149.7月20日成聖與使徒工作－白孟德神父（Fr. Charles Belmonte Lopez）語錄-譯者:林豪

Sanctity and apostolate: To this we have been called, to be God’s children and heirs to his glory with Jesus Christ. The early Christians, men and women of the first century, were perfectly clear about this. “From the moment when Jesus Christ said that he was the Way, the Truth and Life, and invited everyone to follow him, there burst forth in the souls of many faithful, right from the earliest times of the Church’s life, the desire to make a reality of the search for the evangelical perfection which was practiced by Christ himself as our model: the life of personal holiness and apostolic action.”

成聖與使徒工作：為此，我們蒙召成為天主的子女，與主耶穌基督同為祂光榮的繼承人。初期教會的基督徒，在第一世紀的男女們，都對此非常清楚：「從主耶穌基督說出，祂是道路、真理及生命，並邀請每個人跟隨祂的那一刻起，就在初期教會生活中，許多信友們的靈魂內湧現出了這份渴望，且已成為了事實，為追尋福音的圓滿，這是主基督自己所實踐的，為作為我們的榜樣：個人的成聖和使徒工作的生活。

“And so, the genuine spirituality of the Gospel started to produce abundant fruits of holiness in every sphere of the pagan society which the early Christians lived in. They were men and women who practiced their faith sincerely, and as a result brought new members into the Church. They worked alongside everyone else, as citizens, if they were citizens… They practiced fraternity to an exquisite degree and dedicated themselves to God and to the spreading of the Good News, in the measure of the gifts they had each received. The result was that the whole of pagan society was Christianized.” St Josemaría

因此，福音真正的屬靈開始，是在初期基督徒生活於異教徒的社會中，每一個領域裡結出豐盛的神聖果實。他們是真誠地實踐信仰的男女們，藉此將新成員帶入教會。他們與其他的人一起工作，作為公民，如果他們是公民……他們把兄弟情誼實踐到一種細緻的程度，以他們每個人獲得的天賦為衡量，把自己奉獻給天主和傳播福音，結果是整個異教徒的社會都被基督宗教化了。」(聖施禮華)

Like the first Christians, we too have received God’s call to cooperate with Christ in sanctifying people and institutions here on earth. “God wants each of you, to try to be holy in your own specific circumstances and position in life: this is God’s Will, your sanctification. A holiness that will often be hidden – without outward show – but one that is fought for every day, a heroic holiness: to co-redeem with Christ, to save souls with him, to put order with him into all human affairs.”

如同初期的基督徒一樣，我們也接受了天主的召喚，與主基督合作，聖化世上的人們和機構。「天主希望你們每個人，在你自己的特定環境及生活中的崗位上努力成聖：這是天主的旨意，也就是你們的成聖。一種經常被隱藏的聖德—沒有外在的表現—但是每天都在為之奮鬥，一種英雄式的聖德：與主基督一同救贖，與祂一起拯救靈魂，與祂一起在人類的所有事務中建立秩序。」

Thus, personal sanctity: love for God and love for all souls for his sake. If we weren’t trying to be closer to our Lord every day, our apostolic efforts would be in vain, and all our external works useless.

因此，個人的成聖：就是對天主的愛及對所有靈魂的愛。如果我們每天不努力地親近我主，我們使徒工作的努力，將是徒勞無功的；我們所有的外在工作，都是毫無用處的。

Nothing is unimportant in God’s eyes: everything is an opportunity for sanctity and apostolate. Everything – no matter how insignificant it may appear – has an eternal value. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

在天主的眼中，沒有什麼是不重要的：一切都是成聖和使徒工作的機會。一切—無論它看起來是多麼微不足道—都具有永恆的價值。「誰若廢除這些誡命中最小的一條，也這樣教訓人，在天國裏，他將稱為最小的；但誰若實行，也這樣教訓人，這人在天國裏將稱為大的。」(瑪5:19)

Be faithful in the small things because it is in them that you must fight the battle.

在小事上要忠信，因為你必須在小事上戰鬥。