Why do you believe in Jesus? Fr. Anthony Le
A: means audience’s response
In the beginning, I ask you a very simple question: why do you believe in Jesus? Last night, I asked the same question to the people who attended the 5: 30 PM Mass. I received quite fascinating responses. Some would say: because our Lord has been with me through death and life. Others say that: in my Lord and Savior, I experience mercy and kindness, everything I got coming from him. Another would say: because Catholic Church is the only religion actually called God who is love, itself, therefore I believe.
How about you, what is your reason to believe in Jesus? I have a microphone here, anyone inspired to share why do you believe in Jesus? What do you say? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you have a reason why?
A: “He is with me. “
Because Jesus is with you? Yes, awesome. Thank you. Anybody else? The church full of good people cannot come up with a few answers. Mary?
A: “ I was very fortunate to grow up in a home that had faith, so I saw that in my parents, I saw it in my brothers, and it was such a welcoming feeling. yeah, such a welcoming feeling to have that in your soul. so I've always lived with faith, and faith has been the Lord, has always shared his love with me. Health with me, and made my life beautiful, father“ .
Oh, wonderful. Thank you, embodying the way in which your family lives, that's amazing. How about you?
A: “ Because he's the only one that offers eternal life and the beauty of it, and I hope to be able to be there with him“ .
Awesome, thank you. It is eternal life and the hope of being with him. Anybody? Over here? This side? You’re going to get a few more answers out of you. What do you say?
A: “ I grew up seeing my Mom struggle in life, but I grew up also seeing her praying and overcoming all the obstacles. Since then, I have started believing in God and everything that I asked for, I have, and I've received“ .
Awesome, can you ask for something for me? Awesome, once again she witnessed her mother's faith, and made that change. Amazing, how about you?
A: “ You have to believe in a person that gave himself to save our souls, and he's always there for us. You ask him, and he knows our needs, and he always comes through“ .
Yes, so that's beautiful. How about personally? Why did you believe in him other than the very beautiful Act of love that he has on the cross.
A: “ He's always there for me. I am in need, and I ask, and I see that he helps get you out of distress“ .
Thank you. I believe that all of you have a reason why you believe in Jesus. I asked exactly the same question to a group of parents. And they did share exactly the same thing. What a wonderful God that we have. Who died for us on a cross, and they also share a personal experience of how they escaped Vietnam, survived the ordeal of being a refugee on a foreign land, and escaped from the iron hands of the Communist Party. Others would say: when I'm down, when I am sick, I call upon him, I cling on to him, and I feel his presence. And here's the problem, when I asked the students. When I asked the students in the confirmation class that we have: what don't you believe in the church? What difficult teachings do you actually find challenging to believe? You know what they say? Here are the few things
They say: they don't actually believe the wine and bread being consecrated on the altar are actually the body and blood of Jesus. How could that be? It tastes like wine, it tastes like bread. If you were I, celebrating five masses and not eating anything, you get drunk with the blood of Jesus - a lot of alcohol content. They also say that how could we believe the word had been proclaimed actually from the good God, the almighty God. The Bible was actually written by a bunch of men, inspired by a bunch of stories that we cannot verify scientifically, historically. How could we believe flawed men and call it the word of God? Isn't that fascinating? And they also say: why do we need to go to church and then we stand up, and we sit down, we stand up, sit down, for what? Is it Interesting? They don't understand the reason why we go to church, and sit and stand, and listen and all of that. They also say: how could we believe that God loves us? How could we believe that God loves us individually when there are seven, eight billion people? How could he know it all? They couldn't find themselves to believe in it.
They don't even believe in the teaching of the church on abortion. How could we say abortion is bad, when it's called productive right? a choice, a woman's choice. They also say that they don't believe until they scientifically verify that belief system. Scientifically means observable data, sort of, to convince them that this is a real deal. You see the gap. Our young people don't believe that they want to know, and they don't find the answer just yet. 92 percent of our young people walk away from the church for one very simple reason: the faith that they're being forced to learn, did not really bear any fruit in their own family. Mary, you are very lucky to grow up in a family that Faith being embodied, and lived out. Thanks for your mother's example as well, to believe there's a God. So my brothers and sisters, what is Faith? Why do we believe in Christ? What is actually faith?
Based upon the gospel that we just listened to today, it's interesting how Jesus responded to a question: "increase our faith", a plea of some sort, "please Lord, and increase our faith". The disciples understand that Jesus taught is difficult to understand. How could we fathom the almighty God actually walking among them? How could they really understand the Messiah not going to be a general with amazing might and power that destroyed the Roman Empire and re-established the Israelite people, Kingdom? How could they believe such a god actually walking among them, God incarnate? If Jesus is actually the almighty God, the almighty Son of God, the Messiah, who have we been waiting for so long? Can he be the one he actually healed the blind man, he actually called out the dead man from the tomb, he actually raised the dead to life. Man, can this guy be God? And they say it increases our faith - we are so weak and fragile, we couldn't believe what we just saw; we couldn't believe what you just said. It's so hard. How can I forgive my enemy and love them at the same time? How can I give my life away, just the way you do, the way you say? Amazing isn't it? And our Lord responded in such a fascinating way. He using an analogy of the master and slave relationship, that what the master says, the slave or those who work for him supposed to obey. at the end of the day, what you should say: we are unprofitable servants, we just do what we were told.
Faith in this context, our Lord is saying, is a radical acceptance of what God has manifested. I repeat again: faith is the radical acceptance of what God has revealed or manifested. This radical acceptance, you and I actually live this throughout our life. Every minute of our day we do this. We have a radical acceptance when it comes to our doctor. When we come to them and ask for their help and diagnosis, we close our eyes and lay on the operating table and say open me up, help me with my lung disease, and heart problems, and give me the medicine that needed to treat my cancer, give me a treatment. Don’t we trust, at least on the surface, radically to those who actually care for us? Don’t we go to the restaurant without going into the back and have a little temperature check, or poison sort of equipment to make sure everything is fine before we eat? We don't do that, do we? No, we radically accept as given because we trust somehow blindly that this restaurant is going to treat me good, not going to poison me, or kill me. Don’t we accept it when we say I love you? Then, we accept that sometimes radically; accept the other person's generosity, goodness, and love. I love you. Don’t we sacrifice ourselves, and Plunge in a relationship that lasts for 50 years, 60 years, or 70 years in some cases. Don’t we have that radical acceptance already? And why it is so hard to believe in the one who says: I am the resurrection, and the life. Why is it so hard to believe in the one who actually conquered death? Why is it so hard to believe in the one who actually rescues us from our loneliness, from our self-condemnation, from our own stupidity, from our own stubbornness? Why is it so hard? So my brothers and sister, our people get it right. All of us should get it right. The faith that is radically accepted has to be manifested, has to be in you and me, it has to be manifested to people, so that they could be convinced. Nowadays enough talk, enough talk, we need real concrete actions.
Do we want to know how much self-sacrifice and generosity is actually inspired by the example of Jesus? Asking this in St. Vincent De Paul, they serve thousands upon thousands of people. if we want to know what it means to believe, as the man who came here, who came here, to fix the lights that we have. This is an amazing story. I wanted to share with you. He's an atheist, he did not believe in anything. He was sent by his boss to come here. His boss and I were good friends. He sent him here, working on this light for a week. So every day I would come out here for about half an hour to chat with him. He is on his ladder. I am down here talking about his life, asking about his family. And he, in return, asked about the church, God, the community. Amazingly, three months later, he enrolled in RCIA. Six months later, he became a Catholic. Now he comes here with his wife every Sunday from San Jose. And the next beautiful thing is going to sort out his previous marriage that has been torn apart. That is faith, faith being caught, faith being brought up, faith that being really, my dear brothers and sister, taught, too. It's an example I wanted to share with you so that When Faith is being manifested and lived out, it has an amazing power to transform life. My dear brothers and sisters, Faith saved a crippled man, Faith saved the son who died thanks to the faith of his father coming to Jesus and asking my son to die at home. Faith actually saved the crippled man who could not speak, and thanks to the faith of his friends climbed up the roof, and lowered him down before Jesus. Faith when it's being lived out, saves lives. When it's being accepted, and lived out, and manifested, it transforms the entire world.
Another example when I was in Saint Catherine. We have a beautiful project to renovate the entire interior of the church. And I look around with all the beautiful emblems, all beautiful pictures, but have been covered by paint. So I was asking around to see who would be the artist that could help me. Of course, we don't have that much money, so we sort out talents from the community. So they told me about a man but he no longer goes to church. He was a drug addict; he had a very irregular marriage, 4 kids, and his Off the Grid. But they knew where he lived. So I searched him out, and I asked him to come to the church. I show him the project and I asked him, I don't have much money, but you are an artist, why don't you offer me a little bit of time, for three months long. he would come after work, 5 pm, he worked until eight or nine almost every day, and would paint every little details. This is the beautiful thing. When you are in the presence of God, when you are in touch with the Divine, soon enough, you’re being invaded by grace. His wife would come around seven eight o'clock with his four kids, they were running around the church. And here's the beautiful thing. Three months later he gradually stopped taking drugs. He gradually realized that he needed to fix his marriage, and he had to be prepared to be married in the church. His wife became confirmed, and they 2 together celebrated their wedding even during Covid time. Just 2 days ago was the anniversary of Catholic marriage. Four of his kids are now in Catholic School. Every Thursday, he leads a group of people pray and adores the Blessed Sacrament and prays and leads a rosary group. His life has changed.
My dear brothers and sister, when Faith is being laid down, being shared, being brought out to the open, we transform the lives in the world. So dare we say: we believe in Christ, but if we don't do anything, listen to Saint Paul: "faith without work is dead". Good for no one, and nothing. Our Community of Faith here, we are an amazing Community, we have a lot of beautiful works of Faith, continue to do more. My dear brothers and sister, pray that our faith is increased, praise that we have desire to manifest that Faith out, discern with God what that looks like, so that we could move and transform our community not only here but out there as well.
你為什麼信耶穌？
A：教友的回答
我有一個簡單的問題：你為什麼信耶穌？ 昨晚，我向參加下午 5 點 30 分彌撒的教友門問了同樣的問題，也得到了許多有趣的回答。 有人說：因為耶穌與我同在，我們一起經歷了生命和死亡。 也有人說：從主耶穌的身上，我體驗到憐憫和仁慈，我所有的一切都是他賜與的。 還有人說：因為天主教是唯一明認天主本身就是愛的教會，我相信它。那麼你呢？你為什麼信耶穌呢？ 這裡有一個麥克風，誰受到啟發，願意來分享為什麼相信耶穌呢？ 你信耶穌嗎？ 理由是什麼呢？
A：“耶穌和我在一起。 “
因為耶穌與你同在？ 是的，棒極了。 謝謝。 其他人呢？ 這個教會充滿了好人，卻說不出為什麼要信耶穌。 瑪麗？
A：“我很幸運能夠在一個有信仰的家庭中長大，在我父母的身上我看到了信仰，在兄弟們身上也看到了信仰，信仰讓你的靈魂有種被接納並且受到歡迎的感覺。 所以我持續生活在信仰中。信仰就是主耶穌，祂與我分享祂的愛， 讓我感到健康，讓我的生命變得更美麗”。
太好了。 謝謝你，從你和家人的生活中體驗到信仰，這真的是太棒了。 你呢？
A：“因為耶穌是唯一能夠提供美麗的永生，所以我希望能和他在一起”。
太棒了，謝謝你。 是永生，是和他在一起的希望。 還有人嗎？ 我們將會得到更多的答案。
A：“在我成長的過程中，親眼看到母親在困難的生活中掙扎，也看到她以祈禱來克服所有的障礙。 從那時起，我就相信我所要的，我擁有的，以及我已經得到的，都是來自天主“。
太棒了，你是否也能幫我向天主求一些東西呢？我們再次見證到經由母親的信仰，使她有了改變。太棒了，你呢？
A：“你必須相信一個為拯救我們的靈魂而獻出自己生命的人。耶穌一直在我們的身邊，向祂求，祂知道我們的需要，總能滿足我們“。
是的，這是多麼的美呀。除了祂在十字架上顯示的愛，還有什麼使你相信耶穌呢？
A：“他永遠在我身邊看顧我，當我有需要時，我求，就得到了幫助，擺脫困境”。
謝謝你。我相信每ㄧ個人都有信耶穌的原因。當我向一群父母提出了同樣的問題。他們也分享了為什麼相信這位為我們死在十字架上的奇妙天主。分享了如何逃離越南，在異國他鄉做難民受到的考驗，以及如何擺脫共產鐵腕的親身經歷。人們說：當我情緒低落，生病時，我呼喚祂，緊緊地抓住祂，我就感覺到祂的臨在。感覺到天主的臨在，就是信仰的癥結。我在堅振課上問學生：你為什麼不相信耶穌？到底你無法接受哪些教義？你知道他們說了些什麼？
他們說：我不相信在祭壇上奉獻的酒和餅是耶穌的血和身體。怎麼可能呢？它嘗起來像酒，嚼起來像麵包。如果你是神父，在主日不吃任何東西，主祭五台彌撒，你就會被含有大量酒精的聖血喝醉。他們還說，我們無法相信聖經是從天主而來的。聖經是由人寫的，它的靈感源於一些無法以科學和歷史來驗證的故事。我們怎能相信這些有缺陷的人寫出來的書，並且稱它為神的話語呢？這是個很動人的論述。還說：為什麼我們要去教堂，站起來，坐下，再站起來，坐下，又聽著等等。還有：我們怎麼能相信天主愛我們呢？這世界上有七、八十億人，天主如何能愛我們每一個人呢？怎麼可能知道這世界上的每一件事？他們無法相信耶穌。
他們也不相信教會對於墮胎的教導。墮胎被稱為是生產的權利，我們如何能說墮胎是不好的呢？既然是生產的權利，它就是一個選擇，一個專屬於女人的選擇。他們還說，除非通過科學的驗證，否則無法相信這個信仰。從你們的見證和這些年輕人的認知，可以看出我們對信仰態度上的落差。年輕人雖然想知道，但不相信，是因為他們無法找到答案。92% 的年輕人離開了教會，原因很簡單：他們被迫學習這個信仰，但是信仰並沒有在他們自己的家庭中結出果實。瑪麗，妳很幸運，能在一個有信仰體驗和生活的家庭中長大。也感謝妳母親立的榜樣，讓妳相信天主。兄弟姐妹們，信仰是什麼？我們為什麼相信基督？什麼是真正的信仰？
很有趣的，在今天的福音中，耶穌回答了門徒的問題：“增加我們的信心”，事實上這是一個懇求，“主，增加我們的信心”。門徒很難了解耶穌所教導的道理。他們如何能理解彌賽亞不是一位擁有能力的將領，來摧毀羅馬帝國，重建以色列人和王國的人？他們怎麼能相信一位神，道成肉身，竟然在他們中間行走？如果耶穌就是全能的神，天主的兒子，彌賽亞，我們等了這麼久的人，難道他就是真正醫好了瞎子，把死人從墳墓裡喚了出來，將死人復活了的神？難道祂是天主嗎？門徒要求耶穌增加信心。門徒們的信心是如此的軟弱，無法相信他們看到的神跡；不敢相信耶穌說的話。因為祂的話語是如此的艱難。要如何原諒敵人並且愛他們？又如何能成就，耶穌所說的，所做的—放棄自己的生命？
非常奇妙的，耶穌用了主奴的關係來回答這問題 ，耶穌說：無論主人說什麼，奴隸或為他工作的人都應該服從。事成後，還應該說：“我們是無用的僕人，我們只是遵守主人的吩咐去做罷了”。
在這裏耶穌告訴我們，信德就是徹底地接受天主的啟示。讓我再重複一遍：信心就是徹底地接受天主所啟發或顯示的事或物。是一種積極的接受。事實上每天的每一分鐘，我們都持續在積極接受的態度下過生活。看醫生就是一個徹底接受的例子。當我們尋求醫治時，我們閉上眼睛，躺在手術台，對醫生說“我敞開心扉，請治好我的肺病，或心臟病。請給我藥治癒我的癌症“。無論相信與否，至少在表面上，我們相信那些真正關心我們的人。我們到餐廳吃飯時，為什麼在飯前不去餐廳的後面，量一下體溫，或者檢查食物是否有毒來確保安全？我們不這樣做，是因為我們已接受了這個餐廳 。盲目地相信這家餐廳會善待我，不會毒害我們。當我們說我愛你時，我們不也是徹底的接受嗎？我們從根本上接受對方的慷慨、善良和愛。我愛你。我們正是在犧牲自己，跳入一段可能會持續 50 年、60 年，或 70 年的關係中。我們不早就已經實行這種徹底的接受嗎？既然如此，那為什麼我們卻很難相信一位說：”我就是複活，我就是生命“的人。為什麼很難相信ㄧ位戰勝了死亡的人？為什麼很難相信那位將我們從孤獨、自責、愚蠢，和固執中拯救出來的人？為什麼信仰是這麼難？兄弟姐妹們，在我們之中有些人做對了，那麼我們所有的人都應該做對才好。我們必須要積極地徹底的接受這個信仰，必須要將我們的信仰呈現給人們來說服他門。我們談得夠多了，現在需要的是具體的行動。
如果你們想知道耶穌的榜樣激發了多少的自我犧牲和奉獻，那就看看聖文森特保祿善會，他們持續的服務了成千上萬的人。讓我來分享信仰對一位來修復我們教堂路燈的人的影響。這是一個不平凡的故事。這位修路燈的人是個無神論者，什麼都不相信。他的老闆和我是好朋友，老闆派他來這裡修路燈。他在這裡工作了一個星期。每天我都會和他聊天大約半個小時。他在梯上。我在梯下論家常。為了回報我，他也向我詢問了一些關於教會、天主、和教堂的事情。令人驚訝的是，三個月後，他參加了 RCIA。六個月後，他就受洗成為一名天主教徒。現在他每週日都會和妻子從聖荷西來參加主日彌撒。接下來，更美好的是他感覺到要理清自己以前一段支離破碎的婚姻。兄弟姐妹們，這就是信仰。當機會來時，要抓住信仰，培養信德，在信仰中受教導。信仰是真實的存在。這個例子告訴我們，當信仰明顯地被活了出來，它具有驚人的力量來改變生命。親愛的兄弟姐妹們，信心醫治了瘸腿的人，由於父親懇求耶穌拯救他去逝的兒子，信心救活了他的兒子。感謝朋友的信心，願意爬上屋頂將那個不能說話瘸腿的人，降到耶穌面前而獲得治癒。當信心被活出來，它會拯救生命。當信仰被接受、活出來、顯露在外時，它會改變世界。
讓我給你們說另一個例子。當我在聖凱瑟琳服務時，我們有一個美麗的項目來翻新教堂的內部。我環顧四周，所有美麗的標誌和圖片都被油漆覆蓋了。所以我四處打聽，看看誰能幫助我們。當然，我們的錢不多，所以必須從堂區中找人才。教友們告訴我有一位不進堂的男藝術家。他是個吸毒者，婚姻非常不正常，有 4 個孩子，他不與別人來往，但他們知道他住在哪裡。所以我拜訪他，請他來教堂，給他看整修的項目。告訴他，我沒有多少錢，但你是個藝術家，你是否可以奉獻時間來做這個項目。後來的三個月，他下午五點鐘下班後就到教堂來，工作到八，九點。他很仔細的畫每一個小細節。這是一件美好的事。當你在天主面前，當你與神接觸，很快的，你就會被恩典擁抱。七，八點左右，他的妻子帶著四個孩子來，在教堂裡跑來跑去。這真是一件美好的事。三個月後，他漸漸停止吸毒，他也逐漸意識到需要修復他的婚姻，必須準備在教堂結婚。他的妻子也獲得了堅振即使在 Covid 時期，他們舉行了婚禮，受到了天主的祝福。兩天前就是他們在天主教結婚的週年紀念日。他的四個孩子現在就讀於天主教學校。每星期四，他會帶領一群人來祈禱，崇拜聖體。並帶領了一個唸玫瑰經的祈禱小組。信仰改變了他的生命。
親愛的兄弟姐妹們，當信仰被陳述、分享、公開後，祂就會改變這個世界。我們說我們信基督，但什麼都不做。就像聖保祿所說的：“沒有做為的信仰是死的”。這種信仰對任何人，任何事都沒有好處。在這裡，我們有一個了不起的信仰團體，有很多美麗的信仰作品，我們要繼續地做更多。親愛的兄弟姐妹們，求主增強我們的信仰。感謝主讓我們有這個渴望來彰顯信仰。讓我們與天主一起明辨信仰的召叫，繼續前行來改變自己和周圍的社區。