Cho chính mình

Đám đông tìm Người, đến tận nơi Người đã đến, và muốn giữ Người lại, kẻo Người bỏ họ mà đi. Nhưng Người nói với họ: "Tôi còn phải loan báo Tin Mừng Nước Thiên Chúa cho các thành khác nữa, vì tôi được sai đi cốt để làm việc đó." Và Người rao giảng trong các hội đường miền Giuđê. (Lc 4,42-44)

Claiming Our God Given Selves

When we have been deeply hurt by another person, it is nearly impossible not to have hostile thoughts, feelings of anger or hatred, and even a desire to take revenge.  All of this often happens spontaneously, without much inner control.  We simply find ourselves brooding about what we are going to say or do to pay back the person who has hurt us.  To choose blessings instead of curses in such a situation asks for an enormous leap of faith.  It calls for a willingness to go beyond all our urges to get even and to choose a life-giving response.

Sometimes this seems impossible.  Still, whenever we move beyond our wounded selves and claim our God-given selves, we give life not just to ourselves but also to the ones who have offended us.
(Nouwen)

Lời chữa lành

Họ sửng sốt về cách Người giảng dạy, vì lời của Người có uy quyền (Lc 4,32)

Healing Letters

When you write a very angry letter to a friend who has hurt you deeply, don't send it!  Let the letter sit on your table for a few days and read it over a number of times.  Then ask yourself:  "Will this letter bring life to me and my friend?  Will it bring healing, will it bring a blessing?"   You don't have to ignore the fact that you are deeply hurt.  You don't have to hide from your friend that you feel offended.  But you can respond in a way that makes healing and forgiveness possible and opens the door for new life.   Rewrite the letter if you think it does not bring life, and send it with a prayer for your friend.

MESSAGE OF THE POPE FOR THE FUNERAL OF CARDINAL MARTINI

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Pope has sent a message to the archdiocese of Milan, the Society of Jesus, the relatives of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, and "all those who loved and esteemed (him) and have chosen to accompany him on his final journey". The message was read out during the funeral of the late cardinal, archbishop emeritus of Milan, Italy, by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the Pope's special envoy to the event.

"'Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path'. The Psalmist's words encapsulate the entire existence of this generous and faithful pastor of the Church. He lived as a man of God, who not only studied Sacred Scripture but loved it intensely, making it the light of his life that all things might be 'ad maiorem Dei gloriam', for the greater glory of God. It was for this reason that he was able to teach believers and seekers after truth that the only word worthy to listen to, accept and follow is that of God, because it leads everyone along the path of truth and love. He lived with great openness of heart, never rejecting encounter and dialogue with anyone, and giving a concrete response to the Apostle’s invitation always 'to be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope'. He lived with a spirit of profound pastoral charity, in keeping with his own episcopal motto of 'Pro veritate adversa diligere', attentive to all situations especially the most difficult, and lovingly close to the lost, the poor and the suffering".

"May the Lord, who guided Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini throughout his life, receive this tireless servant of the Gospel and of the Church in the heavenly Jerusalem".

Tin Mừng & Sự Sống

Thần Khí Chúa ngự trên tôi, vì Chúa đã xức dầu tấn phong tôi, để tôi loan báo Tin Mừng cho kẻ nghèo hèn. (Lc 4,18)

Waiting with Our Response

Choosing life instead of death demands an act of will that often contradicts our impulses.  Our impulses want to take revenge, while our wills want to offer forgiveness.  Our impulses push us to an immediate response:  When someone hits us in the face, we impulsively want to hit back.

How then can we let our wills dominate our impulses?   The key word is wait.  Whatever happens, we must put some space between the hostile act directed toward us and our response.  We must distance ourselves, take time to think, talk it over with friends, and wait until we are ready to respond in a life-giving way.  Impulsive responses allow evil to master us, something we always will regret.   But a well thought-through response will help us to "master evil with good"  (Romans 12.21). (Nouwen)

A sermon of St Gregory the Great

For the love of Christ I do not spare myself in preaching him

‘Son of man, I have appointed you as watchman to the house of Israel.’ Note that Ezekiel, whom the Lord sent to preach his word, is described as a watchman. Now a watchman always takes up his position on the heights so that he can see from a distance whatever approaches. Likewise whoever is appointed watchman to a people should live a life on the heights so that he can help them by taking a wide survey.

  These words are hard to utter, for when I speak it is myself that I am reproaching. I do not preach as I should nor does my life follow the principles I preach so inadequately.

  I do not deny that I am guilty, for I see my torpor and my negligence. Perhaps my very recognition of failure will win me pardon from a sympathetic judge. When I lived in a monastic community I was able to keep my tongue from idle topics and to devote my mind almost continually to the discipline of prayer. Since taking on my shoulders the burden of pastoral care, I have been unable to keep steadily recollected because my mind is distracted by many responsibilities.

  I am forced to consider questions affecting churches and monasteries and often I must judge the lives and actions of individuals; at one moment I am forced to take part in certain civil affairs, next I must worry over the incursions of barbarians and fear the wolves who menace the flock entrusted to my care; now I must accept political responsibility in order to give support to those who preserve the rule of law; now I must bear patiently the villainies of brigands, and then I must confront them, yet in all charity.

  My mind is sundered and torn to pieces by the many and serious things I have to think about. When I try to concentrate and gather all my intellectual resources for preaching, how can I do justice to the sacred ministry of the word? I am often compelled by the nature of my position to associate with men of the world and sometimes I relax the discipline of my speech. If I preserved the rigorously inflexible mode of utterance that my conscience dictates, I know that the weaker sort of men would recoil from me and that I could never attract them to the goal I desire for them. So I must frequently listen patiently to their aimless chatter. Because I am weak myself I am drawn gradually into idle talk and I find myself saying the kind of thing that I didn’t even care to listen to before. I enjoy lying back where I once was loath to stumble.

  Who am I — what kind of watchman am I? I do not stand on the pinnacle of achievement, I languish rather in the depths of my weakness. And yet the creator and redeemer of mankind can give me, unworthy though I be, the grace to see life whole and power to speak effectively of it. It is for love of him that I do not spare myself in preaching him.

Sinh lời

"Người đã lãnh năm yến lấy số tiền ấy đi làm ăn buôn bán, và gây lời được năm yến khác." (Mt 25,16)

A Choice Calling for Discipline
When we look critically at the many thoughts and feelings that fill our minds and hearts, we may come to the horrifying discovery that we often choose death instead of life, curse instead of blessing. Jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, greed, lust, vindictiveness, revenge, hatred ... they all float in that large reservoir of our inner life. Often we take them for granted and allow them to be there and do their destructive work.
But God asks us to choose life and to choose blessing. This choice requires an immense inner discipline. It requires a great attentiveness to the death-forces within us and a great commitment to let the forces of life come to dominate our thoughts and feelings. We cannot always do this alone; often we need a caring guide or a loving community to support us. But it is important that we both make the inner effort and seek the support we need from others to help us choose life.

Đèn & Dầu

Các cô dại mang đèn mà không mang dầu theo. Còn những cô khôn thì vừa mang đèn vừa mang chai dầu theo.(Mt 5,3-4)

Choosing Life
God says, "I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).
"Choose life." That's God's call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions ... even in our nonactions. This choice for life starts in a deep interior place. Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings. The most important question is not "Do I kill?" but "Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?" The bullet that kills is only the final instrument of the hatred that began being nurtured in the heart long before the gun was picked up.

Tỉnh

"Vậy anh em hãy canh thức, vì anh em không biết ngày nào Chúa của anh em đến." (Mt 24,42)

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.