Friday, July 29, 2016

真正的保障



丙年常年期第十八主日

每个人都关注生活中的保障。我们不只为自己寻求保障,也为所爱的人,如:家人、孩子和年老的父母。我们购买保险、做投资,时常都为将来的经济状况做准备,也为孩子的未来操心。

今天的读经是否是要告诉我们不用做这些准备呢? 当然不是!耶稣明白我们对得到保障的渴望,不过祂却要我们正面看待这渴望。福音中的比喻讲述了富翁费尽心思为自己贮藏财富。他的田地有好收成,因此他计划扩建仓库,以便收藏所有的物产。这位富翁为自己庆贺,认为有了周全的保障。他已经证明自己是个精明的商人,也是个能干的策划者,并且受人尊重。 然而,天主却称他为胡涂的人。

这位富翁究竟做错了什么? 这故事并没有告诉我们他欺骗过任何人;也没说他的财富是以不法的手段得来。那么,他到底错在哪里呢? 他很贪心,只为自己积存财富。在耶稣还没讲这个比喻之前,祂已经先警告我们:“要谨慎,躲避一切贪婪。” 即使一个人很富有,但他所拥有的财富并不是永恒生命的保证。贪婪会导致一个人把安全感放在财富上,以为拥有了物质和财富就可以自己控制生命。他依靠自己的财富作保障,忘了一切财富实际上都是天主的恩赐,也忘了他的性命也是操纵在天主的手中。
贪婪阻止那位富翁为他人设想,也阻止他与别人分享财富。富有的人想变得更加富有。那富翁原本可以将财富与别人分享,但他却没有这样做,反而计划着要建设更大的仓库来积存物产。他只为自己厚积财产,从不想到别人。

耶稣说了这个比喻,并不是要谴责人们拥有钱财。但祂要我们舍得与别人分享财富和所拥有的东西。其实,拥有财富并没有错,错在私藏财富。耶稣的教训简单而清楚,那就是:财富生不带来,死不带去。为此,我们活着时,就应投资在一些有价值及永恒不朽的事物上。正如圣保禄所说:我们该追求天上的事。这才是我们真正的保障。

让我们看看我们的生命。我们为自己和家人拼命工作,不断储存钱财。我们努力工作为使生活过得更舒适。我们累积财富,如汽车、 金钱、房屋等等。很多时候,我们忙碌赚钱而忘了天主、忘了教会,甚至忘了自己的家人。我们强迫孩子用功求学以确保能找份好的工作。当然,这些都很重要,但却不是生命中最重要的事。我们不该让要赚取更多金钱的欲望控制我们的生活。不然的话,我们就成了金钱和世俗财物的奴隶了。我们要常常记住,人死后并不能带走任何东西。许多华人以为人可以在另一个世界继续享有现世的财富,所以就焚烧纸车、纸电视及纸钱等等物品。可是这一切将是白费的。我们空手来到这世界,将来也是空手离开。

让我们停下脚步反省我们的生活。让我们认真看看,究竟什么才是生命里最重要的东西。是金钱或资产吗? 是我们的家庭或朋友?还是灵魂呢? 我相信你们都知道,最终什么才是最重要的。

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Rich in the Sight of God



Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Over my priestly life, I have been stunned by how many people come to see me to get my assistance in drawing up wills to protect their inheritance from potential family disputes or where I’ve been roped in to arbitrate ongoing disputes among siblings over inheritance. I had thought I had left my past profession behind me. I’ve seen fraternal ties severed, individuals disinherited, families divided, sometimes for decades, because of such contentious disputes. People say, “blood is thicker than water,” but I think it's correct to say that, “money is thicker than blood.” I’m reminded of Jesus’ response to the disgruntled sibling who requested that the Lord command his brother to give him his share of the inheritance. I would offer the contesting parties a paraphrase of the rhetorical question used by Jesus, “My friend, who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?” and add “I wasn’t ordained for this.”

Today, the pursuit of wealth has become inevitable— almost as if the desire to be rich is already a forgone conclusion in our lives. All sin can be summarised in a sense by a desire to place possessions, or money, and ultimately oneself over other people, including one’s family members. Everything that we do seems directed to this end – our education system, our career, our courtship and marriage, our family life and not wanting to sound morbid, even death is not immune from a discussion on the topic of finances – how do I distribute my wealth when I’m gone? How do my loved ones reap the payouts from my life insurance, which is a polite way of saying, how do they benefit from death or how could I benefit from theirs?  

The prevailing view is that wealth is good, that it should be pursued, that material possessions and riches enhance our enjoyment in life, and that wealth provides opportunity to find greater fulfillment in life. Today’s gospel exposes this myth and reveals that the pursuit of riches is based on a faulty premise. It is based on the incorrect rationale that the presence of money is always good—that it always brings benefit into our lives. This is not always the case. Once our basic needs have been met, money contributes very little to our overall happiness and well-being. When the rich man of the parable experienced a bumper crop, he had to worry about building bigger barns and ensuring that his wealth is securely protected from both the forces of nature and theft. It would appear, that his wealth brought him more anxiety and exposed him to greater dangers. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once put it, “money often costs too much.”  

It is interesting to note how this prevailing view has also influenced our spirituality. The popularity of the gospel of prosperity, “give to God and He will bless you with so much more,” attests to this. Notice how most of the prayers deal with worldly matters. “O Lord, fix my finances, fix my cancer, fix my spouse, fix this or that situation.” None of these things are wrong to pray about, but notice the worldly and passing quality of most of it. It is almost as if we were saying to God, “Just make this world a better and comfortable place for me. Give me enough health, friends, money and creature comforts, and that’s all I need, I’ll just stay here forever!” I am sure God waits for the day when we will finally say from our heart, “Lord, let me see you face to face …. Help me hunger and desire for your presence.” Ironically, these are things which we wish to postpone or even avoid altogether.

Jesus didn’t come from heaven to earth to settle inheritance disputes but to make us aware of a totally different type of inheritance. He gave an important antidote as medicine against this spirit of acquisitiveness that leads to all types of sins:  “Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.” He then tells a parable about the rich fool who was blessed with a bountiful harvest who instead of sharing any of his good fortune with those who were hungry after the harvest of grain had filled up the barns he already had, decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones in an unbelievable building project of selfishness. The man egocentrically commends himself for his good fortune.  And that led to other excesses as he convinced himself to “take things easy, eat, drink and have a good time!” And he had a rude awakening coming. That night he would die and little good would his wealth do to him. As the first reading taken from Ecclesiastes reminds us, vanity would be our downfall. This is when Jesus drew the moral of the story: “So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.”

The parable thus becomes an apt description of our modern culture. We’re living in a culture of hoarding. We obsess about storing treasures or even junk up for ourselves, constantly building new storage facilities to house the stuff that can no longer fit in our homes, rather than giving the stuff we don’t need away. To all of us in this culture, Jesus calls us to become rich in the sight of God. In the end, nothing matters more to God than you, yourself, and that you be made ready to be with him forever. Salvation is our true wealth. Money, who cares? Health? That passes anyway, as does the body, and worldly glories. Sic transit Gloria mundi, thus passes the glory of the world. But the soul? Now here is something that matters particularly to God.

No amount of material wealth, power or prestige will make us permanently happy. On the contrary, the wealthy and powerful are often people whose interior has become barren and turned in on itself, a place where peace and happiness are as absent as rain in the desert. Their ground is spiritually parched, and material treasure provides no healing balm to alleviate the pain. Material wealth is not a sin per se, of course, but it does not lead to the happiness we unceasingly crave and seek.

What does lead to permanent and lasting happiness? As Jesus points out, becoming “rich in the sight of God” is the key. When we place God first, and love our neighbor as another self, we soon begin to experience a perceptible, lasting happiness that is not of this world. It is “other-worldly” because it does not originate from our interior, from creatures or material possessions, but from God, whose love fills us with true and lasting peace, joy and happiness. The second reading from St. Paul reminds us to put aside our earthly desires and to focus on being risen in Christ. To live as Jesus lived, that is, a life of holiness, is to store up eternal treasure. This treasure is lasting and permanent, and cannot be tarnished or diminished by anything in the world. In loving God we become free, truly free! We may boast of no personal wealth attached to our name, but we can simply boast of this, we are “rich in the sight of God!” And that would make us the wealthiest man or the wealthiest woman in this world!

Friday, July 22, 2016

愿照祢的旨意成就吧



丙年常年期第十七主日   

你们求,必要给你们……” 这是耶稣给我们的强力许诺。然而,很多时候我们的经历却恰恰相反。有时当我们为某些好的意向——如为病者得到痊愈而祈祷时,天主未必让我们如愿以偿。

那么,我们又如何能明白耶稣这句话的意思呢?——“你们求,必要给你们;找,必要找到;你们敲,必给你们开”?其实,理解这句话的关键就在天主经的上半段。

我们的天父,愿祢的名受显扬,愿祢的国来临,愿祢的旨意奉行在人间,如同在天上。求祢今天赏给我们日用的食粮……

这上半段祷文的意思是什么呢?它意味着每当我们祈祷时,无论发生什么事都要光荣天主,并非光荣自己。我们祈求天主的国建立在人间,祂的旨意承行于地;而不是祈求建立我们的国和承行自己的意愿。我们的祈祷内容和目标就是要完全依赖天主,甚至每天的日用粮都是祂的恩赐。天主从不拒绝这样的祈祷。

想必你们还记得上个主日福音里的两姐妹吧?她们一位是在厨房里忙碌的玛尔大;另一位则是坐在耶稣跟前的玛利亚。耶稣称赞玛利亚,说她做了比较好的选择。玛利亚示范了最好的祈祷态度。她并没有要求耶稣做些什么,也没告诉耶稣该怎么做,她让耶稣成为她的主。事实上,透过她的沉默,玛利亚好像在说:“上主,愿照祢的旨意成就吧!”

另一方面,玛尔大却要耶稣听从她的吩咐。她要求耶稣命令妹妹来帮助她。如果那是玛尔大的祈祷,那么这祈祷听起来就好像是在说:“ 主,照我的意愿成就吧。”很多人的祈祷方式都像玛尔大,而不像玛利亚。我们时常坚持要天主依照我们的意愿行事,忘记了祈祷其实应该像玛利亚一样,时常把一切交托给天主。祈祷并不是由我们来告诉天主该怎么做;而是应该做好准备聆听天主要我们做什么。

有时,我们以为可以透过祈祷操纵及控制天主。参加了多次的九日敬礼或念了多串的玫瑰经后,就认为天主必然会俯允我们的祈求。然而,祈祷并不是魔术,它不会让我们控制天主。反之,真正的祈祷会带来皈依和转化,使我们学习让天主掌管我们的生命。

我们必须记住:天主确实俯听了所有的祈祷,但祂未必依照我们的意愿俯允我们。有时,天主会答应,有时却不。有时祂立刻俯允我们的祈求;有时却要我们等候。有时,祂以这种方式允准;有时却是用另一种方式。无论结果是什么,我们相信天主最清楚一切。因此,我们必须学习如何祈祷,不要尝试去改变天主的决定;相反地,要借着祈祷而被改变和转化,以使我们能够在一切事上,接受天主的旨意。