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.

不要忘记我们对天主的诺言

我们常常做些许诺，事实上，想过丰盛的生活而不做许诺几乎是不可能的。父母给孩子，丈夫与妻子，公司给员工，政客对投票者，都有各种不同的许诺。当诺言无法兑现时，后果是很痛苦的。

兄弟姐妹们，许诺这件事奇妙的展示了人类的本性。人的本能是相信许诺的，会信守诺言。接受诺言的人也期望着诺言的实现。诺言常常用来激励我们努力工作。你们中有许多人在公司工作。如果你是 CEO，你可能许诺说“如果你作努力达标，你就会得到奖金”。如果员工做到了，许诺实现了，就会更努力工作。老师给超标的学生A+ 的成绩来奖励他，希望明年他会更加努力。兄弟姐妹们，如果许诺是在彼此信任下做出的，一般来说，我们都期望它的实现。

那么天主呢？信实的天主对我们作很多的许诺。主耶稣公开的告诉门徒说： “如果你跟随我，相信我，你将获得永生”。一位富少年来到耶稣面前问：“我该怎么做才能得到永生？“ 耶稣回答说：”你应该遵守诫命，若愿得到永生，去！变卖你所有的，施舍给穷人，你必有宝藏在天上；然后来跟随我“。跟随耶稣就有永生，这是主的承诺。祂另一个承诺是：”谁若喝了我赐与他的水，将永远不渴”。撒玛利亚妇人在中午来打水。主耶稣向她承诺，她会得到活泉水，永远也不会渴。如果你跟随耶稣，你就不再对这个世界的东西感到口渴或饥饿了。

主吿诉我们，我们可以在这世界追求各种物质，渴望权力，财富，与人际关系。但是这个世界上没有ㄧ个政治家，没有ㄧ个人，能承诺完美的幸福。只有主才敢说，才能做到。

耶稣又对跟随祂的人说，“你们若不吃人子的肉，不喝祂的血，在你们内，便没有生命”。永恒的生命与主的话语有关，与在祭坛上的圣体和圣血有关。主承诺我们，当我们在恩典的状态下接受圣体圣血时，我们就会得到永恒的生命，那终极而美丽的生命。

耶稣还应许那悔改的右盗进入天国。因为右盗悔改，明认耶稣是主，并恳求进入天国。主向他说：“我实在告诉你：今天你就要与我一同在乐园里”。耶稣承诺的地方不是十字架，而是耶稣自己的地方。

耶稣也向祂的门徒应许：“我也要求父，赐给你们另一位护慰者，祂永远与你们同在“ “ 这位护慰者会让你得到真正的，完美的快乐。你在我内，天父和我也在你内，岂不是很神奇吗？

我们是否敢相信主的应许吗？主应许我们，如果我们接受祂，跟随祂，服从祂，将我们的生命献给祂，我们就会得到永生，将会获得超越过这个世界所有的幸福。当耶稣升天时，祂许下了诺言：“你和我会和祂在一起”。祂去哪里，在哪里，我们就在哪里。门徒问主耶稣：“我们不知道您在哪里，主您要去哪里？”。主说 “我要回到我父亲和你的父亲那边。你知道我要走的路，我就是道路，真理和生命。”

我们的主耶稣离开了祂的门徒，以便圣神能借着门徒们将耶稣的临在传播到世界各地。他们所到之处宣扬耶稣的话语，敬拜祂，宣扬祂的死亡和复活，耶稣与他们同在。 “我会陪着你到最后”，这是主的诺言。

兄弟姐妹们，在今天这个黑暗的世界里，我们周遭枪枝泛滥，到处都是仇恨和愤怒，甚至在我们自己的家庭内都党派分歧。也许我们自己也没有体验到我们可以得到的幸福。为什么会是这样呢？是不是我们与主耶稣的关系不够密切？是不是我们和祂一起祷告的时间还不够？是不是我们没有帮助耶稣要我们关切的穷人？是不是我们的信心太软弱了，以为我们相信祂，但实际上并不真的相信？我们真的跟随祂吗？不，我们被束缚在自己的生活方式中，有时还认为自己比天主更能解决问题。

所以在这主升天的日子，主再次提醒我们，我们会被造得更好，会领受更好的环境，获得永生，能与全能的神同在，都是主的诺言。所以我们今天要彼此承诺，对天主许下诺言，我们存在的唯一目的就是爱祂，服侍祂，诚心的宣扬祂，为了天主，为了彼此，为了永生。