生活聖言 (2011年4月)

by pleung | Apr 1, 2011 | Focolare, Word of Life

「不要照我所願意的，而要照祢所願意的。」 (谷14：36)

耶穌來到一個名叫革責瑪尼的橄欖莊園裡。這個久候的時刻已經來到，這也是祂的一生決定性的時刻。祂俯伏在地哀求天主，並稱祂為『父親』。耶穌以信賴和溫順的口吻祈求天父給祂免去『喝這杯』，意即祂的苦難與死亡(參閱谷14：36)。耶穌祈求那時辰離祂而去……。但是最後祂捨棄了自己的意願，完全服從天父的旨意，並且說：

「不要照我所願意的，而要照祢所願意的。」

耶穌知道祂的苦難不是一件偶然的事，也並非純屬人為的決定，而是天主的計劃。雖然祂將會被審訊和被眾人所棄絕，但這『苦杯』卻來自天主的手。
耶穌教導我們天父對我們每一個人都有一個愛的計劃，祂個別地愛我們，如果我們相信這份愛並以愛去回報祂的話，祂會使一切都結出善果。對耶穌而言，一切都決非偶然發生，甚至包括祂的苦難和死亡。
但隨之而來的就是復活，也就是這個月我們所要慶祝的莊嚴慶典。
復活的耶穌要成為我們生命之光。我們應該把所有發生在我們身上及周遭的一切，包括使我們感到痛苦的事情，都看作是那愛我們的天主所願意或允許的。生命中的每事每物都因而添上意義，一切變得有用，包括那些使我們如同耶穌一樣深陷極大苦惱之中，並看似無法理解和荒謬的事情。那時我們只需完全信賴天父的愛，與祂一起重複說：

「不要照我所願意的，而要照祢所願意的。」

祂的旨意是要我們喜樂地生活，感謝祂賜給我們生命中種種的恩典。但祂的旨意有時候並非我們所想像的，尤其當我們遇到痛苦時，只好逆來順受；或者在日常生活中要完成一連串單調和乏味的行動。
上主的聖意就是祂持續邀請著我們，讓我們在心內聽到的聲音。上主的旨意是祂對我們表達愛，以及把圓滿的生命賜給我們的方式。
我們可以用太陽的圖像來描述祂的聖意；每一道光線就像上主對我們每一個人的計劃。每個人沿著一道光線前行，與我們鄰人的光線不同，但都是走在太陽的光線中，也就是天主的旨意裡。所以我們眾人都做著唯一的天主旨意，但為每個人都有所不同。當光線越靠近太陽，彼此之間也越接近。同樣，我們越是完美地實踐上主的聖意，並與祂親近，我們彼此間就越接近，直到我們合而為一。
當我們這樣生活時，生命中的一切將會改變過來。我們不僅只與我們喜歡的及所愛的人交往，相反地，我們會跟所有天主安排與我們相處的人接觸。我們不再優先選擇我們所喜歡的事物，反而會注意並鍾愛天主旨意所提示的工作。假使我們完全專注於每一個時刻裡的天主聖意(即是「照祢所願意的」)，那麼我們就不再依戀其它的事物了，包括我們的自我(把「不要照我所願意的」這句話生活出來)。我們並非刻意擺脫種種的依戀，而是我們只要尋求天主，就能達到這個效果。這樣我們的喜樂將是滿全的。我們只需要完全將自己置身於每個要飛逝的時刻，並在那一刻中實行天主的旨意，並重複說：

「不要照我所願意的，而要照祢所願意的。」

過去的一刻不復存在，將來的時刻仍未在我們的掌握中。一個坐火車的旅客不用在車廂走廊穿梭來回，卻只需要靜心坐下，便能到達目的地。同樣我們應該站穩在目前的一刻，讓時間的列車自動往前奔走。我們只能夠在天主賜給我們的目前一刻中，透過堅毅、徹底及非常積極的方式說出：「我願意」，去回應天主的聖意，去愛天主。
所以，讓我們以愛心獻出一個歡愉的微笑去從事所有的工作，或開車、或做飯，或辦活動。讓我們去愛所有我們周遭正在受苦的人。
如果我們懂得與耶穌一起在試探或痛苦中認出天主的旨意，知道這是祂給我們每個人的一份愛，那麼就算活在這些情況下，我們也不該畏懼。反之，我們可以這樣祈禱說：
「上主，請幫助我不畏懼，因為一切將要發生的都是祢的旨意!上主，請幫助我無所希冀，因為最值得我們渴求的正是祢的旨意。
生命中什麼是最重要的呢？就是實行祢的聖意。
請叫我勇敢起來，去面對一切，因為在一切之中我都發現到祢的旨意。請使我保持警覺，任何事物都不能令我得意忘形，因為一切都是祢的聖意」。

盧嘉勒

Word of Life – Apr 2011

by pleung | Apr 1, 2011 | Focolare, Word of Life

Jesus is in the Garden of Olives, a piece of land called Gethsemane. The long-awaited hour has arrived. It is the crucial moment of his existence. He falls to the ground and with confident tenderness prays to God, calling him “Father.” He asks him, “Take this cup away from me” — an expression that refers to his passion and death. Jesus prays that that hour may pass. But in the end he submits completely to the Father’s will:

“Not what I will, but what you will.”

Jesus knows that his passion is not a chance event, nor simply a decision taken by men, but rather, a design of God. He will be taken to trial and rejected by men, but the “cup” comes from the hands of God. Jesus teaches us that the Father has a design of love for each one of us, that he loves us personally, and if we believe in this love and reciprocate with our love — this is the condition — he directs all things toward good. For Jesus nothing happens by chance, not even his passion and death. And this was followed by the Resurrection, whose solemn feast we are celebrating this month. The example of the risen Jesus should be a light for our life. We should interpret all that happens to us, all that takes place, all that is around us and even all that makes us suffer as something that God wills or that he permits, because he loves us. So then everything will have meaning in life, everything will be extremely useful, even what might seem in that moment to be incomprehensible and absurd, even what might plunge us into mortal anguish, as happened to Jesus. With him we need only to repeat, with an act of total trust in the Father’s love:

“Not what I will, but what you will.”

His will is that we live, that we joyfully thank him for the gifts of our life. His will is not, as we might sometimes think, something that we must resign ourselves to, especially when we encounter suffering. Nor is it merely a sequence of monotonous acts that we carry out in our lifetime.It is his voice that continues to make itself heard within, inviting us. It is his way of expressing his love and bringing us to the fullness of his life. We could depict it with the image of the sun, whose rays are like his will for each one of us. Each one walks along a ray, distinct from the ray of the person next to us, but always along a ray of the sun, that is, the will of God. So we all do only one will, that of God, but it is different for each one of us. Furthermore, the closer the rays come to the sun, the closer they come to one another. For us too, the closer we come to God, by carrying out the divine will more and more perfectly, the closer we draw to one another … until we are one. By living in this way, everything changes in our life. Instead of associating only with people we like and just loving them, we seek the company of whomever God wills us to be with. Instead of preferring the things that please us the most, we look after those that the will of God suggests to us, and we give preference to them. Being completely intent on doing the divine will in each moment (“what you will”) will lead to our being detached from everything else, and from ourselves as well (“not what I will”). This detachment is not something deliberately sought after — we seek God alone — but in actual fact it is attained. Then our joy will be full. We need only to immerse ourselves entirely in each fleeting moment and in that instant carry out the will of God, repeating:

“Not what I will, but what you will.”

The past no longer exists; the future is not yet here. Just as someone traveling by train would never think of walking up and down the aisle to reach his destination sooner but remains seated, so we should remain in the present. The train of time moves ahead on its own. We can love God only in the present moment given to us by saying our own “yes” — a vigorous, total, very active “yes” to his will.  So let us be happy to give that smile, carry out that job, drive that car, prepare that meal, organize that activity. Let us love all those who are suffering around us.Not even trials or sufferings should frighten us if, with Jesus, we recognize God’s will in them, that is, his love for each one of us. Indeed, we could pray in this way:“Lord, help me not to fear anything, because all that will happen will be nothing other than your will! Lord, help me not to desire anything, because nothing is more desirable than your will. What matters in life? What matters is doing your will. Grant that nothing may depress me or exalt me, because in everything I find your will.”

Chiara Lubic