2018-8-27

朋友们，今天我们纪念圣莫尼加，她为儿子希波的奥古斯丁的皈依作出了坚持不懈的祈祷。

 

虽然请求祈祷——即请求天主的赏赐——看起来比默祷更简单更基本，但在神学上更难以理解。如果天主是全知的，那么我们为什么还要把我们的需要告诉祂？如果天主永恒不变，我们为什么还要请求祂？

 

圣莫尼加礼拜仪式的祷文可以解释这些问题。祷文的开头如下：“主，你仁慈地接受了莫尼加为其子奥古斯丁的皈依所流下的眼泪。”注意，祷文不是说莫尼加的眼泪感动天主，使祂作出行动或改变祂的旨意结构；而是说天主在赐予莫尼加儿子皈依的恩典同时接受了她的眼泪，暗示了天主实际上通过莫尼加的眼泪来哭泣。

 

天主确实全知，因而祂在我们请求之前就知道我们需要什么；但就像好父母那样，祂喜欢接受我们哭着的请求——即使祂如同好父母那样并不总是有求必应。作为不动摇的原动力，天主从来都不会因我们的祈祷而改变，但祂通过我们祈祷中的真、善和正义与我们一起祈祷。

 

Friends, on this day we remember St. Monica, who prayed persistently for the conversion of her son, St. Augustine of Hippo.

 

Even though petitionary prayer—asking God for something—seems simpler and more basic than contemplation, it’s more difficult to make sense of theologically. If God is omniscient, what is the point of telling him what you need? And if God cannot change, what is the point of asking him for anything?

 

The prayer for the liturgy of St. Monica sheds some light on these questions. The text begins as follows: "Lord, you graciously received the tears of Monica for the conversion of her son Augustine." Mind you, it does not say that the tears of Monica moved God to act or compelled him somehow to change the structure of his providence. But it does say that God accepted those tears in coordination with granting the grace of conversion to her son, implying that God himself was effectively crying through the tears of Monica.

 

God indeed knows everything about everything, so he is aware of what we need before we ask; but like a good parent, he delights in receiving our tearful requests—even if, like a good parent, he does not always respond the way we would like him to. And God, as the unmoved mover, can never be changed by our prayer; but through whatever is good and right and true in our prayer, God is already praying through us.