Don't forget the promises we made to God
Fr. Anthony Le

We make a lot of promises. In fact, without making promises, we may not be able to live our life to the fullest. Parents make promises to their children, husband to their wife, and wife to the husbands, companies make promises to their employees, the state makes promises to those who voted for their politicians, politicians make a lot of promises and sometimes they don't deliver. But when they don't deliver with the support, when promises are not kept, it hurts.

My brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful way of demonstrating the human condition. It’s human capacity to believe that the one who makes the promise will keep the promise, and the one who is being promised to develop this expectation - that the promise will be fulfilled. In one way or another, (promises) encourages us to work hard to make that promise reality. Now take a look at what we have. Currently, many of you work in the company. Maybe you are a CEO; you incentivize your employees by saying: "if you work this hard your bonus would be this much". At the end of the year, if you did it, awesome, you feel good about it, and you want to do even more. Teachers in school would grant an A+ for those who exceeded the expectations. Students were so excited and they did that, and next year they feel good about it, they're going to want to do exactly the same thing or even better. My brothers and sisters, if you and I, we believe in each other so much that we make a lot of promises. Sometimes, we don't intend to keep them, yet most of the time, we want to fulfill them.

How about God? He makes a lot of promises as well. One thing about God is that he intends to keep his promises. For example, our lord Jesus has publicly told everyone who follows him: "if you follow me, if you believe in me, you shall have eternal life". Amazing, isn't it? A young, rich and powerful came to our lord and asked: "what should I do to have eternal life?" keep all the commandments, and on top of that sell everything that you have, and share with others, come follow me and you have eternal life". To follow Jesus is to have life. That is his promise. Another promise he made is if you follow me, you will no longer be thirsty or hungry for the things of this world. I’m going to provide you with a way to quench your thirst. I'm going to make you full all day long, all year long, your entire life. The Samaritan woman came to draw water in the middle of the day. and our lord promised to her that she would receive water that she will ever thirst again.

What he is saying is that we could look for things in this life, we could thirst for power, we could thirst for wealth, thirst for relationships. But no one on this earth, no politicians could really make such a promise - that we are going to be completely happy and satisfied. Only our lord could do such a thing. He dared to say it.

He also said to those who follow him that unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you don't have life within you. Ultimate life has to do with the word of our lord, has to do with this body and blood offered on the altar. Our lord promised that. You and I consume him with our clear conscience, we have eternal life, and we have ultimate and beautiful life.

He also promised to those repentant thieves. Today you will be in paradise. Because a repentant thief acknowledges Jesus, asks for his permission to enter into the heavenly kingdom. And our lord made that promise to him "today you will be with me in paradise" not on the cross, but with Jesus where he is.

Our lord Jesus repeatedly promises to his disciple "I will send you the advocate, the one and the only that makes you truly Amazing, happy, the joy will be complete, your joy 這這will be complete. you're going to be in me and father and I'm going to be in you". Amazing, isn't it?

For those promises that our lord made, let me ask you, do we dare to believe in him in such a way? Do we dare to believe in our lord Jesus that if we follow him, if we obey him, we accept him, if we give our life to him, we shall have eternal life, we shall have meaningful relationships, we shall multiply our happiness more than anything this world could offer. and ultimately, today when he ascends to heaven, he made this bold promise that you and I will be with him. we'll be with him, where is he, where is he going. Disciples asked our lord Jesus: "We don't know where you are, where are you going lord?" "I'm returning to my father, your father also. you know the way where I’m going, I am the way the truth and the life."

Our lord Jesus withdrew his presence from his disciples so that the spirit of God could permeate his presence all over the world. everywhere they go, everywhere they proclaim his word, everywhere they worship, where everywhere they gather, everywhere they proclaim the death and resurrection of our lord, he is there with them. "I will be with you to the end''. That is the promise our lord made.

So, my brothers and sisters, in today's dark world, we are living in shooting left and right, hatred and anger everywhere, division among parties even within our own families. perhaps within our own life that we are not experiencing the happiness that we deserve. What is wrong with that picture? could it be you and I have not yet followed our lord Jesus closely enough? Could it be you and I? We have not yet prayed enough with him? could it be you and I have not reached out to the poor that he asked us? could it be that our faith is so weak that we think we believe in him but we actually don't? Do we think we actually follow him? no, we are stuck in our own way of living, we think we know better than God sometimes.

So, on this day, the ascension of our lord. our lord once again makes sure you and I understand this beautiful truth that you and I, we deserve heaven. We deserve to be with God and we are made to be better, to receive better things, and to be with our almighty God. That is the promise that he made. So, if today we make promises to each other, don't forget the promises we also made to God. to love him, to serve him, and to really proclaim him. That is the only purpose that we exist for God.

不要忘記我們對天主的诺言

我們常常做些許诺，事實上，想過豐盛的生活而不做許諾幾乎是不可能的。父母給孩子，丈夫與妻子，公司給員工，政客對投票者，都有各種不同的許諾。當诺言無法兑現時，後果是很痛苦的。

兄弟姐妹們，許諾這件事奇妙的展示了人類的本性。人的本能是相信許诺的，會信守诺言。接受诺言的人也期望著诺言的實現。诺言常常用來激勵我們努力工作。你們中有許多人在公司工作。如果你是 CEO，你可能許諾說“如果你作努力達標，你就會得到獎金”。如果員工做到了，許諾實現了，就會更努力工作。老師給超標的學生A+ 的成績來獎勵他，希望明年他會更加努力。兄弟姐妹們，如果許諾是在彼此信任下做出的，一般來說，我們都期望它的實現。

那麼天主呢？信實的天主對我們作很多的許诺。主耶穌公開的告訴門徒説： “如果你跟隨我，相信我，你將獲得永生”。一位富少年來到耶穌面前問：“我該怎麼做才能得到永生？“ 耶穌回答說：”你應該遵守誡命，若願得到永生，去！變賣你所有的，施捨給窮人，你必有寶藏在天上；然後來跟隨我“。跟隨耶穌就有永生，這是主的承诺。祂另一個承诺是：”誰若喝了我賜與他的水，將永遠不渴”。撒瑪利亞婦人在中午來打水。主耶穌向她承诺，她會得到活泉水，永遠也不會渴。如果你跟隨耶穌，你就不再對這個世界的東西感到口渴或飢餓了。

主吿訴我們，我們可以在這世界追求各種物質，渴望權力，財富，與人際關係。但是這個世界上沒有ㄧ個政治家，沒有ㄧ個人，能承诺完美的幸福。只有主才敢說，才能做到。

耶穌又對跟隨祂的人說，“你們若不吃人子的肉，不喝祂的血，在你們內，便沒有生命”。永恆的生命與主的話語有關，與在祭壇上的聖體和聖血有關。主承諾我們，當我們在恩典的狀態下接受聖體聖血時，我們就會得到永恆的生命，那終極而美麗的生命。

耶穌還應許那悔改的右盜進入天國。 因為右盜悔改，明認耶穌是主，並懇求進入天國。 主向他說：“我實在告訴你：今天你就要與我一同在樂園裏”。耶穌承諾的地方不是十字架，而是耶穌自己的地方。

耶穌也向祂的門徒應許：“我也要求父，賜給你們另一位護慰者，祂永遠與你們同在“ “ 這位護慰者會讓你得到真正的，完美的快樂。你在我內，天父和我也在你内，豈不是很神奇嗎？

我們是否敢相信主的應許嗎？主應許我們，如果我們接受祂，跟隨祂，服從祂，將我們的生命獻給祂，我們就會得到永生，將會獲得超越過這個世界所有的幸福。當耶穌升天時，祂許下了诺言：“你和我會和祂在一起”。祂去哪裡，在哪裡，我們就在哪裡。門徒問主耶穌：“我們不知道您在哪裡，主您要去哪裡？”。主說 “我要回到我父親和你的父親那邊。你知道我要走的路，我就是道路，真理和生命。”

我們的主耶穌離開了祂的門徒，以便聖神能藉著門徒們將耶穌的臨在傳播到世界各地。他們所到之處宣揚耶穌的話語，敬拜祂，宣揚祂的死亡和復活，耶穌與他們同在。 “我會陪著你到最後”，這是主的诺言。

兄弟姐妹們，在今天這個黑暗的世界裡，我們周遭槍枝泛濫，到處都是仇恨和憤怒，甚至在我們自己的家庭內都黨派分歧。也許我們自己也沒有體驗到我們可以得到的幸福。為什麼會是這樣呢？是不是我們與主耶穌的關係不夠密切？是不是我們和祂一起禱告的時間還不夠？是不是我們沒有幫助耶穌要我們關切的窮人？是不是我們的信心太軟弱了，以為我們相信祂，但實際上並不真的相信？我們真的跟隨祂嗎？不，我們被束縛在自己的生活方式中，有時還認為自己比天主更能解決問題。

所以在這主升天的日子，主再次提醒我們，我們會被造得更好，會領受更好的環境，獲得永生，能與全能的神同在，都是主的诺言。所以我們今天要彼此承诺，對天主許下诺言，我們存在的唯一目的就是愛祂，服侍祂，誠心的宣揚祂，為了天主，為了彼此，為了永生。