TRÁI TIM MẸ:  NƠI CON NƯƠNG NÁU - ĐƯỜNG ĐẾN VỚI CHÚA

"Chúa Giêsu muốn dùng con để làm cho Mẹ được nhận biết và yêu mến"

December 1, 2008 –  Monday of 1st Week od Advent      DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "Many will come and sit at table in the kingdom of God" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): On God's Gift of His Time SAINT OF THE DAY Blessed John of Vercelli  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Virgin Mary in the New Testament Part II: Acts of the Apostles DIVINE MERCY On Merciful Heart of Jesus The Wound Of The Heart Of Jesus  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Papal Advent Homily   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Monday (12/1) : "Many will come and sit at table in the kingdom of God" Scripture: Matthew 8:5-11 5 As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." 7 And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes, and to another, `Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5 "It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD  shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it. ..For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;  nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:3-4) Meditation: Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table? God’s gracious invitation extends to all – Jew and Gentile alike – who will turn to him with faith and obedience. Jesus used many images or pictures to convey what the kingdom of God is like. One such image is a great banquest feast given at the King's table.  Jesus promised that everyone who believed in him would come and feast at the heavenly banquet table of his Father. Jesus told this parable in response to the dramatic request made by a Roman centurion, a person despised by many because he was an outsider, not one of the "chosen ones" of Israel. In Jesus' time the Jews hated the Romans because they represented everything they stood against – including foreign domination and  pagan beliefs and practices. Why did Jesus not only warmly receive a Roman centurion but praise him as a model of faith and confidence in God? In the Roman world the position of centurion was very important. He was an officer in charge of a hundred soldiers. In a certain sense, he was the backbone of the Roman army, the cement which held the army together. Polybius, an ancient write, describes what a centurion should be: "They must not be so much venturesome seekers after danger as men who can command, steady in action, and reliable; they ought not to be over-anxious to rush into the fight, but when hard pressed, they must be ready to hold their ground, and die at their posts." The centurion who approached Jesus was not only courageous, but faith-filled as well. He risked the ridicule of his cronies as well as mockery from the Jews by seeking help from an itinerant preacher from Galilee. Nonetheless, the centurion approached Jesus with great confidence and humility. He was an extraordinary man because he loved his slave. In the Roman world slaves were treated like animals – something to be used for work and pleasure and for bartering and trade. This centurion was a man of great compassion and extraordinary faith. He wanted Jesus to heal his beloved slave. Jesus commends him for his faith and immediately grants him his request. Are you willing to suffer ridicule in the practice of your faith? And when you need help, do you approach the Lord Jesus with expectant faith? The prophet Isaiah foretold a time of universal peace when all nations would come to "the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob" and "beat their swords into plowshares" (Isaiah 2:2-4). Jesus fulfills this prophecy first by restoring both Jew and Gentile to fellowship with God through the victory he won for us on the cross. When he comes again he will fully establish his universal rule of peace and righteousness and unite all things in himself (Ephesians 1:10). His promise extends to all generations who believe in him that we, too, might feast at the heavenly banquet table with the patriarchs of the Old Covenant who believed but did not see the promised Messiah. Do you believe in God's promises and do you seek his kingdom first in your life? The season of Advent reminds us that the Lord wants us to actively seek him and the coming of his kingdom in our lives. The Lord will surely reward those who seek his will for their lives. We can approach the Lord Jesus with expectant faith, like the centurion in today's gospel reading, knowing that he will show us his mercy and give us his help. "Lord Jesus, you feed us daily with your life-giving word and you sustain us on our journey to our true homeland with you and the Father in heaven.  May I never lose hope in your promises nor lag in zeal for your kingdom of righteousness and peace." Psalm 122:1-9 1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" 2 Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! 3 Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together, 4 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. 5 There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they prosper who love you! 7 Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!" 8 For my brethren and companions' sake I will say, "Peace be within you!" 9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

On God's Gift of His Time "A Gift That Man Can Appreciate or Squander"   VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI delivered today before praying the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters! Today, with the First Sunday of Advent, we begin a new liturgical year. This fact invites us to reflect on the dimension of time, which has always greatly fascinated us. Following the example of what Jesus liked to do, I would like to start from a very concrete experience: We all say "I don't have time" because the rhythm of daily life has become too frenetic for everyone. The Church has "good news" to announce about this too: God gives us his time. We always have little time. Especially in regard to the Lord, we do not know how to find him, or, sometimes, we do not want to find him. And yet God has time for us! This is the first thing that the beginning of a liturgical year makes us rediscover with an ever new wonder. Yes: God gives us his time, because he has entered into history, with his Word and his works of salvation, to open it to eternity, to make it into a covenant history. From this perspective time is already, in itself, a basic sign of God's love. It is a gift that man can, like everything else, appreciate or, on the contrary, squander; he can grasp its meaning, or neglect it with obtuse superficiality. There are three great "hinges" of time that span salvation history: At the beginning is creation, at the center the Incarnation-redemption and at the end the "parousia," the final coming that also includes the universal judgment. These three moments, however, are not to be understood simply in chronological succession. In fact, while it is true that creation is at the beginning of everything, it also continues and is realized along the whole arc of cosmic becoming to the very end of time. So also with the Incarnation-redemption, if it occurred at a determinate historical moment -- Jesus' sojourn on the earth -- nevertheless, its effect extends over the time that preceded it and all of the time that follows it. And the Final Coming and the Last Judgment, which precisely on Christ's cross were decisively anticipated, exercise their influence on the conduct of men of every age. The liturgical season of Advent celebrates God's coming in its two moments: First it invites us to awaken the expectation of Christ's glorious return; then, nearing Christmas, it calls us to welcome the Word made man for our salvation. But the Lord comes constantly into our lives. How opportune, then, is Jesus' call, which is more powerfully proposed than ever this Sunday: "Be vigilant!" (Mark 13:33, 35, 37). It is addressed to the disciples, but also to "everyone," because everyone, at the hour that God alone knows, will be called to give an account of his own life. This entails a proper detachment from worldly goods, a sincere repentance for one's errors, an active charity toward one's neighbor and above all a humble and confident placing of oneself into God's hands, our tender and merciful Father. The Virgin Mary is the icon of Advent. Let us call upon her to help us to become an extension of humanity for the Lord who comes. [After praying the Angelus, the Holy Father said in Italian:] November 30 is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, brother of Simon Peter. Both had been followers of John the Baptist and, after Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, they became his disciples, recognizing him as the Messiah. St. Andrew is the patron of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and so the Church of Rome feels linked to the Church of Constantinople by a special fraternal bond. For this reason, following the tradition, on this felicitous occasion a delegation from the Holy See, led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has embarked on a visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. With all my heart, I offer my greeting and my best wishes to him and to the faithful of the patriarchate, invoking the abundance of heavenly blessings upon all. I would like to invite you to join in prayer for the numerous people killed, wounded or in any way harmed in the brutal terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, and the fighting that has broken out in Jos, Nigeria. The causes and the circumstances of these tragic events are different but the horror and the disapproval of the explosion of such cruel and senseless violence must be the same. Let us ask the Lord to touch the hearts of those who falsely believe that this is the way to resolve local or international problems and let us all feel encouraged to offer an example of meekness and love to build a society worthy of God and man. RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

December 1, 2008 Blessed John of Vercelli (c. 1205-1283)   John was born near Vercelli in northwest Italy in the early 13th century. Little is known of his early life. He entered the Dominican Order in the 1240s and served in various leadership capacities over the years. Elected sixth master general of the Dominicans in 1264, he served for almost two decades. Known for his tireless energy and his commitment to simplicity, John made personal visits—typically on foot—to almost all the Dominican houses, urging his fellow friars to strictly observe the rules and constitutions of the Order. He was tapped by two popes for special tasks. Pope Gregory X enlisted the help of John and his fellow Dominicans in helping to pacify the States of Italy that were quarreling with one another. John was also called upon to draw up a framework for the Second Council of Lyons in 1274. It was at that council that he met Jerome of Ascoli (the man who would later become Pope Nicholas IV), then serving as minister general of the Franciscans. Some time later the two men were sent by Rome to mediate a dispute involving King Philip III of France. Once again, John was able to draw on his negotiating and peacemaking skills. Following the Second Council of Lyons, Pope Gregory selected John to spread devotion to the name of Jesus. John took the task to heart, requiring that every Dominican church contain an altar of the Holy Name; groups were also formed to combat blasphemy and profanity. Toward the end of his life John was offered the role of patriarch of Jerusalem, but declined. He remained Dominican master general until his death. Comment: The need for peacemakers is certainly as keen today as in the 10th century! As followers of Jesus, John’s role falls to us. Each of us can do something to ease the tensions in our families, in the workplace, among people of different races and creeds.   RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Virgin Mary in the New Testament, Part I By Fr. Settimio M. Manelli, F.I.   Mary in the Accounts of the Public Life of Jesus Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14) After recording the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, St. Luke inserts into his Acts a brief reference to the life of the disciples of Jesus up to the day of Pentecost. From the Mount of Olives the twelve returned to the Cenacle. According to St. Luke these "with one mind continued steadfastly in prayer with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:14). All these persons are next found in the same place on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down upon them (2:1ff.). Immediately attracting attention is the fact that Mary is designated with the title "Mother of Jesus" and is by name set apart from the other believing women. Exegetes have recognized in these two details the intention of the author to set in relief the figure of Mary. Further, they demonstrate the existence of a strict analogy between the fact of the Annunciation/Incarnation of Jesus and the birth of the Church on the day of Pentecost. On both occasions the Holy Spirit and Mary are present. Mary is thus shown to have been constituted by God the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church. For this reason, in relation to the faithful, she enjoys the role of Mother in the order of grace. This has been nicely accentuated by Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, where the Pontiff writes: According to the eternal designs of Providence, the divine maternity of Mary would be poured out upon the Church, as Tradition affirms. In the Church the maternity of Mary is the reflection and prolongation of her motherhood toward the Son of God. The very moment of the birth of the Church and of her public manifestation to the world, according to the Council, permits us to perceive this continuity of the motherhood of Mary: "As it pleased God not to manifest solemnly the mystery of human salvation before having poured out the Spirit promised by Christ, we see the apostles before the day of Pentecost ‘of one mind continuing steadfastly in prayer, together with the women and with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and with his brethren’ (Acts 1:14), and with Mary imploring with her prayers the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her at the Annunciation" (Lumen Gentium 59). In the redemptive economy of grace, brought about through the action of the Holy Spirit, there is a unique correspondence between the moment of the Incarnation of the Word and the moment of the birth of the Church. The person who links these two moments is Mary: Mary at Nazareth and Mary in the upper room at Jerusalem. In both cases her discreet yet essential presence indicates the path of "birth from the Holy Spirit." Thus she who is present in the mystery of Christ as Mother becomes—by the will of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit—present in the mystery of the Church. In the Church, too, she continues to be a maternal presence, as is shown by the words spoken from the Cross: "Woman, behold, your son!"; "Behold, your mother" (no. 24). (to be continued)  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Merciful Heart of Jesus Monday, December 1 The Wound Of The Heart Of Jesus There are attacks when a soul has no time to think or seek advice; then it must enter into a life-or-death struggle. Sometimes it is good to flee for cover in the wound of the Heart of Jesus, without answering a single word (Diary, 145). With the trust and simplicity of a small child, I give myself to You today, O Lord Jesus, my Master. I leave You complete freedom in directing my soul. Guide me along the paths You wish. I won't question them. I will follow You trustingly. Your merciful Heart can do all things! (Diary, 228). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Papal Advent Homily "In This Season the Whole Church Is Called to Be Hope"   VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's homily at first vespers for the First Sunday of Advent, which he celebrated Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, With these vespers we begin the itinerary of a new liturgical year, entering into the first of the seasons that constitute that year: Advent. In the biblical reading that we just heard, taken from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul uses precisely this word: "coming," which in Greek is "parousia" and in Latin, "adventus" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). According to the common translation of this text, Paul exhorts the Christians of Thessalonica to keep themselves irreprehensible "for" the coming of the Lord. But in the original text we read "in" the coming ("en te parousia"), as if the coming of the Lord were, more than a future event, a spiritual place in which we already walk in the present, during the wait, and in which we are perfectly vigilant in every personal dimension. In effect, this is exactly what we live in the liturgy: celebrating the liturgical seasons, we actualize the mystery -- in this case the coming of the Lord -- in such a way as to be able, so to speak, to "walk in it" toward its full realization, at the end of time, but already drawing sanctifying virtue from it from the moment that the last times have already begun with the death and resurrection of Christ. The word that sums up this particular state in which we await something that is supposed to manifest itself but which we also already have a glimpse and foretaste of, is "hope." Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, and in this season the whole Church is called to be hope, for itself and for the world. The whole spiritual organism of the mystical body assumes, as it were, the "color" of hope. The whole people of God begins the journey, drawn by this mystery: that our God is "the God who comes" and who calls us to come to meet him. In what way? Above all in that universal form of hope and expectation that is prayer, which finds its eminent expression in the Psalms, human words by which God himself has placed and continually places the invocation of his coming on the lips and hearts of believers. Let us pause for a moment, then, on the two Psalms that we prayed a short while ago and that follow each other in the biblical text itself: 141 and 142, according to the Hebrew numbering. "O Lord, I cry to you, hasten to help me; / give ear to my voice when I cry to you. / Let my prayer rise up to you as incense, / the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141:1-2). This is how the first Psalm of first vespers of the First Week of the Psalter begins: words that at the beginning of Advent acquire a new "color" because the Holy Spirit always makes them sound in a new way in us, in the Church on its way between the time of God and the time of men. "Lord ... hasten to help me" (141:1). It is the cry of a person who feels himself to be in grave danger, but it is also the cry of the Church in the midst of the many snares that surround her, that threaten her holiness, that irreprehensible integrity of which the Apostle Paul speaks, that must be maintained for the coming of the Lord. And in this invocation there also resounds the cry of all the just, of all those who want to resist evil, the seductions of an iniquitous well-being, of pleasures that are offensive to human dignity and the condition of the poor. At the beginning of Advent the Church's liturgy again cries out with these words and addresses them to God "as incense" (141:2). In the Church material sacrifices are no longer offered as they were in the temple of Jerusalem. Instead the spiritual offering of prayer is lifted up, in union with Christ's, who is both sacrifice and priest of the new and eternal covenant. In the cry of the mystical body we recognize the very voice of the Head: the Son of God who took our trials and temptations upon himself to give us the grace of his victory. This identification of Christ with the Psalmist is particularly evident in the next Psalm, Psalm 142. Here every word, every invocation makes us think of Jesus in the passion; in particular we think of his prayer to the Father in Gethsemane. In his first coming, in the incarnation, the Son of God wanted fully to share our human condition. Naturally, he did not share in sin, but for our salvation he suffered its consequences. Every time she prays Psalm 142 the Church experiences again the grace of this com-passion, this "coming" of the Son of God into human anguish, his descent into its deepest depths. Advent's cry of hope expresses, then, from the beginning and in the most forceful way, the whole gravity of our condition, our extreme need of salvation. It says: We await the Lord's coming not like a beautiful decoration added to an already saved world but as the only way to freedom from mortal danger. And we know that he himself, the Liberator, had to suffer and die to bring us out of this prison (cf. 142:8). In sum, these two Psalms protect us against any temptation of evasion and flight from reality; they preserve us from a false hope, one that would like to enter into Advent and set off for Christmas forgetting the dramatic nature of our personal and collective existence. In effect, it is a trustworthy hope, not deceptive, it cannot but be an "Easter" hope, as we are reminded every Saturday evening by the canticle from the Letter to the Philippians, with which we praise Christ incarnate, crucified, risen and universal Lord. We turn our gaze and heart to him, in spiritual union with the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Advent. Let us place our hand in hers and enter with joy into this new season of grace that God grants his Church for the good of the whole of humanity. Like Mary and with her maternal assistance, let us make ourselves docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, so that the God of Peace might completely sanctify us, and the Church might become a sign and an instrument of hope for all men. Amen!   RETURN TO TOP

Monthly Index              General Archive 2008 General Archive 2007 General Archive 2006 General Archive 2005 General Archive 2004

Hits since 3/16/2004 Màn điện toán toàn cầu của Thiếu Nhi Fatima được bắt đầu với trang Main từ ngày 9/12/1999, nhưng mãi tới Mùa Hè 2001 mới tạm xong, cuối cùng đã được chỉnh trang về cả hình thức lẫn nội dung từ mùa hè năm 2002, để rồi chính thức tái ra mắt vào ngày 25/3/2003 cho đến nay.   TNFatima.org do Thiếu Nhi Fatima chủ trương và thực hiện Mọi ý kiến đóng góp xin gửi về Webmaster