2018-5-17

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣祈祷我们能与祂一体并且沉浸于天主的爱里。“我已经将你的名宣示给他们了，我还要宣示，好使你爱我的爱在他们内，我也在他们内。”

 

我们不是只能在外面呼叫天主的乞求者和悔罪者：我们是在内部呼叫祂的儿子和女儿。只有根据三位一体的教义，我们才能理解耶稣受难、死亡和复活的奥秘。天主竟这样爱了世界，甚至赐下了自己的独生子、甚至让祂到达邪恶的极限、甚至进入罪恶和死亡、进入人类世界最黑暗的角落，为的就是找回我们。

 

但只有当天主内有着派遣者和被派遣者、圣父和圣子，这种绝技式的爱才有可能存在。耶稣所用的语言——“使他们完全合而为一，为叫世界知道是你派遣了我，并且你爱了他们，如爱了我一样。”——表明了圣父和圣子在爱中合一，这种爱本身就是神圣的生活。因此，就有了圣神，与圣父及圣子平起平坐。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus prays for our unity with him and for us to be immersed in God’s love. "I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."

 

We are not simply supplicants or penitents, calling to God from without; we are sons and daughters, friends, calling to him from within. The Paschal Mystery is intelligible only in the light of the doctrine of the Trinity. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, even to the limits of godforsakenness, even into sin and death, into the darkest corners of human experience, in order to find us.

 

But this acrobatic act of love is possible only if there is in the very being of God a sender and one that he can send, only if there is a Father and a Son. The language Jesus uses—"that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me"—shows us that the Father and the Son are united in love, and this love is itself the divine life. Thus there is a Spirit, coequal to the Father and the Son.

 

2018-5-18

朋友们，今天的福音说到耶稣和伯多禄之间的重大约定。伯多禄知道自己的罪恶——他三次背主。但耶稣带他走过悔改的过程并给予他转变的钥匙。伯多禄三次背主，所以耶稣让他三次重申自己的信德：“若望的儿子西满，你爱我吗？”要注意，基督教并非一套概念、信念或原则，而是与一个人的关系。你爱耶稣吗？祂是你的朋友吗？

 

当西满作出肯定的回答，耶稣考验他：“你喂养我的羔羊；你牧放我的羊群；你喂养我的羊群。”爱的考验是行动。我们是否甘愿做耶稣做的事？我们是否愿意以祂的名义执行使命？

 

然后我们读到精彩的结尾部分：“你年少时，自己束上腰，任意往来；但到了老年，你要伸出手来，别人要给你束上腰，带你往你不愿意去的地方。”追随基督的终极考验是甘愿放弃自我、让更高的力量带着我们走。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the great engagement between the risen Jesus and Peter. Peter knows his sin—he betrayed Jesus three times. But Jesus brings him through the process of repentance and gives him the key to transformation. Three times Peter denied the Lord, and so three times Jesus asks him to reaffirm his faith: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Notice that Christianity is not a set of ideas or convictions or principles. It is a relationship with a person. Do you love Jesus? Has he become your friend?

 

When Simon says yes, Jesus tests him: "Feed my lambs; tend my sheep; feed my sheep." The test of love is action. Are we willing to do what Jesus did? Are we willing to go on mission on his behalf?

 

Then we hear that wonderful closing section: "As a young man you fastened your belt and went about as you pleased; but when you are older you will stretch out your hands, and another will tie you fast and carry you off against your will." The ultimate test of discipleship is our willingness to abandon our egos and be carried by a power greater than ourselves.

 

2018-5-19

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣拒绝回答伯多禄关于若望生死的问题：“如果要他存留直到我来，与你何干？你只管跟随我。”这里的潜台词是永生的承诺、神性和人性的汇合和跟随耶稣的呼唤。“他要拭去他们眼上的一切泪痕；以后再也没有死亡，再也没有悲伤，没有哀号，没有苦楚，因为先前的都已过去了。”

 

想想古往今来受苦受难的人类所流的泪水。想想疾病、心理折磨和丧失亲友所带来的极大痛楚。这一切都将被吞没、洗净、提升到更高的境界。

 

是什么使之成为可能？耶稣、耶稣、耶稣。祂是神性和人性的和解；祂是新的耶路撒冷；祂是盟约的实现。

 

Friends, today in the Gospel Jesus rebuffs Peter’s question about the fate of John. “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” The undercurrent here is the promise of eternal life, the union of divinity and humanity, and the call to follow Jesus. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning or wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.”

 

Think of the oceans of tears that have been shed by suffering humanity up and down the ages. Think of the agony caused by sickness, by psychological torment, and by the death of loved ones. It will all be swallowed up, washed away, taken up into a higher place.

 

And what makes all of this possible? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He is the reconciliation of divinity and humanity; he is the new Jerusalem; he is the accomplishment of the covenant.