99.5月31日聖母訪親－白孟德神父（Fr. Charles Belmonte Lopez）語錄-譯者:林豪

In Nazareth, the Archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary the mystery of the motherhood of St Elizabeth. And the heart of the Blessed Virgin overflowed with happiness.

In the days that followed, Mary rose up and went with all haste to a town of Juda, in the hill country. In her womb she bore him who was desired by all nations, the Messiah whom all Israel had awaited for centuries.

在納匝肋，總領天使加俾厄爾向瑪利亞揭示了，聖婦依撒伯爾受孕的奧秘。聖母的心裡洋溢著喜樂。

瑪利亞就在那幾日起身，急速往山區去，到了猶大的一座城。(路1:39)在她的子宮裡，她誕生了萬國所渴望的聖子，就是以色列人幾個世紀以來一直等待的「默西亞」。

Today, we can admire the concern of the Blessed Virgin for St Elizabeth. She knows that her cousin, well on in years, needs the care of a young person and she therefore goes with haste, to bring her help and affection. This availability to serve is the immediate consequence of having found Jesus Christ.

今天，我們應該讚賞聖母對聖婦依撒伯爾的關心。她知道自己的表姊，在很多年裡，需要一位年輕人的照顧，因此她急速地前往，帶給她協助與關愛。這樣服侍的機會直接結果，就是找到了主耶穌基督。

In our lives, too, intimacy with Jesus and with Mary is necessarily shown in the help we give others. As St Josemaría wrote: “If we have this filial contact with Mary, we won’t be able to think just about ourselves and our problems. Selfish personal problems will find no place in our mind. Mary brings us to Jesus… And so, if we know Jesus, we realize that we can live only by giving ourselves to the service of others. A Christian can’t be caught up in personal problems; he must be concerned about the universal Church and the salvation of all souls.

在我們的生活中，與主耶穌和瑪利亞的親密關係，也必然表現在我們給予他人的協助上。正如聖施禮華所寫道：「如果我們只考慮個人得失，只關心自己的困難，我們就不可能同聖母瑪利亞建立情同骨肉的關係。如果我們只為自私自利操心，也不可能同聖母親密來往。瑪利亞是要把我們領到「眾多兄弟中作長子」 的耶穌那裡，使我們認識耶穌。一旦認識了耶穌，我們就會明白，我們的生活，只能是捨己忘我，為人服務。一個基督徒，不能只為個人操心，應當胸懷普世教會，為萬民靈魂的得救而生活。

“Concern for one’s own spiritual improvement is not really a personal thing, for sanctification is completely bound up with apostolate. We must, therefore, develop our interior life and the Christian virtues with our eyes upon the good of the whole Church. We cannot do good and make Christ known, if we’re not making a sincere effort to live the teachings of the Gospel.”

對個人靈修生活怎樣加以推動提高的問題，實際上並不是個人私事，因為修德成聖的問題，與使徒工作是分不開的。所以，我們應當努力培養內修生活，修德務善；在這樣做時，還應著眼於整個教會的利益。我們若不努力認真實踐福音的訓誨，就不可能行善立功，就不可能廣揚基督的聖名。」（基督剛經過，145）