|Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie

朋友们，在今天的福音中，洗者若翰表明自己是“在旷野里呼喊者的声音。”圣经启示中的伟大英雄大多都需要在沙漠逗留：亚巴郎、梅瑟、洗者若翰、保禄。甚至耶稣本人在开始传道工作之前也曾在沙漠里度过了四十个日夜。

 

他们在准备好之前必须苦苦等待、过着艰难的生活。沙漠象征什么？直面自己的罪恶；看见自己的阴暗面；深深意识到自己对天主的依赖；对生活头等大事的排序；一种简化、返璞归真。沙漠象征以上的任何一样或者全部。

 

但关键是他们被迫在荒芜之地长久等待。不过，花朵正是在这样的沙漠中绽放。梅瑟成为伟大领袖；亚巴郎是诸多民族之父；若瑟成为自己族人的救主；洗者若翰是默西亚的先驱；保禄是外邦人的宗徒——如此繁花似锦全因沙漠造就。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel John the Baptist identifies himself as "the voice of one crying out in the desert." How often the great heroes of the Biblical revelation have to spend time in the desert: Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Paul. Even Jesus himself spends forty days and nights in the desert before commencing his ministry.

 

They have to wait through a painful time, living a stripped-down life, before they are ready. What does the desert symbolize? Confrontation with one’s own sin; seeing one’s dark side; a deep realization of one’s dependency upon God; an ordering of the priorities of one’s life; a simplification, a getting back to basics. It means any and all of these things.

 

But the bottom line is that they are compelled to wait, during a time and in a place where very little life seems to be on offer. But it is precisely in such deserts that the flowers bloom. Moses becomes a great leader; Abraham is the father of many nations; Joseph becomes the savior of his people; John the Baptist is the forerunner of the Messiah; Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles—all of this flowering was made possible by the desert.