通过教会的七件圣事，耶稣临在于我们中间，服侍他的子民，医治、滋养并膏抹他们。 Through the seven sacraments of the Church, Jesus is present, ministering to His people, healing, nourishing, and anointing them.
这七件神圣的圣事不仅仅是基督的象征，而是与他相遇的经历。 These seven holy sacraments are not just symbols of Christ; they are encounters with Him.
与基督的这种相遇始于洗礼。 This encounter with Christ begins with baptism.
希腊动词baptizo很有力量，它的字面意思是浸入。 The Greek verb baptizo is powerful; it means literally to plunge.
当我们从平凡转向非凡，并且我们的生活不可逆转地改变时，我们称之为勇敢跳入。 We speak of taking the plunge when we move from the ordinary to the extraordinary, and our lives change irrevocably.
受洗的人通过浸入基督的生命而改变，成为神的孩子。 The baptized person is changed by being immersed into the life of Christ, becoming a child of God.
我很高兴今天能和大家谈论教会的圣事。 Well, I am delighted to be talking to you about the sacraments of the Church today.
在开始时简单说明一下：我将首先对圣事进行一些总体概述，然后逐一讲解这七件圣事。 Just a really quick note as I begin: there will be just a few general remarks about the sacraments in general, then I'll just march through the seven sacraments.
但是，如果可以的话，让我先从一个故事开始。 But let me start, if I could, with a story.
我想向我的一位前同事致敬，他是一位伟大的加尔默罗会祭司，名叫戈尔曼·沙利文。 I want to pay tribute to a former colleague of mine, a great Carmelite priest named Gorman Sullivan.
戈尔曼很多年前就去世了，年纪轻轻就离开了人世。 Gorman died many years ago, way too young.
戈尔曼在芒德莱因神学院教授圣事神学，我也在那里任教。 Gorman taught sacramental theology at Mundelein Seminary, where I also taught.
那是学年结束的时候，我们大约有三个人在教师食堂里。 So this was the end of the school year, and there were about three of us up in the faculty kitchen.
戈尔曼走进来，手里拿着一份学生评价。 Gorman came in and he had in his hand one of the student evaluations.
在学年结束时，学生们会写课程评价，对吧？ So at the end of the year, the students write evaluations of the course, right?
他说，我想让你们听听这个。 So he said, I'd like you guys to hear this.
于是我们坐下来，戈尔曼读道：「你知道，戈尔曼神父，你对这 门课的热情很棒，但你似乎认为圣事是世界上最重要的事物。」 So we sat down, and Gorman read and said, You know, Father Gorman, it's great that you're so enthusiastic about this class, but you seem to think the sacraments are the most important things in the world.
接着有三秒钟的停顿，然后我们三个人异口同声 地说：「但它们确实是世界上最重要的事物。」 Well, there was a three-second pause, and then all three of us said in unison, But they are the most important things in the world.
我希望这个小插曲在今天上午一直萦绕在我们的脑海中。 And I want that little vignette just to sort of hover in the air all this morning.
圣事是世界上最重要的事物。 The sacraments are the most important things in the world.
为什么呢？ How come?
因为圣事是基督继续临在于他的子民中并赐予他们生命的特殊方式。 Because the sacraments are the privileged ways that Christ continues to be present to His people and to give them His life.
让我再说一遍：教会的圣事是耶稣继续临在于他 的子民中并与他们分享他的生命的特殊方式。 Let me just say that again: the sacraments of the Church are the privileged ways in which Jesus continues to be present to His people and to share His life with them.
还有什么比这更重要的呢？ What could be more important than that?
这里有一段我很喜欢的引用，来自教宗圣良一世，他是伟大的教父之一。 Here’s a quote I love from Pope St. Leo the Great, one of the great Fathers of the Church.
他说：「在我们救主身上可见的一切，现在已经转入他的奥秘中。」 He said, What was visible in our Savior has passed into His mysteries.
他在那里使用的词「奥秘」是古代对圣事的称呼。 The word he uses there, mysteries, was an ancient term for sacraments.
所以再听一遍：「在我们救主身上可见的一切，现在已经转入圣事中。」 So again, listen: what was visible in our Savior has now passed into the sacraments.
现在，一个神学讲师怎么能不用一个德语词呢？ Now, what would a lecturer in theology be without a German word?
德国人使用Ur-Sakrament这个术语，意思是基本圣事， 他们说Ur-Sakrament，即基本圣事，就是教会本身。 The Germans use the term Ur-Sakrament, which means fundamental sacrament, and they say the Ur-Sakrament, the fundamental sacrament, is the Church itself.
现在，这七件圣事是教会表达其生命的方式。 The seven sacraments now are the means by which the Church expresses its life.
教会——各位，教会——不是一个俱乐部。 The Church—everybody, the Church—is not a club.
它不是一个我可以加入或退出的组织。 It's not an organization that I can join or quit.
哦，我现在对它很满意；我对它不满意。 Oh, I'm happy with it now; I'm not happy with it.
这是我意愿的问题。 It's a matter of my will.
你知道，那就像是林肯协会。 You know, that's the Abe Lincoln Society.
教会不是耶稣基督协会，而是耶稣的奥体。 The Church is not the Jesus Christ Society; rather, it is the mystical body of Jesus.
富尔顿·希恩曾说过这样的话：两千年前，三位一体的第二位格取了人性。 Fulton Sheen said this two thousand years ago: the second person of the Trinity took to Himself a human nature.
现在，同样的道取了一个奥体。 Now that same Word takes to Himself a mystical body.
当我看到你们所有人在这里，多么美好啊！ How beautiful, as I see all of you out here!
这就像它的一个象征，不仅仅由俱乐部的成员组成 ，而是由这个奥体中的细胞、分子和器官组成。 It’s like a symbol of it, made up not just of members of a club, but rather the cells, molecules, and organs in this mystical body.
教会是这生命体。 The Church is the oozament.
它是基督在世界上表达他生命的方式。 It’s the way Christ expresses His life in the world.
七件圣事具体表达了那生命。 The seven sacraments specify that life.
当然，记得复活的耶稣在大马士革路上向扫罗显 现时说：「扫罗，扫罗！你为什么逼迫我？」 Remember, of course, when the risen Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
这不是很非凡吗？ It's extraordinary, isn't it?
我的意思是，扫罗逼迫的是大马士革的基督徒，但主却说：「你为什么逼迫我？」 I mean, Saul is persecuting the Christians in Damascus, but the Lord says, Why are you persecuting me?
这就是基督这个头与他的奥体之间关系的亲密程度。 That’s how intimate the connection is between Christ, the Head, and His mystical body.
或者主自己在马太福音25章说：「凡你们对我子民中最小的所做的，就是对我做的。」 Or the Lord Himself in Matthew 25: Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, you do it to me.
那就是耶稣所取的奥体；那就是教会这个基本圣事。 That’s the mystical body Jesus has taken to Himself; that’s the ur-sacrament of the Church.
这七件圣事是基督继续向他的子民传递他生命的方式。 The seven sacraments are now the means by which Christ continues to communicate His life to His people.
你知道，在圣事神学中我们讨论的一件事是圣事的质料和形式。 You know, one thing we talk about in the theology of the sacraments is the matter and form of the sacraments.
教会从亚里士多德那里借用了这种语言，但你看，它深刻地体现了道成肉身的特性。 Now, the Church borrowed that language from Aristotle, but see, it's deeply incarnational.
它只是意味着每个圣事都包含某种物质——某些东西。 It just means that every sacrament contains something material—some stuff.
它是酒，或是水，或是饼；它是酒，是覆手。 It’s wine, or it’s water, or it’s bread; it’s wine, it's imposed hands.
但这质料伴随着并由形式所规定，这意味着一些阐明事物或手势意义的言语：质料和形式。 But then that matter is accompanied by and specified by form, which means some words that clarify the meaning of the thing or the gesture: matter and form.
但你看，这不就是道成肉身的特性吗？ But see, that’s just incarnational, isn’t it?
道，即形式，成为肉身，成为质料，这就是为什么圣事是道成肉身在时空中的延续。 The Word, the form, became flesh, became matter, which is why the sacraments are the prolongation of the Incarnation across space and time.
道成肉身发生在两千年前，耶稣行走在加利利的山丘上，确实如此，但现在，这道 成肉身通过七件圣事，通过这些圣事的质料和形式，延续到所有空间和所有时间。 The Incarnation happened two thousand years ago, with Jesus walking the hills of Galilee, yes indeed, but now that Incarnation is prolonged across all of space and all of time through the seven sacraments, through the matter and form of these sacraments.
好的，在谈论圣事时另一个重要的类别是恩典的类别。 Okay, another important category when talking about the sacraments in general is the category of grace.
恩典，各位，是我在整个基督教词汇中最喜欢的词之一：恩典，拉丁语是grazia。 Grace, everybody, is one of my favorite words in the whole Christian vocabulary: grace, grazia in Latin.
它就是礼物的意思，不是吗？ It just means gift, doesn't it?
伟大的法国公教小说家乔治·贝尔纳诺斯说过：「T out est grâce」——一切都是恩典。 Georges Bernanos, the great French Catholic novelist, said, Tout est grâce—everything is grace.
你知道，一旦你通过基督的眼睛看世界，你就会这样看：一切都是恩典，一切都是礼物。 You know, once you see the world through the eyes of Christ, you’re going to see it just that way: everything is grace, everything is gift.
这个房间里可能有人记得《巴尔的摩教理》。 There might be some in this room who remember the Baltimore Catechism.
有人吗？ Anybody?
因为在我这一代，我们真的是第一批没有学习《巴尔的摩教理》的人。 Because in my generation, we were the first ones really not to get the Baltimore Catechism.
我认识一些年龄足够大、曾经学习过它的公教徒。 I know some Catholics old enough to have studied it.
《巴尔的摩教理》中有一个关于圣事的简洁而精辟的定义。 There’s a beautiful little pithy definition of the sacraments in the Baltimore Catechism.
它说圣事是「无形恩典的有形标记」。 It says they are visible signs of an invisible grace.
这个定义美丽、简洁、切中要点，并阐述了圣事的基本神学。 It’s beautiful, pithy, to the point, and states the essential theology of the sacraments.
有形标记是在世界上出现的物质的、物理的东西。 Visible signs are something material, physical, that show up in the world.
但是无形恩典的有形标记：我们所说的无形恩典是什么呢？ But visible signs of an invisible grace: what’s the invisible grace we’re talking about?
它是与神的友谊；是耶稣想要与我们这些他奥体的成员分享的神的生命。 It’s the divine friendship; it’s the divine life that Jesus wants to share with us, the members of His mystical body.
圣事是那生命和那友谊的有形标记。 The sacraments are visible signs of that life and that friendship.
这里有一段来自圣约翰·亨利·纽曼的很好的引用：他说有一 个可见的教会，带有礼仪和圣事，它们是无形恩典的渠道。 Here’s a nice quote from Saint John Henry Newman: he says there’s a visible Church with rites and sacraments that are channels of invisible grace.
同样的想法：有一个可见的教会——那是基本圣事 ——带有礼仪和圣事，它们是无形恩典的渠道。 Same idea: there’s a visible Church—that’s the ur-sacrament—with rites and sacraments which are channels of an invisible grace.
现在，关于圣事的讲座会是什么样的呢？ Now, what would a lecture on sacraments be?
我们已经有了一个德语词；现在我们需要一些拉丁语，不是吗？ We’ve got a German word; now we need some Latin, don't we?
教会使用一个很好的短语：ex opere operato，意思是「由于工作本身」。 There’s a lovely phrase the Church uses: ex opere operato, which means from the work worked.
这里的想法是，圣事凭借其本质，客观地向我们传递恩典，即与神的友谊。 The idea here is that sacraments, by their very nature, objectively communicate to us grace, the divine friendship.
它不太依赖于我们的主观性；它不依赖于圣事施行者的道德品质。 It doesn’t depend so much on our subjectivity; it doesn’t depend upon the moral integrity of the minister of the sacrament.
圣事本身有某种传递恩典的能力。 There’s something about the sacrament in itself that communicates grace.
我可以说这是多么好的消息吗？ May I say what good news that is?
你知道，回到4世纪。 You know, go back to the 4th century.
有一场大争论，因为北非的基督徒正在遭受迫害，在迫 害期间，一些祭司屈服了，他们放弃了自己的信仰。 There was a great controversy because Christians in North Africa were being persecuted, and during the persecution, some priests caved in; they renounced their faith.
但后来，当迫害结束时，他们回来说：「嗯，我们想再次作为祭司履行职责。」 But then, when the persecution was over, they came back and said, Well, we’d like to function again as priests.
有一个名叫多纳图的人说：「不，不，不，不，不！」 There was a man named Donatus who said, No, no, no, no, no!
你们放弃了；你们屈服了，现在你们不配施行圣事。 You guys gave up; you guys caved in, and now you’re not worthy to dispense the sacraments.
感谢神，伟大的圣奥古斯丁反对多纳图，奥古斯丁说：「不，不！」 Thank God the great St. Augustine opposed himself to Donatus, and Augustine said, No, no!
圣事的效力不取决于施行者的道德品质，而是ex opere op erato——由于工作本身，由于圣事的本质——神的恩典被传递。 The efficacy of the sacraments depends not upon the moral integrity of the minister but ex opere operato— from the very work worked, from the very nature of the sacrament—God's grace is communicated.
再次感谢神赐予奥古斯丁！ Again, thank God for Augustine!
你能想象如果圣事的效力取决于每个祭司和每个主教都是圣人吗？ Can you imagine if the efficacy of the sacraments depended upon every priest and every bishop being a saint?
我的意思是，我希望我们都是圣人，但感谢神，圣 事有某种客观性，它独立于施行者的道德品质。 I mean, I wish we all were saints, but thank God there’s something objective about the sacraments that’s independent of the moral quality of the minister.
顺便说一下，这是教宗圣马丁五世表达这一原则的方式。 Here, by the way, is how Pope St. Martin V expressed the principle.
这表达得很好：马丁教宗说，一个不好的祭司，如果使用正确的质料和形式，并有意 做教会所做的事，他真正举行圣餐，真正赦罪，真正施洗，也真正授予其他圣事。 This is nicely put: Pope Martin said a bad priest who uses the correct matter and form and has the intention of doing what the Church does truly performs the Eucharist, truly absolves, truly baptizes, and truly confers the other sacraments.
再次感谢神，对吧？ Again, thank God, right?
现在，讲了这么多关于圣事令人振奋的客观性，我能否提供一种平衡的观点？ Now, having said all that about the bracing objectivity of the sacraments, can I offer kind of a balancing perspective?
主神，万物的创造者，想要通过这些可见的标记表达自己， 但是主神，整个宇宙的创造者，并不受公教会仪式的约束。 The Lord God, the Creator of all things, wants to express Himself through these visible signs, but yet the Lord God, Creator of the whole universe, is not constrained by the rites of the Catholic Church.
也就是说，神如果愿意，可以在这些正常和常规方式之外运作。 That’s to say, God, if He wants to, can operate outside of those normal and ordinary means.
恩典是否通过其他方式赐予？ Is grace offered in other ways?
当然可以。 Sure, it can be.
你知道，有人可能在电视上听到新教讲道，被它深深触动，从而更接近基督。 You know, someone could hear a Protestant sermon on TV and be very convicted by it and be brought closer to Christ.
当然！ Sure!
或者想想托尔金的著名例子，对吧？ Or think of a famous example of J.R.R. Tolkien, right?
《指环王》的伟大作者。 The great author of The Lord of the Rings.
他和他的好朋友刘易斯，一天晚上在牛津散步。 He and C.S. Lewis, who were good friends, went for a walk one night in Oxford.
刘易斯说在散步开始时他不是基督徒；散步结束时，他成为了基督徒。 Lewis said at the beginning of that walk he was not a Christian; at the end of the walk, he was.
与托尔金的那次谈话改变了他的想法。 That conversation with Tolkien had changed his mind.
那是恩典的表现吗？ Was that an expression of grace?
是的，当然！ Yeah, sure!
神可以在圣事的限制之外运作。 God can operate outside of the and the constrictions of the sacraments.
当然，神就是神！ Sure, God is God!
再来一个最后的小引言如何？ How about a last little introductory remark?
当我讲解所有圣事时，我会对此多说一些。 And I’ll say a bit more about this as I go through all the sacraments.
有三件圣事被称为印记圣事。 There are three of the sacraments called character sacraments.
它们赋予永久的印记，或标记，或形态。 They give a permanent character, or mark, or configuration.
我说的是洗礼、坚振和圣秩。 I'm talking about baptism, confirmation, and holy orders.
它们深入接受者的本质，使那个人在今生和来世都被永久标记。 They so work themselves into the very nature of the person who receives them that that person is marked permanently in this life and the next.
这就是圣事的印记。 That’s the character of the sacrament.
大约十年前，我读到这样一件事：英国有个人对教会很生气，所以他把洗礼 证书寄回给主教们，说：「我还想让你们从洗礼名册上抹去我的名字。」 About ten years ago, I read about this: there was a fellow in England who was mad at the Church, and so he sent his baptismal certificate back to the bishops, and he said, I also want you to erase my name from the baptismal rolls.
主教回信说：「当然，你可以把证书寄回给我，是的，我可 以从洗礼记录中抹去你的名字，但我无法抹去你的洗礼。」 Well, the bishop wrote back and said, Sure, I mean you can send me back the certificate, and yeah, I could erase your name from the baptismal record, but I can’t erase your baptism.
它就是不能这样运作。 It just doesn’t work that way.
无论你喜欢与否，你的洗礼都属于你。 Your baptism belongs to you whether you like it or not.
我喜欢这个故事的地方在于它展示了那种令人振奋、美妙的客观性 ：耶稣通过这些可见的标记，将他与我们的友谊融入我们的骨髓。 What I like about that story is that it shows that bracing, wonderful objectivity: Jesus, through these visible signs, working His friendship with us into our very bones.
这就是为什么圣事是世界上最重要的事物。 That’s why the sacraments are the most important things in the world.
所以，各位，在这些小引言之后，让我现在转向七件圣事中的第一件。 So, everybody, with those little introductory remarks out of the way, let me turn now to the first of the seven sacraments.
首先，我要说一下我将如何安排接下来的讲解。 And first, a word about how I’m going to structure the rest of these talks.
教会理解七件圣事的一种方式是这样的：有三件入门圣事，或融 入圣事——三件将你带入基督生命的圣事：洗礼、坚振和圣餐。 One way the Church understands the seven sacraments is like this: you’ve got three sacraments of initiation, or incorporation—three sacraments that draw you into the life of Christ: baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist.
然后有两件治愈圣事，当那种关系破裂需要治愈时——我们有告解和病人傅油。 Then you’ve got two sacraments of healing, when that relationship is broken and needs to be healed—now we have penance and we have the anointing of the sick.
最后，我们有两件使命或圣召的圣事——婚姻和圣秩。 And then finally, we’ve got two sacraments of mission or vocation—that’s matrimony and holy orders.
所以，入门、融入、治愈，最后是使命。 So, initiation, incorporation, healing, and finally mission.
所以我再次引用富尔顿·希恩的话。 So again, I’ll quote Fulton Sheen.
富尔顿·希恩说：「基督的全部教导，因此基督 徒生活的全部，可以用两个词表达：来和去。」 Fulton Sheen said, The whole of Christ's teaching and therefore the whole of Christian life can be expressed in two words: come and go.
他的意思是耶稣经常说「来！」 What he meant was Jesus says a lot, Come!
「凡劳苦担重担的人，可以到我这里来，我就使你们得安息。」 Come to me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I’ll give you rest.
「来，住下！」 Come and stay!
他们就和他住下了。 And they stayed with Him.
「来跟从我。」 Come and follow me.
他首先吸引人们，以便能影响他们、改变他们，使他们与自己形同。 He first draws people in so that he can affect them and change them, configure them to Himself.
然后，一旦他们被吸引进来，一旦他们的罪得到 治愈，他就说：「去！你们不是要留在这里。」 And then, once they’re drawn in, once they’ve been healed of sin, He then says, Go! You’re not meant to stay here.
你们现在要走向世界。 You’re meant now to go out into the world.
「去，向万民传道。」 Go and preach to all nations.
「去，奉圣父、圣子、圣灵的名给人施洗。」 Go and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
去表达天国的生命。 Go and express the life of the Kingdom.
你看到圣事如何有类似的节奏吗？ You see how the sacraments have a similar kind of rhythm?
洗礼、坚振、圣餐——来，来；病人傅油、告解——得医治；然后婚姻、圣秩——去！ Baptism, confirmation, Eucharist—come, come; anointing of the sick, penance—be healed; and then matrimony, holy orders—go!
现在走向世界，改变世界。 Now go out into the world, transfigure the world.
所以是来和去。 So the come and the go.
所以，洗礼：入门圣事的第一件。 So, baptism: now the first of the initiation sacraments.
通过这伟大的圣事，各位，我们被融入基督，成为他奥 体的成员，在我们存在的最深层次上再次与他形同。 By this great sacrament, everybody, we are incorporated into Christ, becoming members of His mystical body, conformed to Him again at the deepest level of our being.
我喜欢托马斯·阿奎那的说法；他说洗礼是janua vi tae spiritualis，意思是灵修生活的大门。 I love Thomas Aquinas' reference; he says baptism is the janua vitae spiritualis, which means it’s the door to the spiritual life.
想一想：我们在灵性秩序中所做的其他一切——所有其他事 情，所有形式的祈祷和礼仪，以及与穷人一起工作等——这 Think about it: everything else that we do in the spiritual order—everything else, all forms of prayer and liturgy, and work with the poor, etc.—it
一切都源于洗礼。 all flows from baptism.
洗礼打开了通往信仰生活奇迹的大门。 Baptism kicks open the door to the wonders of the life of faith.
它是伟大的入门和融入的圣事。 It’s the great sacrament of initiation and incorporation.
就在几周前，我有幸为我的第一个侄孙女施洗，也就是我兄 弟的第一个孙子，这让我感觉自己很老，我向你们坦白。 I had the privilege just a couple of weeks ago of baptizing my first grand-niece, so my brother’s first grandchild, which made me feel very old, I will confess to you.
顺便说一下，她的名字很可爱：埃拉·格蕾丝。 Her name, by the way, is lovely: Ella Grace.
那是我最喜欢的神学词汇。 That’s my favorite theological word.
所以我几天前刚给她施洗。 So I just baptized her a few days ago.
我们如何受洗？ How are we baptized?
奉圣父、圣子、圣灵的名。 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
那伟大的三位一体公式！ That great Trinitarian formula!
现在听着，各位，它表明了某种极其重要的事情。 Now listen, everybody, it signals something of enormous moment.
当我们受洗时，我们被嫁接到圣子上；我们与基督形同。 When we’re baptized, we are grafted onto the Son; we are configured to Christ.
这意味着我们自动与圣父有关系，这也意味着我们 自动在圣灵中，因为圣灵是连接圣父和圣子的爱。 This means that automatically we are in relationship to the Father, and that means automatically we are in the Holy Spirit because the Spirit is the love that connects the Father and the Son.
现在，你明白这里的要点：当某人受洗时，他或她被吸引进入神的内在生命。 Now, you see the point here: when somebody is baptized, he or she is drawn into the inner life of God.
我们不再在神之外，祈求、询问、乞求怜悯，好像我在这里而神在某处。 We’re no longer outside of God, petitioning, asking, begging for mercy as if I’m here and God is out there somewhere.
不！一旦我受洗，我就在神里面。 No! Once I’m baptized, I’m in God.
我与圣子形同；因此，我与圣父有关系，因此，我在圣灵的能力中。 I’m configured to the Son; therefore, I’m in relation to the Father, and therefore, I’m in the power of the Holy Spirit.
你看到现在所有受洗的人多么美好——每当我们这样做时——我们 都在记念我们的洗礼：我们是奉圣父、圣子、圣灵的名受洗的。 You see how beautifully now all the baptized—whenever we do this—we’re remembering our baptism: that we were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
我们在神里面；我们在神的生命中。 We’re in God; we’re in the life of God.
永远不要认为我们只是在外面乞求。 Never think that we’re just outside, begging.
不，不！ No, no!
我们通过神的恩典在里面。 We’re inside through God’s grace.
你不喜欢这点吗？ Don’t you love it?
「不是你们拣选了我，是我拣选了你们。」 It’s not you who’ve chosen me; it’s I who’ve chosen you.
在座的已受洗的弟兄姐妹，我们几乎每天都需要思考这一点。 Fellow baptized in this room, we need to think about that almost every day.
不是像「哦，我选择了你；我加入了耶稣基督协会」那样。 It’s not like, Oh, I chose you; I joined the Jesus Christ Society.
不，不，不！ No, no, no!
不是这样的。 That’s not it.
是基督拣选了你；他为了自己的目的将你带入三位一体的生命。 It’s Christ who has chosen you; He’s drawn you into the Trinitarian life for His purposes.
这就是它的意义。 That’s what it means.
现在，从这一点引出三件事。 Now, three things follow from this.
从这种形态看，如果我们与基督形同，那么我们就成为祭司、先知和君王。 From this configuration, if we’re configured to Christ, then we become priests, prophets, and kings.
祭司！ Priests!
如果我们受洗，我们都是祭司。 We’re all priests if we’re baptized.
祭司是给予神正当赞美的人。 A priest is someone who gives God right praise.
如果你多年来一直关注我的工作，你知道我经常写作和谈论这个。 If you’ve been following my work at all over the years, you know that I write and talk a lot about this.
当我给予神正当的赞美——不是金钱、权力、快乐、荣誉、国家，或任 何这些东西，或家庭——这些都是好东西，但我不给它们最高的赞美。 When I give God right praise—not money, and power, and pleasure, and honor, and country, or any of those things, or family—all good things, but I don’t give them the highest praise.
我给神最高的赞美。 I give God the highest praise.
然后我自己的生活，所有构成我的元素，都会和谐一致。 Then my own life, all the elements that make me up, fall into harmony.
每个受洗的人都被赋予了赞美神的特权。 Every baptized person has been given the privilege of giving praise to God.
你知道，在某种程度上，洗礼就像是进入弥撒的入场券。 You know, in a way, baptism is like a ticket of entry into the Mass.
它赋予你特权和权利，来参加弥撒并在圣灵中敬拜圣父。 It gives you the privilege, the prerogative, of coming to Mass and worshiping the Father in the Holy Spirit.
每次你来参加弥撒，每次你祈祷，每次你做出牺牲，你都在履行作为受洗者的祭司身份。 Every time you come to Mass, every time you pray, every time you make an act of sacrifice, you are acting out your priestly identity as a baptized person.
这是一个好问题：为什么75%的公教徒远离弥撒？ Here’s a good question: how come 75% of Catholics stay away from the Mass?
这意味着他们没有活出作为受洗者所拥有的最大特权和权利。 That means they’re not living out the greatest privilege and prerogative they have as baptized people.
第二，如果你与基督形同，你也是先知。 Secondly, if you’re configured to Christ, you’re also a prophet.
什么是先知？ Who’s a prophet?
先知是宣讲神的真理的人。 A prophet is someone who speaks the divine truth.
当然，像我这样的人——祭司和主教——会这样做，但每个受洗的人都应该成为先知。 Some people, like me—priests and bishops—do that, of course, but every baptized person is meant to be a prophet.
现在，有些人会以非常正式的方式做这事，比如成为教理讲授员、教师和教授。 Now, some will do it in a very formal way, by being catechists, teachers, and professors.
但请听，每个受洗的人都被召唤，实际上，被赋予了宣讲神的真理的特权和权利。 But listen, every baptized person is called upon, in fact, given the privilege and prerogative of speaking the divine truth.
这意味着在你的家庭中，在你的朋友中，在你的工作场所 ，在你的投票方式中，在你的公共生活和私人生活中。 That means in your family, among your friends, in your place of work, in the way you vote, in your public life, and in your private life.
我并不是说要变得令人讨厌和盛气凌人，但我确实是说要勇敢地、公开地宣扬你的信仰。 I don’t mean becoming obnoxious and overbearing, but I do mean boldly and publicly proclaiming your faith.
我知道，我知道这与我们文化的礼仪相悖，我们的文化倾向于私人化的宗教。 I know, I know it runs counter to the etiquette of our culture, which favors privatized religion.
你知道，也许在我们自己中间低声细语；那不是先知的身份。 You know, whisper it maybe among ourselves; that’s not a prophetic identity.
这里有一件事，受洗的伙伴们，我要与你们分享，这总是困扰着我 ：你看看我们国家的民意调查，关于各种问题的公众意见——无论 是堕胎、安乐死、关爱穷人、死刑——贯穿所有常见的热点问题。 Here’s something, fellow baptized, that I’ll share with you that’s always bugged me: You look at the polls of our country, public opinion about the whole range of issues—whether it’s abortion, euthanasia, care for the poor, capital punishment—run through all the usual hot-button sort of issues.
我发现一件相当令人不安的事：公教徒几乎与一般民众的观点一致。 Here’s what I find kind of disturbing: Catholics track pretty much with the general population.
公教徒公开表达自己的方式没有真正的特色。 There’s nothing really distinctive about the way Catholics present themselves publicly.
在我看来，这是个问题。 That’s a problem, it seems to me.
这意味着我们中的许多人没有活出我们先知的召唤，去宣扬和讲述我们的信仰。 That means a lot of us are not living out our prophetic calling to proclaim and speak our faith.
最后，每个与基督形同的人都是君王。 Lastly, everyone configured to Christ is a king.
君王是被派遣去建立天国的人。 A king is somebody who is sent on mission to build up the Kingdom.
现在，各位，这正是梵蒂冈第二次大公会议如此有力地介入的地方。 Now here’s, everybody, where Vatican II comes in so powerfully.
这正是梵二所说的全体圣召的含义。 This is exactly what Vatican II meant by the universal call to holiness.
所有受洗的人都被派到世界上成为伟大的公教作家、伟大的公教艺人、 伟大的公教商业领袖、伟大的公教政治家——换言之，使世界基督化。 All the baptized are sent out into the world to be great Catholic writers, great Catholic entertainers, great Catholic business leaders, great Catholic politicians—in other words, Christifying the world.
那是我们君王的责任；那是我们君王的召唤。 That’s our kingly responsibility; that’s our kingly calling.
我们做得怎么样？ How are we doing?
我认为这是一个诚实的问题。 I think it’s an honest question.
我们做得怎么样？ How are we doing?
如果我们看看我们的社会，我们是否看到——现在，看，如果我 不仅包括公教徒而且包括我们国家所有受洗的基督徒——受洗的 基督徒是否明显地在改变公共空间，使它越来越像神的国度？ If we look at our society, are we seeing—now, look, and if I include not just Catholics but all baptized Christians in our country—is it clear that baptized Christians are transfiguring the public space to make it look more and more like the Kingdom of God?
我让你思考这个问题。 I’ll let you think about that one.
最后一个观察：我在这里谈论的是，如果你想要积极的一面，我 与基督形同，成为他奥体的一个成员——祭司、先知、君王。 One last observation: I’ve been talking here about, if you want the positive side of it, that I’m configured to Christ to become a member of His mystical body—priest, prophet, king.
但如果要实现这一点，必须要有一些事情被…… But if this is to be realized, something has to be...
处理掉什么，必须驱除某些东西，如果这基督的生命要扎根的话。 Dealt with something has to be expelled if this Christ-life is to take root.
在这里，我们谈论的是洗礼与原罪的关系。 Here, we’re talking about baptism in relation to original sin.
现在，我知道对今天的许多人来说，这似乎是一个奇特 的想法——这个由古代人物犯下的古老罪影响着我们。 Now, I know it can seem like a peculiar idea to a lot of people today—that this ancient sin committed by figures from long ago affects us.
这里有一个快速思考它的方式：我们人类是一个功能失调的家庭。 Here’s a quick way to think about it: we human beings are a dysfunctional family.
想想所有的仇恨、暴力、战争、种族主义、分裂和冲突的年代。 Think of all the ages of hatred, violence, warfare, racism, division, and conflict.
这些除了建立一种有毒的氛围，使我们所有人，不 管愿意与否，都出生在这种情况下，还做了什么？ What has that done but set up a sort of poisonous atmosphere in which all of us, willy-nilly, whether we like it or not, are born into this situation?
它再次渗透，无论我们喜欢与否，进入我们的思想 ，我们的意志，我们的情感，甚至我们的身体。 It works its way, again, whether we like it or not, into our minds, our wills, our emotions, even our bodies.
这就像一种上瘾。 It’s like an addiction.
我们如何从这种情况中解脱出来？ How are we liberated from this?
我们不能自我解放。 We can’t liberate ourselves.
与任何与上瘾作斗争的人交谈。 Talk to anyone that’s wrestled with an addiction.
他们能仅凭自己的意志力做到吗？ Can they do it themselves through their own willpower?
拜托！ Come on!
我们需要什么？ What do we need?
恩典！ Grace!
恩典，礼物，基督。 Grace, gift, Christ.
「不是你们拣选了我，是我拣选了你们。」 It’s not you who’ve chosen me; it’s I who’ve chosen you.
通过这伟大的恩典，基督闯入我们的生活，使我们与他形同， 让我们生活在三位一体的关系中，从而使我们摆脱这原罪。 And by this great grace, Christ breaks into our lives, configures us to Himself, allows us to live within the Trinitarian relation, freeing us thereby from this original sin.
各位，那是我们的尊严；那是我们神圣的召唤；那是我们充满恩典的身份。 Everybody, that’s our dignity; that’s our sacred calling; that’s our grace-filled identity.
而这正是通过洗礼临到我们的。 And it comes to us precisely from baptism.