Thành kiến

Chúa Giêsu bảo: "Ta cũng thế, Ta không kết tội chị. Vậy chị hãy đi, và từ nay đừng phạm tội nữa".(Lc 8,11)

Không kết tội, không xét đoán, không thành kiến là điều không dễ. Nhưng cần phải được như thế để nên giống Chúa.

Towards a Nonjudgmental life

One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices.
Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are.
We may think that we relate to people who are different from us
in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals,
but in concrete circumstances
our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal
that our prejudices are still there.

Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility.
They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other."
Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way
and look at "those other persons" as equally loved
can we begin to discover
that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart.
Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.
(Nouwen Meditation)

Trung

Các người thừa hành thưa rằng: "Chẳng hề có ai nói như người ấy". Các người biệt phái trả lời rằng: "Chớ thì các ngươi cũng bị mê hoặc rồi sao? Trong các vị thủ lãnh và các người biệt phái, có ai tin nó đâu? Chỉ có lũ khốn nạn đó nó không biết gì lề luật". Nicôđêmô là người đã tới gặp Chúa Giêsu ban đêm, cũng là người trong nhóm họ, nói với họ rằng: "Chớ thì luật của chúng ta có lên án cho ai mà không nghe họ, hoặc không biết rõ họ làm gì không?" Nhưng họ trả lời rằng: "Hay ông cũng là người Galilêa? Hãy đọc kỹ Kinh Thánh, ông sẽ thấy rằng không có tiên tri nào phát xuất từ Galilêa". (Ga 7,46-52)

Nicôđêmô can đảm và trung thành. Như Chúa luôn trung tín. Ngài yêu con mãi, cho dẫu con có bất trung. Trung tín trong tình yêu, Ngài đã chấp nhận bao khổ đau.

God's faithfulness and ours
When God makes a covenant with us, God says: "I will love you with an everlasting love. I will be faithful to you, even when you run away from me, reject me, or betray me." In our society we don't speak much about covenants; we speak about contracts. When we make a contract with a person, we say: "I will fulfill my part as long as you fulfill yours. When you don't live up to your promises, I no longer have to live up to mine." Contracts are often broken because the partners are unwilling or unable to be faithful to their terms.
But God didn't make a contract with us; God made a covenant with us, and God wants our relationships with one another to reflect that covenant. That's why marriage, friendship, life in community are all ways to give visibility to God's faithfulness in our lives together.

Chuyển động

ĐTC Phanxicô nói về chuyển động. Chuyển động khi tiến bước, khi xây dựng và khi tuyên xưng.
Tiến bước trong Chúa, mỗi bước đi đều là để xây dựng Giáo Hội, và đều nhằm tuyên xưng Đức Kitô. Điều đó không dễ. Nên mỗi bước đi đều mang dấu ấn của hành trình thập giá. Và như thế ta mới thực là môn đệ Đức Kitô.

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated theMissa pro Ecclesiae in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday afternoon. Below, please find Vatican Radio’s translation of the full text of his homily.
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In these three readings I see that there is something in common: it is movement. In the first reading, movement is the journey [itself]; in the second reading, movement is in the up-building of the Church. In the third, in the Gospel, the movement is in [the act of] profession: walking, building, professing.

Walking: the House of Jacob. “O house of Jacob, Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” This is the first thing God said to Abraham: “Walk in my presence and be blameless.” Walking: our life is a journey and when we stop, there is something wrong. Walking always, in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness, which God asks of Abraham, in his promise.

Building: to build the Church. There is talk of stones: stones have consistency, but [the stones spoken of are] living stones, stones anointed by the Holy Spirit. Build up the Church, the Bride of Christ, the cornerstone of which is the same Lord. With [every] movement in our lives, let us build!

Third, professing: we can walk as much we want, we can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, nothing will avail. We will become a pitiful NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of Christ. When one does not walk, one stalls. When one does not built on solid rocks, what happens? What happens is what happens to children on the beach when they make sandcastles: everything collapses, it is without consistency. When one does not profess Jesus Christ - I recall the phrase of Leon Bloy – “Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil.” When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil.

Walking, building-constructing, professing: the thing, however, is not so easy, because in walking, in building, in professing, there are sometimes shake-ups - there are movements that are not part of the path: there are movements that pull us back.
This Gospel continues with a special situation. The same Peter who confessed Jesus Christ, says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross. This has nothing to do with it.” He says, “I’ll follow you on other ways, that do not include the Cross.” When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

I would like that all of us, after these days of grace, might have the courage - the courage - to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord: to build the Church on the Blood of the Lord, which is shed on the Cross, and to profess the one glory, Christ Crucified. In this way, the Church will go forward.

My hope for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified. So be it.

Tân Giáo hoàng

Allwyn Fernandes đã mô tả:

- về đêm hôm qua, đêm xuất hiện vị tân giáo hoàng: "What a night it is! One a.m. and a new Pope who clearly brings new hope to many of us who have been in touch with each other on the phone wondering what this conclave will bring..."

- về cung cách sống của ngài: "What a man! He travels to bus for work , cooks his own meals and first asks for the blessings of the people he will lead, by asking for their prayers and then bows deeply before them, before he gives them his own blessing."

- về nụ cười của ngài: "And he smiled! What a smile! Clearly, a man who knows his own mind, is not afraid of expressing himself and will clearly lead by example! Clearly self-assured -- that came out very strongly. An outsider from Latin America and yet Italian of Italian origin. That will be a great asset in a Curia full of Italian thugs. A Tagle was too young to do it, an O'Malley would have been too American and quickly generated resentment."

- về tên của ngài: "What a name -- Francis! Francis of Assisi the environmentalist or Francis Xavier the intrepid missionary who brought the Faith to many of our forefathers? We don't know. But clearly a break with tradition -- Francis I. A break with tradition even in the way he took leave of a watching world. Most withdraw quietly. Instead,he ask for something -- I was wondering what it was! A mike! What greater symbol of communication, of amplification could he have asked for! And he has been elected on a day when those responsible for the death squads in Argentina were finally brought to justice!

- về niềm hy vọng mới mẻ: "Not a man from Europe or even America but from what are now called Emerging Markets. That signals another change. He comes from the Global South. Cardinal Murphy is calling him an "inspired choice". Clearly the Holy Spirit has been at work. Tonight I can sing again "God Bless Our Pope, the Great the Good..." This is a night of hope, of rededication of recommitment to the Church we trusted. I trust him to weed out the freebooters, the freeloaders and restore the Church to what Jesus meant it to be. And, above all, restore our trust in the Church. I can already feel it coming back! God Bless Francis I !"

Xin Chúa chúc lành cho vị cha chung của Giáo Hội.

Liên hệ

Chúa Con không thể tự mình làm gì nếu không thấy Chúa Cha làm. Điều gì Chúa Cha làm, thì Chúa Con cũng làm y như vậy. Vì chưng, Chúa Cha yêu Chúa Con và bày tỏ cho Chúa Con biết mọi việc mình làm, và sẽ còn bày tỏ những việc lớn lao hơn thế nữa, đến nỗi các ngươi sẽ phải thán phục. (Ga 5,19-20)

Mối liên hệ tuyệt vời giữa Chúa Cha và Chúa Con được nói trong đoạn Tin Mừng này được thực hiện trong Thánh Thần.
Chúa cũng ban Thánh Thần cho con người để họ có thể có những mối tương quan tốt.

The Spirit of Jesus Listening in us

Listening in the spiritual life is much more than a psychological strategy to help others discover themselves.
 In the spiritual life the listener is not the ego, which would like to speak but is trained to restrain itself, but the Spirit of God within us.
When we are baptised in the Spirit - that is, when we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us - that Spirit creates in us a sacred space where the other can be received and listened to.
The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains.

When we dare to fully trust in the power of God's Spirit listening in us, we will see true healing occur. (Nouwen G)

Xin cho con biết hiệp với Thánh Thần trong con, cùng Ngài cầu nguyện và lắng nghe người khác.

Discipline of Discipleship

Trong các hành lang này, có rất nhiều người đau yếu, mù loà, què quặt, bất toại nằm la liệt. Trong số đó, có một người nằm đau liệt đã ba mươi tám năm. Khi Chúa Giêsu thấy người ấy nằm đó và biết anh đã đau từ lâu, liền hỏi: "Anh muốn được lành bệnh không?" Người đó thưa: "Thưa Ngài, tôi không được ai đem xuống hồ, mỗi khi nước động. Khi tôi lết tới, thì có người xuống trước tôi rồi". Chúa Giêsu nói: "Anh hãy đứng dậy vác chõng mà về"
... Sau đó, Chúa Giêsu gặp anh ta trong đền thờ, Người nói: "Này, anh đã được lành bệnh, đừng phạm tội nữa, kẻo phải khốn khổ hơn trước". Anh ta đi nói cho người Do-thái biết chính Chúa Giêsu là người đã chữa anh ta lành bệnh.(Ga 3,4-8.14-15)

Nói cho người khác biết chính Chúa là đấng chữa lành. Người bất toại khỏi bệnh đã làm như thế, đã loan báo Tin Mừng, công việc của người môn đệ. Anh ta phải gặp được Chúa để có thể loan báo Tin Mừng.

Để có thể loan báo Tin Mừng, người môn đệ phải dành thời giờ để gặp được Chúa: đấy là kỷ luật của người môn đệ: discipline of discipleship.

Creating Space for God

Discipline is the other side of discipleship.
Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating.

It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports.
Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better.
Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God's guidance.

Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God's gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.