2018-1-26

朋友们，今天的福音把天国比作一粒芥子:“当下种之后，生长起来，比一切蔬菜都大”。天主想让好事从小处开始并慢慢发展，这似乎是精神生活的原则。

 

我们很想说，“您是天主。您来着手做吧。”但为什么天主有祂的一套做法呢？我们可以尝试作出一些解释。我们在《圣经》中经常看到人类的合作令天主心花怒放。祂想让我们凭借自由、才智、创造力来参与祂的事业。所以，祂播下种子，并希望我们来栽培。

 

想一想天主对圣方济各说的话：“方济各，重建我的教堂。”天主本来就有能力重建祂的教堂，但祂想方济各参与其中。

当事情从小处开始，就能掩人耳目，从而获取力量、份量和严肃性。而参与者则能得到考验和磨炼。试想你打算为教会干一番大事业，通过祈祷，天主赐你重任，但你可能因为准备不足而不了了之。因此，我们要耐心，接受微不足道的邀请。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed that "when it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants." It seems to be a law of the spiritual life that God wants good things to start small and grow over time.

 

We’re tempted to say, "You’re God. Just get on with it. Do it!" But why would God work the way he does? We might attempt a few explanations. It is a commonplace of the Bible that God rejoices in our cooperation. He wants to involve us, through freedom, intelligence, and creativity, in what he is doing. And so he plants seeds, and he wants us to cultivate them.

 

Consider what God said to St. Francis: "Francis, rebuild my Church." God could have rebuilt his Church without Francis, but he wanted him to get involved.

 

When things start small, they can fly under the radar while they gain strength and heft and seriousness. Also, those involved can be tested and tried. Suppose you want to do something great in the life of the Church and you pray and God gives you massively what you want. You might not be ready, and your project will peter out. So be patient and embrace the small invitations.

 

2018-1-27 

朋友们，今天福音的核心是海上的风暴。卡尔·巴特说，所有的这些海上风暴都代表了“das Nichtige”，即虚无，即对抗天主创造意旨的力量、内在和外在的困难、所有肉体上、心理上以及灵魂上的困境。

 

我曾多次说到，船内的门徒象征着古往今来在世间跋涉的教会。那些风暴中的海水则象征着一切围攻教会的力量。为了保持今天福音故事中强烈的感情色彩，我们可以说众门徒面对的这场风暴肯定是极其可怕的，就连身经百战的水手都会为之胆战心惊。这场风暴并非小问题、小困难。

 

你知道来自深渊的祈祷吗？它出自《圣咏集》第130篇:“上主，我由深渊向你呼号，我主，求你俯听我的呼号，求你侧耳俯听我的哀祷！” 当人生处于最黑暗的日子，当我们感到迷失、当我们置身于死亡的阴影之中、当我们彻底绝望无助的时候，这是我们应该用的祷文。

 

Friends, the story at the heart of our Gospel for today is the storm at sea. Karl Barth said that the stormy waters in all of these cases stands for das Nichtige, the nothing, that which stands opposed to God’s creative intentions, difficulties both interior and exterior, difficulties physical, psychological, and spiritual.

 

The disciples in the boat are, as I’ve often said, evocative of the Church, making its way through time and space. And those waters are symbolic of everything that besets the members of the Church. To stay within the emotional space of the story, this must have been a terrible storm, to have terrified experienced sailors. This is no small problem, no minor difficulty.

 

Do you know the de profundis prayer? It comes from Psalm 130: "Out of the depths, I have cried to you, O Lord. O Lord, be attentive to the voice of my pleading." It is the prayer we should offer at the darkest times of life, when we find ourselves lost and in the shadow of death, when, in our desperation, we feel utterly incapable of helping ourselves.