Anthony Nguyen Huu Loi, Sch. P.

12 December 2018
Helen Graham, M.M., Ph.D.

I am so glad and enlightened by what we have discussed in this subject. Many insights

given in this class are important and necessary for me to know and learn in my journey of faith

toward God. Particularly, I am so much interested and inspired by these two persons in Genesis

and Exodus: Abraham and Moses. Their experiences of faith have a great effect on me, I feel that

as if they keep on teaching me, talking to me, enlightening me, accompanying me, and encouraging

me as I read about their journey.

God Yahweh was calling Abraham to leave everything, even his family, and his father land

to journey to the Promised Land where God foretold him.1 He just trusted in God and did whatever

God told him without any particular signs and guarantees. The biblical narrative only tells me that

God called me like Abraham to go and trust in him. I often could not hear God talk to me in the

way Abraham experienced, but I believe God communicate with me through my inner faculties.

Sometimes I was in doubt about how I can know that God is calling or talking to me. With the

capacity God has given me, I attempt to discover where God is in my life and what He wants me

to do, this is one of the characteristics of Abraham that I have learned in seeking the truth and God

as well. I am sometimes afraid and doubtful about my lack of capacity and knowledge, but I feel

that I have to seek the truth and the will of God as the ultimate purpose of my life. Indeed, we are

all nothing before God, but we are called to be like Him, to be holy. Abraham followed the call of

God to journey towards the land where God foretold him, that is, the land of perfection, love,

grace, and holiness. To achieve what God promised him, he ought to obey or do what was

commanded on him as well. As Abraham, I am also called to be like God, my life is a journey

forwards holiness, perfection, truth, and love - which found in the house of God. Nevertheless, I

1
Genesis 12: 1-9.
need to experience God and His grace in my journey, so that I might be aware of what is the best

for my life.

Abraham's faith and obedience become exemplary virtues for all of us to follow. He always

accepted the word of God and responded to God's call, even when his faith was apparently tested

beyond limits. Like Abraham, I am called by God in the journey of faith. There are situations in

which my faith is shaken. There are challenges that cannot be understood and cannot be explained

without faith. There are many crises I had experienced, such as seeing broken families, my failures

to do good, my eye-witness with the poor children and sick people, and my depression in life

through which I learn to trust and become confident like Abraham. It means to say: I will continue

to encounter obstacles in my life, however I know this is not to put me down but to make me

stronger and better in my life of faith. A process of growing in faith is the continual experience of

God’s existence in every situation of life as Job experienced God through his struggles and after

then he cried out: “for I know that my Redeemer lives…in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall

see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another”2

Catholics are those "believers" who are believers, and non-believers are "unbelievers."

That is true in the narrow sense, in the broad sense, it is not true. Because everyone must have faith

to survive. I once said to a communist: "You and I are all learned, we all have thoughts, reasoning,

to a certain degree I am one step ahead of you. I jumped into the mercy and love of God, but we

both live by faith, my beliefs are called mythic beliefs and your beliefs are atheism. Who do you

believe in? Believe in what? At that time, the Christian response came: I believe in God. I believe

in Him with His promise. He is my strong supporter so I believe in him. As bishop Kham said:

“When I believe in anyone, I must attach my actions and life to that person.” (Reflection of CN 2

Lecture, Bishop Nguyen Kham).

2
Job 19: 25-27, NRSV.
 The most unique feature of Christianity is that when I believe in God, I believe in his word.

The word of God is not a word of speech on the lips, but it has become flesh, embodied in the flesh

of Jesus of Nazareth. So, if I believe in God, then I must believe in Jesus Christ and in His words.

It is a very unique center of Christianity. If we do not discover that, then we are not Christians.

Not only that we will also understand the transformational story of Jesus purposely. God wants to

uphold the faith of the disciples before the tribulation. God helps the disciples understand that

Jesus himself is the loving Son of God. The path of external suffering is the path leading to death,

but suffering from within is the path to life. God wants to lift us up to the challenges of life not for

us to be wavered and lose faith.

With Abraham's exemplary faith, we are convinced that, in each person's path of life, God

is always there to love, guide and support. The most serious crisis of today's society is the crisis of

belief and the meaning of life. What are human beings born in this world for and where will they

go? These are the great questions that thousands of people are constantly putting themselves in the

face of the uncertainties of life in order to answer them. After all, each person can only find the

answer to that question by the light of the power of God's gift of faith. He bestows the gift of faith

that guides us to love and serve others. When people learn to live for others, they will find

themselves and see the meaning of life.

With regard to Moses, before facing the burning bush, perhaps it was Moses himself who

was burned. He is full of enthusiasm, he is a man of action, and Moses had that fire of love inside

him. It is thought that, after being called by God, he will be even more zealous and ready to assume

the mission of leadership. But, unexpectedly, things did not go that way. The fire is now only seen

in God's side. It seemed that Moses tried his best to water the flames within him and extinguish it

by complaining about difficulties and doubts God has given him.

 We witness an adversity of vocation from the beginning of Moses’ mission. It does not

happen once but five times. How far the Moses is now compared with the Moses we have known

in the first five chapters. We now see a crooked, timid, scared, and strange man. My life is a great

process of changing forwards the better. Like Moses and Abraham I was often in trouble and

doubtfulness about my faith in God, I did not know where to go and what to do for my life in

future, and I also asked myself and God a lot of questions about the meaning of life: why am I

here on earth? What is the purpose of my life, what should I do? What is right and wrong? Who is

the true God? As Moses questioned: “Who am I to come to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel

out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you.” (Ex 3: 1-3).

I can see this same characteristic in Abraham too. After many experiences of life I could

be aware God’s love, presence, and mercy that made me convert into a descendent of faith by

following the fathers of faith: Abraham and Moses. “What am I going to tell them?” This question

of Moses to God is the same as mine that I ought to answer it in my life, yes it is so challenging to

live out and speak out about God’s teaching and love to others, but I believe that if I trust in Him

and let Him work on me, everything is possible, I also experienced this when I was in Sai Gon city

(2009-2014) I worked according to what God asked me to do from my inner self, because of that

many of those who came to ask my help have now become better in life and their problems were

resolved by God in a mysterious way that I cannot express with my limited intellect rather I believe

and trust.

I recognize that I should imitate the examples of Abraham and Moses, and learn from their

experiences in listening and responding the call of God in every situation of my life even when it

is not easy to do so, but with great faith and sincere self, God will make me useful for His great

glory.