Blog of Fr. Peter Leung

恭讀聖路加福音2:1-14

那時凱撒奧古斯都，出了一道上諭，叫天下的人都要登記：這是在季黎諾作敘利亞總督時，初次行的登記。於是，眾人各去本城登記。若瑟因為是達味家族的人，也從加里肋亞納匝肋城，上猶大名叫白冷的達味城去，好同自己已懷孕的聘妻瑪利亞去登記。他們在那裡的時候，她分娩的日期滿了，便生了她的頭胎男兒，用襁褓裹起，放在馬槽裡，因為在客棧中，為他們沒有地方。在那地區，有些牧羊人露宿，守夜看守羊群。有上主的一位天使，站在他們身邊，上主的榮光，照射著他們，他們便非常害怕。天使向他們說：「不要害怕！看！我給你們報告一個為全民族的大喜訊：今天在達味城中，為你們誕生了一位救世者，他是主默西亞。這是給你們的記號：你們將要看見一個嬰兒，裹著襁褓，躺在馬槽裡。」忽然有一大隊天軍，同那天使一起，讚頌天主說：「天主受享光榮於高天，主愛的人在世享平安！」

—上主的話。

A Reading from the Gospel of Luke 2:1-14

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

—The Gospel of the Lord.

往神父講道目錄

 

 Homily [99:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (424)

Pope Benedict XVI

Vatican City, Dec 21, 2008 / 10:22 am (CNA).- With thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer today, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about today’s Gospel, in which the Virgin Mary was invited by the Angel to conceive Jesus. The Holy Father then went on to note that the mystery of Christmas has a cosmic dimension in addition to its historical one.

The Pontiff commented briefly on the Gospel for this Fourth Sunday of Advent, the account of the Annunciation. Just a few days from the feast of Christmas, the Pope explained, “we are invited to fix our eyes on the ineffable mystery that Mary kept for nine months in her virginal womb: the mystery of God who becomes man.”

“This is the first hinge of the redemption. The second is the death and resurrection of Jesus, and these two inseparable hinges manifest a single divine plan: to save humanity and its history by assuming them to the utmost, taking on the entire weight of all the evil oppressing them.”

“Christ is the son of grace, who, with his light, ‘transfigures and ignites the expectant universe,’” Benedict XVI recalled. “The feast of Christmas is connected to the winter solstice, when the days, in the northern hemisphere, start to get longer. In this regard, it may be that not everyone knows that St. Peter’s Square is also a meridian: the obelisk, in fact, casts its shadow along a line that runs along the pavement toward the fountain under this window, and in these days the shadow is at its longest of the year.”

“This reminds us of the function of astronomy in marking out the rhythm of prayer. The Angelus, for example, is recited in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, and with the meridian, which was used in ancient times to identify ‘true noon’, clocks were adjusted.”

The Holy Father then greeted all those who will participate in various ways in the initiatives for the world year of astronomy, 2009, declared at the 400th anniversary of the first telescopic observations of Galileo Galilei. He said, “My predecessors of venerable memory included devotees of this science, like Sylvester II, who taught it, Gregory XIII, to whom we owe our calendar, and St. Pius X, who knew how to make sundials.”

“If the heavens, according to the beautiful words of the psalmist, ‘proclaim the glory of God,’ then the laws of nature, which over the course of the centuries many men and women of science have helped us to understand better, are also a great stimulus to contemplate with gratitude the works of the Lord,” the Pope continued.

He then concluded, “Let us turn then our eyes toward Mary and Joseph, who are awaiting the birth of Jesus, and let us learn from them, the secret of recollection, in order to savor the joy of Christmas. Let us prepare ourselves to welcome with faith the Redeemer who comes to be with us, Word of the love of God for the humanity of every age.”

信仰生活互動坊、塔冷通心靈書舍

12月25日　(週四)　 若1：1-18　    (其他經文──耶23：5-8   詠72)
在起初已有聖言，聖言與天主同在，聖言就是天主。聖言在起初，就與天主同在。萬物是藉著他而造成的；凡受造的，沒有一樣不是由他而造成的。在他內有生命，這生命是人的光。光在黑暗中照耀，黑暗決勝不過他。
曾有一人，是由天主派遣來的，名叫若翰。這人來，是為作證，為給光作證，為使眾人藉他而信。他不是那光，只是為給那光作證。
那照亮每人的真光，正在進入這世界；他已在世界上，世界原是藉他造成的；但世界卻不認識他。他來到了自己的地方，自己的人卻沒有接受他。但是，凡接受他的，他給他們，即給那些信他名字的人權能，好成為天主的子女。他們不是由精血，也不是由肉慾，也不是由男慾，而是由天主生的。
於是，聖言成了血肉，寄居在我們中間；我們見了他的光榮，正如父獨生者的光榮，滿溢恩寵和真理。若翰為他作證，呼喊說：「這就是我所說的：那在我以後來的，成了在我以前的，因他原先我而有。」從他的滿盈中，我們都領受了恩寵，而且恩寵上加恩寵。因為法律是藉梅瑟傳授的，恩寵和真理卻是由耶穌基督而來的。從來沒有人見過天主，只有那在父懷裡的獨生者，身為天主的，他給我們詳述了。

默　想

• 聖史若望筆下對耶穌基督降生的描述，充滿象徵性。耶穌就是聖言，切實地來到世間。
• 際此聖誕節，雖然我們深知道耶穌基督誕生的日子不是十二月二十五日，仍不減我們默想基督降生的美妙意思。
• 關鍵是：「聖子成為人」事實上與我們息息相關，只是我們度聖誕的方式和形態，往往變得好像沒有預了為祂慶祝生日的份兒般。
• 銘刻於心，究竟我們如何以生命解讀祂降生成人這個奧蹟。一個十分奇妙的事實。