我大约十四岁，经历了年轻时归主的恩典，但也 得了胃病，因为我在第一节课前就在医务室里。 I was about 14 years old, and I had experienced the grace of a young adult conversion, but I also experienced some sort of stomach virus because I was in the nurse's office before first period class.
我发烧到102度左右。护士就打电话给我母亲，她立刻来接我，正好在第一节课开始时。 I had a temperature that was spiking about 102. So the nurse called my mother, who dutifully came and got me right as first period classes were beginning.
作为一个十年级的学生，我和妈妈走在走廊里，对她说：「你介意走在我前面吗？」 Walking down the hall with my mommy, as a 10th grader, I said to her, "Do you mind walking ahead of me?"
她像任何好母亲一样，走在我前面约十步，这样我在高中就不会被人看到是妈妈在照顾我。 And like any good mom, she did, about 10 paces in front so that I wouldn't be seen being nursed by mommy in high school.
在停车场，我追上了她。 On the way out in the parking lot, I caught up to her.
她一句话也没说。 She didn't say a word.
她开车送我回家，基本上照顾我一整天，直到我恢复健康。 She drove me home and basically nursed me back to health for the rest of the day.
傍晚时，我父亲回家了，和她谈了话，了解了我的情况，上来看我，说 ：「你知道，你找到的这个信仰，如果要有意义，你就必须实践它。」 Then, late afternoon, my father came home, talked to her, found out how I was doing, came up to see me, and said, "You know, this religion that you have found, if it's going to mean anything, you're going to have to put it into practice."
我心想：「什么？」 I was like, "What?"
他看着我说：「我不确定我对这个信仰的看法， 但永远不要为和你母亲在一起而感到羞愧。」 He looked at me and said, "I'm not sure where I am about this faith stuff, but don't ever be ashamed to be seen with your mother."
他转身走下走廊，留下我在想：「他在说什么？」 He turned around and walked down the hall, leaving me wondering, "What is he talking about?"
然后，我当然想起来了。 Then, of course, I remembered.
我为自己的羞愧感到羞愧，也为这对我信仰的质疑感到羞愧。 I was ashamed of how ashamed I had been and also of how this really raised questions about my own faith.
但这只是典型的青春期表现。 But it was a typical adolescent thing.
我想这也说明了我们有时在灵性上像青少年一样。 I think it's also an illustration of the way we sometimes are as spiritual adolescents.
我们想成为自我成就的人，独自前行，成为坚强的个人主义者。 We want to be self-made men and women, go it alone, rugged individualists.
就是我和耶稣。 It's me and Jesus.
我想很多基督徒都是这样想的，甚至天主教徒也是这样生活的。 I think a lot of Christians think that way, and even Catholics live that way.
我确信蒙福的童贞马利亚的恩赐是要使我们变得更小，更像孩子 ，更像基督，不为地上的母亲和天上的母亲的恩赐感到羞愧。 I'm convinced that the gift of the Blessed Virgin Mary is meant to raise us up to become smaller, to become more childlike, to become more like Christ, and unashamed of the gift of our earthly moms as well as a mother who is in heaven.
现在，谈到蒙福的童贞马利亚，我总是被鲜明的对比所震撼，因为如 果有任何180度转变的例子，那就是这个：我不仅是个新教徒。 Now, in talking to you about the Blessed Virgin Mary, I'm always sort of struck by the stark contrast because if there's any clear example of a 180-degree turnaround, it's this: I wasn't just a Protestant.
我不仅是个长老会信徒。 I wasn't just a Presbyterian.
我不仅是个加尔文主义者。 I wasn't just a Calvinist.
我还是个反天主教者。 I was an anti-Catholic.
但如果你那时问我最大的两三个反对意见是什么，那就是马利亚，马利亚，还是马利亚。 But if you had asked me back then what were my two or three biggest objections, it would have been Mary, Mary, and Mary.
马利亚似乎与我在圣经中找到的一切都相悖。 I mean, Mary seemed quite contrary to everything I found in the Bible.
所以，我不仅在高中攻击我的天主教朋友，我甚至计划在送报时针对圣母的雕像。 So, I not only went after my Catholic friends in high school, I would actually plan on targeting statues of Our Lady on my paper route.
我为自己没有推倒你们的偶像而感到羞愧。 I was ashamed of my own cowardice for not knocking over your idols.
我说这并不感到骄傲。 I don't say that with any pride.
我说这时心中充满悲伤和羞愧。 I say it with sorrow and shame.
但我也这样说，是为了让你们看到，世上还有许多像我这样的人，他们出于好意，却想错了 ，因为没有天主教徒在圣经中向他们展示早期教父所启示给我的眼睛、心灵和心灵的东西。 But I also say it to show you the fact that there are a lot of other people like me out there who, in good faith, think bad things because nobody from the Catholic faith has shown them in the Bible what the early church fathers opened my eyes, my mind, and my heart to.
这就是为什么我期待有机会分享这个改变，这个 归信，不仅是归向神的家庭——天主教信仰。 That's why I look forward to the opportunity to share the change, the conversion, not just to the Catholic faith as the family of God.
还有蒙福的童贞马利亚，作为神的母亲，也是我和你们的母亲。 But to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the mother of God and my mother and yours as well.
在这一切真正开始之前，当我回顾我对马利亚、圣徒和所有这些事 物的看法时，我必须诚实地说，我反对天主教关于马利亚的教义和 敬拜的唯一原因很简单：它削弱了耶稣所成就的完美救赎工作。 Now, before any of this really began to happen, as I look back at how I thought the way I did about Mary and the saints and all of that stuff, I'll be honest, the one reason why I opposed the Catholic Church's doctrine and devotions about Mary was simple: it undermined the perfect work of redemption accomplished by Jesus.
它夺去了本该归于祂的荣耀，只归于祂。 It robbed Him of the glory that was due to Him and to Him alone.
这正是偶像崇拜所做的。 And that's what idolatry does.
但现在我已成为天主教徒，并且已经很久了，我全心拥抱教会传统中关于 马利亚的教义和敬拜的首要原因是，我确信她是基督荣耀的最大启示。 But now that I've become a Catholic and I've been one for a long time, the one overarching reason why I embrace wholeheartedly the Marian doctrine and devotion of the church's tradition is because I am convinced that she is the greatest revelation of Christ's glory.
她夺去她儿子荣耀的程度不比月亮夺去太阳光辉的程度多。 She no more robs her son of his glory than the moon robs the sun of its radiance.
她反映的荣耀甚至超过月亮反映太阳的光辉。 She reflects the glory even more than the moon reflects the sun.
她反映她的儿子，彰显了他救赎工作的荣耀。 She reflects her son, and she manifests the glory of his saving work.
她体现了他救赎工作的完美。 She embodies the perfection of his saving work.
因为，说实话，祂成为人，受苦，死而复活，并不是为了拯救自己， 也不是为了得到祂原本缺乏的什么，因为作为神，祂并不缺乏什么。 Because, let's face it, he didn't become a man, suffer, die, and rise again in order to save himself, in order to get anything that he was lacking beforehand, because being God, he didn't lack anything.
祂成为人，并没有获得什么。 In becoming man, he didn't gain anything.
那么，为什么要经历这一切，成为人，受苦，死而复活，如果不是为了得到更多的荣耀呢？ So why go through all of this in becoming a man, suffering, dying, and rising, if it isn't to get more glory?
简单明了的答案是，祂做这一切是为了将祂的荣耀赐给我们，与我们分享祂的恩典。 The plain and simple answer is, he did all of this to give us His glory, to share with us His grace.
这不是一场拔河比赛。 It isn't a tug of war.
这不是零和游戏。 It isn't a zero-sum game.
这是参与祂丰盛的奥秘。 It's the mystery of participating in His fullness.
正如圣文德所明确指出的，神不是通过我们的卑躬屈膝来获得荣耀。 As St. Bonaventure made so clear, God doesn't gain glory by our groveling.
祂通过我们敞开接受祂的恩典来获得荣耀。 He gains glory by our openness to receiving His grace.
而没有人比蒙福的童贞马利亚更敞开接受那恩典，正如天使称她为蒙大恩的。 And nobody was more open to that grace than the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the fullness of grace as the archangel addressed her.
所以，当我们看她时，我们看到的不仅是一个跟随耶稣的模范门徒， 正如我们在路加福音1:38听到的：「愿照你的话成就在我身上」 ，或在约翰福音2章听到的：「他告诉你们什么，你们就做什么。」 So when we look at her, what we see is not only a model disciple who followed Jesus, and as we hear, you know, "Be it done unto me according to thy word" in Luke 1:36, or as we hear in John 2, "Do whatever he tells you."
这就是模范门徒所做的：遵行神的话语，做基督吩咐的一切。 I mean, that is what a model disciple does: whatever God's word wills and doing whatever Christ tells us.
她不仅是我在神学院作为新教徒时所看到的模范门徒。 She's not just the model disciple that I came to see even as a Protestant in seminary.
我也仅凭圣经的依据认识到她确实是神的母亲。 I also came to recognize her just on biblical grounds alone that she is truly the mother of God.
不是说她在一开始就生了神性，因为神是永恒的，她不是。 Not in the sense that she gives birth to the deity at the very beginning because God is eternal and she is not.
祂是未受造的，她是受造的。 He is uncreated and she is created.
但当我们在路加福音1:43读到她的亲戚以利沙伯 说：「我主的母到我这里来，这是从哪里得的呢？」 But when we read in Luke 1:43, Elizabeth, her kinswoman, says, "Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"
注意，马利亚从未回应说：「我不是你主的母亲。 Notice that Mary never responds, "I'm not the mother of your Lord.
我只是他人性方面的母亲。」 I'm just the mother of his human nature."
因为母亲不是生性情，而是生人。 Because mothers don't bear natures; they bear persons.
而她所生养、哺育、慈爱的人，就是永恒三位一体的第二位。 And the person she mothered, the person she bore and nursed and loved maternally, is the second person of the eternal Trinity.
所以，我主的母，我们主的母，神的母，正是教会在431年的以弗所会议上定义的教义。 And so the mother of my Lord, the mother of our Lord, the mother of God is precisely what the church defined as doctrine back in 431 at the Council of Ephesus.
为什么呢？ And why?
为要保存马利亚的奥秘，更要保护她儿子基督的真理，祂是神永恒 的儿子，永远由父所生，但在时间中由蒙福的童贞马利亚所生。 To preserve the mystery of Mary, but even more, to protect the truth of Christ her Son, who is the eternal Son of God, eternally generated by the Father, but temporally begotten and born by the Blessed Virgin Mary.
我记得听一位哈佛博士的教授说过这些话，但他是浸信会的。 I remember hearing this from a professor with a Ph.D. from Harvard, but he was a Baptist.
所以这是我在讲座中最不期望听到的。 So it was the last thing I expected from the lecture.
你说马利亚是神的母亲是什么意思？ What do you mean Mary is the mother of God?
他不是从我这里得到博士学位的；他实际上有两个博士学位。 He didn't have a doctorate from me; he actually had two doctorates.
他是我的导师。 He was my mentor.
他是我的英雄。 He was my hero.
但他是浸信会的，所以我不期望他会认同第四次大公会议的神之母教义。 But he was a Baptist, so I didn't expect him to affirm the Fourth Council, Theotokos, Mother of God.
他用浓重的法语口音说：「斯科特，亲爱的弟兄，这是简单的圣经真理。」 He said, "Scott, dear brother," in his thick French accent, "this is simple Bible truth."
到讲座结束时，我知道确实如此。 And by the end of the lecture, I knew it was.
这就是为什么我们作为天主教徒，与非天主教基督徒分享如此多的共 同点：将马利亚视为模范门徒，视为神的母亲，也视为基督的杰作。 And so this is why we as Catholics share with non-Catholic Christians so much in seeing Mary as a model disciple, seeing her as the mother of God, but also seeing her as something like the masterpiece, the masterpiece of Christ.
把耶稣想象成我们救赎的艺术家。 Think of Jesus as the artist of our redemption.
若望保禄就是这样描述耶稣的。 That's how John Paul described Jesus.
像任何艺术家一样，祂创作了许多不同的作品。 And like any artist, he does many different works.
我们都是祂的作品，我们都是未完成的作品。 We're all his works, and we're all works in progress.
但如果你想确认耶稣的救赎工作是否完美，我不确定你能通 过研究我来确定，我也不确定能通过仔细观察你来解决。 But if you ever wanted to confirm whether or not Jesus' redemptive work was perfect, I'm not sure you could determine that by studying me, and I'm not sure I could settle that by looking closely at you.
只有一个人能毫无疑问地证明基督的救赎工作确实完美，那就是蒙福的童贞马利亚。 There's only one person who can prove beyond any doubt that the saving work of Christ is perfect indeed, and that is the Blessed Virgin Mary.
像许多艺术家，几乎每个艺术家一样，你会创作许多作品， 有时是受合同约束，但你想把最好的留给这伟大的杰作。 Like many artists, like practically every artist, you do many works sometimes under contract, but you want to save your best to do this great masterpiece.
如果你去参观展览，不是单单看他，而是站在那里凝视他最伟 大的作品，他的杰作，没有艺术家会因此感到威胁或侮辱。 No artist would be threatened or insulted if you went to an exhibit and instead of simply looking at him, you just stood there beholding his greatest work, his masterpiece.
所以，当我们献身于基督，同时向圣母表达敬意时，我 们并没有削弱祂，因为她没有从祂那里夺走任何东西。 And so as we devote ourselves to Christ but express devotion to Our Lady, we're not detracting from Him because she doesn't take anything away from Him.
她从祂那里得到一切，她削弱祂的程度不比... She receives everything from Him, and she no more detracts from Him than the...
相反，她像棱镜一样，更完美地折射了世界的光。 Instead, she refracts the light of the world in a way like a prism, more perfectly.
她也更完美地展示了祂作为我们救赎的艺术家的完美工作。 She also displays the perfection of his work as the artist of our redemption more perfectly.
所以我们越尊敬她，就越效法祂。 So the more honor we give her, the more we imitate him.
因为他像没有别人一样，完全遵行了诫命。 Because like nobody else, he fulfilled the commandments.
其中之一是什么呢？ And what is one of them?
「当孝敬父母。」 Honor your father and your mother.
在希伯来语中，「孝敬」一词「kabod」字面意思是将你的荣耀归还给你的父母 ，这正是他对天上的父所做的，也是他对地上的母亲所做的——在她受孕时将祂的荣 耀赐给她，并将这轨迹一直延续到最后，将她接到天上，以特别的荣耀为她加冕。 In Hebrew, the word for honor, "kabod," literally means to take your glory and give it back to your father and your mother, which is exactly what he did with his father in heaven, but it's also what he did with his mother on earth—by bestowing His glory upon her at her conception and by tracing that trajectory all the way to the end by assuming her into heaven and crowning her with this special glory.
这都是基督的工作。 This is all the work of Christ.
如果我们这样看待它，并以这些方式与他人分享，我想我们真的可以解决很多问题。 And if we look at it that way and if we share it with others in those terms, I think we can really get a lot of problems out of the way.
但我要诚实地说，所有这些对我来说还不够。 But I'll be honest, all of that was not enough for me.
因为当涉及到马利亚的教义和敬拜时，我有严重的问题。 Because when it came to Marian doctrine, as well as devotion, I had serious issues.
首先是她的无原罪始胎。 First of all, with her immaculate conception.
然后是她的身体升天。 And then her bodily assumption.
这在圣经哪里有？ Where is that in the Bible?
还有她被加冕为天后这个观念。 And then this idea that she is crowned the Queen of Heaven.
给我看经文！ Show me a text!
证明那点！ Prove that!
然后在神学院的一次讲座中，我们最伟大的教授之 一打断自己，给了我们一句似乎无关紧要的话。 And then in seminary, in the middle of a lecture, one of our greatest professors interrupted himself to give us what seemed to be a throwaway line.
他突然说：「你们知道，把一段经文脱离上下文，作为证明经文」，他说，「那是借口。」 Out of the blue, he just said, "You know, to take a text out of context and use it as a proof text," he said, "that's a pretext."
像你们一样，我们都笑了。 And like you, we all laughed.
我们有点窃笑。 We kind of chuckled.
然后我不安地坐在那里想：「等一下。 And then I squirmed because I sat there thinking, "Wait a minute.
这不正是我们所做的吗？ Isn't that what we do?
这不正是我们所信的吗？ Isn't that what we believe?
这不正是我们作为圣经基督徒证明信仰的方式吗？ Isn't that the way we prove what we believe as Bible Christians?
我们有证明经文。 We have proof texts.
我们查找它们。 We look them up.
我们背诵它们。 We memorize them.
然后我们分享它们，特别是与天主教徒。」 And then we share them, especially with Catholics."
在高中甚至大学时都是如此。 And so it was in high school and even still in college.
给我看经文！ Show me a text!
我寻找的是证明经文。 And what I was looking for was a proof text.
但我真正做的是借口。 But what I was really doing was a pretext.
所以他说，只有在上下文中研究圣经，你才能真正领会其深刻含义。 And so he said it's only by studying the Bible in context that you really grasp its deep meaning.
他说的上下文，是指早期教父所做的，就是以旧约的光照看新约，以新约的光照重读旧约。 And by its context, what he meant is what the early church fathers did, and that is looking at the new in light of the old and rereading the old in light of the new.
奥古斯丁说得很好，因为他说，新约隐藏在旧约中，旧约在新约中显明并成全。 Augustine put it so well because the new, he said, is concealed in the old, and the old is revealed and fulfilled in the new.
所以，当我在神学院学习圣经，获得道学硕士学位 ，成绩全优，毕业并被按立时，这一切都很有趣。 So as I studied Scripture in seminary and got my Master's of Divinity, got the straight A's, graduated, and was ordained, it was fun.
学习希伯来文，研究希腊文，阅读旧约和新约，然后在早期教父中找 到一种超越我最喜欢的教授的上下文解读圣经的方法，这令人兴奋。 It was exciting to learn Hebrew, to study Greek, to read the Old and the New, and then to find in the early church fathers a way of reading the Bible in context that went beyond my favorite profs.
我最喜欢的老师和传道人通常是新约或旧约的专家。 My favorite teachers and preachers were generally New Testament specialists or Old Testament specialists.
但他们中很少有人像早期教父那样搭建桥梁。 But very few of them were bridge builders like the early church fathers.
所以在最后一个学期，当我准备毕业和按立时，我在图书馆的书架上 发现了一套令人兴奋的多卷本作品，名为《早期教父的主日讲道》。 And so in my last semester, as I was preparing for graduation and ordination, I made the exciting discovery of a multi-volume work on the shelves of our library called the Sunday Sermons of the Early Church Fathers.
经过几天、几周、两三个月，我细读了他们的讲道。 After days and weeks and two or three months, I ransacked their sermons.
我基本上将它们全部重新作为我在长老会会众中的原创 材料，获得了很高的赞誉，因为我并不总是引用来源。 I basically redeployed all of them as my own original material in my Presbyterian congregation, to much acclaim, because I didn't always cite my sources.
我从未引用过来源。 I never cited my sources.
但在神学院的最后两三个月，我实际上与我的妹妹分享了这些研究 和兴奋，更与她的丈夫，我的姐夫比尔分享，因为我们一起毕业。 But those last two or three months of seminary, I actually shared the study and excitement, not only with my sister but even more with her husband, my brother-in-law, Bill, because we both graduated together.
这真的很有趣，因为我会与他分享早期教父，他也会与我分享他的兴奋。 It was really fun because I would be sharing the early fathers with him, and he would be sharing his excitement with me.
然后在按立后，在讲授了所有这些教义后，不到两年，一切都不断指向天主教。 Then after ordination, and after the presentation of all of these teachings, in less than two years, everything just kept coming up Catholic.
为了我自己的诚信，我不得不提交辞呈。 For the sake of my own integrity, I had to submit a resignation.
我必须去寻找一个符合我所发现的描述的教会，就 是以旧约的光照看新约，以新约的光照重读旧约。 I had to go in search of a church that fit the description that I was finding when you read the new in light of the old and the old in light of the new.
长话短说，我找到了，并在86年的复活节守夜中加入了 。但我刚成为天主教徒，我的家庭就陷入了深深的冷漠。 To make a long story short, I found it and entered it in the Easter Vigil of '86. But no sooner had I become Catholic than this deep freeze came over my family.
这股寒意，如冰冷的风。 This chill, an ice-cold wind.
我母亲说：「你怎么能这样对我们？」 My mother said, "How could you do this to us?"
我说：「妈妈，拜托。 I said, "Mom, come on.
我会给你看。」 I'll show you."
「不，我不想听你的辩解。」 "No, I don't want to hear your arguments."
我妹妹也不想，但我知道我姐夫想听。 And my sister didn't either, but I knew my brother-in-law did.
金伯利不想听，但她意识到需要修补很多关系。 Kimberly didn't want to hear them, but she recognized there was a lot of fence mending to be done.
所以我成为天主教徒的第一年，她主动安排了一次家 庭度假，想要缓和局势，让我母亲和妹妹冷静下来。 So my very first year as a Catholic, she took the initiative of scheduling a family vacation to kind of cool things down, to calm my mom down a bit, as well as my sister.
我们开车去了州立学院，宾州州立大学所在地， 我母亲住在那里，我妹妹和她丈夫也住在那里。 We drove out to State College, where Penn State is, where my mom lives and where my sister and her husband lived.
当我们到达那里时，虽然是一次愉快的拜访，但也很紧张，因为一到 那里，金伯利就提醒我，芭芭拉提醒比尔，我们有不争论的约定。 When we got there, it was a fun visit, but it was also tense because as soon as we got there, Kimberly reminded me and Barb reminded Bill of this pledge that we were bound to not argue.
比尔看着我，我看着他，似乎在说：「谁先开始？」 Bill looked at me, and I looked at him like, "Who goes first?"
在我们吃完晚餐时，比尔站起来走到垃圾桶旁，拿出一个大白垃圾袋。 It was when we were finishing up dinner that Bill got up and went over to the garbage can and pulled out this big white trash bag.
地上还有一个。 There was another one on the floor.
他说：「斯科特，你能帮我把垃圾拿到车库吗？」 He said, "Scott, could you help me take the garbage out to the garage?"
我还没来得及说：「你有两只手，比尔，你可以拿两个袋子」，他看着我眨了眨眼。 Before I could say, "You've got two hands, Bill, you can take both bags," he looked at me and winked.
「当然，我很乐意。」 "Sure, I'd be happy to."
于是我拿起另一个袋子，我们把它拿到车库。 So I grabbed the other bag, and we took it out to the garage.
他说：「我们得非常安静。 He said, "We've got to be really quiet.
我们去地下室，到我的办公室。」 We'll go to the basement, down to my office."
我们就这样做了。 And we did.
他关上门说：「你到底做了什么？」 He closed the door and said, "What on earth have you done?"
我说：「你什么意思？」 I said, "What do you mean?"
他说：「你已经触动了...」 He said, "You've poked..."
我回答：「嗯，不完全是。」 I replied, "Well, not exactly."
他说：「我想你是在崇拜马利亚。」 He said, "I suppose you're worshiping Mary."
我说：「不，如果我那样做，我会被天主教会谴责，因为 那就是四世纪的科里里多人因崇拜马利亚而受到的谴责。 I said, "Well, no, if I did that, I would be condemned by the Catholic Church because that's what the Collyridians got back in the 4th century for worshiping Mary.
那是谴责。 It was a condemnation.
那是异端。」 That's heresy."
他问：「那你做什么呢？」 He asked, "So what is it you do?"
我说：「我效法基督。 I said, "I imitate Christ.
像祂那样尊敬她。」 I honor her as he did."
他说：「哦，那很聪明。」 And he said, "Oh, that's clever."
我的意思是，我也这么认为。 I mean, I thought so too.
我不算什么，但我总是想着自己。 I'm not much, but I'm all I think about.
现在也是如此。 Now as well as then.
但比尔看着我说：「你在圣经哪里找到这些？」 But Bill looked at me and he said, "Where in the Bible do you find any of this?"
我回答：「哪些？」 I replied, "Any of what?"
他说：「拜托，斯科特。 He said, "Come on, Scott.
无原罪始胎，她的身体升天，她的天上为后。 The Immaculate Conception, her bodily assumption, her heavenly queenship.
你从哪里得到这些？」 Where do you get this?"
我说：「不是找证明经文，而是上下文阅读。」 I said, "By looking not for proof texts, but by reading it in context."
他知道我在引用罗泽尔博士，因为那天他和我在同一堂课上。 He knew I was citing Dr. Rozelle because he was in that class with me that same day.
我继续说：「你知道我们在毕业前两三个月阅读教父的感受。 I continued, "You know what it was like for us reading the Fathers for two or three months right before we both graduated.
我不断深入，而你刚来到宾州州立大学，接触那些对早期教父不感兴趣的国际学生。」 I kept going deeper and deeper, and you just came here to Penn State and are reaching out to international students who really don't care about the early church fathers."
我说：「但在不断深入中，我发现了越来越多。」 I said, "But in going deeper and deeper, I found more and more."
他问起她的无原罪始胎、身体升天和天上为后。 He asked about her immaculate conception, her bodily assumption, and her heavenly queenship.
我说：「哦，是的。」 I said, "Oh, yeah."
他追问：「你到底在哪里找到这些？」 He pressed, "Where in the world do you find that?"
我回答：「在早期教父和旧约新约中。」 I replied, "In the early church fathers and in the old and the new."
于是我问他：「你记得我们在奥古斯丁和耶柔米那里发现的东西吗？ So I asked him, "Do you remember what we found in Augustine and Jerome?
旧约中神用来预备犹太人迎接基督降临的三大事件是什么？ What were the three main events in the Old Testament that God used to prepare the Jews for the coming of Christ?
那三座高峰事件是什么？」 What were the three mountain peak events?"
他立刻想起了：创造，世界的存在，亚当被造为基督的预表。 He immediately remembered them: creation, when the world comes into existence and Adam was made as a type of Christ.
这正是保罗在罗马书5:14中称亚当为基督的预表。 That's what Paul calls Adam in Romans 5:14—that Adam was a type of Christ.
他是一个指向未来的预兆。 He was a sign that pointed forward.
亚当在园中受试探，走向错误的树而不顺服，基督作为新 亚当来到园中受试探，最终走向正确的树，被挂在其上。 And like Adam started off by being tested in the garden, but he went to the wrong tree and disobeyed, Christ came as the new Adam and went to the garden to be tested and ended up going to the right tree on which he hung.
早期教父称之为生命树，圣餐是生命树的果子，是对抗第一亚当带给后裔死亡的解药。 The tree of life, as the early church fathers called it, and the Eucharist is the fruit of the tree of life, the antidote to the mortality that the first Adam brought upon his progeny.
比尔立刻说：「创造，亚当作为基督的预表。」 Bill immediately said, "Creation, Adam as a type of Christ."
对于奥古斯丁等早期教父来说，出埃及记中摩西是基督的预表，逾越节的羊羔 预表耶稣，带给以色列救恩的出埃及预表耶稣赐给我们的新而更大的出埃及。 And for the early fathers like Augustine, the Exodus, where Moses is a type of Christ, where the Passover lamb prefigures Jesus, and the Exodus that brought salvation to Israel prefigures the new and greater Exodus that Jesus gives us.
然后他说第三座高峰是国度：创造、出埃及和大卫 的国度，有大卫的子孙和耶路撒冷的圣殿等等。 Then he said the third mountain peak was the kingdom: creation, the Exodus, and the kingdom of David with the son of David and the temple in Jerusalem and all of that.
当然，我们都知道这个问题的答案，因为当你阅读福音书时 ，你已经能感受到约翰如何将基督的降临描述为新的创造。 Of course, we both knew the answer to that question because when you read the Gospels, you can already get a sense of how John describes the coming of Christ as a new creation.
基督是新亚当。 That Christ is a new Adam.
约翰如何开始他的福音书？ How does John begin his Gospel?
「太初有道」，与创世记的开头相同。 "In the beginning," the same way Genesis begins.
你也可以看到在路加福音中，耶稣被呈现为新摩西。 You can also see how in Luke's Gospel, Jesus is presented as a new Moses.
你可以在马太福音中看到，耶稣是新大卫，比所罗门更大，正如祂在马太福音1 2章中描述自己。 我说：「比尔，你需要回去重新审视那些高峰事件，从早 期教父的眼光来看，因为我在那里不仅找到了耶稣的预表，也找到了马利亚。」 And you can see in Matthew's Gospel that Jesus is a new David, a greater than Solomon, as he describes himself in Matthew 12.
他问：「这怎么行得通？」 He asked, "How does that work?"
于是，在地下室的办公室里，门关着，我开始解释我在爱任纽、 耶柔米、奥古斯丁和耶路撒冷的居里罗那里特别发现的东西。 So there in the basement office with the door closed, I began to kind of unpack what I found in Irenaeus, Jerome, Augustine, and Cyril of Jerusalem, especially.
看创世记1和2章，与约翰福音1和2章比较。因为你可以 看到在创世记1和2章，起初，神通过祂话语的能力创造。 Look in Genesis 1 and 2 and compare it to John 1 and 2. Because you can see in Genesis 1 and 2, in the beginning, God creates through the power of his word.
然后是第二天，第三天，直到第六天，神创造了人，造男造女。 And then the next day, the next day, the next day, until the sixth day, God creates man, male and female.
第七天，有一种婚礼，亚当从沉睡中醒来，发现了名叫夏娃的新娘，她来自他的肋旁。 On the seventh day, there's a kind of wedding where Adam awakens from the deep sleep and discovers the bride named Eve, who came from his side.
在约翰福音1和2章，爱任纽、殉道者游斯丁和耶路撒冷的居里罗指出：「太初有道， 道与神同在，道就是神」，一切受造之物都是借道而造，道成了肉身，住在我们中间。 In John 1 and 2, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Cyril of Jerusalem point to, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and all that was created was created by the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
我说：「看，比尔，在29、35和43节，约翰在第1章 中做了创世记第1章所做的。第二天，第三天，第四天。」 I said, "Look, Bill, in verses 29, 35, and 43, John does in chapter 1 what Genesis did in chapter 1. The next day, the next day, the next day."
有一个模式，一个日子的顺序。 There's a pattern, a sequence of days.
正如创世记在第七天达到高潮，同样，在29、35和43节之 后，第二天，第三天，第四天，我们来到第七天，在约翰福音2 :1，我们读到：「第三日，在加利利的迦拿有娶亲的筵席。」 Just as Genesis culminates in the seventh day, so likewise, after verses 29, 35, and 43, the next day, the next day, the next day, we come to the seventh day, where in John 2:1, we read, "...on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee."
第三日，是从提到的最后一天算起的三天，那是第四天。 The third day, that was counting from three days from the last day that was mentioned, which was day four.
对于教父来说，四加三等于七，就像对我们一样。 Four plus three for the fathers adds up to seven, like it does for us.
在第七天，有一个婚礼，谁在结婚？ And on the seventh day, there's a wedding, and who's getting married?
我们不知道这对夫妇的名字。 We don't know the name of the couple.
新郎新娘没有被提名，但教父们指出，唯一被提名的两个人物是耶稣和马利亚。 The bride and the groom aren't identified by name, but what the fathers point out is that the only two characters who are identified by name are Jesus and Mary.
马利亚是新夏娃，解开了第一次夏娃不顺服所系的结。 Mary is the new Eve, who untied the knot that was tied by the first Eve's disobedience.
但耶稣在约翰福音2章中不称她为马利亚，也不称她为母亲，而是称她为妇人。 But instead of calling her Mary, instead of calling her mom, what does Jesus call her in John 2? Woman.
这与旧约希腊文译本在创世记2章中亚当醒来看到夏娃时使用的词相同：妇人。 The same term used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament there in Genesis 2, when Adam awoke and saw Eve: Woman.
早期教父们不是在争论，而是在庆祝。 The early church fathers weren't debating; they were celebrating.
不是在辩论中，而是在他们的诗歌和讲道中。 Not in arguments, but in their hymns and in their homilies.
正如亚当和夏娃被造时没有原罪，新亚当也是如此，如果新夏娃也是如此，那该多么合 适，这正是教父们后来引导教会在1854年定义无原罪始胎时所认识的。这赐给亚当 和夏娃的恩典，通过基督作为新亚当回到我们这里，也赐给了马利亚作为新夏娃。 The fact that just as Adam and Eve were created without original sin, so the new Adam is, and how fitting it would be if the new Eve was as well, which is what the Fathers led the church to recognize later on when the Immaculate Conception was defined in 1854. This grace that was given to Adam and Eve that came back to us through Christ as the new Adam is also conferred upon Mary as the new Eve.
这是多么合适，也是基督工作的多么重要部分。 How fitting it is, and how much of the work of Christ it is as well.
他看着我，心想：「你知道，这很有趣。」 He looked at me and thought, "You know, that's intriguing."
我的意思是，这不是一个让你无言以对的论点。 I mean, it wasn't an argument that just pins you down and counts to ten.
这是一个合宜性的论点。 It's an argument from fittingness.
这是爱的逻辑。 It's the logic of love.
他说：「好吧，你怎么证明身体升天呢？」 He said, "Okay, how do you go about showing the bodily assumption?"
我说：「好吧，救恩历史中的下一个主要事件，下一个高峰，记得 吗，是出埃及记，摩西在神的帮助和能力下带领以色列人出埃及。 I said, "Well, the next main event, the next mountain peak in salvation history, remember, was the Exodus, where Moses leads Israel out of Egypt with the help and the power of God.
但他并不是单独行动，因为神同在的标志不仅是摩西行 神迹，而是摩西建造会幕，这是古代以色列的圣所。 But there again, he's not acting alone because the sign of God's presence was not just Moses doing the miracles; it was Moses making the tabernacle, which was the sanctuary for ancient Israel.
使这帐幕成为圣所，使其如此圣洁的，是至圣所，内殿。 What made this tent the sanctuary, what made it so holy, was the holy of holies, the inner sanctum.
但使至圣所成为至圣所的是约柜。 But what made the most holy place the most holy place was the Ark of the Covenant.
当你读出埃及记时，你会在最后一章出埃及记40章中看 到高潮，摩西带领他们经过逾越节和出埃及来到西奈山。 As you read through the book of Exodus, you come to the climax in the final chapter, Exodus 40, where Moses has led them through the Passover and the Exodus out to Mount Sinai.
约得以更新，会幕建成，突然神荣耀的灵，至高者的能力，遮盖了至圣所中的约柜。 The covenant is renewed, the tabernacle is constructed, and suddenly the Spirit of God's glory, the power of the Most High, overshadows the Ark of the Covenant there in the most holy place, the Holy of Holies.
我指出，这并没有结束。 And I pointed out to him that it doesn't end there.
当他们拆下帐幕，拔营起行，经过接下来的40年 旷野时，始终带领他们的不是摩西，而是利未人。 When they took the tent down and broke camp, they went through the wilderness for the next 40 years, and what is always leading them is not Moses but the Levites.
是约柜。 It's the Ark of the Covenant.
当他们过约旦河，约书亚接管时，是利未人抬着约柜绕 耶利哥城走了六天，第七天绕城七次，吹响七个号角。 As they cross the Jordan and Joshua takes over, it's the Ark of the Covenant that the Levites carry around the city of Jericho for six straight days, and then seven times around the city on the seventh day when they blow the seven trumpets.
突然，随着神的同在，正如祂对约书亚所宣告的，争 战是耶和华的，所以武器不会是军事级的人类手段。 Suddenly, with the presence of God, as he declared to Joshua, the battle is the Lord's, so the weapons are not going to be military-grade human means.
这是耶和华的争战，所以抬着约柜的利未人将带领你们得胜。 The battle of the Lord, and so the Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant will lead you to triumph.
直到今天，比尔，考古学家仍然无法弄清是什么使那些城墙倒塌。 To this day, Bill, the archaeologists still can't figure out what brought those walls down.
但以色列人知道。 But Israel knew.
那是神同在的标志，在约柜中。 It was the sign of God's presence in the Ark of the Covenant.
我指出，每当以色列人记念主时，他们就让约柜带领他们得胜。 I pointed out to him that whenever Israel remembered the Lord, they would allow the Ark to lead them to victory.
但因骄傲，他们常常忘记，甚至有时失去了约柜。 But because of pride, they often forgot, and they even lost the Ark at times.
他们完成征服的唯一原因是大卫，虽然比预期晚了许多。 The only way they completed the conquest much later than it should have been was because of David.
在撒母耳记下6章，他取回约柜，为了完成应许 之地的征服，这几乎是在开始后三四个世纪。 In 2 Samuel 6, he retrieved the Ark in order to finish the conquest of the Promised Land nearly three or four centuries after it got started.
当他完成征服时，他举行了一个以约柜为中心的礼仪节日。 When he completed the conquest, what he did was a liturgical festival that featured the Ark.
在撒母耳记下6章，你读到大卫在约柜前跳舞，为神同在的标志而欢喜，带着约柜在 礼仪行列中上耶路撒冷，每走几步就献祭，大声惊叹他怎么配得找到耶和华的约柜。 In 2 Samuel 6, you read all about how David dances before the Ark, overjoyed at the sign of God's presence, and carries the Ark in a liturgical procession up to Jerusalem, stopping every few steps to offer sacrifice, wondering out loud how it is that he would be worthy to have found the Ark of the Lord.
我说：「正如我们将创造与约翰福音1和2章比较，你将出埃及记与路加福 音1和2章比较，你会发现早期教父所发现并向我和早期教会展示的。」 I said, "Just as we compared creation to John 1 and 2, you compare the Exodus to Luke 1 and 2, and you'll find what the early church fathers found and showed me and the early church."
因为在路加福音第1章，路加故意将耶稣和马利亚描绘成摩西和约柜。 Because in Luke chapter 1, Luke is deliberately depicting Jesus and Mary in terms of Moses and the Ark.
在路加福音1:35，圣灵要降临在你身上，至高者的能力要怎样？ In Luke 1:35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will what?
要荫庇你。 Episciazain, overshadow you.
这个罕见的动词描述了灵如何荫庇约柜。 That rare verb describes how the Spirit was hovering over the Ark of the Covenant.
但那是旧约的约柜，里面有石刻的神的道和在旷野养活他们40年的吗哪。 But that was the Ark of the Old Covenant, the Ark that contained the Word of God in stone and the manna that fed them in the wilderness for 40 years.
但我说：「比尔，对早期教父来说，旧约的约柜不比 马利亚大，而是小，因为她怀有神的道成了肉身。 But I said, "Bill, for the early church fathers, the Ark of the Old Covenant wasn't greater than Mary, but less, because she contains the Word of God made flesh.
她怀有真实的吗哪，赐给世人生命的生命之粮。」 She contains the true manna, the bread of life which is given for the life of the world."
旧约和新约之间的相似之处也是教父们在路加福音1:39中指出的，马利 亚起身，往犹大山地去，正是大卫在撒母耳记下6:2中为取约柜而起身去 的地方。 在路加福音1:42和43节，马利亚一到，她的亲戚以利沙 伯充满了敬畏，说：「我主的母到我这里来，这是从哪里得的呢？」 The parallels between the old and the new are what the fathers point out in Luke 1:39 as well, where Mary arose and went to the same spot in the Judean hill country where David, quote, arose and went in order to retrieve the Ark in 2 Samuel 6:2.
这呼应了大卫的话：「耶和华的约柜怎可到我这里来？」 echoing the words of David, "How can the Ark of the Lord come to me?"
在撒母耳记下6:9。然后在路加福音1:44节，紧接着，以利沙伯对蒙福的童贞女祝福 ，正如大卫在撒母耳记下6:18中取回约柜后所做的。 在路加福音1:46，教父们 指出，马利亚以感恩的诗歌回应神的恩典，正如大卫在同一约柜叙述中以感恩的诗歌回应。 in 2 Samuel 6:9. Then in Luke 1:44, the very next verse, Elizabeth pronounces this benediction upon the Blessed Virgin as David turned around and pronounced upon the Ark of the Covenant, having retrieved it in 2 Samuel 6:18.
最后一个小细节，约柜在大卫时代在犹大山地停留了多久？ For one final little detail, how long was the Ark of the Covenant in the Judean hill country back in David's day?
我们在撒母耳记下6:11中读到是三个月。马利亚与她的亲戚以利沙伯同住了多久？ We read it was there for three months in 2 Samuel 6:11. And how long did Mary remain with her kinswoman Elizabeth?
正好三个月。 For exactly three months.
对早期教父来说，这表明路加在圣灵的帮助下，对蒙福的童贞马利亚有了洞见，她已成为 新约的约柜，怀有道成肉身，而非石刻，怀有真实的吗哪，而不仅仅是那40年的吗哪。 For the early church fathers, this shows us that Luke had an insight, with the help of the Holy Spirit, into the Blessed Virgin Mary, who had become the Ark of the New Covenant, containing the Word made flesh, not stone, containing the true manna, not just the manna that was there for 40 years.
这使她比约柜更圣洁，约柜使至圣所成为至圣所。 This made her holier than the Ark, which made the most holy place the Holy of Holies.
所以你看到大卫将约柜带入王都，地上的耶路撒冷，就像耶稣将 约柜带入天上的耶路撒冷，正如你在启示录11章中读到的。但 这还不是全部，我说，因为你提到的第三点是她的天上为后。 And so it is that you have David taking the Ark of the Covenant up into the royal capital, the earthly Jerusalem, like Jesus takes the Ark of the Covenant up into the heavenly Jerusalem, as you read in Revelation 11. But that's not all, I said, because the third point that you've raised is her heavenly queenship.
救恩历史中的第三座高峰，在创造和出埃及记之后，在亚当 和夏娃、摩西和约柜之后，是大卫的国度和大卫的子孙。 The third mountain peak in salvation history, after creation and the Exodus, after Adam and Eve and Moses and the Ark, is the kingdom of David and the son of David.
我说，早期教父们喜欢在他们的讲道、祷告、诗歌和书信中展示，当所罗门 作为大卫的儿子，通过受膏的恩典成为神的儿子时，他并不是单独统治。 I said the early church fathers were fond of showing in their homilies, their prayers, their hymns, and their letters that when Solomon, as the son of David, became the son of God through the grace of his anointing, he didn't rule alone.
他不仅有十二个臣子。 He didn't just have 12 ministers.
他不仅有一个宰相。 He didn't just have a prime minister.
就在他加冕、登基、受膏的那一天，他颁布了一道皇家诏令，一种特别的法令，我 们在列王纪上2:19中读到。 当众人都在新加冕的王面前俯伏时，突然有一 位臣民走进殿中，但她没有俯伏，而是看着他从宝座上站起来，在她面前俯伏。 On the very same day that he was crowned, enthroned, and anointed, he issued a royal decree, a kind of special edict that we read about in 1 Kings 2:19.
她是谁？ And who is she?
太后。 The queen mother.
她是所罗门的母亲。 She is Solomon's mother.
公开尊敬她不仅是礼貌；这是一种皇家礼仪，随后 他下令在他右手边设立一个宝座，让她坐在那里。 To honor her publicly was more than courtesy; it was a royal protocol that was followed up by a royal decree where he orders that a throne be placed at his right hand where she is seated.
我说：「比尔，这在大卫的国度中成为一个永久的制度。 I said, "Bill, there began a permanent fixture in the kingdom of David.
不仅是大卫的子孙坐在大卫的宝座上，还有大卫子孙的太后。」 Not just the son of David upon the throne of David, but the queen mother of the son of David."
如果你想知道：「为什么是母亲？ If you wonder, "Well, why the mother?
为什么不是妻子？」 Why not the wife?"
要记得所罗门有七百个妻子和三百个妃嫔。 remember that Solomon had 700 of those and 300 concubines.
你最多只能希望成为一天的王后，就像我小时候看过的那个老电视节目。 The most you could hope for would be Queen for a Day, like that old TV show I watched when I was a little kid.
但他只有一个母亲，她是大卫的一个妻子，也是他继承者的母亲。 But he had only one mother, and she was the one wife and the mother of David and his successor.
在你右手边有这样一位伟大的王室顾问，多么美好！ What a great royal counselor to have at your right hand!
不仅对所罗门如此，在接下来的四百年里，你会发现随着王位的 继承和登基，大卫的子孙被按名识别，他的母亲也被称为太后。 Not only for Solomon, but subsequently, over the course of the next 400 years, you find that with the succession and accession to the throne, the son of David is identified by name, along with his mother as the queen.
在希伯来语中，那是「Gebirah」，意思是大夫人或太后。 In Hebrew, that is "Gebirah," which means great lady or queen mother.
所以只要有大卫的国度，就有太后。 So as long as there's a Davidic kingdom, there is a queen mother.
虽然被巴比伦人毁灭，但被耶稣恢复，你会在马太福音1和2章中看到约翰福音1和 2章以及路加福音1和2章中所发现的，就是大卫国度的成全，不仅在第一章中有耶 稣的王室家谱——那是你希望永远不用读的部分，充满了那些难以发音的名字。 As it was destroyed by the Babylonians but restored by Jesus, you will see in Matthew 1 and 2 what you found in John 1 and 2 and in Luke 1 and 2, and that is the fulfillment of the Davidic kingdom, not only with the royal genealogy of Jesus in chapter 1—that's the section you hope you never have to read with all those begats, with those names that are hard to pronounce.
有三组十四代，从亚伯拉罕到大卫，从大卫到被掳，从被掳到约瑟和马利亚。 There are three sets of 14 generations, from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Joseph and Mary.
为什么？ Why?
因为马太是写给懂得希伯来数字的犹太人。 Because Matthew's writing for Jews who know Hebrew numbers.
像拉丁文一样，希伯来文没有数字；他们给字母分配数值。 Like Latin, Hebrew doesn't have numbers; they assign numerical values to letters.
大卫的名字由三个字母组成，其数值加起来是十四。 通过给 耶稣王室血统，大卫的家谱，三组十四代，马太在传达什么？ David's name consisted of three letters, the numerical value of which adds up to 14.
基督的降临就是王的降临和国度的恢复。 That the coming of Christ is the coming of the king and the restoration of the kingdom.
当他引用以赛亚书7:14：「必有童女怀孕生子，给他起名叫以马 内利」，你回到以赛亚书7章。那预言的背景是对王和太后所说的。 When he cites Isaiah 7:14, "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel, God with us," you go back to Isaiah 7. The Isianic context of that particular oracle is an oracle delivered to the king and the queen mother.
童女将成为太后中国度成全的象征，怀有以马内利，神与我们同在。 The virgin is going to be a symbol of the fulfillment of the kingdom in the queen mother, bearing Emmanuel, God with us.
所以耶稣不仅作为大卫的子孙来恢复大卫的国度，他还要恢复那人民所爱的永久制度 ，使他们不仅是君主制，而是王室家庭，就是王右手边的太后，她也是我们的母亲。 So not only is Jesus coming as the son of David to restore the kingdom of David, but he's also going to restore that permanent fixture that the people loved, which made them more than just a monarchy, but a royal family, and that is the queen mother of the king at the right hand, who is our mother as well.
当你在大卫国度传统的背景下阅读马太福音1和2章时，你可以看到为什么 马太期望他的犹太读者不仅认出耶稣是大卫的子孙，也认出马利亚是太后。 When you read Matthew 1 and 2 against the backdrop of the Davidic kingdom traditions, you can see why Matthew was expecting his Jewish readers to recognize not only Jesus as the son of David but Mary as the queen mother.
最后，我说：「这就是最令人兴奋的地方。」 To top it off, I said, "This is where it gets really exciting."
在启示录11章19节，启示的先知约翰看到了一件四百多年无人见过的事。 In the book of Revelation, chapter 11, verse 19, John, the seer of the apocalypse, sees something that nobody had seen for over 400 years.
在19节，他看到的正是约柜。 In verse 19, what he sees is nothing less than the Ark of the Covenant.
当你查看古代以色列传统中约柜的历史时，你会发现，在巴比 伦人于公元前587年攻陷耶路撒冷、亵渎圣殿并摧毁之前， 耶和华的灵感动耶利米将约柜从至圣所中取出，以免被亵渎。 When you look at the history of the Ark in ancient Israelite traditions, you discover that before the Babylonians came in 587 and demolished Jerusalem, desecrated the temple, and destroyed that, the Spirit of the Lord stirred up Jeremiah to take the Ark of the Covenant out of the Holy of Holies so that it would not be profaned.
正如马加比书告诉我们的，他将约柜带到耶路撒冷 外的犹大山地，找到一个洞穴，将其放入并封住。 As the Maccabees tell us, he took it to the Judean hill country outside of Jerusalem, found a cave, and put it in and covered it over.
在返回的路上，他遇到一些愤怒的圣殿官员，他们要求知道他带走的约柜的下落。 On the way back, he was confronted by some angry temple officials who demanded the whereabouts of the Ark that he had taken.
耶利米却向他们发出预言，宣告只有当耶和华的怜悯和 神的恩典恢复给祂的百姓时，约柜才会被重新发现。 Instead, Jeremiah issued them an oracle that announced that the Ark would only be rediscovered when the mercy of the Lord and the grace of God were restored to his people.
从那时起，至圣所是空的。 From that time on, the Holy of Holies was empty.
当圣殿在公元前587年被毁，几十年后由以斯拉和尼希米重建并奉献 时，至圣所中没有约柜所象征的神的真实同在，而是一个真实的缺失， 持续了几个世纪，因为犹太人一直在等待和疑问：「约柜在哪里？」 When the temple was destroyed in 587 and then rebuilt and dedicated by Ezra and Nehemiah decades later, there in the Holy of Holies, instead of the real presence of God signified by the Ark, there was a real absence that lasted for centuries and centuries because the Jews kept waiting and wondering, "Where is the Ark?"
然后在启示录11:19中，一个名叫约翰的犹太人，犹太基督徒使徒 ，描述了这个异象：神在天上的殿开了，在祂的殿中看见了祂的约柜。 Then in Revelation 11:19, a Jew named John, a Jewish Christian apostle, describes this vision: how God's temple in heaven was opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen within His temple.
此时，每个犹太读者都会惊叹。 At which point, every Jewish reader would be gasping.
「你看到约柜了？ "You saw the Ark?
它在哪里？ Where is it?
它是什么状态？ What condition is it in?
我们如何取回？」 How do we fetch it?"
但他没有给读者关于约柜地理位置的希望，而是在接下来的几节中描述了一个 出现在天上的大异象：一个妇人身披日头，脚踏月亮，头戴十二星的冠冕。 But instead of giving his readers hope about the geographical coordinates of the Ark, he goes on in the very next verse or two to describe instead this great sign that appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
这很好。 That's nice.
有一个妇人。 There's a woman.
但回到约柜。 But get back to the Ark.
它在哪里？ Where is it?
它是什么状态？ What condition is it in?
我们如何取回？ How do we fetch it?
约翰是在戏弄他的读者吗？ Is John just teasing his readers?
他是在折磨那些将要听到这个记载的犹太人吗？ Is he just sort of tormenting the Jews who are going to hear this account?
不。他不是在谈论旧约的约柜；他在谈论新耶路撒 冷中神的殿里新约的约柜，那不是人手所造的。 No. He's not talking about the Ark of the Old Covenant; he's talking about the Ark of the New Covenant in the New Jerusalem in the Divine Temple not made with hands.
当神在天上的殿开了，祂的约柜就被看见。 When God's Temple in Heaven was opened, the Ark of His Covenant was seen.
当约翰在下一节描述那身披日头，脚踏月亮，头戴 十二星冠冕的妇人时，他并没有转到另一个主题。 When John goes on to describe in the next verse the woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, crowned with twelve stars, he's not shifting to another topic.
他在描述神天上殿中新约的约柜。 He is describing the Ark of the New Covenant in God's temple up in heaven.
因为这不是一个象征神性的金盒子；而是一位无瑕的童贞女，一位 多产的母亲，被神性所荫庇，这是旧约中的任何盒子都没有的。 Because it's not a box covered with gold, symbolizing divinity; it's an immaculate virgin, a fruitful mother, overshadowed by divinity in a way that no box in the old ever was.
这并不是使她像约柜；这使她比旧约中的盒子更成为新约的约柜。 This doesn't make her like the Ark of the Covenant; this makes her more of the Ark of the New Covenant than that box ever was in the old.
但如果你仔细看，你会看到这妇人被谁攻击？ But if you look closely, you'll see this woman is being attacked by whom?
撒但，魔鬼。 Satan, the devil.
但在启示录12章中他如何被描述？古蛇。 But how is he described in Revelation 12? As the ancient serpent.
我们自何时以来没有听到古蛇攻击妇人？ We haven't heard about the ancient serpent attacking a woman since when?
创世记3章。当他成功地攻击了第一个亚当和夏娃，使旧约破碎时，我们也听到 了原始福音，就是神的应许，不是通过男人，而是女人的后裔要伤古蛇的头。 Genesis 3. When he attacked the first Adam and Eve rather successfully and got that old covenant broken to pieces, we also heard the proto-evangelium, the first gospel, which was God's promise that not through the man but the seed of the woman shall the ancient serpent's head be crushed.
所以当这妇人生下新亚当时，古蛇在做什么？ So as this woman is giving birth to the new Adam, what is the ancient serpent doing?
攻击新夏娃。 Attacking the new Eve.
但在旧约中他成功了，在新约中他彻底失败。 But whereas he was successful in the Old Testament, he is an abject failure in the New.
新亚当和新夏娃得胜了，他被击败。 The new Adam and the new Eve are triumphant, and he is defeated.
所以在这个异象中，比尔，我们看到新夏娃与新亚 当同在，那被古蛇攻击但通过她儿子得胜的妇人。 So we have in this vision, Bill, the new Eve along with the new Adam, the woman who is attacked by the ancient serpent but is triumphant through her son.
我们看到新约的约柜被带到神殿中天上的耶路撒冷王都。 We have the Ark of the New Covenant brought up to the royal capital of the heavenly Jerusalem in the divine temple.
但我们也看到一个头戴十二星冠冕的妇人。 But we also have a woman crowned with twelve stars.
那是什么？ And what is that?
黄道十二宫？ The Zodiac?
不！是以色列的十二支派。 No! It's the twelve tribes of Israel.
她是大卫子孙的太后。 She is the queen mother of the son of David.
她生下那将来用铁杖辖管万国的男孩，这直接出自诗篇2篇，大卫为弥赛亚所写的诗。 She is giving birth to the male child who is going to rule the nations with a rod of iron, which is straight from Psalm 2, the psalm that David wrote about the Messiah.
嗯，这就是我所经历的。 Well, that's what was happening to me.
我声音越来越大。 I was getting louder and louder.
然后突然，比尔说：「闭嘴。」 And then all of a sudden, Bill said, "Shut up."
已经太迟了。 It was too late.
我们都听到两个人的脚步声从地下室楼梯下来。 We both heard two sets of footsteps coming down the basement staircase.
「我听到他们了。 "I hear them.
他们在楼下。 They're downstairs.
马上打开这门。」 Unlock this door this instant."
就像两个母亲而不是妻子。 It was like two mothers instead of wives.
我们有点羞愧地打开了门。 And rather sheepishly, we unlocked the door.
金伯利看着我说：「你答应过的。」 Kimberly looked at me and said, "You promised."
芭芭拉说：「比尔，你也是。」 Barb said, "And so did you, Bill."
我们就像被责备的孩子。 We were like, oh, chastened boys.
我们走上楼，剩下的晚上，我们谈论剖腹产、哺 乳和尿布——所有那些男人最喜欢讨论的事情。 We walked upstairs, and for the rest of the night, we talked about cesarean sections and nursing and diapers—all those things that men just love to discuss.
第二天早上，我还在从我对比尔造成的伤害中恢复。 The next morning, I'm still recovering from the wounds that I inflicted on Bill.
当我看日历，早餐吃到一半时，我意识到是八月十五日。 When I look at the calendar and halfway through breakfast, I realize it's August 15th.
嗯，你们这些从小就是天主教徒的人似乎很擅长记住当守的节日。 Well, you seem to be really good at memorizing Holy Days of Obligation, cradle Catholics.
我对此还不熟悉。 I was new at that.
我对许多圣经经文很熟悉，但我才刚开始熟悉当守的节日，意识到我必须找到弥撒。 I had a lot of Bible verses down pat, but I was just getting familiar with the Holy Days of Obligation, realizing that I had to find Mass.
我问她：「芭芭拉，我在哪里能找到天主教堂？」 I asked her, "Barb, where can I get to a Catholic parish?"
我并不想大惊小怪。 I didn't mean to make a big deal.
她说：「嗯，我知道镇上只有一个。 She said, "Well, there's only one that I know of here in town.
就是胜利之后。」 It's Our Lady of Victory."
这对我来说如音乐般悦耳！ Music to my ears!
我会完成昨晚开始的事情，你知道的。 I would just finish what I began last night, you know.
我说：「我得知道怎么走。」 I said, "I've got to get directions."
她真的查了，打电话给他们，发现中午有节日弥撒。 She actually looked it up, called them, and found out that there was a Mass at noon for the feast day.
她试图给我指路，但那地方离这儿四五英里，真的很偏僻。 She tried to give me directions, but it was four or five miles away, and it was really out in the sticks.
比尔走进来，听到她试图描述怎么去，就说：「算了吧，芭芭拉。 When Bill walked in and heard her trying to describe how to get there, he said, "Forget it, Barb.
他会迷路的。」 He'll just get lost."
我问：「好吧，那我怎么办？」 I asked, "Okay, so what do I do?"
他说：「我送你去。 He said, "I'll drive you.
我可以送你去，然后接你回来。」 I could drop you off and then pick you up."
我回答：「嗯，我不知道弥撒会有多长时间。 I replied, "Well, I have no idea how long the Mass will be.
可能是四十分钟。 It might be 40 minutes.
也可能超过一个小时。」 It might be over an hour."
他说：「芭芭拉，你知道吗？ He said, "Barb, you know what?
我送他去，我就待在那里。」 I'll drop him off, and I'll just stay there."
如果是我要求他这样做，我会被冷落一个月。 If I had asked him to do that, I would have been in the doghouse for a month.
但他主动提出，我妹妹也同意了，所以他送我去。 Here he was volunteering, and my sister agreed, so he drove me.
他决定第一次参加天主教弥撒。 He decided to come for the first time to a Catholic Mass.
我们坐在那里，弥撒开始前几分钟，我想我应该描述一下将要发生的事情 ，好让我们准备好，但金伯利让我承诺保持沉默，所以我只是坐在那里。 We were sitting there a few minutes before it began, and I thought I should describe what was going to happen, so we ought to get ready, but Kimberly had extracted a pledge of silence from me, so I just sat there.
弥撒以开始礼和忏悔礼开始，他竟然和我一起站起来。 As the Mass began with the opening rite and the penitential rite, he actually stood up alongside me.
然后，当我们从忏悔礼进入圣道礼时，我们坐下，听第一篇读经。 Then, as we moved from the penitential rite into the Liturgy of the Word, we sat down and listened to the first reading.
取自撒母耳记下第六章，大卫在犹大山地找到约柜，约柜在那里停留了三个月。 It was taken from the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 6, where David finds the Ark of the Covenant in the Judean hill country, where it was for three months.
他欢喜跳舞地将约柜抬上去。 He carries it up, dancing with joy.
就像施洗约翰在母腹中欢喜跳动。 It's like John the Baptist leaping for joy inside his mother's womb.
然后第二篇读经是诗篇132篇。你记得诗篇有多少篇吗？ Then the second reading was from Psalm 132. Now remember how many psalms there are?
150篇。其中有多少篇是专门讲约柜的？ 150. How many of those psalms are devoted to the subject of the Ark of the Covenant?
只有一篇。 Only one.
你猜是哪一篇？ Guess which?
诗篇132篇。它描述了大卫如何以如此敬畏的心对 待耶和华的约柜，以至神赐福他在耶路撒冷的国度。 Psalm 132. It describes how David treated the Ark of the Lord with such reverence that God blessed him with the kingdom in Jerusalem.
第三篇读经是新约启示录11章19节，约翰在天上的耶路撒冷神的殿中看到约柜。 The third reading was from the New Testament book of Revelation, chapter 11, verse 19, where John sees the Ark of the Covenant in the Divine Temple in the heavenly Jerusalem.
那身披日头，脚踏月亮的妇人，古蛇攻击她，但她通过她的儿子得胜。 The woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, the ancient serpent attacking the woman, but she is victorious through her son.
然后我们都站起来听福音。 Then we all stood for the Gospel.
整个环节完成了。 And the circuit was complete.
取自路加福音1章的报喜，马利亚去看望她的亲戚以利沙伯，住了 三个月，施洗约翰在母腹中欢喜跳动，如同大卫在约柜前一样。 It was taken from the Annunciation in Luke 1, where Mary goes to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth and stays for three months, and John the Baptist leaps for joy in utero like David did before the Ark.
当我们坐下时，我全身都在颤动。 As we sat down, I was tingling all over.
就像我又中了选经的大奖。 Like, again, I just won the lectionary lottery.
我感觉到比尔的胳膊肘顶着我的肋骨。 I felt Bill's elbow digging into my side.
他问：「这些读经的选择和你有关系吗？」 He asked, "Did you have anything to do with the selection of these readings?"
我真想说，你知道，初信者在第一年会接到教宗的电话，询问建议。 I had this urge to say, you know, converts in their first year get the Pope calling them up and asking for suggestions.
我说：「比尔，说实话，这是我第一次参加圣母升天节的弥撒。」 I said, "Bill, to be honest, this is the first time I've ever attended a Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary."
我看着他翻了个白眼，说：「当然。」 I watched him roll his eyes as he said, "Sure."
但我坐在那里，完全确信这是我第一次参加圣母升天节。 But I sat there, totally sure that it was the first time I'd ever attended the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.
我再次感到震惊、激动和谦卑，因为我不必阅读所有教 父，也不必经历证明无原罪始胎或她升天的学术痛苦。 Once again, I was stunned, thrilled, and humbled by the fact that I didn't have to read all of the Fathers and go through all of the doctoral throes of proving the Immaculate Conception or her assumption into Heaven.
我所要做的就是和你们一起参加弥撒，保持足够的警觉，聆听读经， 连接这些点，发现新约如何隐藏在旧约中，旧约如何在新约中显明和 成全，以一种超越最圣洁犹太人最高期望和最狂野梦想的方式。 All I had to do was show up at Mass along with all of you and just stay alert enough to listen to the readings and to connect the dots, discovering how the new is concealed in the old and how the old is revealed and fulfilled in the new in a way that surpasses the highest hopes and wildest dreams of the holiest Jews.
我坐在那里，震惊而感激，无法用言语表达神父在蒙福的童贞 马利亚、她的儿子道成肉身，以及圣经中赐给祂家庭的恩赐。 I sat there, stunned and grateful beyond words for the gift that God the Father gives His family in the Blessed Virgin Mary, in her Son, the Word made flesh, but also in the pages of sacred scripture.
因为当你在礼仪中阅读圣经时，你是从教会的心中阅读，这正是它所属之处。 Because when you read the Bible in the liturgy, you're reading it from the heart of the church, which is right where it belongs.
这是它的来源，也是它真正实现的地方，以一种超越学者所能说和早期教父所能讲的方式。 It's where it came from and where it really comes true in a way that goes beyond what the scholars can say and what the early Fathers could preach.
当我们回到车上回家时，比尔提醒我，我妹妹也让他承诺保持沉默。 When we got back into the car going home, Bill reminded me that my sister had extracted a pledge of silence from him as well.
他基本上勉强同意不再讨论这个问题。 He had basically agreed reluctantly not to discuss this any further.
但我从他脸上看出，他不敢相信我不知道读经会是什么。 But I could see all over his face that he couldn't believe I had no idea what the readings would be.
但神知道。 But God did.
我确信这不仅仅是一次性事件。 I am convinced that it's not just a kind of one-time event.
这是年复一年。 It's year after year.
随着我们成长，随着我们变老，我们变得更小。 As we grow up, as we grow older, we grow smaller.
我记得这一点，因为那年晚些时候，我有机会回去拜访我的旧神 学院，四年前我作为加尔文主义反天主教者以全班第一名毕业。 I remember this because later that year, I had the opportunity to go back and visit my old seminary, where I had graduated first in my class as a Calvinist anti-Catholic just four years earlier.
我在波士顿参加天主教学者团契，意外地，我订的返 程航班不是在会议结束的星期天，而是星期一下午。 I was attending the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars in Boston, and accidentally I had booked my return flight not for Sunday when the conference ended, but for Monday afternoon.
星期天早上，我在退房时意识到，我没有地方住在星期天晚上，等候星期一下午的航班。 I realized Sunday morning, as I was checking out of the hotel, that I had no place to stay Sunday night to wait for my flight Monday afternoon.
我该怎么办？ What am I going to do?
我没有手机；那是在86年。所以我用公用电话打给一位教授，我在神学院倒数第 二年曾担任他的助教，因为他在一年半前刚把他最近的一本书献给金伯利和我。 I had no cell phone; it was back in '86. So I got a pay phone and called up a professor whom I had served as a teaching assistant my second to last year in seminary because he had just dedicated his most recent book to Kimberly and me a year and a half earlier.
我想也许他还没听说。 I thought maybe he hasn't heard.
也许他不知道。 Maybe he doesn't know.
所以也许我会被邀请加入他。 So maybe I'll be invited to join him.
所以我说：「D博士，我在城里。 So I said, "Dr. D, I'm here in town.
今晚没有地方住。 I've got no place to stay tonight.
我参加了这个会议，但明天才飞走。」 I've gone to this conference, but I don't fly out until tomorrow."
他回答：「你当然可以住我们这里。 He replied, "You can stay with us for sure.
你在哪里？」 Where are you?"
我告诉他，他说：「坐地铁来塞勒姆，我会在车站接你。」 I told him, and he said, "Get on the T, come up to Salem, and I'll meet you at the station."
一个小时后他来了。 He did an hour later.
我在想他是否没听说；我该如何告诉他？ I was wondering if he hadn't heard; how could I break it to him?
但我一上车，他就转向我，满脸笑容地问：「是真的吗？」 But as soon as I got in the car, he turned to me with his big grin and asked, "Is it true?"
我说：「什么是真的吗？」 I said, "Is what true?"
他回答：「你知道的。」 He replied, "You know."
我说：「是的，是真的。 I said, "Yes, it's true.
我成为了天主教徒。」 I became a Catholic."
他说：「我答应了罗宾，在我们把你接回来之前，我不会问你为什么。 He said, "I promised Robin that I'm not going to quiz you as to why until we get you back.
她也想听。」 She wants to hear it, too."
于是我们回到他们在南汉密尔顿的家，我走进去，看到桌上摆满了饼干、奶酪和芹菜。 So we got back to their home in South Hamilton, and I walked in to find the table spread with all of these crackers, cheese, and celery.
我不知道在下午，这就是午餐和晚餐。 Little did I know that in the mid-afternoon, that was lunch and dinner.
她不想在我们在客厅争论时还要在厨房做饭。 She didn't want to be cooking in the kitchen while we were arguing out in the living room.
像金伯利一样，她有神学硕士学位，也像金伯利一 样，她想听一场与杜克大学博士教授的精彩辩论。 Like Kimberly, she had her master's in theology, and like Kimberly, she wanted to hear a really good argument with a professor who had his doctorate from Duke.
我们从三点辩论到四点、五点、六点，谈论教宗、炼狱、七个圣事——而不仅仅是两个。 We went at it from three to four to five to six, talking about the Pope, purgatory, seven sacraments—not just two.
我们讨论了为我们代求的圣徒和约翰在启示录中的异象。 We discussed the saints who intercede for us and the visions of John in the Apocalypse.
大约晚上八点，他终于谈到他一直想讨论的：蒙福的童贞马利亚。 Around 8 p.m., he finally got to what he had been wanting to discuss all along: the Blessed Virgin Mary.
他提到无原罪始胎，我说：「好吧，让我们看看爱任 纽、殉道者游斯丁等人所说的新夏娃预表...」 He brought up the Immaculate Conception, and I said, "Okay, let's look at the New Eve typology that Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and others..."
但他打断说：「不，不是无原罪始胎。 But he interrupted, saying, "No, not the Immaculate Conception.
我想专注于她的身体升天。 I want to focus on her bodily assumption.
因为我一直在研究这个，我发现教会前四个世纪没有关于马利亚身体升天的文献证据。」 Because I've been investigating this, and I have found there is no documentary evidence for the bodily assumption of Mary in the first four centuries of the church."
他问：「你能为我指出任何证据吗？」 He asked, "Can you identify any for me?"
我回答：「不，你可能是对的，因为在前四个世纪，有迫害。 I replied, "No, you're probably right, because in the first four centuries, there's persecution.
我们没有建立大型图书馆的神学院，里面充满了大量文献。」 We're not building seminaries with large libraries filled with lots of documentation."
他说：「我明白，但那是沉默的论据。 He said, "I understand, but that is an argument from silence.
你在前四百年中在哪里找到这方面的文献？」 Where do you find documentation for this in the first 400 years?"
我不得不勉强承认，你确实找不到任何证据。 Reluctantly, I had to admit that you really couldn't find any.
我说：「但看看第五世纪和第六世纪。 I said, "But look in the 5th century and the 6th.
当你终于找到时，它无处不在。 When you finally find it, it's everywhere.
它不只是零星存在；它在诗歌、讲道和祷告中。 It isn't here and there; it's in the hymns, in the homilies, and in the prayers.
这不是在争论；这是在庆祝她在天上，这是我们救恩奥秘的一部分。」 It's not being debated; it's being celebrated that she is in heaven, that this is part of the mystery of our salvation."
他回应：「但有四个世纪的沉默，斯科特？ He responded, "But four centuries of silence, Scott?
你能推荐一本书让我阅读以填补空白吗？」 Can you recommend a book that I could read to fill in the blanks?".
我看着他，那时大约是晚上九点五十，九点半。 And I looked at him, and it was about 9:50, 9:30 in the evening at this point.
我终于感受到自己疲惫的沉重和心不在焉的挫败感。 I was finally feeling the weight of my own exhaustion and the frustration of my own absent-mindedness.
我想不出一本关于马利亚升天的书可以推荐。 I couldn't think of a single book to recommend on the Assumption of Mary.
他感到震惊。 He was startled.
他说：「当你是我的助教时，你总是为任何神学主题准备了大量书目。 He said, "When you were my TA, my teaching assistant, you always had vast bibliographies for any theological subject.
你至少能给我推荐一篇文章吗？」 Can you at least point me to an article?"
我只是茫然地看着他。 All I gave him was a blank stare.
我说：「我...我现在真的想不出任何可以推荐的东西。」 I said, "I... I really can't remember anything right now to recommend."
他回答：「我需要提醒你吗？ He replied, "Do I need to remind you?
这是教宗定义的无误教义。 This is an infallible dogma defined by the Pope.
你必须相信，否则就是致命的罪，异端，而你却找不出一个来源？」 You've got to believe it on pain of mortal sin, heresy, and you can't come up with a source?"
突然，经过几个小时的辩论，我感到自己的疲惫和局限。 Suddenly, after hours of hitting everything he threw out of the park, I was feeling my exhaustion and my limitations.
我找不到任何书目来源。 I was coming up short with any bibliographical sources.
这时，他站起来，我心想：「什么？」 At that point, he stood up, and I thought, "What?"
他说：「我想我们结束了。 He said, "I think we're finished.
我想，如果你连一本书或一篇文章都找不出来... I think that if you can't come up with even a book or an article...
我很惊讶，但你知道，我很失望，因为你相信一些你无法提供多少依据的东西。」 I'm surprised, but you know, disappointed that you're believing something that you really can't provide much basis for."
我心想：「你这家伙。」 I thought, "You turkey."
这感觉就像从另一端区跑回来后在一码线上失误。 It felt like fumbling on the one-yard line after running it back from the other end zone.
我想知道我怎么会在这一点上失败。 I wondered how I could be falling on this point.
他已经走向厨房。 He was already walking out toward the kitchen.
罗宾说：「你知道，我已经准备好了三楼的客房。 Robin said, "You know, I got the guest room up on the third floor prepared.
你可以上去。」 You can go up there."
快到晚上十点了，我感到尴尬、羞愧和疲惫。 It was almost 10 p.m., and I was embarrassed, ashamed, and exhausted.
当她带我上去然后离开时，我跪下来。 When she took me up and then left me, I got down on my knees.
在我自己的尴尬和屈辱中，我说：「对不起。 In my own embarrassment and humiliation, I said, "I'm sorry.
我真的搞砸了最后一个。」 I really blew that last one."
然后我上床，很快就睡着了。 Then I got into bed and fell fast asleep.
他们让我睡懒觉，因为我闻到了培根和鸡蛋的味道。 They let me sleep in because I could smell the bacon and eggs.
第二天早上，早餐吃到一半，我看了看日历，意识到是十二月八日。 The next morning, halfway through breakfast, I looked at the calendar and realized it was December 8th.
这感觉就像又一次似曾相识。 It felt like déjà vu all over again.
我想：「我今天得去参加弥撒。 I thought, "I've got to get to Mass today.
哦，天哪。」 Oh, my goodness."
我跟罗宾提了这事。 I mentioned it to Robin.
她说：「嗯，你运气不错，因为圣保罗堂就在我们后院。 She's like, "Well, you're in luck because St. Paul's is in our backyard.
你可以从厨房窗户看到它。」 You can see it through the kitchen window."
我说：「哦，好吧。 I said, "Oh, yeah, okay.
他们的弥撒时间是什么时候？」 What are their Mass times?"
她回答：「我怎么会知道？」 She replied, "How would I know?"
不过，她还是帮我打电话给圣保罗堂和本地其他七八个堂区，但 他们都结束了；那时已是上午九点多。然后她翻开黄页，找到一 个在皮博迪购物中心的迦密会小堂，离这儿将近十三英里。 However, she did me the courtesy of calling St. Paul's and about seven or eight other parishes in the local area, but they were all done for the day; it was after 9 a.m. Then she got out the Yellow Pages and found this Carmelite chapel in a Peabody mall that was almost 13 miles away.
她打电话给他们，发现中午有弥撒。 She called them and found out that there was a Mass at noon.
她说：「你可以借车去，及时回来，好让我或杰克送你去洛根机场。」 "You're welcome to borrow the car, get there, and back in time for me or Jack to take you down to Logan Airport," she said.
「你愿意这样做吗，孤单地在车里？」 "Would you do that, lonely, in your car?"
我回答：「当然。」 I replied, "Sure."
于是她就这样做了。 So she did.
我到了皮博迪购物中心，看到所有这些圣诞购物者走下台阶进入地下小堂。 I got down to the Peabody Mall, and I could see all these Christmas shoppers going down the steps into a basement chapel.
我和他们一起坐在后排，看着小堂里挤满了圣诞购 物者，他们期待着快速结束弥撒，好回去购物。 I joined them in the back row, just watching this chapel fill with Christmas shoppers, anticipating a quick Mass to get back to their shopping.
但相反，这位老神父，肯定有七十多岁，慢悠悠地 走出来，开始说：「奉圣父、圣子、圣灵的名。」 But instead, this old priest, who must have been in his late 70s, came sauntering out and began, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
你能感受到空气中的不耐烦——人们在想：「快点，神父，快结束吧。」 You could sense the impatience in the air—people were thinking, "Get it on with, come on, get it over with, Father."
读经员站起来读经，又是旧约和新约的美丽排列。 The lector got up and read, and it was, again, the old and the new in a beautiful array.
然后神父站起来讲道。 Then the priest got up to preach the homily.
那时，你可能会认为他太老了，讲不长，但我看到他眼中闪烁着光芒。 At that point, you might think he was too old to go long, until I saw this twinkle in his eye.
带着那光芒，他看着大家说：「今天我们庆祝无原罪始胎节。 With that sparkle, he looked out and said, "Today we're celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
很多人想知道为什么。 A lot of people want to know why.
为什么我们仍然相信如此古老的东西？ Why do we still believe in something so ancient?
那么，如果他们问你，你会怎么回答？」 Well, if they were to ask you, what would you tell them?"
一片沉默。 There was a silence.
我想：「这对修辞效果很好。 I thought, "That's good for rhetorical effect.
提出一个我们需要回答的问题。」 Ask a question that we need to answer."
然后，他满脸笑容地说：「你应该这样告诉他们。 Then, with his big grin, he said, "Here's what you should tell them.
你问他们，如果你能创造你的母亲，使她免受原罪的玷污和败坏，你会怎么做？ You ask them if you could have created your mother and spared her from the stain and corruption of original sin, what do you think you'd have done?
嗯，你不能，所以你没这样做。但耶稣能，所以他这样做了。 Well, you couldn't, and so you didn't. But Jesus could, and so he did.
这就是为什么我们相信并庆祝无原罪始胎。」 And that's why we believe and celebrate the Immaculate Conception."
他继续讲了五、十、十五分钟，像主教葛培理一样，像个好的浸信会天主教徒在讲道。 He went on for 5, 10, 15 minutes, like Monsignor Billy Graham, preaching like a good Baptist Catholic.
我只是惊叹不已。 I was just in awe.
圣诞购物者却不是。弥撒结束时，他们纷纷离去。 The Christmas shoppers weren't. By the time the Mass was done, there was a mass exodus.
他们全都走了。 They were all gone.
我独自留下。 I was left alone.
我走到圣器室的门口感谢他，也想请他帮个忙。 I walked up to the door of the sacristy to thank him, but also to ask him a favor.
我说：「你有空吗？」 I said, "Do you have a minute?"
他回答：「不太有。」 He replied, "Not really."
我继续说：「那有一会儿吗？」 I pressed on, "Do you have a second?"
他说：「好吧。」 He said, "Okay, fine."
我继续说：「神父，你讲无原罪始胎讲得太好了。 I continued, "Father, you were so good on the Immaculate Conception.
你能帮我解决身体升天的问题吗？ Can you help me with the bodily assumption?
因为昨晚我在那点上失误了。」 Because last night I fumbled on that one."
我接着解释：「我四年前从戈登康威尔毕业，但我今年复活节才加入教会。」 I went on to explain, "I graduated from Gordon-Conwell four years ago, but I just came into the church this Easter."
「戈登康威尔？」 "Gordon-Conwell?"
他说。 he said.
「哦，那很有趣。 "Oh, that's funny.
我曾在那里教书。」 I used to teach there."
我回答：「神父，你不明白。 I responded, "Father, you don't understand.
那是一个福音派新教神学院。」 It's an evangelical Protestant seminary."
他看着我说：「不，是你不明白，年轻人。 He looked at me and said, "No, you don't understand, young man.
那是个迦密会神学院，直到我们在七十年代初卖给你们。」 It was a Carmelite seminary until we sold it to you in the early '70s."
我说：「哦，我不知道。 I said, "Oh, I didn't know.
对不起。」 I'm sorry."
他回答：「没关系。 He replied, "No, that's all right.
我们给他们神学院；他们给我们毕业生。 We give them the seminary; they give us the graduate.
对我来说似乎是个好交易。」 Seems like a good deal to me."
我笑了：「这很有趣，神父。」 I chuckled, "That's very funny, Father."
他说：「我也这么认为。」 He said, "I thought so, too."
我问：「你能推荐任何关于马利亚升天的资料吗？ I asked, "Can you recommend any source on the Assumption of Mary?
因为我找不到。」 Because I came up short."
他说：「哦，难怪。 He said, "Well, no wonder.
关于马利亚升天的英文书只有一本，而且上周刚刚绝版。」 There's only one book in English in print on the Assumption of Mary, and it just went out of print last week."
我惊呼：「哇，你真的很了解马利亚学的书目。」 I exclaimed, "Wow, you really are on top of your Mariological bibliography."
他回答：「嗯，我应该了解。 He replied, "Well, I should be.
是我写的。」 I wrote it."
我大吃一惊。 I was taken aback.
「是你写的？」 "You wrote it?"
我觉得自己进入了迷离时空。 I thought I had stepped into the Twilight Zone.
「你写了唯一一本英文在印的书，而且上周绝版了？」 "You wrote the only book in English in print, and it went out of print last week?"
他确认道：「是的，《马利亚升天》。 He confirmed, "Yeah, The Assumption of Mary.
请允许我自我介绍，我是基利安·希利神父。」 Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Father Killian Healy."
我问：「你不会有多余的一两本吧？」 I asked, "You wouldn't happen to have like an extra copy or two?"
他回答：「什么，你要拿走我最后的两本？」 He responded, "What, are you going to take my two last copies?"
我说：「好吧。」 I said, "Fine."
他转身打开柜子，拿出最后两本。 He turned around, opened a cupboard, and pulled out the last two copies.
「这位教授叫什么名字？」 "What's this professor's name, after all?"
我问。 I asked.
我告诉他，他说：「好，给D博士和罗宾，藉马利亚归于耶稣，但我会用拉丁文写。」 I told him, and he said, "Okay, to Dr. D and to Robin, to Jesus through Mary, but I'll leave it in Latin."
我回答：「基利安·希利神父。」 "Father Killian Healy," I replied.
他说：「你还没得到很多。」 He said, "You haven't had a lot."
我说：「不，还不多。」 I said, "No, not a lot."
他补充道：「我会用英文写给你。 He added, "I'll leave it in English for you.
给斯科特，藉马利亚归于耶稣，基利安·希利神父。」 To Scott, to Jesus through Mary, Father Killian Healy."
我回去开车到他们家。 I got back and drove to their house.
当D博士准备开车去监考时，我说：「别急。 As Dr. D was getting ready to drive off to give a final exam, I said, "Not so fast.
我在去皮博迪购物中心的路上发生了一件有趣的事。 A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Peabody Mall.
这是你昨晚问的那本书，唯一在印的书，上周绝版了，但我们得到了一本作者签名的。」 Here is that book you were asking about last night, the only book in print, and it went out of print last week, but we got a copy signed by the author."
你应该看到他的下巴；它掉到了车道上，我非常享受地看着。 You should have seen his jaw; it dropped to the driveway, and I enjoyed watching it way too much.
罗宾站在那里等着送我去洛根，她惊讶得说不出话来。 Robin was standing there waiting to drive me to Logan, and she was so stunned that she was speechless.
开车去机场五分钟后，她终于说：「告诉我这真的发生了。」 Five minutes into the drive to the airport, she finally said, "Tell me that really happened."
我回答：「罗宾，确实发生了。」 I replied, "Robin, it happened."
她问：「在我们从黄页上找到的皮博迪购物中心的迦密会小堂？」 She asked, "In the Carmelite Chapel at the Peabody Mall that we found in the Yellow Pages?"
我确认道：「是的。」 I confirmed, "Yeah."
她说：「我会确保杰克读它，我也会读。」 She said, "I'll make sure Jack reads it, and I will too."
他们已经成为英国圣公会信徒。 They had come and become Episcopalians.
「他们还没完全回家。 "They're not all the way home yet.
为他们和许多其他人祷告，因为我们有很多工作要做。 Pray for them and a lot of other people because we've got our work cut out for us.
我们是天主教徒，圣经是我们的使命。 We are Catholics, and Scripture is what we do.
马利亚也是我们的母亲。 And Mary is our mother too.
我们不应为与地上的母亲在一起感到羞愧，更不应为与天上的母亲在一起感到羞愧。 We should never be ashamed to be seen with our earthly mothers and even more with our heavenly mother.
但我们也应准备好与所有分离的弟兄姐妹分享，他们有 她作为母亲，无论他们是否知道，这在神的话语中。」 But we should also be ready to share with all of our separated brothers and sisters who have her as their mother, whether they know it or not, that this is in God's Word."
当我登上飞机坐下时，说实话，我不需要飞机。 When I boarded that plane and sat down, I'll be honest, I didn't need an airplane.
我心情如此高昂，仿佛自己就能飞回家。 I was flying so high I could have gotten home just by myself.
但当我坐在那里思考过去几小时发生的事时，我再次意识到：你不需要教义。 But as I sat there thinking about what had just happened in the last couple of hours, it occurred to me once again: you don't need a doctrine.
你不需要研究生学位。 You don't need graduate studies.
神可以使用它们，但祂不需要，因为作为祂的儿女，我们所要做的就是坐起来聆听，信 靠祂的话，认识到那在蒙福童贞女腹中成了肉身的道，正是我们在圣体礼中领受的道。 God can use them, but He doesn't need them because all we've got to do as His sons and daughters is to sit up and listen, to take Him at His word, and to recognize that that Word that became flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin is precisely the Word that we consume in the Holy Eucharist.
她比我们自己更接近我们，她等待我们转向她，因为她不仅是母亲，还是王后。 She is closer to us than we are to ourselves, and she's waiting for us to turn to her because not just a mother, she is a queen.
不仅是王后，还是患难中随时的帮助。 And not just a queen, but a sure and present help in time of trouble.