2018-5-26

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣宣布天国是属于小孩子的。“让小孩到我跟前来，不要阻止他们，因为天主的国正属于这样的人。”

 

为什么？小孩子就像星星或者花朵或者动物，所有表里一致的东西，毫不含糊、毫不复杂。他们符合天主最深的旨意。精神生活的挑战在于认识天主对我们的期许——在于找到自己最深刻的存在意义——从而简单直

 

白地全身心去配合。

 

换个说法，小孩子还没学会怎样把目光放在自己身上。为什么孩子们做事时能够充满热诚、全神贯注？因为他们可以忘我；因为他们不在意自己，不在意身边人的反应、期望和认可。人生至乐在于丢失自我、忘我地

 

活着、恰如其分地符合天主的期许。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus declares that the kingdom of God belongs to children. "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

 

How so? Well, children are like stars or flowers or animals, things that are what they are, unambiguously, uncomplicatedly. They are in accord with God’s deepest intentions for them. The 

 

challenge of the spiritual life is to realize what God wants us to be—to find out what is in line with the deepest grain of our being—and thereby come to the same simplicity and 

 

directness in our existence.

 

Let me put this another way: children haven’t yet learned how to look at themselves. Why can a child immerse himself so eagerly and thoroughly in what he is doing? Because he can lose 

 

himself; because he is not looking at himself, conscious of the reactions, expectations, and approval of those around him. The best moments in life are when we lose ourselves in the world 

 

and just are as God wants us to be.

 

2018-5-27

朋友们，三位一体有个奇特之处：既是最非比寻常又是最平常的基督教信条，同时又是最难懂和最明显的。

 

一方面，这个奥秘有着既高深又专业的用语。另一方面，最普通的天主教徒每次划十字圣号时就简单明了、有规律地祈求三位一体的天主。

 

圣三节主日的福音摘自《玛窦福音》的结尾。复活后荣耀的主对新的教会以色列说：“天上地下的一切权柄，都交给了我。”这不是一个普通先知的说话，而是圣父的圣言，是圣父存在的具体复制。

 

然后，耶稣让他们开始工作，聚集世人来进入神圣生活的活力之中。这一切在神学上如何解释确实是个使人着迷的问题，但晦涩难解的神学语言绝不能掩盖三位一体的革命性意义：使命和行动的召唤。

 

Friends, here is the curious thing about the Trinity: at one and the same time, it is the most extraordinary and the most ordinary of Christian doctrines, simultaneously the most 

 

inaccessible and the most obvious.

 

On the one hand, there is a highly developed, technical language regarding this great mystery. On the other hand, the most ordinary Catholic simply and regularly invokes the Trinity every 

 

time he crosses himself.

 

Our Gospel for Trinity Sunday is taken from the very end of Matthew’s Gospel. The risen and glorified Lord speaks to the new Israel of the Church: "All power in heaven and on earth has 

 

been given to me." This is not an ordinary prophet speaking. This is the very Word of the Father, the exact replica of the Father’s being.

 

Jesus then tells them to go forth and to do the work of gathering in, of drawing people into the very dynamics of the divine life. Now, how all of this fits together theoretically is indeed 

 

a fascinating question, but we should never allow the arcane language of theology to obscure the revolutionary meaning of the Trinity: it is a summons to mission, a call to action.