134.7月5日愛天主－白孟德神父（Fr. Charles Belmonte Lopez）語錄-譯者:林豪

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. Love is not something lyrical and vaporous, but the fulfillment of the good and wise Will of God, our Father. The Lord, who unceremoniously censured the numerous Jewish precepts, describing them as a heavy burden (Mt 23:4), reminds me that there is no love for God and for others where there are no works that manifest this love. Jesus does not want a forced love, but a free and spontaneous love, but without confusing it with an anarchic and capricious sentimentalism.

「如果你們愛我，就要遵守我的命令。」(若14:15)愛不是抒發情緒和虛無縹緲的事務，而是實現天主，我們的天父的良善和智慧的旨意。我主毫不留情地譴責許多猶太人的戒律，稱它們為沉重的負擔（瑪23：4），這提醒我們，沒有行為來體現這種愛，就沒有對天主與他人的愛。主耶穌想要的不是強迫的愛，而是自由及自願的愛，但是，不要將其與無政府主義和反覆無常的多愁善感主義混淆。

When philosophies turn feelings or instinct into the rule to decide, confusing sincerity with comfortable obedience to my state of mind. When freedom is so often understood as license. When one appeals to one’s own conscience to circumvent one’s duties towards God, affirming that God cannot admit a forced service, that one does not feel, Christ says: “Whoever accepts my commandments and keeps them, he loves me.”

當哲學將感覺或本能轉變為作決定的規則時，將真誠與舒適地服從我們的心理狀態混為一談；當自由經常被理解為認可時；當一個人訴諸於自己的良心，來規避他對天主的責任，肯定天主不能接受強迫地服侍時，這一個人不會感受到，主基督所教導的：「接受我的命令而遵守的，便是愛我的人」(若14:21)

Thus, life is a challenge; you must take it. Do not allow yourself to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.

因此，生活是一項挑戰；你必須接受它。不要讓自己因為任何的失敗，而灰心喪氣，只要你已經盡力了。

Sadness makes no dent in the one who remains united to God by love. What can disturb a Christian,” asks St. John Chrysostom, “death? No, because he desires it as a reward. Insults? No, because Christ taught us to suffer them: ‘Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you’ (Mt 5:11). Sickness? Neither, because the Scripture advises: ‘Receive what God commands you and be of good cheer in the vicissitudes of trial, for gold is tried in the fire, and men pleasing to God are tried in the crucible of tribulation’ (Eccl. 2:5). What then is there left to trouble the Christian? Nothing. On earth, even joy often ends in sorrow; but for those who live according to Christ, even sorrows become joy.

悲傷不會削減因愛而與天主合一的人。什麼能困擾基督徒呢？金口聖若望問道：「是死亡嗎？不是，因為他渴望它作為獎賞。是侮辱嗎？不是，因為主基督教導我們必須受苦：『幾時人為了我而辱罵迫害你們，捏造一切壞話毀謗你們，你們是有福的。』（瑪5：11）是生病嗎？兩者都不是，因為聖經的建議是：『接受天主的旨意，在試煉的變遷中歡呼，因為金銀應在火裏鍛煉，天主所喜悅的人，也應在謙卑的火爐中鍛煉。』（德2：4-5）。那麼，還有什麼能夠困擾基督徒的呢？完全沒有。在世上，即使是喜悅也常以悲傷告終；但是對於那些按照主基督而過生活的人而言，即使是悲傷也會變成喜樂。」

Let us ask ourselves: Do I make the commandments of the Law of God my own? Am I interested in the objectives of the Church, of the parish, or do other interests take precedence over this principal and pleasing duty? Is my Holy Mass the worship I give to God, that He deserves, and wants? Is loving Him, and the extension of the Kingdom of Christ, the true motor of my existence?

讓我們捫心自問：我是否把天主律法的誡命，作為我自己的誡命呢？我是否對教會、堂區的目標感興趣，還是以其他利益為優先，而將這一項主要及令人愉悅的職責置之於次呢？我參與彌撒聖祭，是我對天主的敬拜，是祂應得的，且是祂想要的嗎？愛天主，以及拓展主基督的國度，是我存在的真正動力嗎？

To be a Christian is to savor, with immense, inexpressible joy, that God loves me, that he seeks me out, is interested in me and forgives my clumsy and sometimes ungrateful ways of behaving, and, consequently, to try to correspond to this love that is as great as it is undeserved.

But God, who knows the inmost heart, gives the promised reward.

成為基督徒就是要以宏大、無法形容的喜樂，來品嘗天主對我的愛，祂尋求我、欣賞我、原諒我的笨拙、有時忘恩負義的行為，因此，要試著回應這種偉大和不配獲得的愛。

但是，我們瞭解在內心深處的天主，給了我們應許的賞報。