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NGƯỜI TÍN HỮU TRƯỞNG THÀNH - TÒNG NGÔ

 

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    Tong Ngo
     
    Tue, Feb 1 at 7:20 AM
     
     

    Solidarity in Weakness

    February 1

    Joy is hidden in compassion. The word compassion literally means “to suffer with.”

    It seems quite unlikely that suffering with another person would bring joy. Yet being with a person in pain, offering simple presence to someone in despair, sharing with a friend times of confusion and uncertainty … such experiences can bring us deep joy. Not happiness, not excitement, not great satisfaction, but the quiet joy of being there for someone else and living in deep solidarity with our brothers and sisters in this human family.

    Often this is a solidarity in weakness, in brokenness, in woundedness, but it leads us to the center of joy, which is sharing our humanity with others.

     

     

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NGƯỜI TÍN HỮU TRƯỞNG THÀNH - TÒNG NGÔ

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    Tong Ngo
     
    Mon, Jan 31 at 9:51 PM
     
     

    The Joy of Being Like Others

    January 31

    At first sight, joy seems to be connected with being different.

    When you receive a compliment or win an award, you experience the joy of not being the same as others. You are faster, smarter, more beautiful, and it is that difference that brings you joy. But such joy is very temporary. True joy is hidden where we are the same as other people: fragile and mortal. It is the joy of belonging to the human race. It is the joy of being with others as a friend, a companion, a fellow traveler.

    This is the joy of Jesus, who is Emmanuel: God-with-us.

     

     

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NGƯỜI TÍN HỮU TRƯỞNG THÀNH- TÒNG NGÔ

 

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    Tong Ngo
    Sat, Jan 29 at 7:12 AM
     
     

    Healing Our Memories

    January 29

    Forgiving does not mean forgetting.

    When we forgive a person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our children for their lack of attention, our friends for their unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice, we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of events we had no control over.

    Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let these events destroy us; it enables them to become events that deepen the wisdom of our hearts.

    Forgiveness indeed heals memories.

     

     

     

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NGƯỜI TÍN HỮU TRƯỞNG THÀNH - TÒNG NGÔ

 

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    Tong Ngo
    Sun, Jan 30 at 7:19 PM
     
     

    Choosing Joy

    January 30

    Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find.

    They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it.

    What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice.

     

     

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NGƯỜI TÍN HỮU TRƯỞNG THÀNH

Forgiving in the Name of God

January 28

We are all wounded people. Who wounds us? Often those whom we love and those who love us.

When we feel rejected, abandoned, abused, manipulated, or violated, it is mostly by people very close to us: our parents, our friends, our spouses, our lovers, our children, our neighbors, our teachers, our pastors. Those who love us wound us too. That’s the tragedy of our lives. This is what makes forgiveness from the heart so difficult. It is precisely our hearts that are wounded. We cry out, “You, who I expected to be there for me, you have abandoned me. How can I ever forgive you for that?”

Forgiveness often seems impossible, but nothing is impossible for God. The God who lives within us will give us the grace to go beyond our wounded selves and say,

“In the Name of God you are forgiven.” Let’s pray for that grace.


On Fri, Jan 28, 2022 at 6:03 AM <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

Tha Thứ Nhân Danh Chúa

Tất cả chúng ta đều bị tổn thương. Ai tổn thương chúng ta? Thường là những người chúng ta thương yêu và những người yêu thương chúng ta.

Khi chúng ta cảm thấy bị ruồng rẫy, bị bỏ rơi, bị lạm dụng, bị xúc phạm, thường bởi những người rất gần gũi với chúng ta: cha mẹ, bạn hữu, vợ chồng, người yêu, con cái, láng giềng, thầy cô, cha xứ của chúng ta. Những người yêu thương chúng ta cũng làm chúng ta đau lòng. Ðó là bi kịch của đời sống. Nó khiến việc thật lòng tha thứ trở nên khó khăn. Chính xác hơn là tâm hồn chúng ta bị tổn thương. Chúng ta kêu lên, “Này bạn, bạn là người mà tôi mong đợi có mặt ở đó với tôi thì đã bỏ rơi tôi. Làm sao tôi có thể tha thứ cho bạn được?

Tha thứ dường như là điều bất khả, nhưng đối với Thiên Chúa thì không có gì là không thể được. Thiên Chúa là Ðấng ngự trong chúng ta sẽ ban cho chúng ta ơn sủng để vượt ra ngoài cái tôi đầy thương tích của mình và nói rằng,

Nhân Danh Chúa bạn đã được tha thứ.” Hãy cầu xin để được ơn sủng đó.

Henry Nouwen

 

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