Celebrating sacrament of Holy Orders: Love and Service

Celebrating sacrament of Holy Orders: Love and Service It's amazing to see all of you here. It's wonderful to see the church filled with all the people. Therefore, I would like to deliver to you some breaking news. Elon Musk wants to be a savior. He's going to be a savior of free speech. It only takes him 43 billion or so, not that much isn't it. With that money we could build our church easily. He's right next door. We should ask him. Well, 43 billion dollars, we don't know for sure if he's going to make it into a savior.

Today if you turn on the tv that all you're going to hear all day long is a billionaire going to save free speech. Nobody talks about a true savior. Today, in the first reading, we encountered the good Lord, who wanted to be his people's savior. He did not pay with billion dollars, he actually paid with the blood of the lamb. The blood of the lamb being slaughtered, and blood being used to pain the door post. Those who have that on, will be saved. Moses acted on God's behalf, effectively let the people out of slavery into the desert. So that they could have freedom to speak for God, they could have the freedom to worship him. Precisely that is the only reason that Moses came to Pharaoh and said I want my people out so that they could go to the desert to worship God. That is the true freedom of speech. Freedom of religion, freedom of worship, freedom of speech.

Yet, in the gospel today, what do we have? A real savior. Moses was a foreshadowing figure for what is to come. The Passover meal is anticipation of a true Passover meal. Where the son of God - the word made man - truly set people free. He is the word that frees you and I, the word that makes the first amendment possible, the word that destroyed falsehood really. Look what our Lord had done, my brothers and sisters, today we have the word of our Lord. Thanks to his word, we are no longer held hostage to falsehood, thanks to his word we are now able to truly say that we have a savior.

Notice what he had done. He bent down on his knees, and washed his disciples' feet. He offered himself for the disciples. The same disciples who will betray him, the same disciple who will sell him off for 30 pieces of silver, the same disciples who would run away at the first sight of danger, the same disciple who would readily say I don't know the man. And yet he did it, he loved them to the end. He knew it in advance, but he loved them to the end. So, my friends, today if we want to have free speech, let the word of God set you and I free. if we want to truly have freedom of religion, let's consume the word of God, and the body and blood of our Lord, and practice service of one another. Let's do that. Not just with 34 43 billion dollars, but actually with our sacrifices, with our prayers, and with our own lives. My dear brothers and sisters, that is how our Lord paid for our freedom. We are no longer trapped in sin, we are no longer held hostage by falsehood, but we are free people. We are free. We are free to love, we are free to serve, to power lives in service upon another. That our Lord demonstrates true freedom is. A freedom to serve, and to love, and to care for one another. Dare we do so that we will love one another in that way. Of course, we dared to do so. otherwise, we wouldn't be here. Let's embrace our Lord and one another in that fashion, let's pay for the freedom of the world with our own lives, with our own acts of love and service.

In a short while we're going to see a reenactment of that very act of service. I, on behalf of father Manny, and all the ordained ministers, today, we celebrate the institution of that beautiful gift of priesthood. That you and I, we all share. The beautiful institution of the holy Eucharist, the body and blood of our Lord that we consume here at mass. We also receive the commandment to love and to serve one another. for that Manny and I, and the deacons, we are ordained to serve. Our power rests upon that participation, in the act of love and service, as our Lord shares. So, we thank you for many prayers, sacrifices, and support in a special way. We thank father Manny for his dedication to the priesthood of Christ. Many, many years of service and dedication. We thank our deacons for their service of the church. We thank you, you and I, we are both servants of Christ. Thank you for being part of the church, being part of this great community of service. We pray that together, we continue to serve, to love and to free the world by our very love, serve one another and our Lord.

慶祝愛和服務的聖秩聖事

今天，很高興在這裡看到大家。 教堂裡擠滿了人，真是太棒了。 在這裡，我想向您報告一件新聞。 特斯拉老板 Elon Musk 想要花430億美金來成為一個促進言論自由的人 。這筆錢對他來說並不多，但是如果我們有這筆錢，就可以輕鬆地來建新教堂了。 特斯拉公司就在這附近。 我們應該去問問他是否可以捐給我們。 因為我不認為單憑這430億美金，他就可以成為一個言論自由的救世主。

如果你打開電視，整天聽到的都是億萬富翁想要買言論自由的新聞。 卻沒有人談論到真正的救世主。 在今天的讀經一中，我們與良善的主相遇，祂是以色列的救主。但祂並沒有花幾十億美金，祂是用羔羊的血來救以色列的。祂叫以色列人把被宰殺羔羊的血塗在門柱上，這樣子，死亡就不會進入這個家庭。 梅瑟代表天主轉述了這個消息，有效地讓以色列人擺脫了埃及奴役，進入了沙漠。 從此以後，以色列人就可以自由地追隨天主，崇拜天主。 為了以色列人的自由，梅瑟來到法老前，要求法老解放以色列人。梅瑟為以色列人爭取了言論，宗教、及信仰的自由。

在今天的福音中，我們看到了什麼呢？ 我們看到了ㄧ位真正的救主。 梅瑟是未來救主的先行者，以色列子民逾越節的晚餐也是將來逾越神糧的預象。 天主子，天主聖言，解放了我們，讓我們獲得了真正的自由。 聖言是解除束縛的。祂是美國憲法第一修正案的精神，祂是摧毀虛假的真理。 我們的主為我我們成就了什麼呢？兄弟姐妹們，藉著天主聖言，我們不再受謊言的束縛，可以自由的說，我們有一位救主。

現在讓我們看看主為祂的門徒做了些什麼。祂為門徒服務，跪下，為他們洗腳。主早就知道祂的弟子們會背叛祂，為了三十塊銀元出賣祂，見到危險就逃跑，甚至說不認識這位與他們日夜相處的主。.但主愛他們到底，為他們洗腳。朋友們，今天如果我們想要言論自由，讓天主的話來解放我們。如果我們想要有宗教自由，就讓我們研讀了解聖言，勤領聖體聖血，徹底實踐彼此之間的服務。我們這樣做。不僅只是奉獻了財務，我們還奉獻了犧牲和祈禱。我們獻上了自己的生命。兄弟姐妹們，獻上祂自己的生命就是主為我們的自由所付出的代價。我們不再被罪所捆綁，不再被謊言所束縛。我們是自由的，可以自由地去愛，自由地去服務，以服務祂人的方式來驅動生命。我們的主展示了真正的自由。一種服務、愛、和彼此照顧的自由。我們放膽去做吧，以這種方式來彼此相愛。是的，我們要放膽去做，以這種方式來擁抱我們的主和彼此，用我們的生命，用我們的愛去服務，為世界的自由付出代價。

此刻，我們將以耶穌為門徒洗腳的方式來慶祝這美麗的聖秩聖事。我，Fr. Manny 和所有的執事們，都接受聖秩受到了任命。你和我，我們所有的人，都共享聖體聖事，在彌撒中領受了主的聖體和聖血，也領受了彼此相愛和服務的誡命。Fr. Manny ，我，還有執事們，被任命為大家服務。正如我們的主為門徒們洗腳一樣，在參與、愛和服務的行為中，顯示出主的力量。我們要感謝您們的祈禱、犧牲和支持。我們也要感謝 Fr. Manny 多年的服務和對基督聖秩的堅持。感謝執事們為教會的服務，感謝你，感謝你和我，我們都是基督的僕人。謝謝教會的每一個份子，為這個偉大的社區服務。讓我們一起祈禱，繼續服務，用我們的愛來釋放世界，服務彼此和服務我們的主。