2017-9-25

朋友们，今天的福音是灯的比喻，放在灯台上的灯使周围的一切得到光明。灯显然不是为自私自利的，相反，灯为我们照亮周遭。它照到哪里，哪里就有光。

 

我们就是光，使身边的人得以看见值得看的一切。我们正是以自己生活的质量和完整性来发光发亮，彰显美好，揭露丑恶。其中含义显而易见：若没有活力四射的基督徒，这个世界就更加糟糕。容我举例说明。上世纪最令人痛心的事实之一就是基督见证者的懦弱任由社会中某些最坏的分子作恶多端。

 

想想制造了二战的那些掌权的恶势力。基督教精神在当时是如此弱不禁风、如此不得人心、如此衰弱无力，致使大恶得以茁壮成长。没错，当时确实有少数强大的基督教抵抗者，但老实说，绝大多数的基督徒要么支持希特勒，要么保持沉默，他们若非心存恐惧，就是无动于衷。

 

Friends, today's Gospel is the parable of the lamp, which placed on a lampstand gives light to all. Light obviously isn't for itself. Rather, we see things by it. It illuminates things upon which it shines.

 

We are light by which people around us come to see what is worth seeing. By the very quality and integrity of our lives, we shed light, illumining what is beautiful and revealing what is ugly. The clear implication is that without vibrant Christians the world is a much worse place. Let me illustrate this principle with an example. One of the most painful truths of the last century is that the weakness of Christian witness allows some of the worst elements in society to flourish.

 

Think of the rise of the evil powers that created WWII. Christianity had become so weak, so uncompelling, so attenuated that great evil was allowed to flourish. Yes indeed there were a handful of powerful Christian resisters, but let's face it: the overwhelmingly vast majority of Christians either supported Hitler or remained in silence, either out of fear or indifference.

 

2017-9-24

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣讲了最令人不安、震惊和困惑的比喻。故事的概要我们都耳熟能详：一个家主为自己的葡萄园出去雇用工人，清晨雇了一批，然后在一天不同时分各雇了几批工人。工作完毕时，他给所有工人同样的工资。

 

我想就这个令人费解的故事提出两个想法。首先，我们应该记住天主的行事方式与我们不同。这个故事有损正义？不是的，相反，它体现了天主眼中的正义。

 

第二个看法是：我们作为罪人，在理解天主与我们的关系时，是很容易以回报为中心的。投桃报李。我这样做了，你就应该那样做。但这是很幼稚的、很本能的。

 

我们受到邀请到主的葡萄园工作，参与主的救世工程，这已经是一种超乎想象的最高荣幸。我们为什么还要计较报酬呢？而且不计报酬的人是多么自在啊！我不再浪费生命去忧心忡忡和与人比较。我可以真正活着。

 

Friends, the parable that Jesus tells in today's Gospel is one of the most unnerving, disturbing and confounding of all. We know the outline of the story well: a landowner goes out to hire workers for his field, hiring some first thing in the morning and then others at different times during the day. Then, at the close of work, he pays each the same wage.

 

I would like to offer two reflections on this puzzling story. First, we should remember that God's ways are not our ways. Does this story represent an undermining of justice? No, rather, a showing forth of the justice that flows from God's vision of things.

 

Here's a second perspective: We sinners are very susceptible to a reward-centered understanding of our relationship to God. Tit for tat. I do this; then you better do that. But this is very juvenile, very primitive.

 

We've been invited to work in the vineyard of the Lord. That is the greatest privilege imaginable, to participate in the Lord's work. Why are we fussing about rewards? And how liberating this is! I don't have to spend my life worrying and comparing. I can live.

 

2017-9-23

朋友们，今天的福音是播种者的比喻。我想说一下落在路旁的种子，因为它揭示出我们进行宗教教育时遇到的一个障碍。

 

接受种子的其中一个障碍是缺乏理解、缺乏关于圣神各方面的教育。以色列民族是天主为了让全人类接受圣言而作出的全面综合的准备。人类能够接受圣言的前提是所有基本的准备一定要就绪。这对于我们这个年代是多么具有预示性啊！

 

最近一项研究表明犹太人最缺乏宗教传统和文化遗产的传承，而第二名就是天主教徒。近期的一项关于美国人的宗教态度的民意调查显示大多数美国人赞成对于宗教信仰应持有彻底宽容的态度。同时，该调查还发现人们对自己的宗教信仰系统、教条和历史极其一无所知。

 

宽容的态度确实没错，但有时这种态度掩盖了人们心中的冷漠。任何宗教信仰都不坏。我们在政治上是否也会接受这种想法？当今的宗教教育大纲远远不合要求。

 

Friends, today's Gospel gives us the parable of the sower. I want to say something about the seed that falls on the path, because it reveals an obstacle to our efforts at religious education.

 

One of the blocks of receiving the seed is lack of understanding, lack of education in the ways of the Spirit. Israel was the extensive and complex preparation for the reception of the Word. The fundamentals have to be in place before the word can be accepted. What a prophetic word to our time!

 

A recent study shows that Catholics are second only to Jews in the ineffectiveness of passing on their religious tradition and heritage. A recent poll concerning religious attitudes in America shows that most Americans favor a radical tolerance in regard to religious beliefs. It also shows that there was a shocking ignorance in regard to belief systems, dogmas, and the history of one's religion.

 

There's nothing in the world wrong with tolerance, but it can sometimes be a cover for indifference. One belief is as good as another. Do we accept that kind of thinking in regard to politics? Religious education programs are falling far behind what they should be.