主題：信德的障礙
雖然我們與猶太人沒有半點血緣關係，但是猶太人的經驗，尤其是他們與天主來往的經驗，對整個人類的命運，作出了偉大的貢獻。不但因為天主子降生成為猶太人耶穌基督，而且他們在信仰上頑固執著，有膽量與天主爭辯並討價還價，為人類爭取到很大的益處。
其實猶太人所執拗的，正是大部份人所執拗的一樣。
每次參加主日彌撒，我們唸信經，宣認我們相信天主聖子「因聖神由童貞瑪利亞取得肉軀，而成為人。」很多人卻運用他們的理性，好像猶太人一樣，質疑耶穌基督的身份。既然是天主，又怎可能死在十字架上呢？這死祇可能是一個假象！既然是由女人所生的，就沒有可能是天主，聖母瑪利亞不可能是天主之母等等的疑問…這些疑問，既催生了很多的異端邪說，卻同時促進了後世神學的蓬勃發展。作為天主教徒，我們也有自己的疑問。眼前明明是一塊無酵餅，神父在彌撒中，呼求聖神降臨在這麵餅上，它是怎樣成為耶穌基督的身體呢？是魔法嗎？所以每次參加彌撒領聖體，我們都在挑戰著自己的信德。當神父或送聖體員，在我們眼前舉起已祝聖了的麵餅，說「基督聖體」時，我們回答的「亞孟」，是不是「亞孟」的原本意思，即「是真的」呢？我們是否真心相信，這麵餅真的是耶穌基督的血肉嗎？
感謝耶穌基督在最後晚餐時，建立了聖體聖事，讓教會可以運用不流血的方式，向天父舉行祭天的贖罪祭，分享這祭品，並兌現耶穌基督向猶太人所作的宣言。「我所要賜給的食糧，就是我的肉，是為世界的世命而賜給的。」（6：51）耶穌基督是天主，是生命的主宰，在祂內有生命，有永恆的生命。出於愛，祂按自己的肖像造了人類；出於愛，祂不願意看見人類喪亡在罪惡之中；出於愛，祂願意以自己的血肉，滋養我們的生命。猶太人執拗，一次又一次錯過了相信天主，相信耶穌基督，從而獲得永生的機會。前車可鑑，我們可怎樣移除信德上的障礙，促進我們信德的發展呢？
祈禱吧！養成良好的祈禱習慣。尤其向聖神祈求，發揮我們已領受的聖神七恩的威力。求聖神開啟我們的明悟，認清聖父的旨意；賜給我們勇氣，加強我們的意志力，履行天父的旨意。讀經吧！聖經記載了前人與天主交往的紀錄，閱讀這些故事，運用這些故事作為祈禱的材料，為我們的得救，是絕對有益的。
各位兄弟姊妹，讓我們勤領聖事，配合以祈禱讀經，使所領的聖事更能發揮功效。
以色列人頑固執著，在第一篇讀經中厄里亞的行為，表現無遺。不要以為厄里亞因為事業失敗而求死（列上19：4），剛好相反，他成功地向群眾証明了雅威是真神（18：24，39）！他滿以為神蹟會令群眾回心轉意，不料皇后下「格殺令」。以他的能力，當然他不用畏懼皇后，不用落荒而逃。可是，他對重建群眾對雅威的敬拜，已心灰意冷，所以求死！再看另一個事例。雖然看見過天主行十災，分紅海，但他們仍擺脫不了拜偶像的陋習。在梅瑟上了山四十天之久，領取十誡時，山下的群眾在沒有領導人的情況下，人心惶惶，結果強迫亞郎，為他們造了一隻金牛，準備帶領他們返回埃及，那個做奴隸的地方！在山上，天主十分忿怒，告訴梅瑟，祂打算消滅全數的以色列人，並在梅瑟的後裔中，興起另一支大民族，以兌現天主曾對他們的祖先亞巴郎所許下的諾言。梅瑟為以色列人求情，巧妙地說服了天主，使祂回心轉意，沒有消滅這個執拗的民族（出32：7-14）。於是以色列民族得以「在曠野漂泊了四十年，直到在上主眼前作惡的那一世代完全死盡。」（戶32：13）纔進入天主預許的福地。這樣一來，天主就要處理，在曠野裡供養六十萬執拗的以色列人，四十年的飲食問題了。這就是大家所熟悉的，持續了四十年的「天降瑪納」和「擊石出水」的神蹟。在上主的上智安排之下，耶穌基督行「五餅二魚」的神蹟，使天降的瑪納，變成了聖體聖事的綵排，帶來人類最寶貴的禮物。
在上一個主日的福音中，耶穌指出，他們來尋找自己，不是因為見證了五餅二魚神蹟所揭示天父的慈悲，而是希望獲得生活上的保証，衣食無憂。耶穌勸導他們，應該追求永生的食糧（若6：27）。猶太人便追問耶穌，做甚麼纔可得到永生的食糧。答案當然就是「相信耶穌。」猶太人自然地反問，他們憑甚麼相信這位從加里肋亞來的木匠呢？站在猶太人眼前的，明明是若瑟的兒子，為甚麼他說自己是從天上降下來的呢？（6：42）雖然耶穌基督說的是事實，但這事實正在挑戰著猶太人和我們的信念。猶太人不相信耶穌基督是從天上來的，而我們究竟有多相信耶穌基督的人性和天主性呢？耶穌基督怎樣同時是有血有肉，由女人所生的人類，又是天主呢？
天主保祐。
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Theme: The Obstacles of Faith
Although we are not blood relatives with the Jews, their experiences, especially their interactions with God have greatly contributed to a better destiny for humanity. Not only was the Son of God born a Jew, but their stubbornness in faith and their courage to argue and bargain with God has also fought for humanity many more benefits.
The Jewish stubbornness is the same as the stubbornness of most people.
We thank Jesus Christ for his establishing the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper. In doing so, he allows the Church to offer a redemptive sacrifice to the Father in a non-bloody manner. We share the sacrifice and honour the declaration Jesus made before the Jews. "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." (6:51) Jesus Christ is God and the Author of Life. In him, there is life, eternal life. Out of love, God created humanity in His image. Out of love, He was reluctant to see humanity perish in sins. Out of love, He is willing to feed our life with His flesh. The Jews were stubborn. More than once they miss the opportunity to believe in God, to believe in Jesus Christ and thus obtaining eternal life. Realizing these precedent failures, what can we do to remove those obstacles of faith and facilitates its development?
Pray! Have a good prayer habit. Pray in particular to the Holy Spirit that the Seven Gifts may be effective. Pray that the Holy Spirit opens up our intellect to know the will of the Father. Grant us courage and strengthen our will to enforce the Father's will. Study the scriptures! The Bible embeds the interactions between God and our ancestors. Read the stories. Make use of them as subject matters of our prayers. This is absolutely beneficial for our salvation.
The Israelite stubbornness is illustrated well in the behaviour of Elijah in the first reading today. Do not think that Elijah prayed for death because he had failed to accomplish his mission (1 Kings 19:4). On the contrary, he had just demonstrated in front of the people that Yahweh was God (18:24, 39). He thought that the people would turn their hearts to God, but the queen issued a death warrant against his life. Of course, with his power, Elijah should have no fear of the queen and did not need to flee. Yet, he was disillusioned with the prospect of rebuilding Yahweh worship among the people. Thus, he prayed for death! Take another example. Although the Israelites had seen the 10 plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea, they were not able to shake off idolatry. When Moses spent 40 days on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, the Israelites below had lost confidence in Moses. They forced Aaron to build them a golden calf to guide them back to the land of slavery, Egypt! On the mountain, God was furious. He told Moses His wish to annihilate the Israelites and to raise another great tribe from Moses' offspring to honour His promise to Abraham. Moses interceded for the Israelites. He skilfully persuaded God not to destroy this stiff-necked people (Exodus 32:7-14). Thus the Israelites had to "wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord had disappeared" (Numbers 32:13) before they reached the Promised Land. Consequently, God had to handle the logistics of feeding 600,000 stubborn Israelites for 40 years. This is the famous continuous miracle of raining manna from heaven for 40 years. God's unfathomable wisdom arranges Jesus Christ to perform the miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish, thus turning the miracle of manna into a rehearsal for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, bringing humanity the most precious present.
In the gospel passage last Sunday, Jesus said that the Jews looked for him, not because they had seen the mercy of the Father in the 5 loaves 2 fish miracle, but to seek a guarantee of freedom from the want of food. Jesus exhorted that they should work for the food that endures for eternal life (John 6:27). The Jews followed up and asked what they could do to accomplish the works of God. The answer of course is to believe in Jesus. Naturally, the Jews questioned what sign this carpenter from Galilee could do so that they might see and believe in him. They knew this man who was standing before them was the son of Joseph. Why did he claim to have come down from heaven (6:42)? Although Jesus Christ was telling the truth, this truth is challenging the Jewish faith as well as our faith. The Jews did not believe that Jesus Christ came down from heaven. How much do we believe in the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ? How could Jesus Christ, a man of flesh and blood and a man born of a woman, be God at the same time? Every time we join Sunday mass, we recite the Creed and declare that we believe the Son of God "was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man." Many people apply their rationality, like the Jews, to question the identity of Jesus Christ. If he were God, how could he die on the cross? Or could his death be just an illusion? If he were born of a woman, he could not be God or the Blessed Virgin Mary could not be the Mother of God etc... These questions bred many heresies but at the same time made theology prosper. As Catholics, we have our share of difficulties. It is a piece of unleavened bread before our eyes. How does this piece of wafer turn into the body of Christ when a priest invokes the Holy Spirit to come down on it? Is it magic? So, every time when we join mass and receive the Holy Communion, we are challenging our own faith. When the ministers raise a consecrated host before our eyes and say, "Body of Christ", we answer "AMEN" in response. Do we mean what "AMEN" means, that "it is true"? Do we truly believe in our hearts that this piece of wafer is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ?
Brethren, let us frequently receive the sacraments and support them with prayers and bible studies so that the sacraments may become more effective.
God bless!
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