朋友们，今天的福音直言撒殚和罪恶。鉴于今天是声名狼藉的罗诉韦德案纪念日，这些说话在我们耳边依然回响不绝。我们只要认真观察周遭的社会，都会感到颇为沮丧。据保守估计，自罗诉韦德案判决后，堕胎数目为5800万，几乎是希特勒大屠杀人数的十倍。辅助自杀现在在几个州内是合法的，包括加州；而死刑在其他几个州内依然苟延残喘。在当今的文化背景下，大多数人都觉得上述一切都是理所当然的。圣若望·保禄二世曾坦言的死亡文化似乎正大张旗鼓。

 

但我希望大家听听哈巴谷先知所说的：“你写出这神视，清楚地刻在版上… 因为这神视…最后必要实现，决无欺诈。” 他说的是什么？他是在描述救赎将降临于疲惫绝望的、深信自己已被天主抛弃的以色列民族。他在敦促以色列子民心怀信德、信赖天主。

 

因此，在这个沉痛的纪念日，让我们继续高声呐喊、以信德前行。我们的神视最后必要实现，决无欺诈。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel speaks plainly of Satan and sin. And in light of today’s anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, we still feel the echoes. When we look realistically at the society around us, we can become pretty discouraged. The conservative estimate regarding the number of abortions since Roe v. Wade is 58,000,000. That’s almost ten times Hitler’s holocaust. Assisted suicide is now legal in a half dozen states, including California, and the death penalty remains a blight on a half dozen others. And most people in our culture now feel that these states of affairs are simply a fact of life. The culture of death, as St. John Paul II called it so bluntly, seems to be on the march.

 

But I want everyone to attend to what the prophet Habakkuk tells us: "Write down the vision clearly on the tablets…for the vision…will not disappoint." What is he talking about? He’s describing the arrival of salvation to a people who had grown weary and desperate, convinced that God had abandoned them. And he is urging them to have faith, to trust.

 

And so on this somber anniversary, we continue to raise our voices and to walk according to faith. Our vision will not disappoint.

 

2018-1-23

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣称我们是祂的信徒。那么我们应如何看待自己？首先，我们是选民。我曾多次说过，当今的文化极力推崇选择、我们的选择、个人的选择。我们最在乎的是自由、自我向导和独立自主。

 

但《圣经》非常明确地指出最重要的不是我们的选择，而是天主的选择。我们基督徒、耶稣的信徒被天主选出来为天主服务。这种选定并非奖赏，我们并非因为能干而被挑选。正好相反。

 

你的人生与你无关。你的意志栖居于无限的更高的意志之中。你的思想是无穷思想的一部分。所以，人生的首要问题并非：“我想怎样？”，而是：“天主想怎样？”。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus identifies us as his disciples. So what do we discover about ourselves? First, that we are a chosen race. As I’ve said many times, our culture puts a huge premium on choice, our choice, personal choice. We care, above all, about freedom, self-direction, and autonomy.

 

But the Bible is eminently clear that what matters above all is not our choice but God’s choice. We Christians, we followers of Jesus, have been chosen by God for God’s purposes. And this choice is not a matter of reward, as though we are being singled out because of our gifts. Just the contrary.

 

Your life is not about you. Your will nestles in an infinitely higher will. Your mind is an ingredient in an infinitely more capacious mind. And so the primary question of your life is not, "What do I want?" but rather, "What does God want?"