原文|Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie

朋友们，今天的福音是圣路加版的真福八端，虽然没有玛窦版那么有名，但实际上更强而有力、一针见血。真福八端的关键在于超脱，而超脱是至关重要的精神态度。希腊教父们称之为Apatheia（无欲的心境）；依纳爵‧罗耀拉称之为indifferencia（不为所动）。精神超脱的意思是：虽然世俗价值观成为天主至善的替代品，但我并不受其束缚。

 

路加的措辞是多么坦率啊！看看他的第一端，其余各端与之相似：“你们贫穷的是有福的，因为天主的国是你们的。” 要是我们把这句话翻译成“如果你不沉迷于物欲之中，那是多么的幸运啊”，那么效果如何呢？若我们最关心的是物质上的东西，我们就会发现自己成了瘾君子。

 

因为物质财富无法满足我灵魂深处的饥渴，我就说服自己只要得到更多财物即能心满意足。于是，我努力工作去获取更多好东西——车、房、电视、衣物——然后我发现自己还是不满足。于是，我努力不懈，永无止境。

 

因此，如果我是贫穷的话，那该是多么幸运啊，脱离了物质财富的制约，终于不为所动。
 

Friends, our Gospel for today is St. Luke's version of the beatitudes, less well-known than Matthew's but actually punchier, more to the point. It all hinges on detachment, that decisively important spiritual attitude. Apatheia in the Greek fathers; indifferencia in Ignatius of Loyola. Spiritual detachment means that I am unattached to worldly values that become a substitute for the ultimate good of God.

 

How bluntly Luke's account puts things! Look at Luke's first beatitude, a model for the rest: "Blessed are you poor; the reign of God is yours." What if we translated this as "how lucky you are if you are not addicted to material things." When we place material things in the center of our concerns, we find ourselves caught in an addictive pattern.

 

Because material goods don't satisfy the hunger in my soul, I convince myself that I need more of them to gain contentment. So I strive and work to get more nice things—cars, homes, TV's, clothes—and then I find that those don't satisfy me. So I strive and strive, and the rhythm continues.

 

Therefore, how lucky I would be if I were poor, unattached to material goods, finally indifferent to them.