23. 3月16日克己－白孟德神父（Fr. Charles Belmonte Lopez）語錄-譯者:林豪

“Christ has called us, and asks us: ‘Are you ready to drink the chalice – the chalice which means giving yourself fully to the will of the Father – which I am going to drink?’ Possumus! Yes! We are ready! was the reply of John and James. Are you and I really ready to carry out, in everything, the will of our Father God? Have we given our Lord our whole heart, or are we attached to ourselves and our interests and comfort and self-love? Is there anything in our lives out of keeping with our Christianity, something which makes us unwilling to mend our ways? Today we are given a chance to set things straight.” St Josemaría

祂也召叫了我們，又問我們，如衪問雅各伯和若望：「你們能飲我將要飲的這杯爵？」—就是奉獻自己於聖父的聖意Possumus!「我們能！」 這就是若望和雅各伯的答覆。你和我是否真的心甘情願地在所有事上奉行天主聖父的旨意呢？我們有沒有把整個心靈完全交給了上主，還是眷戀自我的利益、安逸和自私？在我們的生活裡是否有一些違反基督信仰，而不願改過自新的地方？今天，我們得到改過遷善的良機。(基督剛經過，15)

Mortification of the senses are very good and even indispensable. But they are not enough. The Lord wants nothing of self to remain; he wants us to learn to deny ourselves, and he wants our dedication to be total and unconditional.

感官的克己非常好，甚至是不可或缺的，但是這還不夠。吾主不想為自我留下任何事物；他希望我們學會棄絕自己，他希望我們的奉獻是完全而且是無條件的。

“First of all, we must be convinced that Jesus is putting these questions to us personally. He is the one who asks them, not I. I wouldn’t dare even put them to myself. I am praying aloud, and each of you, silently, is admitting to our Lord: ‘Lord, how useless I am, what a coward I have been! How many mistakes I’ve made, over and over again.’ And we can go further and say: ‘It’s good, Lord, you have kept me up with your hand; for, left to myself, I am capable of the most disgraceful things. Don’t let me go; keep on treating me like a little child. I want to be strong and brave and manly. But you must help me. I am a clumsy creature. Take me by the hand, Lord, and make sure that your Mother is also by my side to guard me. And so, possumus! We can; we will be able to have you as our model.’” St Josemaría

首先我們要信服，是耶穌親自詢問我們這些問題，發問的是衪，不是我；我連面對自己的勇氣都沒有，我只是在大聲地祈禱，而你們每一個要向上主默默地承認：「主，我是多麼的不中用啊，我是一個懦夫！我不斷地重蹈覆轍啊！」我們可以更大膽地說：「主，祢的手一直在支撐我。如果祢由我自作主張，我一定會犯最羞恥的罪過。千萬不要放開我，永遠把我當作小孩般看待。我想變得強壯、勇敢和成熟，但是我需要祢的幫助，因為我很笨拙愚蠢。主啊，緊緊握住我的手，確定祢的母親也在我身旁保護我。那麼我們就有力量了，Possumus!我們要以祢為我們的模範。」(基督剛經過，15)

Today’s challenge: Perform a little service for the persons at home; this mortification will make the others’ self-giving more pleasant.

今天的挑戰：為家人做一些服務；這種克己會讓別人的自我奉獻更加愉悅。