2018-5-7

朋友们，今天的福音重点在于突出圣神是耶稣的见证：“当护慰者，就是我从父那里要给你们派遣的，那发于父的真理之神来到时，他必要为我作证。”

 

所有基督讲道最终都是关于逾越奥秘——耶稣的死而复活——以及圣神降临。但后者在今天尤为重要，因为我们通过圣神能够参与到耶稣为我们打开的生活之中。

 

圣神最主要的标志之一是激励人们大胆宣言。从宗徒到伟大的福传者和神学家，一直到葛培理牧师和若望·保禄二世，圣神一直激励人们承认耶稣就是主。记得保禄说：“除非受圣神感动，也没有一个能说：‘耶稣是主’的。”

 

圣神是谁？祂是圣三的第三位，更确切地说，是圣父和圣子之间共享的爱。圣神作为圣父与圣子之间的爱在天使报喜和逾越奥秘这些伟大的历史事件中得到充分体现。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel focuses on the Holy Spirit’s role as witness to Jesus: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.”

 

All Christian preaching is ultimately about the Paschal Mystery—the dying and rising of Jesus—and the sending of the Holy Spirit. But this last element is especially important for today, because it signals the way that we are able to participate in the life that Jesus opens up to us.

 

One of the chief marks of the Holy Spirit is the prompting to bold speech. From the Apostles through the great evangelists and theologians, up to Billy Graham and John Paul II, the Spirit prompts people to confess the Lordship of Jesus. Remember that Paul told us, “No one can call Jesus Lord except in the Holy Spirit.”

 

Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, but more precisely, the love shared by the Father and the Son. As the love between Father and Son, the Spirit comes most fully to historical expression during the great events of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery.

 

2018-5-8

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣又一次许诺要为我们派遣圣神。圣神是教会的推动力、基督奥体的活力和生命力。我们不能靠英勇来获取圣神，只能请求。因此，教会在过去的两千多年来一直乞求来自上天的力量。

 

耶稣告诉我们圣父不会拒绝那些请求圣神的人。因此，尽管请求！一再请求！要知道每一种礼拜仪式都是在乞求圣神。巴黎圣母院的赫斯伯格神父曾说一个人无论是成功还是失败、自信还是胆怯、年轻还是年老，随时都适合说的一句祷文是：“圣神，请降临于我！”

 

他说得对，因为这是教会的首要祷文。要注意的是，就像第一批宗徒那样，我们要在圣母玛利亚跟前、在她的支持下说这句祷文。在圣母经中，我们说：“求你现在和我们临终时，为我们罪人祈求天主。”我们请求她祈求的除了圣神还能有什么呢？

 

Friends, once again in today’s Gospel Jesus promises to send us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the fuel of the Church, the energy and life force of the Body of Christ. And we can’t get him through heroic effort. We can only get him by asking for him. That’s why, for the past two thousand years, the Church has begged for this power from on high.

 

Jesus told us that the Father would never refuse someone who asked for the Holy Spirit. So ask! And ask again! Realize that every liturgy is a begging for the Holy Spirit. Fr. Hesburgh of Notre Dame once commented that the one prayer that is always appropriate—whether one is experiencing success or failure, whether one is confident or afraid, whether one is young or old— is “Come, Holy Spirit!”

 

He’s right, for this is the fundamental prayer of the Church. Mind you, we pray it, as the first Apostles did, in the presence of Mary and with her support. In the Hail Mary, we say, “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” What are we asking her to pray for but the Holy Spirit?