CẢM NGHIỆM SỐNG LC -REFLECTIONS- NGÀY 22-7-2019

Details

Category: 2. Cảm Nghiệm Sống Lời Chúa

•  

  Mo Nguyen

  Jul 21 at 2:44 PM

   

   

  

   

                    MARTHA OR MARY?

  Monday 22 July 2019

  A REFLECTION (Luke 10: 38-42)

  THE BETTER PART. Hospitality entails not only serving others but also listening attentively to them. Often, this is the better part. What people need most of all is to be heard and to hear. To grow in the Christian life, we need to combine the good works of Martha with the contemplative attitude of Mary.

  Mary and Martha:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ck9tZ537B8

   

             JESUS, MARTHA AND MARY

   

  

   

  ---

CẢM NGHIỆM SÔNG- REFLECTION 16TH SUNDAY -C 21-7-2019

Details

Category: 2. Cảm Nghiệm Sống Lời Chúa

•  

  Mo Nguyen

  Jul 20 at 5:53 AM

   

   

  

   

          CHOOSING THE BETTER PORTION

   

       SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME / C                             

                                      REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

                                                  (Luke 10: 38 – 42)

                                       CHOOSING THE BETTER PORTION

  Two sisters, Martha and Mary, give hospitality to Jesus. Martha appears to be the dominant personality, perhaps the elder. Certainly, her hospitality is more active and practical. Her sister Mary simply sits at Jesus’ feet and listens. This sets up the kind of ‘triangular’ pattern often found in scenes in Luke’s Gospel: Jesus interacts with a character, usually someone in a marginal situation; a third character takes offence at this and grumbles. Jesus defends the more marginal party, showing how their action is the more appropriate in view of what he has to bring.

  In this case, it is Mary whom Jesus defends. Martha fusses about preparing many dishes. (Think of non-Western cuisine when several different dishes – fish, chicken, lamp, vegetable, etc.- are placed before guests all at once.) Jesus points out that just one dish would have been enough. Drawing a metaphor from the meal, he states that, by simply listening to him, Mary has ‘chosen the better portion’ – that is, of the ‘meal’ that he is providing.

  Many readers of this episode, especially women, side with Martha. Her complaint is very reasonable.

  But this is precisely the point. Frenetic service, even service of the Lord, can be a deceptive distraction from what is most appropriate. Good people often measure their goodness by all they do for the Lord, forgetting that nothing that they can ever do could match all they need to receive. The Lord’s primary intent towards us is to bestow life, love and salvation. That is the ‘better portion’ that Mary understands and receives.

  Brendan Byrne, SJ

                  

                   Mary and Martha

   

  

  Mary and Martha (video to song by Colin Buchanan):

   

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15grj56EutU

   

  Mary and Martha:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssR9P30AWOY

   

  Mary Is Chosen I Stories of Mary I children's bible stories | Holy Tales Bible Stories:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQlVt6dn11w

   

    

   

   

  Attachments area

   

  Preview YouTube video Mary and Martha (video to song by Colin Buchanan)

   

   

  

  

  Mary and Martha (video to song by Colin Buchanan)

   

  Preview YouTube video Mary and Martha

   

   

  

  

  Mary and Martha

   

  Preview YouTube video Mary Is Chosen I Stories of Mary I children's bible stories | Holy Tales Bible Stories

   

   

  

  

  Mary Is Chosen I Stories of Mary I children's bible stories | Holy Tales Bible Stories

   

   

  ---

CẢM NGHIỆM SỐNG LC - CN 21-7-2019

Details

Category: 2. Cảm Nghiệm Sống Lời Chúa

CẢM NGHIỆM SỐNG&Chia sẻ Lời Chúa - Chúa Nhật 21-7-19

Tin Mừng Chúa Giêsu Kitô theo Thánh Luca. (10: 38-42)

Khi ấy, Chúa Giêsu vào một làng kia và có một phụ nữ tên là Martha rước Người vào nhà mình. Bà có người em gái tên là Maria ngồi bên chân Chúa mà nghe lời Người. Martha bận rộn với việc thết đãi khách. Bà đứng lại thưa Người rằng: "Lạy Thầy, em con để con hầu hạ một mình mà Thầy không quan tâm sao? Xin Thầy bảo em con giúp con với". Nhưng Chúa đáp: "Martha, Martha, con lo lắng bối rối về nhiều chuyện. Chỉ có một sự cần mà thôi: Maria đã chọn phần tốt nhất và sẽ không bị ai lấy mất."

Suy niệm/SỐNG VÀ CHIA SÈ:

Cả bà Mát-ta và Maria đều là bạn thân của Giêsu. Bà Mát-ta đón rước Giêsu như một vị khách rất quý và muốn chuẩn bị cho ngài một bữa ăn ngon.

Điều đó có nghĩa là bà Mát-ta yêu mến Giêsu rất nhiều. Bà đã bận rộn với công việc; do đó, bà cần sự giúp đỡ từ người em gái. Đó là một vấn đề bình thường. Tuy nhiên, Maria không có cùng mối quan tâm như bà Mát-ta. Maria đã thể hiện tình yêu của mình đối với Chúa Giêsu bằng cách lắng nghe những lời của ngài.

Cả hai đều có quyền riêng để thể hiện tình yêu của họ đối với Chúa Giêsu và họ khác nhau. Cả hai đều muốn làm hài lòng Giêsu nhưng ngài thích Maria hơn là bữa ăn ngon của Martha để mời ngài.

Chúa Giêsu đã nói: "Maria đã chọn phần tốt nhất và sẽ không bị ai lấy mất." Lắng nghe lời Chúa Giêsu phải là một lựa chọn khôn ngoan. Tại sao vậy? Chúa Giê-su nói rằng: "Nếu anh em yêu mến Thầy, anh em sẽ giữ các điều răn của Thầy."(Ga. 14, 15) Nếu Maria không nghe lời Chúa Giê-su, bà không thể biết và giữ ý muón của Chúa Giê-su. Điều cần thiết cho sự sống đời đời là lắng nghe và thực hiện thánh ý của Thiên Chúa.

*SUY TƯ VÀ QUYẾT TÂM HÀNH ĐỘNG: Điều tôi học được từ bài Tin Mừng hôm nay là lắng nghe và thực thi Lời Chúa trong đời sống hàng ngày. Mặc dù tôi vẫn đang bận rộn kiếm sống, tôi phải dành thời gian để lắng nghe lời Chúa trong Thánh Kinh và lời giảng dạy của Hội thánh.

Lạy Chúa Giêsu, "Xin Ngài phán, vì tôi tớ Ngài đang lắng nghe."(1 Sa-mu-ên 3, 10)

Bình an của Chúa Kitô!

Đa-Minh Quang Hoàng, người Kitô hữu.

--

Bible sharing - Sunday 7-21-19

Gospel LK 10: 38-42

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

Reflection!

Both Martha and Mary were Jesus' close friends. Martha welcomed Jesus as a very precious guest and wanted to prepare for him a special banquet. It meant that Martha loved Jesus very much. She was occupied with works; therefore, she needed help from her sister. It was a normal matter. However, Mary did not have the same concern as Martha. Mary showed her love for Jesus by listening to his words.

Both of them has their own right to manifest their love for Jesus and they were different from each other. Both of them wanted to please Jesus but he preferred mary's listening more than Martha's good meal to offer him.

Jesus said, "Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." Listening to the word of Jesus must be a wise choice. Why so? Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments."(Jn. 14, 15) If Mary did not listen to Jesus, she could not know and keep the will of Jesus. There are many good things but the only thing needed for eternal life is to listen and fulfill the will of God.

What I learned from today's Gospel is to listen to the word of God and fulfill it in my daily life. Although I am still busy earning the living, I must spare my time to listen to the word of God in the Holy Bible and the teaching of the Church.

O, Lord Jesus, "Speak, for your servant is listening.”(1 Sam. 3, 10)

Peace of Christ!

Bro. Quang Hoang

CẢM NHIỆM SỐNG LC-16TH SUNDAY -C

Details

Category: 2. Cảm Nghiệm Sống Lời Chúa

•  

  Mo Nguyen

  Jul 20 at 12:05 AM

   

   

  

   

  JESUS VISITS MARTHA AND MARY

   

  Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

  21 July 2019

   

  “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part. It is not to be taken from her.”                                                                         (Luke 10, 38-42)

   

  Whenever I hear today’s gospel reading, I can’t help thinking that Martha came out second best from the disagreement with her sister. After all, there was a household to run and a meal to be prepared, and all the work seemed to fall to her as her sister sat starry-eyed at the feet of their important visitor. So, I can understand why there was some “electricity” in the air. Martha knew the practicalities that were part of entertaining a guest. So, she was taken aback when Jesus told her to stop getting het up. And when he told her that Mary had made a better choice by sitting idly on the floor listening to what he had to say, she was cut to the quick. If she gave both Mary and Jesus a piece of her mind, Luke did not record it. However I’m sure she probably felt like doing that. So, what, I wonder, was Luke’s point in putting this story right after that of the Good Samaritan?

   

  I suggest that Luke is pointing out that, while it is important at times to put the needs of others first, especially the needs of the sick, the injured and the neglected (the Good Samaritan), there is also a time for being fully present to those who come to us with a message that deserves our full attention. There are times when true discipleship calls for generous and selfless, practical action. There are other times when it is more important to take time to hear and reflect on Jesus’ message.

   

  But let’s briefly return to Martha, for she is a mirror for all of us. She was angry with Mary who had left her to do all the work, and she was angry with Jesus for not telling Mary to give her a hand: “Don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the household tasks all by myself?” There are times when we all get upset with others who we believe are not pulling their weight. Moreover, we show our disapproval by resorting to sarcasm or sharp speech, and end up feeling aggrieved and full of self-pity. Our meanness of spirit can end up closing off all possibilities for God’s Spirit to get a look in. If we’re honest, we will recognise that there is something of the Martha in all of us. We get some satisfaction out of proving to ourselves and others that we are being victimised when all the work is left to us. All we are really doing is massaging our own ego.

   

  However, the challenge for us in the story lies in Jesus’ assertion that Mary has made a better choice. That assertion leaves me scratching my head, wondering what Jesus was getting at. The answer, of course, is that Jesus is not devaluing Martha’s hard work in the kitchen but rather the way in which she has gone about it, full of resentment and self-pity, and slipping into comparing herself with her sister.

   

  One of the characteristics of Luke’s Gospel is the many mentions made of Jesus’ acceptance of invitations to dine with others. What especially scandalised people like the Pharisees was that most of his dining was with public sinners. But hospitality is a recurring theme in Luke. And the Pharisees could not help comparing themselves with the “disreputables” whose invitations Jesus accepted. Are there times when we decide to accept or decline invitations on the basis of who else is on the invitation list?

  More important, however, is the real value on which hospitality is based  -  everyone who comes into our lives is a guest, worthy of respect and bringing promise.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote: “Make hospitality your special care…Have the same attitude towards everyone…Put away ambitious thoughts and associate with those who are lowly” (Romans12, 13-16).

   

  That’s the kind of hospitality that Jesus modelled as he went about his ministry, engaging with everyone he encountered. In acting like that, he showed people something of the hospitality of God, demonstrating that nobody was outside the scope of God’s boundless embrace. Jesus extended God’s hospitality to everyone without distinction, and accepted the hospitality of others. We know he dined with those who were regarded as the riff-raff, and accepted the hospitality of friends like Martha, Mary and Lazarus. He also welcomed the invitation to dinner extended by the two disciples who poured out their troubles to him as they journeyed together to Emmaus. The distinguishing characteristic of all these encounters was the quality of his presence. And it is Mary’s quality of presence that he singles out in his gentle response to Martha’s exasperation: “Martha, Martha (notice how the repetition of her name softens his reprimand), you’re fussing too much and getting worked up over nothing; one thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it, and it won’t be taken from her” (Luke 10, 41-42).

   

  This story echoes one of Luke’s earlier accounts of how members in the crowd listening to Jesus relayed to him the message that his “mother and brothers” had come to join him. His response was: “My mother and brothers are the ones who hear and do God’s word” (Luke 8, 19-21).

   

  So, while there is something of both Martha and Mary in each of us, and while we know how we struggle to hold the two in tension, today’s gospel reading reminds us that reflection & contemplation and selfless service are both essential dimensions of true discipleship. In lived reality, we are more inclined to let the busy-ness of life dull our sensitivity to the need to make room for quiet reflection.

   

  If it is true that hospitality is an essential dimension of Christian discipleship, and that presence is integral to hospitality, it follows that we have to learn to be alert to the obstacles that get in the way of presence and hospitality. Two of those potential, contemporary obstacles are the internet and the cell-phone. I read recently an article entitled “I used to be a Human Being” by Andrew Sullivan, a researcher who described what it’s like to have one’s soul hollowed out by the world wide web. Sullivan wrote about how the internet broke him and led him down a path of chronic distraction. Other research has demonstrated that, in countries where the sales of cell-phones and smart phones are booming, owners check on them over 200 times a day or in excess of 30,000 times a year. One teacher-researcher commented about his secondary school students: “Their bodies are in the classroom, but their minds are inside their cell-phones” (Dr Delaney Ruston, Screenagers, May 2016, PBS Documentary).

   

  Excessive time with gadgets effectively reduces necessary growth time with people. The knock-on effect is that our potential for presence, hospitality and authentic discipleship risks being depleted. “What”, I need to ask myself, “are my obstacles to authentic discipleship?” What prevents me from being truly present to others?  

   

  Fr Brian Gleeson  

   

  Martha and Mary:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfXW5jU-Os

   

  Bible Theater: Luke - Martha and Mary:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C91ygWW2u0U

   

               Are you a Mary or a Martha?  
  

   

  

   

  ---