2018-2-23

朋友们，今天的福音摘自“山中圣训”。我们若要理解“山中圣训”里惊人的教训，就必须铭记这个小标语：“所以你们应当是成全的，如同你们的天父是成全的一样。”

 

耶稣是天主之子，祂的目的主要不是建造和谐社会，而是建立天国，即由参与基督之内的、分享圣子与圣父之间关系的人们所组成的奥体。

 

耶稣基督的父亲是怎样的呢？耶稣基督的父亲完全就是爱。爱是天主的全部；天主能做的除了爱，还是爱。天主不像我们这样捉摸不定、变幻莫测、见异思迁。天主纯粹就是爱。

 

为什么我们还要爱那些不爱我们的人？因为那是天主之道：祂爱圣人，也爱地狱里最糟糕的罪人。这是件容易的事？当然不是。但这是耶稣对我们的要求：所以你们应当是成全的，如同你们的天父是成全的一样。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel passage is an excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount. If we are to begin to understand Jesus’ staggering teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, we have to keep ever in our minds the little tagline, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

 

Jesus is the Son of God, and his purpose is not primarily to construct a smooth-functioning human society; it is to establish the kingdom of God, that is to say, a body formed by those who participate in him, who share his relationship with the Father.

 

What is the Father of Jesus Christ like? The Father of Jesus Christ is love, right through. That’s all God is; that’s all he knows how to do. He is not like us: unstable, changing, moving from one attitude to another. No, God simply is love.

 

Why should you go beyond simply loving those who love you? Because that’s the way God operates: he loves the saints and he also loves the worst sinner in hell. Now, is that easy to do? Of course not. But that’s what Jesus call us to: be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

2018-2-24

朋友们，今天的福音也是摘自“山中圣训”。该圣训是《圣经新约》中最难解的篇章之一，其中说到爱我们的敌人，不是容忍、或胡乱接受，而是爱。当你恨你的敌人，也就确认了他们是敌人。但当你以爱报怨，那你就使敌人困惑、不知所措，使他们失去恨你的理由。

 

东方武术中有种叫合气道的拳法，目的是化解对手的攻击力、逆来顺受、不断抵消对手的力量，直到对手意识到打斗是无用的。

 

有人指出耶稣对敌人报以非暴力和爱的策略与合气道大同小异。你巧妙地化解对手的进攻，以柔克刚、让对方领会暴力的徒劳无功。因此，当有人侮辱你，不要以牙还牙，而是以赞美为报。但有人密谋对付你，帮他一把。

 

Friends, once again our Gospel today is taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It is one of the most puzzling texts in the New Testament. It speaks of loving our enemies. Not tolerating them, or vaguely accepting them, but loving them. When you hate your enemy, you confirm him as your enemy. But when you love him in response to his hatred, you confuse and confound him, taking away the very energy that feeds his hatred.

 

There is a form of oriental martial arts called aikido. The idea of aikido is to absorb the aggressive energy of your opponent, moving with it, continually frustrating him until he comes to the point of realizing that fighting is useless.

 

Some have pointed out that there is a great deal of this in Jesus’ strategy of nonviolence and love of the enemy. You creatively absorb the aggression of your opponent, channeling it back against him, to show him the futility of violence. So when someone insults you, send back a compliment instead of an insult. When someone conspires against you, work to help him.

 

2018-2-25

朋友们，今天的福音说到基督显圣容。显圣容本身是什么？马尔谷实际上说的是彻底的改变、蜕变。若用圣保禄的话，则是：“在耶稣基督的面貌上所闪耀的天主的光荣的知识。”在祂谦卑的人性中并且同时通过祂的人性，祂的神性得以绽放光芒。神性的亲近毫不减损祂的人性，相反，祂的人性因神性而闪耀出更加璀璨的美丽。这就是《圣经新约》版的火焰中的的荆棘丛。

 

既具神性又具人性的耶稣使福音极具吸引力。祂若只有神性，就无法碰触我们；祂若只有人性，就无法救赎我们的。祂的光荣来自人性与神性的并存，两者毫不混淆、毫不交合、毫不紊乱。

 

正是这样的耶稣随后伴随祂的门徒下山，回到日常的生活中。基督就是想成为统治我们生活每一个细节的主。我们要是忘了这一点，那么耶稣就会变成一段年深日久的回忆、一个仿如隔世的古人。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel presents the Transfiguration of Christ. What is the Transfiguration itself? Mark speaks literally of a metamorphosis, of going beyond the form that he had. If I can use Paul’s language, it is “the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ.” In and through his humble humanity, his divinity shines forth. The proximity of his divinity in no way compromises the integrity of his humanity, but rather makes it shine in greater beauty. This is the New Testament version of the burning bush.

 

The Jesus who is both divine and human is the Jesus who is evangelically compelling. If he is only divine, then he doesn’t touch us; if he is only human, then he can’t save us. His splendor consists in the coming together of the two natures, without mixing, mingling, or confusion.

 

This same Jesus then accompanies his disciples back down the mountain and walks with them in the ordinary rhythms of their lives. This is the Christ who wants to reign as Lord of our lives in every detail. If we forget about this dimension, then Jesus becomes a distant memory, a figure from the past.