2018-4-25

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣委任宗徒（及我们）向普世传播福音。然后祂升天，坐在天主的右边，宗徒们于是到处宣讲福音。

 

耶稣升天标志着教会时代的开端。耶稣在离场之际（至少在明显可见的意义上说）为我们打开了序幕。要是凯撒、林肯、罗斯福和邱吉尔还在世界舞台上载歌载舞，谁又会有勇气加入表演呢？所以，耶稣离开，好让我们以祂的名义并根据圣神行动。

 

正是那些最重视天国之事的人方能在世间做出最好的事——甘地、小马丁·路德·金、多萝西·戴伊、若望·保禄二世。那些在祈祷时最心无旁骛的人在实务上也是最高效的。耶稣的升天也为这一层面打开了门扉。

 

Friends, in today’s reading Jesus commissions his disciples (and us) to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world. Then he is taken up to heaven, where he takes his place at God’s right hand, and the disciples go forth and preach everywhere.

 

The Ascension of Jesus signals the beginning of the era of the Church. As Jesus leaves the scene (at least in the most obvious sense), he opens the stage for us. What if Caesar, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Churchill were still striding the world stage? No one would have the courage to enter the game. So, Jesus leaves, that we might act in his name and in accord with his spirit.

 

And it is precisely those who are most focused on the things of heaven that do the most good here below—Gandhi, King, Dorothy Day, John Paul II. Those who pray most intently are most effective in the practical realm. This too is opened up by the Ascension.

 

2018-4-26

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣直截了当地要我们做得谦卑。“我实实在在告诉你们：没有仆人大过主人的，也没有奉使的大过派遣他的。你们既知道了这些事，如果实行，便是有福的。”

 

瑟纳的圣加大利纳曾听见主对她说：“记住我是自有者而你不是。”而圣保禄说：“你有什么不是领受的呢？为什么你还夸耀？”

 

笃信天主就是要了解这些真理。实践这些真理就是要有谦卑的态度。多玛斯·阿奎那说谦卑即真理。谦卑就是具体去实践最深层次的真理：天主是天主，我们不是天主。

 

这个抽象概念听起来非常清晰，但躬行起来相当困难！在这个堕落的世界里，我们很容易就忘记了自己是受造物、天主从一无所有中造出了我们。于是我们的自我开始膨胀：“我是。我要。我期望。我要求。”自我成为我们无法承受的重担，我们必须时刻喂养和纵容自我。

 

所以今天的福音如此重要。我们只是信使，大不过主人。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus pointedly calls us to humble behavior. “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”

 

St. Catherine of Siena once heard the Lord say to her, “Remember that I am and you are not.” And St. Paul said, “What do you have that you have not received? So why do you boast?”

 

To believe in God is to know these truths. To live them out is to live in the attitude of humility. Thomas Aquinas said that humility is truth. It is living out the deepest truth of things: God is God, and we are not.

 

Now all of this sounds very clear when it’s stated in this abstract manner, but we know how hard it is to live out! In our fallen world, we forget so readily that we are creatures, that we have been made from nothing. Then our egos begin to inflate: “I am. I want. I expect. I demand.” The ego becomes a massive monkey on our backs, and it has to be fed and pampered constantly.

 

That’s why today’s Gospel is so important. We are only messengers, not greater than the Master.