BishopBarron|福音反思
2017-07-17 22:07 阅读量:4559
原文|Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie
2017-7-16
朋友们，今天的福音是撒种者和种子的比喻。该比喻与天国的成长和发展有关。我们读到耶稣“从家里出来，坐在海边”，而且有许多群众，集合到他面前。耶稣说话的对象是全人类。
耶稣坐下来，又一次以远古的导师和民长的态度来讲述撒种者的比喻。撒种者四面八方地播种，有的落在路旁，被鸟儿啄食了；有的落在石头地里，被太阳晒焦了；有的落在荆棘中，生命被窒息了；有的落在好地里，就结了果实：有三十倍的，有六十倍的，有一百倍的。
我们要记住，耶稣自己本身就是被撒播的种子。耶稣就是要扎根于我们内心的圣言。这颗种子被四面八方地撒播，播入的方式五花八门，然而在你心中，让这颗种子深深植入吧，不要任其被窃取、晒焦或窒息。
Friends, our Gospel for today is the parable of the sower and the seed. It has to do with the growth and development of the kingdom of God. We hear that Jesus "went out of the house and sat down by the sea" and that large crowds gathered around him. This is Jesus speaking to the whole world.
Sitting down, he is, again, in the attitude of the ancient teacher and judge, and he speaks the parable of the sower. The sower sows far and wide, some of the seed landing on the path, where the birds eat it up; some falling on rocky ground, where it was scorched in the sun; some sown among thorns, where the life is choked off; and some sown on rich soil, where it bears thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold.
Keep in mind that Jesus himself, in person, is the seed sown. Jesus is the logos that wants to take root in us. This seed is sown far and wide, through all sorts of means, but in you, let the seed be sown deep, where it can't be stolen, scorched, or choked.
2017-7-15
朋友们，耶稣在今天的福音中吩咐众门徒“不要害怕那杀害肉身，而不能杀害灵魂的；但更要害怕那能使灵魂和肉身陷于地狱中的。”
我们最害怕的是什么？毋庸置疑，答案是对丧命的恐惧；我们惧怕肉身的死亡。但耶稣叫我们不要担心那些只会伤害美好肉身的纸老虎。
当我热爱着天主，当我最“敬畏”的是天主，我就牢牢扎根于一种超越时空的力量，这种力量支配着整个宇宙，这种力量高于生死。
更进一步说，这种力量对我了如指掌，并根据祂的旨意引领着我：“两只麻雀不是卖一个铜钱吗？但若没有你们天父的许可，牠们中连一只也不会掉在地上。就是你们的头发，也都一一数过了。所以，你们不要怕”。因此，普天之下，我们应当无所畏惧。
Friends, Jesus instructs his disciples in today's Gospel, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna."
What is the greatest fear we have? Undoubtedly, the fear of losing our own lives; we fear the death of the body. But Jesus is telling us not to worry about those paper tigers that can only affect the body and its goods.
When I am in love with God, when I am "fearing" him above all things, I am rooted in a power that transcends space and time, a power that governs the universe in its entirety, a power that is greater than life and death.
More to it, this power knows me intimately and guides me according to his purposes: "Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid." Because of this we have nothing to fear from anything or anybody here below.
2017-7-14
朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣向我们保证，当我们面对迫害时，圣神会帮助我们。在受难日前夜，耶稣曾对众门徒说他与圣父将派来另一位Parakletos（护慰者）。该词由词根kaleo（大声说出）及前缀para（为，或代表）组成，意指有如律师一样代表他人、为人辩护的角色，同时提供支持、护慰和鼓励。
耶稣说的是虽然他会抽身而出，但他和圣父会派圣神来作为我们的朋友。正是这位护慰者激励着古往今来的基督徒。
当殉道者就义时，圣神在支持着他们；当传教士踏上敌意重重的国土去宣扬信仰时，圣神为他们答辩；当艾蒂特·史坦茵被盖世太保投入奥斯威辛集中营时，圣神与她一同前往。而这位圣神此时此刻正与你同在。
Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit will help us when we face persecution. Speaking to his disciples the night before he dies, Jesus says that he and his Father will send another Parakletos (Advocate). That word, stemming from kaleo (to call) and para (for, or on behalf of), designates something like a lawyer, someone who would plead on behalf of another, who would support, advocate, encourage.
Jesus is saying that while he will depart physically from the scene, he and his Father will send their spirit as a friend. This is the advocate who will inspire Christians up and down the ages.
When the martyrs went to their deaths, it was with the help of the Holy Spirit; when the missionaries went to proclaim the faith in hostile lands, it was the Holy Spirit who pleaded on their behalf; when Edith Stein went with her Gestapo captors to Auschwitz, she went too with the Holy Spirit. And that same Spirit is with you today, right now.
2017-7-13
朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣派遣宗徒们去执行传播福音的使命，这个使命一直延续到今天，由我们来担当。
作为天主教徒，我们无法躲避传播福音、宣扬信仰的要求。第二次梵蒂冈大公会议决议在这一点上的态度非常清晰，天主教会本身不过就是传播福音的工具。根据第二次梵蒂冈大公会议决议，与其说教会在统领传播福音的使命，不如说这个使命在统领教会。基督教化不是众多工作之一，而是天主教会的核心工作，我们所做的一切都应该围绕这个核心。
我们是否需要传播福音？统计数据提供的答案最清晰不过了。你知道吗，在美国国内曾经是天主教徒，但现已脱离教会的人口和现在还是天主教徒的人口几乎持平？你知道吗，据估计，定期去新教的柳溪超大型教堂的人群中，约百分之五十到百分之八十的人曾是天主教徒？你知道吗，在那些关于宗教信仰的民意调查中快速增长的一类是“无宗教信仰”？你知道吗，一项最新的调查显示，在有宗教信仰的年轻人当中，对自己的宗教传统最一无所知的是犹太人，而倒数第二的却是天主教徒？
我们前所未有地需要传播福音，你会担起这个使命吗？
Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus sends the apostles on a mission of evangelization, a mission which we continue today.
We Catholics cannot avoid the demand of evangelization, of proclaiming the faith. Vatican II couldn’t be clearer on this score, seeing the Church itself as nothing but a vehicle for evangelization. According to Vatican II, it’s not so much the case that the Church has a mission, but rather that a mission has the Church. Bringing people to Christ is not one work among many; rather it is the central work of the Church, that around which everything else that we do revolves.
Do we need evangelization? The statistics couldn’t be clearer. Did you know that there are nearly as many ex-Catholics as Catholics in this country? Did you know that by some estimates, between 50 and 80% of those who attend the Protestant mega-church of Willow Creek are former Catholics? Did you know that the fastest-growing category in those polls of religious affiliation is “none?” Did you know that a recent survey shows that among young religious people, those with the worst sense of their own tradition are Jews, but that the second to last are Catholics?
We need evangelization more than ever before. Will you answer the call?
