2018-4-4

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣在前往厄玛乌的路上为门徒启蒙。你是否曾经试过在拼图时惊奇地发现各个碎片突然各得其所？这就是门徒在耶稣进行讲解时的感受：“为信先知们所说的一切话，你们的心竟是这般迟钝！默西亚不是必须受这些苦难，才进入他的光荣吗？”基督教的全部意义在此悬而未决。

 

两门徒起初不理解。他们不得要领、不解奥秘、没有把握关键、不知所以。那关键是什么？天主爱得不顾一切，甚至舍弃自己的生命。天主为了救赎世人甘愿承担所有的罪恶，即通过受苦受难来救世的奥秘。

 

耶稣先根据先知来解释，然后把一切生动呈现：“就拿起饼来，祝福了，擘开，递给他们。”顿时尘埃落定——拼图凑成。圣餐活现至死不渝的爱，这份爱比罪恶和死亡都更强大。圣餐就是关键。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus enlightens the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Have you ever tried to solve a puzzle and then were surprised when the various pieces suddenly fell into place? Well, this is what happens to these disciples as Jesus begins to speak: "How slow you are to believe all that the prophets have announced! Did not the Messiah have to undergo all this so as to enter into his glory?" The whole of Christianity is hanging here in the balance.

 

The disciples didn’t get it at first. They didn’t get the secret, the mystery, the key, the pattern. And what was that? God’s self-emptying love, even unto death. God’s act of taking upon himself the sins of the world in order to take them away, the mystery of redemption through suffering.

 

Jesus explains this first, with reference to the prophets; but then, he makes it as vividly present to them as he can: "He took the bread, pronounced the blessing, then broke the bread and began to distribute it to them." And that’s when the piece fell into place—that’s when the puzzle was solved. The Eucharist made present this love unto death, this love that is more powerful than sin and death. The Eucharist is the key.

 

2018-4-5

朋友们，在今天的福音中，复活了的耶稣来到十一位门徒面前。他们自然非常惊恐，以为见到鬼。但耶稣立刻纠正他们：“你们看看我的手，我的脚，分明是我自己。你们摸摸我，应该知道：鬼神是没有肉躯和骨头的，如同你们看我，却是有的。”

 

当他们依然惊叹不已、疑心重重、无法喜悦之际，祂说出令他们更惊讶的话：“你们这里有什么吃的没有？”他们于是给祂一块烤鱼，祂就在他们面前吃了。

 

耶稣的肉身复活——亦即沉睡了的人们获得的最初收益——是天堂和人间融合的绝妙征兆。一个真实可触的、可以吃烤鱼的肉体进入了天堂。

 

这意味着什么？就是对于天主来说，肉体并非异类。我们在天堂里确实有位支持者。如果耶稣复活是个顺口瞎编的故事或巧妙的神话，那么天堂和人间将是天南地北。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus appears to his eleven disciples. They were understandably terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus is quick to disabuse them of this notion: "Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have."

 

While they were still amazed and incredulous for joy, he stunned them further, saying, "Have you anything here to eat?" With that, they gave him a piece of baked fish, which he ate in their presence.

 

The bodily resurrection of Jesus—as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep—is the great sign that heaven and earth are coming together. A body that can be touched and that can consume baked fish has found its way into the realm of heaven.

 

What does this mean? It means that bodies are not finally alien to God. We have indeed an Advocate in the heavenly places. Were the Resurrection a convenient story or a clever myth, the two realms of heaven and earth would be as separate as ever.