82.5月14日偉大的愛－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 a 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 us 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 capricious sentimentalism.

「如果你們愛我，就要遵守我的命令。」（若14:15）愛不是矯情和虛無縹緲的東西，而是對天父良善與智慧，天主旨意的實現。主，毫不客氣地譴責了許多猶太人的規戒，將它們描述為「沉重而難以負荷的擔子」（瑪23：4），提醒我們，沒有行為來體現這份愛，就沒有對天主和他人的愛。主耶穌想要的不是強迫的愛，而是自由而自發的愛，但沒有反覆無常的多愁善感。

When philosophies that have turned feeling or instinct into a key of speculation, confusing sincerity with comfortable obedience to the 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 lets fall this realistic phrase, a friend of deeds and not of words: “He who accepts my commandments and keeps them, he loves me”. The spontaneity of a living member of a living body – we are members of the Mystical Body of Christ and He is the Head – is either at the service of the head or it is a cancer.

當哲學將感覺或本能變成推測的關鍵時，將真誠與對服從心態的舒適混為一談、當自由經常被理解為許可時、當一個人訴諸自己的良心，來規避他對天主的責任，肯定天主不會接受強迫的服務，一個人不會感覺到，主基督就留下了這句寫實的短句，一個行為的朋友，而不是言語的朋友：「接受我的命令而遵守的，便是愛我的人。」(若14:21) 我們是基督奧體的成員，他是頭—一個自發性活生生的成員與身體，不是為服務頭，要不就是毒瘤。

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? Do I attend Holy Mass to give God the worship that He deserves and wants? Does the extension of the Kingdom of Christ, that many may find the truth that sets man free and assures him eternal life, constitute the true motor of my existence?

讓我們捫心自問：我是否將天主律法的誡命，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，而以這項主要和令人愉悅的職責為次呢？我參加彌撒聖祭是為了給天主，祂應得和想要的敬拜嗎？主基督國度的擴展，為使許多人可以找到使人自由，並確保他的永恆生命，這是否構成我存在的真正動力呢？

There are those who have a sad, contrary image of Christianity. It is thought that everything consists in obeying a burdensome set of dispositions that, lacking the love that gives them meaning, end up tiring and end in rejection. And this is not so. It is a task of love. And not just any love. It is something pleasant and bearable as everything that is done for love, even if it costs.

有些人對基督宗教抱著悲觀的、相反的形象。人們認為，一切都在於服從一套繁瑣的規戒，缺乏了愛所賦予它們的意義，最終會感到疲倦並以拒絕告終。事實並非如此，這是愛的任務，而不只是任何愛。這是一件令人愉悅且可以承擔的事情，就像為愛所做的一切一樣，即使它付出了代價。

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’ (Sirach 2:4-5). What then is there left to trouble the Christian? Nothing. On earth, even joy often ends in sorrow; but for those who lead a life according to Christ, even sorrows turn into joy.

悲傷不會削弱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，因為他渴望死亡作為獎勵。是侮辱嗎？不，因為主基督教導我們要受苦：「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）。是疾病嗎？都不是，因為聖經建議道：「凡降到你身上的，你都要接受；在痛苦中，你要忍受；在各種困苦中，你要多多忍耐；因為金銀應在火裏鍛鍊，天主所喜悅的人，也應在謙卑的火爐中鍛鍊。」（德2：4-5）。那麼，還有什麼可以困擾基督徒的呢？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。

To be a Christian is to savor the immense, inexpressible joy that God loves me, 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.

成為基督徒就是要品嘗到宏大的、且無法形容的喜樂，即天主愛我，尋找我，對我感興趣，原諒我的笨拙，以及有時忘恩負義的行為方式，因此，試著回應這份偉大而不配獲得的愛吧！