一言為定 (2010年5月4日)

「我把平安留給你們,我將我的平安賜給你們;我所賜給你們的,不像世界所賜的一樣。」(若14:27)
耶穌明白他的門徒煩亂、膽怯。因為他明言會上耶路撒冷,並且要受到迫害。
耶穌再次向門徒剖白,他所將遇到的苦難,全然是天父的旨意。這說法,無疑是向門徒提示:他是絕對平安的,因為他是在實行聖父的旨意。
世界所認為的平安是無痛苦、無災難。因為人們受不了逆境的煎熬。耶穌在山園祈禱時說:「父啊!求你免去我的苦爵。」可見痛苦的確讓人望而生畏。不過,耶穌補充說:「請不要按我的意思,而是照你的意思去做。」
耶穌的苦難,是作人類犯罪的贖價。同樣地,我們所受的十字架,也是聯同耶穌的苦難,向天父求得罪赦之恩。
因此之故,痛苦再不是無奈、懲罰的原委,而是充滿著奉獻、與基督同行的最高情操。
梁達材神父

生活聖言 (2010年5月)

「誰愛我,我父也必愛他,我也要愛他,並將我自己顯示給他。」(若14:21)

在耶穌的臨別贈言中,愛就是祂講話的重心,即有關天父對聖子的愛,以及我們對耶穌的愛,而愛耶穌的意思就是遵守祂的命令。
當時,那些聆聽耶穌的人不難察覺到,祂的言談帶有猶太人智慧文學的神韻,例如:「愛即在於遵守祂的法律」(智慧書6:18),又如:「愛慕智慧的,容易看見它。」(參閱智慧書6:12)尤其當耶穌提到祂會向愛祂的人顯示自己時,正好與舊約智慧書第一章第二節互相輝映,因為那一節指出上主會向那些信祂的人顯示自己。
現在,我們給這句聖言的解釋是:誰愛聖子,天父便愛他,聖子也會愛他,並把自己顯示給他。

「誰愛我,我父也必愛他,我也要愛他,並將我自己顯示給他。」

可是耶穌的這種顯示卻要求我們去愛。
我們不能想像一個基督徒在心中缺乏這種動力,即這種愛的能力。一個壞了的時鐘不能報時,甚至可以說它不再是個時鐘。同樣,一個不時常努力去愛的人,也不堪被稱為基督徒。
這是因為耶穌的所有誡命都綜合在這條誡命之內:愛主愛人,並在近人身上看見及愛慕耶穌。
真愛並非感情用事,卻要落實在生活中,為弟兄而服務,尤其我們身旁的弟兄。我們可以由細微的事情做起,由最卑微的服務開始。
聖人福高曾說:「當我們愛某人時,我們真實地在他內生活,藉著愛,我們生活在他內,我們不再為自己生活,不再依戀自己,並已跳出了自己。」(福高著:《神修著作》第七冊,1975年羅馬新城出版社第110頁)
因著這份愛,耶穌的真光才能在我們內照耀,這是耶穌的許諾:「誰愛我,……並將我自己顯示給他。」(參閱若14:2) 愛就是真光的泉源。我們去愛的時候便更能了解天主,認識祂就是愛。
這樣我們便更懂得去愛,並能加深與近人的關係。
所以,這道真光及這份對天主的認識就是真愛的印記和證明。我們還能以多種方式去體驗這一點,因為這道光在我們每人身上以不同的色彩及色調反映出來,同時也令大家之間具有共同的特質。這些特質包括:真光把上主的聖意明顯的呈現出來,它賜給我們平安及寧靜,並使我們不斷對天主聖言有進一步的了解。這是一道溫暖的真光,能激勵我們在生命的道路上越發堅定及迅速地向前邁進。當生命的陰影籠罩著我們,令我們步伐不穩定,甚至遇到黑暗的阻隔時,這句生活聖言能提醒我們,真光是以愛去點燃起來的,只要一個簡單而具體的愛德行動,例如一個祈禱、一個微笑、一句話,便能給我們帶來一點光明,讓我們繼續前行。
有一種腳踏車,在踩動車輪時,前照燈便會亮著。當我們在夜間騎腳踏車時,假如稍微停下,四周便會漆黑一片,但當我們再次踩動車輪時,電池便再充電,令我們又看見前路。
生命也是如此:只要我們再次把真愛,那不期待回報的愛付諸實行,我們內心的信德及希望便能重新點燃起來。

盧嘉勒

本月的生活聖言已於1999年5月份刊登

Word of Life – May 2010

“Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn 14:21)

Love is at the center of Jesus’ farewell discourse: the love of the Father for the Son, our love for Jesus, which means keeping his commandments.
Those who were listening to Jesus could easily recognize in his words an echo of Jewish wisdom literature such as, “Love of her [i.e., Wisdom] means the keeping of her laws” (Wis 6:18; see Prov 8:15-17; Sir 24:22-23) and, “She is readily perceived by those who love her” (Wis 6:12). In particular, revealing himself to those who love finds another parallel in Book of Wisdom 1:2, where it says that the Lord will manifest himself to those who believe in him.
The point of this Word of Life is: the Father loves those who love the Son, and the Son in turn loves them and reveals himself to them.

“Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn 14:21)

Such a revelation of Jesus, however, requires love. We cannot conceive of Christians who do not have this dynamism, this driving force of love in their hearts. A clock doesn’t work, it doesn’t tell the time – we wouldn’t even call it a clock – if its batteries are dead. It’s the same with Christians. If they are not constantly striving to love, they don’t deserve the name of Christian.
The reason for this is that all of Jesus’ commandments can be summed up in one: love of God and love of neighbor in whom we recognize and love Jesus.
Love is not just a matter of feelings. Love needs to be expressed in concrete terms, in serving our brothers and sisters, especially those who are near us, beginning with the little things, the most humble acts of service.
Charles de Foucauld once said: “When you love someone, you are really in that person through love, you live in that person through love, you no longer live in yourself, you are detached from yourself, outside of yourself.”

When we love in this way, the light of Jesus makes its way into our hearts, just as he promised: “Whoever loves me … I will … reveal myself to him” (Jn 14:21).

Love is the source of light. By loving we have a greater understanding of God who is Love.
This leads us to love even more and to deepen our relationship with our neighbor.

This light, this loving knowledge of God is therefore the seal, the proof of true love. And we can experience it in different ways, because light takes on a particular color or shade in each one of us. But it also has some common characteristics: it helps us to understand the will of God, it gives us peace, serenity, and an ever-new understanding of the word of God. It is a heart-warming light that encourages us to walk along our way of life with growing confidence and determination. When the shadows of life make our way uncertain, when darkness threatens to stop us, these words of the Gospel will remind us that a light is turned on by loving and that even one small gesture of concrete love (a prayer, a smile, a word) will give us enough light to go forward.
Some bicycles have headlights that work as long as the riders keep peddling. If they stop, they find themselves in darkness, but when they start peddling again, the dynamo will provide the light one needs to see the way to go.
We can apply this to our lives: we only need to set love in motion again — our true love, a love that gives without expecting anything in return — in order to rekindle in us faith and hope.

By Chiara Lubich

神父講道 – 復活期第五週 (週二) (2010年5月4日)

恭讀聖若望福音 14:27-31
那時,耶穌對門徒說:「我把平安留給你們,我將我的平安賜給你們;我所賜給你們的,不像世界上所賜的一樣。你們心裏不要煩亂,也不要膽怯。你們聽見了我給你們說過;我去;但我還要回到你們這裏來。如果你們愛我,就該喜歡我往父那裏去,因為父比我大。如今在事發生前,我就告訴了你們,為叫你當事發生時能相信。我不再同你們多談了,因為世界的首領就要來到;他在我身上一無所能,但為叫世界知道我愛父,並且父怎樣命令我,我就照樣去行。」
—基督的福音。

(Tuesday of the 5th week of Easter)

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 14:27-31

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, `I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go hence.

—The Gospel of the Lord.

往神父講道目錄

司鐸年每日默想 (5月4日)

不能放棄的禮物

鐸職需求一種生活與服務的特殊整合性,此整合性涵蓋我們的司鐸本質。與此同時,也闡釋出,我們這職務的偉大和“整裝待發”是相輔相成的:意即時刻準備著謙恭的領受聖神的恩賜,奉獻給他人仁愛與和平的果實,給予他們堅實的信德,使其洞悉人之存在的淵源和真實意義,並能在人類的個人和團體生活中引進倫理秩序。
因為我們領受鐸職是為不斷地服務于他人,如同基督所作的那樣,所以,我們不能因遇到困難和要求犧牲而放棄它。我們和宗徒所遇到的相同,《我們拋棄了一切,來跟隨基督。》(參閱瑪:19,27);所以,我們應該通過十字架,與他永不分離。

教宗若望保祿二世

致司鐸牧函
1979年4月12日,第4號

(參閱: 司鐸年箴言薈萃 第四冊)