2011年10月30日

意外之喜

(作者:楊忠勤 弟兄,摘錄自萬福月訊2011年10月號)

常年期第十八主日彌撒,麥神父在讀經後講道:「在我們生活裡,總有些意外發生,有些是不幸的,但有些卻是喜悅的。就以近期挪威發生槍殺無辜百姓的事件來說,那是不幸的意外。同樣的,在二千年前耶穌的年代,黑落德王無故的殺害了洗者若翰,也是個不幸的意外;但耶穌首次增餅賞賜給群眾的奇蹟,卻是個驚喜的意外;且較之黑落德王的殘暴,更顯露出他的憐憫與慈愛;而他在最後晚餐中,以麵餅及葡萄酒獻給大眾,所建立的聖體聖事,更是一個意外的大驚喜。雖然現在距當時已有二千年之久,但這種意外的大驚喜,卻每個禮拜都會發生;希望每位教友,每個禮拜也都能以身歷其境的心情,享受耶穌基督帶來的恩寵;並以喜悅的心,更堅定的答覆祂的召叫!」。

誠如神父所教導,耶穌首次增餅及以麵餅、葡萄酒建立聖體聖事等作為,不但是意外的驚喜,更是個奇蹟的顯現。因那些作為,就科學的角度言,皆非「已知的自然律」所能達成的。但就聖經與基督徒的角度言,奇蹟則是信仰的挑戰,也是天主藉著耶穌而行動的標記。因此,奇蹟所代表的意義,就是「創造」-即天主在創造中工作。祂的化工是美妙與全能的,且時時介入人類的歷史。

讓我們回顧一下歷史。創世紀書寫「罪」如何進入世界(創三),然後藉一些事件穩定地向上攀升;首先是亞爾伯的被殺,接著是天主的兒子和人類的女兒敗壞的行為(創六),繼而是洪水及邪惡或撒殫的統治,其特徵是罪惡、疾病和死亡。

耶穌來到世界,宣布天國來臨,並標示出撒殫的統治即將結束。他的奇蹟證明他寬恕罪惡、醫治疾病、驅除魔鬼和復活死人。因此,耶穌的奇蹟是天國的標記,是天主的力量凌駕邪惡的標記,是天主救恩行動的標記。奇蹟不僅是權能的展示,並顯示出天主願意人類恢復「完整」;也就是說,天主願意拯救人類。祂藉耶穌拯救我們,使我們成為完全、完整的,好脫離撒殫的控制而進入天國。這更是一個此時就已開始;直至死亡時才能完全實現的一個「驚喜旅程」。

此外,醫界專家楊定一先生針對醫療保健未來發展趨勢,特別主張「完全的療癒,來自內心徹底轉變(聯合報元氣周報、7月31日、p12)」,謹摘報如后:

一、文明病產生的原因:
在21世紀的今天,由於人類不斷的努力,使得各個科技領域都有重大突破,但對健康、長壽的追求仍有許多困惑與不瞭解。其實,我們的老祖先很久以前就知道,要得到真正的健康,必須與大自然和諧共存。由於人的「身、心、靈」是一連串不可分的能量流,在諧振狀態時,它與「天、地、萬物」是和諧共存的,也是合而為一的。也就是說,生命原本就是和諧、快樂和健康,當「諧振狀態被破壞時,我們的身心就會被帶往退化與不快樂的道路上,於是引發出許多所謂的『文明病』,包括高血壓、心臟病、糖尿病、憂鬱症、癌症及其他許多慢性疾病」。因此,在個體尚未回到與宇宙諧振的狀態前,要恢復健康,是不可能或說很難做到的。也就是說,任何的疾病或失衡,若僅靠單一種治療方式,是不可能完全恢復健康的,我們必須主動找回與生俱有的諧振狀態。

二、完全的療癒:
直到現在,醫學界已逐漸瞭解這個基本概念,認同人們需要整體的療癒,而非僅僅治療某一特定的疾病或某一特定器官的病變。個體與其本身的疾病是無法分開的,因為疾病的呈現只不過是顯示身、心、靈在更深層次出現不和諧的現象;除非身心靈和諧,否則任何治療皆很難觸及疾病的根源。因此,只有從內心徹底轉變,才能讓我們活在安寧的狀態。也才能達到所謂身心靈統一的狀態。

三、內心徹底的轉變:
內心的徹底轉變意味著我們都必須真實瞭解自己和生命。這個轉變也代表著要有足夠的勇氣,深入探索自身,檢視我們的態度及一切行為,找出自己的缺失及不足的地方,並真誠地懺悔加以改善。「悔改」力量之大,會讓我們以全新角度觀看自己,以及這世界和周遭的一切人事物。

有了這一層體悟,我們就必須從自己的生活方式徹底改變,不只包括基本飲食、運動、作息等習慣,還包括自己與周遭所有一切互動的關係。這會使我們對一切發生事物(甚至身體病痛)存著感激之心及樂觀正面的看法,同時驅動我們向內觀察自身的動機,反省生命價值,並將這些失而復得的價值觀和他人分享。因此這些改變將會促使我們踏出去,讓生命中的每一天都過得更充實、更有意義。

當一個人內心徹底轉變,並在行為與態度上顯現出來時,身、心、靈即可達到統一性,這也就是自然的諧振狀態,而肉體上的治療只是這轉變中的一個簡單延伸。因此,內心轉變才是解決疾病的根本工作,必須重整身心,進而準備邁向痊癒的未來。更重要的是,內心轉變能促使我們打開心胸迎接生命中的所有挑戰;「打開」的心胸是一顆充滿憐憫的心,「憐憫」與「愛」是宇宙間最強的統一力量,它比任何力量都能戰勝所有病痛與困難。所以,充滿正向、感恩與慈悲的念頭,是幫助身心靈達到和諧最簡單、也是最直接的方法。

綜合上述,不論就「奇蹟」或「完全療癒」的角度言,身為基督徒的我們,都是最幸運與幸福的。因為我們根本不必費心去尋找,天主早已將憐憫和愛賞賜了我們,使我們的身心靈達到統一,能戰勝任何病痛與困難。同時,在每個禮拜彌撒中,更藉耶穌基督的聖體聖血與我們相遇,好讓我們隨時反省與悔改,戰勝撒殫的誘惑,並免於凶惡。是故,在天主如此神奇的化工之下,祂每個禮拜與我們相遇及賞賜的恩寵,怎能說不是個大大的「意外」與「喜悅」呢!

2011年10月27日

愛相隨

(作者:楊忠勤 弟兄、摘自楊弟兄--保祿之家無名小站 http://www.wretch.cc/blog/ycc490124)

傳教節主日彌撒,本堂麥安泰神父在讀經後講道:「教宗在今年元旦文告中表示,經過二千年,整個地球上,還有很多人不認識天主的救恩。甚至因整個世界受到各種意識形態,或不同的哲學理念,特別是相對論等等說法的影響;很多人即便接受了基督,因沒有堅持,就離開了。因此教宗很感性的說,我們教會在耶穌離別的時候,給我們留下的一個布達、一個昭告,直至今天,我們都尚未還。所以,整個教會,事實上還繼續在傳教,所謂傳教是整個教會成立的職責。然而,教會不是為完成自己,而是為完成天主所賞人的恩惠,就是永恆的生命。天主對人整個生命的愛,不像參加俱樂部一樣,去參加的人雖秉持同一個意志,為的只是自己的『成長』;但天主為的卻是要去『完成』祂的愛。」

在今天福音(瑪二十八16-20)裡可看到,當耶穌復活後命令門徒們到加里勒亞時,即便當時很多的群眾,甚至祂的門徒當中還有疑惑,不知耶穌為什麼復活,但耶穌當時卻毫不猶豫的昭告、甚至布達給祂的十一個門徒,要他們去廣傳天下。這件事情對我們整個教會是個新的開始,因天主的愛,不再拘限在以色列人身上,而是到了天涯海角,到了你、我的身上;現在已是整個人類的宗教,不單單是以色列選民的宗教,而是整個人類在天主愛的河流中不斷的滋潤與成長。天主的愛是無遠弗屆不能阻擋的;耶穌基督亦是為這愛而犧牲的-祂沒有成全自己,祂是成全整個人類。我們作為教會的成員,也不能單單只為成全自己,而是要成全天主的愛,讓天主的愛廣傳釋放。我們要慢慢地學習,如何在我們生活當中看見天主化工的神奇,因『愛向來是痛苦的、愛向來是犧牲的』;愛不是因我們『喜歡』作什麼,而是因別人『需要』的是什麼?正如同天主看到我們的需要、耶穌基督看到人的需要,及初期教會看到整個人類的需要一樣。因此,今天我們也不能只看到『自己』的需要,而是要在日常生活中,時時看到『別人』的需要;並盡到基督徒的責任去『完成』,才是耶穌基督昭告的最重要目的,讓我們共同惕勵及努力來達成」。誠如神父所教導,不能只看見「自己」,要時時看見「別人」;尤其與我們朝夕相處的「家人」更是重要,有幾個故事是這樣說的:

一、看清自己:
一位自認很盡責的基督徒,有一天他因自己的表現,洋洋得意地去看望天使。天使將他帶到窗前說:「向外看,你看到什麼?」「看到許多人。」他說。天使又將他帶到一面鏡子前,問道:「現在你看到了什麼?」「只看見我自己。」他回答。天使說:「玻璃窗和玻璃鏡的差別只在於那一層薄薄的水銀,雖然是一點點水銀;但就好像心被蒙上一層污垢一樣,叫你只看見自己,而看不到別人」。

二、夫妻關係:
這位基督徒長年在外打拼,辛苦的建立一個小康之家。他做事認真負責,態度溫和,也很能照顧妻子,認為這次應該很滿意了,就又去向天使表功。誰知天使又把他帶到鏡子前,他看到鏡中的妻子很哀戚的向夢中的天使說:「他什麼都好,但都好像是外表的努力;始終感受不到彼此心靈上的親密與水乳交融。」他猛然驚覺的說:「是呀!雖然日常生活裡我百般遷就她、讓她、愛她;但在潛意識裡,我仍是個大男人主義,認為自己賺錢最多,是家裡的主角。殊不知結婚多年來,她辛苦的持家,無怨無悔地付出,這個家早已成了共同體;那個家的形狀,既不像妻子、更不像自己,而是我與她及兩個子女所特有的形象。但我卻一直以為自己就能代表整個家,甚至對她與子女的愛也一樣,難怪她始終不快樂。」天使接著說:「其實,她要的不多,只要你稍微調整或改變一下,就很滿足了」。

三、子女關係:
這對夫妻對兩個子女也很愛護,深怕他們以後過的日子不如自己,因此每天不停地督促他們要努力、努力、再努力。弄得他們喘不過氣、度日如年,就跑到天使那裡告狀說:「父母都不懂我們的心?按照這標準,我們能達到嗎?」天使就又把這對夫妻找到鏡子前,他們看到鏡中的景象嚇了一大跳,在鏡裡他們的家已變成了天堂,夫妻及兩個子女分別變成了天主及亞當、厄娃的形象,且因那兩個亞當、厄娃一直達不到所要求的標準,天主這時忽然就對亞當、厄娃說:「我要把你們逐出天堂,嚐盡人間的辛酸!」他們看到這裡,心裡很難過,天使就接著說:「你們為什麼把家裡變成天堂了呢?他們所以成為你們的子女,就是因為在人間呀!」

四、父母關係:
又有一天那位基督徒很想念母親,就到花店門口停了車,打算訂一束花,請花店送給遠在故鄉的母親。他正要走進店門時,發現有個小女孩坐到地上哭,他就問她:「孩子,為什麼坐到這裡哭?」「我想買一朵玫瑰花送給媽媽,可是我的錢不夠。」孩子說。他聽了感到心痛。「這樣啊--」於是他牽著小女孩的手走進花店,先訂了要送給母親的花束,然後給小女孩買了一朵玫瑰花。走出花店時,他向小女孩說,要不要開車送妳回家。「真的要送我回家嗎?」「當然啊!」「那你送我到媽媽那裡好了,可是叔叔,我媽住的地方,離這很遠。」「早知道就不戴妳了」他開玩笑地說。他照小女孩說的一直開了過去,沒想到走出市區大馬路之後,隨著蜿蜒山路前行,竟然來到了一個墓園。小女孩把花放在一座新墳旁邊,她為了給一個月前剛過世的母親獻上一朵玫瑰花,而走了一大段遠路呢!他將小女孩送回家後,再度折返花店。他取消了要寄給母親的花束,而改買了一大束鮮花,直奔離這裡有五個小時車程的母親家中,他要親自將花獻給媽媽。

法果作家雨果曾說:「生活中最大的幸福是堅信有人愛我們。」又說:「世界最寬闊的是海洋,比海洋還寬闊的是天空,比天空更寬闊的是人的胸懷。」的確,「心靈」不是一種物體,而是體驗生活和認識自我的一種層次。省察心靈,非但不會使生命貧瘠,反而會使它更豐富。只要敞開心胸,面對心靈,你會找到隱藏在疾苦中的訊息及帶來的改變。同時,不論任何需求,在心靈上也都離不開「依戀」與「逃脫」。因心靈希望透過依戀這樣的親蜜關係獲得滋養,但太過依戀而要窒息時,又想趕快逃脫,獲得自由,因而造成親蜜關係中的緊繃、摩擦與衝突。然而,只有在天主的愛中,可將這兩者融合,讓我們依戀在祂懷裡,而又同時享有充分的自由;因此我們為何不能把這愛帶給最親的家人,以及其他需要的人呢!

APOSTOLIC LETTER - FOR THE INDICTION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH

(摘自:梵蔕岡官方網站http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20111011_porta-fidei_en.html)


APOSTOLIC LETTER
“MOTU PROPRIO DATA”

PORTA FIDEI

OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI

FOR THE INDICTION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH

1. The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return.

2. Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ. During the homily at the Mass marking the inauguration of my pontificate I said: “The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.” It often happens that Christians are more concerned for the social, cultural and political consequences of their commitment, continuing to think of the faith as a self-evident presupposition for life in society. In reality, not only can this presupposition no longer be taken for granted, but it is often openly denied. Whereas in the past it was possible to recognize a unitary cultural matrix, broadly accepted in its appeal to the content of the faith and the values inspired by it, today this no longer seems to be the case in large swathes of society, because of a profound crisis of faith that has affected many people.

3. We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden (cf. Mt 5:13-16). The people of today can still experience the need to go to the well, like the Samaritan woman, in order to hear Jesus, who invites us to believe in him and to draw upon the source of living water welling up within him (cf. Jn 4:14). We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27). The question posed by his listeners is the same that we ask today: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (Jn 6:28). We know Jesus’ reply: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn 6:29). Belief in Jesus Christ, then, is the way to arrive definitively at salvation.

4. In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The starting date of 11 October 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text promulgated by my Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, with a view to illustrating for all the faithful the power and beauty of the faith. This document, an authentic fruit of the Second Vatican Council, was requested by the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 as an instrument at the service of catechesis and it was produced in collaboration with all the bishops of the Catholic Church. Moreover, the theme of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that I have convoked for October 2012 is “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. This will be a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith. It is not the first time that the Church has been called to celebrate a Year of Faith. My venerable Predecessor the Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967, to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their supreme act of witness. He thought of it as a solemn moment for the whole Church to make “an authentic and sincere profession of the same faith”; moreover, he wanted this to be confirmed in a way that was “individual and collective, free and conscious, inward and outward, humble and frank”. He thought that in this way the whole Church could reappropriate “exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it”. The great upheavals of that year made even more evident the need for a celebration of this kind. It concluded with the Credo of the People of God, intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past.

5. In some respects, my venerable predecessor saw this Year as a “consequence and a necessity of the postconciliar period”, fully conscious of the grave difficulties of the time, especially with regard to the profession of the true faith and its correct interpretation. It seemed to me that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council would provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition ... I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.” I would also like to emphasize strongly what I had occasion to say concerning the Council a few months after my election as Successor of Peter: “if we interpret and implement it guided by a right hermeneutic, it can be and can become increasingly powerful for the ever necessary renewal of the Church.”

6. The renewal of the Church is also achieved through the witness offered by the lives of believers: by their very existence in the world, Christians are called to radiate the word of truth that the Lord Jesus has left us. The Council itself, in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, said this: While “Christ, ‘holy, innocent and undefiled’ (Heb 7:26) knew nothing of sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21), but came only to expiate the sins of the people (cf. Heb 2:17)... the Church ... clasping sinners to its bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. The Church, ‘like a stranger in a foreign land, presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God’, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until he comes (cf. 1 Cor 11:26). But by the power of the risen Lord it is given strength to overcome, in patience and in love, its sorrow and its difficulties, both those that are from within and those that are from without, so that it may reveal in the world, faithfully, although with shadows, the mystery of its Lord until, in the end, it shall be manifested in full light.”

The Year of Faith, from this perspective, is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world. In the mystery of his death and resurrection, God has revealed in its fullness the Love that saves and calls us to conversion of life through the forgiveness of sins (cf. Acts 5:31). For Saint Paul, this Love ushers us into a new life: “We were buried ... with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). Through faith, this new life shapes the whole of human existence according to the radical new reality of the resurrection. To the extent that he freely cooperates, man’s thoughts and affections, mentality and conduct are slowly purified and transformed, on a journey that is never completely finished in this life. “Faith working through love” (Gal 5:6) becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man’s life (cf. Rom 12:2; Col 3:9-10; Eph 4:20-29; 2 Cor 5:17).

7. “Caritas Christi urget nos” (2 Cor 5:14): it is the love of Christ that fills our hearts and impels us to evangelize. Today as in the past, he sends us through the highways of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth (cf. Mt 28:19). Through his love, Jesus Christ attracts to himself the people of every generation: in every age he convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new. Today too, there is a need for stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith. In rediscovering his love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed, it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples. Believers, so Saint Augustine tells us, “strengthen themselves by believing”. The saintly Bishop of Hippo had good reason to express himself in this way. As we know, his life was a continual search for the beauty of the faith until such time as his heart would find rest in God. His extensive writings, in which he explains the importance of believing and the truth of the faith, continue even now to form a heritage of incomparable riches, and they still help many people in search of God to find the right path towards the “door of faith”.

Only through believing, then, does faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one’s life apart from self-abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God.

8. On this happy occasion, I wish to invite my brother bishops from all over the world to join the Successor of Peter, during this time of spiritual grace that the Lord offers us, in recalling the precious gift of faith. We want to celebrate this Year in a worthy and fruitful manner. Reflection on the faith will have to be intensified, so as to help all believers in Christ to acquire a more conscious and vigorous adherence to the Gospel, especially at a time of profound change such as humanity is currently experiencing. We will have the opportunity to profess our faith in the Risen Lord in our cathedrals and in the churches of the whole world; in our homes and among our families, so that everyone may feel a strong need to know better and to transmit to future generations the faith of all times. Religious communities as well as parish communities, and all ecclesial bodies old and new, are to find a way, during this Year, to make a public profession of the Credo.

9. We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope. It will also be a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, which is “the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; ... and also the source from which all its power flows.” At the same time, we make it our prayer that believers’ witness of life may grow in credibility. To rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed, and to reflect on the act of faith, is a task that every believer must make his own, especially in the course of this Year.

Not without reason, Christians in the early centuries were required to learn the creed from memory. It served them as a daily prayer not to forget the commitment they had undertaken in baptism. With words rich in meaning, Saint Augustine speaks of this in a homily on the redditio symboli, the handing over of the creed: “the symbol of the holy mystery that you have all received together and that today you have recited one by one, are the words on which the faith of Mother Church is firmly built above the stable foundation that is Christ the Lord. You have received it and recited it, but in your minds and hearts you must keep it ever present, you must repeat it in your beds, recall it in the public squares and not forget it during meals: even when your body is asleep, you must watch over it with your hearts.”

10. At this point I would like to sketch a path intended to help us understand more profoundly not only the content of the faith, but also the act by which we choose to entrust ourselves fully to God, in complete freedom. In fact, there exists a profound unity between the act by which we believe and the content to which we give our assent. Saint Paul helps us to enter into this reality when he writes: “Man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved” (Rom 10:10). The heart indicates that the first act by which one comes to faith is God’s gift and the action of grace which acts and transforms the person deep within.

The example of Lydia is particularly eloquent in this regard. Saint Luke recounts that, while he was at Philippi, Paul went on the Sabbath to proclaim the Gospel to some women; among them was Lydia and “the Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul” (Acts 16:14). There is an important meaning contained within this expression. Saint Luke teaches that knowing the content to be believed is not sufficient unless the heart, the authentic sacred space within the person, is opened by grace that allows the eyes to see below the surface and to understand that what has been proclaimed is the word of God.

Confessing with the lips indicates in turn that faith implies public testimony and commitment. A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him. This “standing with him” points towards an understanding of the reasons for believing. Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes. The Church on the day of Pentecost demonstrates with utter clarity this public dimension of believing and proclaiming one’s faith fearlessly to every person. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us fit for mission and strengthens our witness, making it frank and courageous.

Profession of faith is an act both personal and communitarian. It is the Church that is the primary subject of faith. In the faith of the Christian community, each individual receives baptism, an effective sign of entry into the people of believers in order to obtain salvation. As we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “ ‘I believe’ is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during baptism. ‘We believe’ is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. ‘I believe’ is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both ‘I believe’ and ‘we believe’.”

Evidently, knowledge of the content of faith is essential for giving one’s own assent, that is to say for adhering fully with intellect and will to what the Church proposes. Knowledge of faith opens a door into the fullness of the saving mystery revealed by God. The giving of assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, because the guarantor of its truth is God who reveals himself and allows us to know his mystery of love.

On the other hand, we must not forget that in our cultural context, very many people, while not claiming to have the gift of faith, are nevertheless sincerely searching for the ultimate meaning and definitive truth of their lives and of the world. This search is an authentic “preamble” to the faith, because it guides people onto the path that leads to the mystery of God. Human reason, in fact, bears within itself a demand for “what is perennially valid and lasting”. This demand constitutes a permanent summons, indelibly written into the human heart, to set out to find the One whom we would not be seeking had he not already set out to meet us. To this encounter, faith invites us and it opens us in fullness.

11. In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool. It is one of the most important fruits of the Second Vatican Council. In the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum, signed, not by accident, on the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Blessed John Paul II wrote: “this catechism will make a very important contribution to that work of renewing the whole life of the Church ... I declare it to be a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith.”

It is in this sense that that the Year of Faith will have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith that receives its systematic and organic synthesis in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Here, in fact, we see the wealth of teaching that the Church has received, safeguarded and proposed in her two thousand years of history. From Sacred Scripture to the Fathers of the Church, from theological masters to the saints across the centuries, the Catechism provides a permanent record of the many ways in which the Church has meditated on the faith and made progress in doctrine so as to offer certitude to believers in their lives of faith.

In its very structure, the Catechism of the Catholic Church follows the development of the faith right up to the great themes of daily life. On page after page, we find that what is presented here is no theory, but an encounter with a Person who lives within the Church. The profession of faith is followed by an account of sacramental life, in which Christ is present, operative and continues to build his Church. Without the liturgy and the sacraments, the profession of faith would lack efficacy, because it would lack the grace which supports Christian witness. By the same criterion, the teaching of the Catechism on the moral life acquires its full meaning if placed in relationship with faith, liturgy and prayer.

12. In this Year, then, the Catechism of the Catholic Church will serve as a tool providing real support for the faith, especially for those concerned with the formation of Christians, so crucial in our cultural context. To this end, I have invited the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by agreement with the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See, to draw up a Note, providing the Church and individual believers with some guidelines on how to live this Year of Faith in the most effective and appropriate ways, at the service of belief and evangelization.

To a greater extent than in the past, faith is now being subjected to a series of questions arising from a changed mentality which, especially today, limits the field of rational certainties to that of scientific and technological discoveries. Nevertheless, the Church has never been afraid of demonstrating that there cannot be any conflict between faith and genuine science, because both, albeit via different routes, tend towards the truth.

13. One thing that will be of decisive importance in this Year is retracing the history of our faith, marked as it is by the unfathomable mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin. While the former highlights the great contribution that men and women have made to the growth and development of the community through the witness of their lives, the latter must provoke in each person a sincere and continuing work of conversion in order to experience the mercy of the Father which is held out to everyone.

During this time we will need to keep our gaze fixed upon Jesus Christ, the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2): in him, all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfilment. The joy of love, the answer to the drama of suffering and pain, the power of forgiveness in the face of an offence received and the victory of life over the emptiness of death: all this finds fulfilment in the mystery of his Incarnation, in his becoming man, in his sharing our human weakness so as to transform it by the power of his resurrection. In him who died and rose again for our salvation, the examples of faith that have marked these two thousand years of our salvation history are brought into the fullness of light.

By faith, Mary accepted the Angel’s word and believed the message that she was to become the Mother of God in the obedience of her devotion (cf. Lk 1:38). Visiting Elizabeth, she raised her hymn of praise to the Most High for the marvels he worked in those who trust him (cf. Lk 1:46-55). With joy and trepidation she gave birth to her only son, keeping her virginity intact (cf. Lk 2:6-7). Trusting in Joseph, her husband, she took Jesus to Egypt to save him from Herod’s persecution (cf. Mt 2:13-15). With the same faith, she followed the Lord in his preaching and remained with him all the way to Golgotha (cf. Jn 19:25-27). By faith, Mary tasted the fruits of Jesus’ resurrection, and treasuring every memory in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19, 51), she passed them on to the Twelve assembled with her in the Upper Room to receive the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:1-4).

By faith, the Apostles left everything to follow their Master (cf. Mk 10:28). They believed the words with which he proclaimed the Kingdom of God present and fulfilled in his person (cf. Lk 11:20). They lived in communion of life with Jesus who instructed them with his teaching, leaving them a new rule of life, by which they would be recognized as his disciples after his death (cf. Jn 13:34-35). By faith, they went out to the whole world, following the command to bring the Gospel to all creation (cf. Mk 16:15) and they fearlessly proclaimed to all the joy of the resurrection, of which they were faithful witnesses.

By faith, the disciples formed the first community, gathered around the teaching of the Apostles, in prayer, in celebration of the Eucharist, holding their possessions in common so as to meet the needs of the brethren (cf. Acts 2:42-47).

By faith, the martyrs gave their lives, bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel that had transformed them and made them capable of attaining to the greatest gift of love: the forgiveness of their persecutors.

By faith, men and women have consecrated their lives to Christ, leaving all things behind so as to live obedience, poverty and chastity with Gospel simplicity, concrete signs of waiting for the Lord who comes without delay. By faith, countless Christians have promoted action for justice so as to put into practice the word of the Lord, who came to proclaim deliverance from oppression and a year of favour for all (cf. Lk 4:18-19).

By faith, across the centuries, men and women of all ages, whose names are written in the Book of Life (cf. Rev 7:9, 13:8), have confessed the beauty of following the Lord Jesus wherever they were called to bear witness to the fact that they were Christian: in the family, in the workplace, in public life, in the exercise of the charisms and ministries to which they were called.

By faith, we too live: by the living recognition of the Lord Jesus, present in our lives and in our history.

14. The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. As Saint Paul reminds us: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). With even stronger words – which have always placed Christians under obligation – Saint James said: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (Jas 2:14-18).

Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt. Faith and charity each require the other, in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path. Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognize the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). These words are a warning that must not be forgotten and a perennial invitation to return the love by which he takes care of us. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is his love that impels us to assist him whenever he becomes our neighbour along the journey of life. Supported by faith, let us look with hope at our commitment in the world, as we await “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1).

15. Having reached the end of his life, Saint Paul asks his disciple Timothy to “aim at faith” (2 Tim 2:22) with the same constancy as when he was a boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). We hear this invitation directed to each of us, that none of us grow lazy in the faith. It is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the present of history, faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world. What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end.

“That the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph” (2 Th 3:1): may this Year of Faith make our relationship with Christ the Lord increasingly firm, since only in him is there the certitude for looking to the future and the guarantee of an authentic and lasting love. The words of Saint Peter shed one final ray of light on faith: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:6-9). The life of Christians knows the experience of joy as well as the experience of suffering. How many of the saints have lived in solitude! How many believers, even in our own day, are tested by God’s silence when they would rather hear his consoling voice! The trials of life, while helping us to understand the mystery of the Cross and to participate in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col 1:24), are a prelude to the joy and hope to which faith leads: “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). We believe with firm certitude that the Lord Jesus has conquered evil and death. With this sure confidence we entrust ourselves to him: he, present in our midst, overcomes the power of the evil one (cf. Lk 11:20); and the Church, the visible community of his mercy, abides in him as a sign of definitive reconciliation with the Father.

Let us entrust this time of grace to the Mother of God, proclaimed “blessed because she believed” (Lk 1:45).

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Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 11 October in the year 2011, the seventh of my Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

教宗發布信德之門新牧函

(中文摘自:天主教周報)

【梵蒂岡電臺訊】10月17日上午,教宗本篤十六世以手諭形式發布新牧函「信德之門」(Porta fidei),訂定從明年2012年梵蒂岡第二屆大公會議開幕50周年紀念的10月11日開始,普世教會將進入「信德年」。信德年將於2013年11月24日基督君王節結束。教宗在牧函中解釋說:這是一個真正地、重新歸依主,世界唯一救主的邀請。在牧函中,教宗本篤十六世指出「重新發現信仰的道路」為能「重新品嚐天主聖言滋養」的重要性。「信德之門」總是敞開的,教宗寫說:「跨越這道門檻是可能的,即是當天主聖言被宣講,以及人心任由恩寵轉化、塑造的時候」。在今日標誌著深度信仰危機的社會中,「我們不能讓鹽失了味,讓光被隱藏」。教宗提到耶穌的教導:「你們不要為了那可損壞的食糧勞碌,而要為那存留到永生的食糧勞碌」(若6:27),教宗指出走上這條道路的目的:「相信耶穌基督,是確保達至救恩的道路」。

教宗表示,2012年10月信德年開始時,世界主教會的全體大會也將在那時開幕,會議的中心主題是:「新福傳──為傳播基督徒信仰」。這是一個良機,教宗解釋:一個反省與重新發現信仰的特殊時刻。不過,這不是教會第一次慶祝信德年。教宗本篤十六世在牧函中回顧:之前教宗保祿六世於1967年,紀念伯多祿和保祿宗徒殉道1900年的時候,也宣布過慶祝信德年。當時教宗認為,藉由這樣的方式,全教會能夠得到對信仰的正確認知,為能重新使信仰活潑、淨化它、堅定它、向人坦承它。教宗本篤十六世強調:全體信友都要有新的方式來堅定他們的信仰和了解他們的信仰,以期能在與不同於過去的歷史情況下,做出適當的見證。

教宗在牧函中也寫道;在梵蒂岡第二屆大公會議開幕50周年的時候開始信德年,同樣也是個了解大公會議神長留下的文獻資產的好機會。如同前教宗真福若望保祿二世所斷言的:不要遺失了它們的價值和效力,教宗本篤十六世說:梵蒂岡第二屆大公會議是祝福20世紀教會的大恩典……在開展的世紀路途上,給了我們一個指引方向的安全羅盤。梵二大公會議也越來越成為教會更新的偉大力量。

教宗在牧函中強調:「教會的更新,也透過信友的生活見證」,他們被召叫使「主耶穌留下的真理之言」發揚光大。教會受天主聖言的滋養,「在世界的迫害與天主的安慰之間,繼續它的朝聖旅程」。「復活天主的德能給予人力量,來以寬容及愛的力量克勝內在或外來的痛苦與艱難。」因著祂的愛,耶穌基督吸引每一個世代的人們跟隨祂,並賦予常新的使命。教宗解釋:為此,在今天,教會更要對她推動新福傳的責任確信不疑,在信仰中重新發現喜樂,在分享信仰中重新找到熱忱。信仰會增生,因為信仰讓心靈在希望中擴大,並且同意做出使信仰增生的見證。「事實上,信仰打開所有被邀請接納主的聆聽者的心靈和思想,主邀請人們順從祂的話。」教宗補充說:只有相信,信仰才會增生並堅強:「為了能真實地獲得性命,除了捨棄自己之外,沒有其他可行方式。而且要對自己的生命有所肯定地捨棄自己,將自己託付在越來越大的愛的掌握中,因為這愛的根源是在天主內。」

教宗也強調,信仰的行動與信仰的內容「密切一致」,他說:「聖路加教導,如果人的心靈──這是人真正的聖所──沒有受到恩寵的開放,讓眼睛能夠看到深處,了解被宣講的正是天主聖言本身,只認識信仰的內容還不足夠。」基督徒從不應該想信仰是私人事件:「信仰,是決定要與主在一起,為了與祂同在而活」,並且包含「見證與公眾職責。」對信仰內容的認識,是以理智和意志切合教會教導的必要元素。另一方面,教宗補充說,我們也不要忘記,有許多人雖然尚未認出自己的信仰恩典,卻真誠地在尋找至高者的意義。這個尋找就是信仰的前奏曲,推動人們走上前往天主奧蹟的道路。

為了對信仰內容獲得系統性的了解,教宗表示,距離信德年開幕整整20年前,於1992年10月11日出版的《天主教教理》,是難得且實用的輔助。教宗解釋:《天主教教理》教導倫理生活,在與信仰、禮儀和祈禱的關係中取得它全部的意義。《天主教教理》在這一年裡能夠作為支持信仰的實際工具。為此目標,教宗邀請聖座教義部,在聖座其他部門首長的同意下,「撰寫一份『摘要』,提供教會和信友如何更有效、深入善度信德年的一些方法,為信仰與福傳服務」。

教宗在牧函中也舉出兩千年來傑出的信仰見證:聖母瑪利亞因著信德,相信了加俾額爾天使傳報的喜訊,而成為天主之母;以及宗徒們因著信德,捨棄了一切跟隨了主;為了信仰,門徒們組成了初期團體,收集彙整了宗徒們的教導;殉道者為信仰獻出了性命;許多男女為了信仰,為基督奉獻生命。「我們也為了信仰生活著:為了活潑地再認識臨在我們當中、臨在歷史中的主耶穌而生活著。」

教宗接著說:信德年也將是加強愛德見證的適當時機。「信仰沒有愛德,將結不出果實;愛德沒有信仰,將在困惑中受情感支配。」信仰,使重新認識基督成為可能;也是基督的愛推動我們幫助在生活中遇到的近人。「生活的考驗,一方面讓我們了解十字架的奧蹟並參與基督的苦難。」(參哥1:24)這些考驗是信仰帶來的喜悅和希望的前奏。今日世界特別需要相信並受天主光照的心智所做的可靠見證,他們能夠開啟許多渴望天主和永恆真生命者的心智。教宗在牧函最後說:「我們堅定地相信,主耶穌戰勝了惡及死亡」,「懷著確切的信心,我們將自己交託給祂」。

教宗2011年普世傳教節文告

(摘自:天主教周報主曆2011年10月23日 星期日)

兩千年的千禧年之際,可敬的先教宗若望‧保祿二世在基督信仰的新千年伊始,強烈重申了「分享初期基督徒的熱忱」(《新千年的開始》58)更新向所有人宣講福音的必要性。這是教會為人類和每一個為了完美地善度各自人生而致力於探索最深刻道理的人所能奉獻的最寶貴服務。為此,每年慶祝普世傳教節時都會再度迴響起同一邀請。事實上,堅持不懈地宣講福音也給教會注入了生命力、激發了教會的熱情和宗徒精神;更新了教會的牧靈方式,使其越來越適用於新形勢 ─包括那些需要新福傳的情況下;在傳教動力的振奮下 ─「因為傳教活動革新教會,重新煥發信德和基督徒身分認同,並提供新的熱誠和新的激勵。信德得以增強,當其傳給他人時!基督信徒子民的新福傳,將在致力於普世性傳教事業時得到啟迪和支持」(若望‧保祿二世《救主的使命》通諭2)。

你們去宣講福音:
教會禮儀中,不斷重複邁向這一目標,特別是在聖體聖事中,永遠以復活耶穌對宗徒們的派遣結尾 ─「你們要去……」(瑪28:19)。教會禮儀始終是「從世界」召叫、「在世界內」重新開始從而見證所體驗到的:天主聖言的救贖力量、基督逾越奧蹟的救贖力量。所有與復活上主相遇了的人,都感到了向他人宣講的需要,就像厄瑪烏的兩位門徒那樣。他們在分餅時認出上主後,「遂即動身,返回耶路撒冷,遇見那十一門徒」並向他們講了在路上所遇到的事(路24:33-34)。先教宗若望‧保祿二世激勵人們「保持警醒、隨時準備認出祂的聖容、跑去把這一
偉大的消息告訴我們的兄弟姊妹 ─『我們看到了上主!』」

向所有人:
福音宣講的物件是全體子民。教會「在本質上即帶有傳教特性,因為按照天主聖父的計畫,教會是從聖子及聖神的遣使而發源的」(梵蒂岡第二屆大公會議文件《教會傳教工作法令》2)。這是「教會特有的恩寵及使命、她的最深的特徵。她之所以存在,是為宣傳福音」(保祿六世《在新世界中傳福音》宗座勸諭14)。其結果則是,永遠也不能封閉於自我。扎根在特定的地點,以便超越。她那符合基督的話、在基督恩寵和愛德影響下的行動,完全並始終臨在於普世萬民之內、各族人民之中,以便將他們引導向基督的信仰(參見《教會傳教工作法令》5)。這一任務並沒有喪失其緊迫性。相反,「基督救世主託付給教會的使命,其完成乃是遙遙無期……。就人類通盤觀察,顯示這個使命仍是僅僅才開始。因此我們必須全心致力,為這使命而服務」(若望‧保祿二世《救主的使命》通諭1)。兩千年後的今天,一想到至今還有許多人未能認識基督、還沒有聽到救恩的資訊,我們就不能保持平靜。

不僅如此,還有加上那些雖然已經獲得了福音宣講,但他們忘記、放棄了福音,不再在教會裡的人。在許多情況下,即便是在傳統上是基督信仰的社會中,今天也對信仰的話無動於衷,正在上演著全球化、思想運動、盛行的相對主義助長下的文化變革。而這一變革,導致了一種摒棄了福音資訊的思維方式、生活方式,好像天主不存在一樣,一味將追求物質享受、功名利祿視為生活目標,甚至以倫理道德價值觀為代價。

所有人共同承擔的責任:
普世性的傳教事業需要所有人始終如一地共同參與。福音並非只是領受了福音的人才享有的益處,而是應該與人分享的禮物、應該傳播的喜訊。這一「禮物使命」不僅是給個別的人,而是給所有領受了聖洗聖事的人的,他們是「特選的種族……聖潔的國民,屬於主的民族」(伯前2:9),以讓他們宣講祂那奇妙的工程。也是需要投入所有活動的。教會在世界中關注福音事業、為福音事業合作不能僅限於某些時段、某種特殊的機會;甚至不能被視為各種牧靈活動之一:傳教性是教會的基本特徵,並應始終認識到這一點。重要的是,無論是每一名領受了聖洗聖事的個人,還是教會團體不能僅偶爾關注傳教,而是應該堅持不懈地重視傳教,視之為基督信徒生活的組成部分。普世傳教節也並非一年中的某一孤立時刻,而是停下來反省是否,如何回應傳教聖召的寶貴機遇,是教會生活的基本答案。

全球的福傳:
福傳是一個複雜的進程、包括了各個環節。這其中,傳教宣傳特別關注的始終是團結互助。這也是普世傳教節的目標之一,通過宗座傳教善會促進幫助傳教區完成福傳任務。這是通過傳教員、修道院、司鐸支持穩固和鞏固教會所必要的機構,也是為改善部分國家人民的生活條件作出貢獻。上述國家中面臨的最嚴重現象是貧困、營養不良,特別是少年、兒童營養不良、疾病、缺乏醫療衛生和教育條件。這也是教會的使命。在宣講福音的同時,從完全的意義上關懷人的生活。正如天主之僕先教宗保祿六世重申的,在福傳中忽視促進人類、正義發展;擺脫各種形式的壓制等問題是無法接受的。顯然,擺脫各種形式的壓制,是指在尊重各種政治領域自治的情況下。無視人類的世俗問題便意味著「忘記愛我們受苦及在急難中的近人的福音教導」(保祿六世《在新世界中傳福音》宗座勸諭31、34);不符合耶穌的行為方式。因為耶穌「周遊各城各村,在他們的會堂內施教,宣講天國的福音,治好一切疾病,一切災殃。」(瑪9:35)

由此,通過負責任地參與教會的傳教,基督信徒成為基督賜予我們的共融、和平、團結的建設者;配合實現天主對全人類的救恩計畫。而在此期間所面臨的挑戰,召喚著基督信徒們與他人共同前進。傳教是這一與所有人共同前進的歷程的組成部分。在其內,我們帶著我們的基督信徒聖召、無價之寶福音、在教會內相遇並信的死亡與復活的基督的活見證。普世傳教節使每個人重溫了「你們去」把基督帶給所有人、與人類相遇的願望和喜樂。在祂的名內,我由衷地向你們,特別是那些為福音而奔波辛勞、飽受煎熬的人們頒贈宗座遐福。

教宗本篤十六世
自梵蒂岡
2011年1月6日 主顯節