in Christ
Often we think that we first have to know and understand one another before we gather around the Eucharistic table. Although it is good if those who share in the Body and Blood of Christ know one another personally, coming together regularly for the Eucharist can create a spiritual unity that goes far beyond the various levels of "knowing one another" in human ways. As we enter together into the sacred mysteries of the death and resurrection of Jesus by participating in the Eucharist, we gradually become one body. We truly come to know one another in Christ.
(Nouwen G)
Thứ Bảy, 3 tháng 11, 2012
Hạ mình
Phàm ai tôn mình lên sẽ bị hạ xuống; còn ai hạ mình xuống sẽ được tôn lên (Lc 14,11)
The Hidden Life of Jesus
The largest part of Jesus' life was hidden. Jesus lived with his parents in Nazareth, "under their authority" (Luke 2:51), and there "increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people" (Luke 2:52).
When we think about Jesus we mostly think about his words and miracles, his passion, death, and resurrection, but we should never forget that before all of that Jesus lived a simple, hidden life in a small town, far away from all the great people, great cities, and great events. Jesus' hidden life is very important for our own spiritual journeys.
If we want to follow Jesus by words and deeds in the service of his Kingdom, we must first of all strive to follow Jesus in his simple, unspectacular, and very ordinary hidden life. (Nouwen G)
The Hidden Life of Jesus
The largest part of Jesus' life was hidden. Jesus lived with his parents in Nazareth, "under their authority" (Luke 2:51), and there "increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people" (Luke 2:52).
When we think about Jesus we mostly think about his words and miracles, his passion, death, and resurrection, but we should never forget that before all of that Jesus lived a simple, hidden life in a small town, far away from all the great people, great cities, and great events. Jesus' hidden life is very important for our own spiritual journeys.
If we want to follow Jesus by words and deeds in the service of his Kingdom, we must first of all strive to follow Jesus in his simple, unspectacular, and very ordinary hidden life. (Nouwen G)
Thứ Sáu, 2 tháng 11, 2012
Xa nhà
Tất cả những kẻ Người đã ban cho tôi, tôi sẽ không để mất một ai, nhưng sẽ cho họ sống lại trong ngày sau hết (Ga 6,39)
The Companionship of the Dead
As we grow older we have more and more people to remember, people who have died before us. It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved. Remembering them means letting their spirits inspire us in our daily lives. They can become part of our spiritual communities and gently help us as we make decisions on our journeys. Parents, spouses, children, and friends can become true spiritual companions after they have died. Sometimes they can become even more intimate to us after death than when they were with us in life.
Remembering the dead is choosing their ongoing companionship.
A Lifelong Journey
Going home is a lifelong journey. There are always parts of ourselves that wander off in dissipation or get stuck in resentment. Before we know it we are lost in lustful fantasies or angry ruminations. Our night dreams and daydreams often remind us of our lostness.
Spiritual disciplines such as praying, fasting and caring are ways to help us return home. As we walk home we often realise how long the way is. But let us not be discouraged. Jesus walks with us and speaks to us on the road. When we listen carefully we discover that we are already home while on the way.
Coming Home
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), there are two sons: the younger son, who runs away from home to an alien country, and the older son, who stays home to do his duty. The younger son dissipates himself with alcohol and sex; the older son alienates himself by working hard and dutifully fulfilling all his obligations. Both are lost. Their father grieves over both, because with neither of them does he experience the intimacy he desires.
Both lust and cold obedience can prevent us from being true children of God. Whether we are like the younger son or the older son, we have to come home to the place where we can rest in the embrace of God's unconditional love.
(Nouwen G)
The Companionship of the Dead
As we grow older we have more and more people to remember, people who have died before us. It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved. Remembering them means letting their spirits inspire us in our daily lives. They can become part of our spiritual communities and gently help us as we make decisions on our journeys. Parents, spouses, children, and friends can become true spiritual companions after they have died. Sometimes they can become even more intimate to us after death than when they were with us in life.
Remembering the dead is choosing their ongoing companionship.
A Lifelong Journey
Going home is a lifelong journey. There are always parts of ourselves that wander off in dissipation or get stuck in resentment. Before we know it we are lost in lustful fantasies or angry ruminations. Our night dreams and daydreams often remind us of our lostness.
Spiritual disciplines such as praying, fasting and caring are ways to help us return home. As we walk home we often realise how long the way is. But let us not be discouraged. Jesus walks with us and speaks to us on the road. When we listen carefully we discover that we are already home while on the way.
Coming Home
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), there are two sons: the younger son, who runs away from home to an alien country, and the older son, who stays home to do his duty. The younger son dissipates himself with alcohol and sex; the older son alienates himself by working hard and dutifully fulfilling all his obligations. Both are lost. Their father grieves over both, because with neither of them does he experience the intimacy he desires.
Both lust and cold obedience can prevent us from being true children of God. Whether we are like the younger son or the older son, we have to come home to the place where we can rest in the embrace of God's unconditional love.
(Nouwen G)
Thứ Năm, 1 tháng 11, 2012
Hạt lửa
1 Thấy đám đông, Đức Giêsu lên núi.
Người ngồi xuống, các môn đệ đến gần bên.
Người mở miệng dạy họ rằng:
3 "Phúc thay ai có tâm hồn nghèo khó,
vì Nước Trời là của họ.
4 Phúc thay ai hiền lành,
vì họ sẽ được Đất Hứa làm gia nghiệp.
5 Phúc thay ai sầu khổ,
vì họ sẽ được Thiên Chúa ủi an.
6 Phúc thay ai khát khao nên người công chính,
vì họ sẽ được Thiên Chúa cho thoả lòng.
7 Phúc thay ai xót thương người,
vì họ sẽ được Thiên Chúa xót thương.
8 Phúc thay ai có tâm hồn trong sạch,
vì họ sẽ được nhìn thấy Thiên Chúa.
9 Phúc thay ai xây dựng hoà bình,
vì họ sẽ được gọi là con Thiên Chúa.
10 Phúc thay ai bị bách hại vì sống công chính,
vì Nước Trời là của họ.
11 Phúc thay anh em khi vì Thầy mà bị người ta sỉ vả, bách hại
và vu khống đủ điều xấu xa.
12 Anh em hãy vui mừng hớn hở,
vì phần thưởng dành cho anh em ở trên trời thật lớn lao.
(Mt 6,1-12)
Làm sao nghèo khó, hiền lành, sầu khổ, bị bách hại lại có thể trở thành hạnh phúc được?
Cần có cái nhìn trong sáng của chân lý để thấy được sự thật mình chỉ là hạt bụi của hư vô, rất nghèo khó.
Cần có hạt cải của đức tin để thấy Chúa yêu hạt bụi này vô cùng.
Và cần có hạt lửa của tình yêu để hân hoan vui mừng được "cuốn vào Chúa".
Càng "hư vô", càng nhẹ nhàng để "cuốn vào Chúa".
Càng nhận ra mình nghèo khó, càng có nhiều động lực thúc đẩy mình gắn bó vào Chúa là nguồn hạnh phúc, là tình yêu tuyệt đối, và là "tôi" hơn cả chính tôi!
Xin các Thánh nam nữ hiển vinh giúp con hiểu và sống những mối phúc này.
Người ngồi xuống, các môn đệ đến gần bên.
Người mở miệng dạy họ rằng:
3 "Phúc thay ai có tâm hồn nghèo khó,
vì Nước Trời là của họ.
4 Phúc thay ai hiền lành,
vì họ sẽ được Đất Hứa làm gia nghiệp.
5 Phúc thay ai sầu khổ,
vì họ sẽ được Thiên Chúa ủi an.
6 Phúc thay ai khát khao nên người công chính,
vì họ sẽ được Thiên Chúa cho thoả lòng.
7 Phúc thay ai xót thương người,
vì họ sẽ được Thiên Chúa xót thương.
8 Phúc thay ai có tâm hồn trong sạch,
vì họ sẽ được nhìn thấy Thiên Chúa.
9 Phúc thay ai xây dựng hoà bình,
vì họ sẽ được gọi là con Thiên Chúa.
10 Phúc thay ai bị bách hại vì sống công chính,
vì Nước Trời là của họ.
11 Phúc thay anh em khi vì Thầy mà bị người ta sỉ vả, bách hại
và vu khống đủ điều xấu xa.
12 Anh em hãy vui mừng hớn hở,
vì phần thưởng dành cho anh em ở trên trời thật lớn lao.
(Mt 6,1-12)
Làm sao nghèo khó, hiền lành, sầu khổ, bị bách hại lại có thể trở thành hạnh phúc được?
Cần có cái nhìn trong sáng của chân lý để thấy được sự thật mình chỉ là hạt bụi của hư vô, rất nghèo khó.
Cần có hạt cải của đức tin để thấy Chúa yêu hạt bụi này vô cùng.
Và cần có hạt lửa của tình yêu để hân hoan vui mừng được "cuốn vào Chúa".
Càng "hư vô", càng nhẹ nhàng để "cuốn vào Chúa".
Càng nhận ra mình nghèo khó, càng có nhiều động lực thúc đẩy mình gắn bó vào Chúa là nguồn hạnh phúc, là tình yêu tuyệt đối, và là "tôi" hơn cả chính tôi!
Xin các Thánh nam nữ hiển vinh giúp con hiểu và sống những mối phúc này.
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