65.4月26日基督徒的樂觀－白孟德神父（Fr. Charles Belmonte Lopez）語錄-譯者:林豪

St Josemaría was seriously ill. He, faithful to God’s grace, rose to the occasion cultivating an abandonment into the hands of God. “Night would come, and I used to say: ‘Lord, I don’t know whether I’ll get up tomorrow. I thank you for whatever remaining span of life you may want to give me, and I am happy to die in your arms; I hope in your mercy.’ In the morning, upon awakening, the first thought would be the same.”

聖施禮華得了病重，他忠於天主的恩典，挺身而出，培養將自己託付於天主的手中。「每當夜幕低垂，我常說：『主啊，我不知道明天是否能起床。我感謝祢，無論祢願意給我多少剩餘的生命，我都會喜樂地死在祢的懷裡；我渴望祢的憐憫。早上醒來後，我的第一個想法也是一樣的。」

Then, on a feast of the Blessed Virgin of Montserrat, our Lord took away a large part of that cross from his shoulders, as if to make known that his most holy Mother had again been an efficacious intercessor.

然後，在蒙特塞拉特聖母的慶節時，我主從他肩上卸下了很大部分的十字架，彷彿再次說明了他最神聖的母親，是一位強有力的代禱者。

The teaching is clear. We should never lose our joy in the face of illness. Rather, these situations must lead us to increase our trust in our Father God, to abandon ourselves in his hands in the certainty that, come what may in our lives, our Lord wants, or permits, it for our spiritual and eternal good: Omnia in bonum! As St Josemaría wrote: “Christian optimism is not a sugary optimism; nor is it a mere human confidence that everything will turn out all right.”

這個教導很明確。面對疾病，我們永遠不應該失去喜悅。相反地，這些情況必須引導我們增加對天父的信任，將自己交託在祂的手中；深信，在我們的生命中，我主願意或允許，為了我們屬靈和永恆的益處：Omnia in bonum！正如聖施禮華所寫：「基督徒的樂觀不是甜情蜜意的樂觀；也不是純粹人性的信心，認為一切都會好轉的。

It is an optimism that sinks its roots in an awareness of our freedom, and in the sure knowledge of the power of grace. It is an optimism which leads us to make demands on ourselves, to struggle to respond at every moment to God’s calls.

這種樂觀，深深紮根在我們的自由意識裡，也紮根在我們肯定認識恩寵的力量。這種樂觀帶領我們要求自己，時時刻刻奮力回應天主的召喚。」（煉爐，659）

Ask the Blessed Virgin, Salus infirmorum – Health of the sick and Consolatrix afflictorum – Comfort of the afflicted, for all the persons in our family who are suffering in body or soul, so that she may console them and obtain for them the grace to love those sufferings, which identify us so much with Christ.

祈求聖母，Salus infirmorum －病人之痊－Consolatrix afflictorum－憂苦之慰，為我們家庭中所有在身體或靈魂上受苦的人，藉此她來安慰他們，為他們獲得恩典來熱愛那些苦難，藉著這些苦難使我們與基督如此認同。

Image: Mare de Déu de Montserrat, 12th century.

圖片：蒙特塞拉特聖母，第12世紀。