BishopBarron|灵修生活的物理现象
2018-10-28 11:10 阅读量:3593
Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie
2018-10-27
朋友们，今天的福音说到不结果的无花果树。
以色列的神学文献中常见到这个比喻：不结果的树代表着在灵修生活中一无所获的人。我们每个人都有一个使命：成为把神圣恩典引入人间的导体。我们在天主中生根——正如耶稣说到的葡萄藤和藤上的分枝——那么我们要做的是结出爱、和平、怜悯、正义和非暴力的果实。
要注意这应该是毫不费力的。天主离我们越近，我们就越富有生机。罪恶的奥秘在于我们反抗天主的入侵；我们喜欢我行我素；我们紧紧握着自己的特权和狭窄的自由不放，结果是我们变得毫无生机。就像忧郁症一样，人生漫无目的——用但丁的话来说，就像“在黑暗的森林中迷失”。
在耶稣的比喻中，园丁乞求主人再给一次机会，让他给这棵树施肥、掘松泥土，希望它复活；不然，它就要被砍掉。《圣经》反复表达这种迫切的观点。我们可能没有时间了。我们越抵抗天主的恩典，那么我们的叶子就越干枯。这不是神圣的报复，而是灵修生活的物理现象。
因此，不要害怕天主！我们要臣服于祂。
Friends, today’s Gospel includes the parable of a fig tree that bears no fruit.
This is a standard trope in the theological literature of Israel: the tree that bears no fruit is evocative of the moral person who bears no spiritual fruit. Every single person has a mission: to be a conduit of the divine grace into the world. Planted in God—think of Jesus’ image of the vine and the branches—they are meant to bring forth the fruits of love, peace, compassion, justice, nonviolence.
And notice that this should be effortless. The closer God gets, the more alive we become. But the mystery of sin is that we resist the invasion of God; we prefer to go our own way; we cling to our own prerogatives and our own narrow freedom. And the result is lifelessness. It feels like depression, like your life is going nowhere—in Dante’s language, like being "lost in a dark wood."
In Jesus’ parable, the one caring for the tree begs the owner for one more chance to manure the tree and to hoe around it, hoping to bring it back to life. But if no life comes, the tree will be cut down. This is the note of urgency that is struck over and again in the Bible. We can run out of time. We can become so resistant to God’s grace that our leaves dry up. This is not divine vengeance; it is spiritual physics.
So don’t be afraid of God! Surrender to him.
