有一天，在拿撒勒这个不起眼的小镇上，一座破旧的小屋里，一位天使向一位年轻 的以色列少女显现，也许她只有十四五岁。他们之间展开了一场非同寻常的对话。 One day in a hovel in this little nothing town of Nazareth, an angel appeared to a young Israelite girl, perhaps no more than 14 or 15, and they had a rather extraordinary conversation.
在基督教艺术的历史中，这位女子仅次于耶稣本身，是被描绘最多的人物。 This woman is, after Jesus Himself, the most depicted figure in the history of Christian art.
从但丁到T·S·艾略特，这位女子一直激发了我们最杰出诗人的想象。 This woman has beguiled the imaginations of our most gifted poets, from Dante to T.S. Eliot.
千百万人带着心中的重担来到这位女子面前，因为他们相信她是他们的母亲。 To this woman, millions come bearing the burdens of their hearts, for they believe her to be their mother.
天使对她说： The angel said to her.
「蒙大恩的女子，我问你安，主和你同在了！」 Ave Maria, rejoice, O highly favored daughter.
「你在妇女中是有福的！」 The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.
像所有见到天使显现的人一样，马利亚也感到惧怕。 As is invariably the case with those to whom angels make their appearance, Mary was afraid.
「天使对他说：马利亚，不要怕！」 Don't be afraid, the angel said.
「你要怀孕生子，可以给他起名叫耶稣。」 You shall conceive and bear a son and give Him the name Jesus.
当她疑惑自己尚未与人同房，这事如何成就时，天使解释：「圣灵要临到你 身上，至高者的能力要荫庇你，因此所要生的圣者，必称为神的儿子。」 When she wonders how this will be possible since she's had no sexual experience, the angel explains, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the holy offspring will be called Son of God.
「马利亚说：我是主的使女，情愿照你的话成就在我身上。」 And Mary responded, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.
「天使就离开她去了。」 With that, the angel left her.
我们在这里看到的，是马利亚成为新的以色列。 What we see here is that Mary is the new Israel.
在旧约里，许多人在被呼召时，会逃避神，抗拒他的话语。 In the Old Testament, many people, when summoned, would run away from God, resisting His word.
而今，马利亚却顺从神的要求。 Now Mary does what God asks.
在某种意义上，那次相遇浓缩了圣经戏剧的精髓。 In some ways, the essence of the biblical drama is distilled in that encounter.
我们看见神的本性在这温和而不具强迫性的邀请中展现出来。 We see the nature of God on display in the graceful, non-violent manner of invitations.
在神话传统的诸多故事中，当诸神干预人类事务时 ，经常以暴力和强行的方式出现，宛如强夺一般。 In story after story from the mythological tradition, when the gods intervene in human affairs, they do so violently and interruptively, in the manner of a rape.
而在这个故事里，展现的正是与强夺截然相反的情形。 Whatever the opposite of rape is, it’s on display in this story.
马利亚被邀请，甚至可以说，被神的使者所追求。 Mary is invited, even, dare I say it, courted by God’s messenger.
她的自由和尊严都得到尊重，她的疑问也受到鼓励。 Her freedom, her dignity are respected, and her curiosity is encouraged.
在马利亚身上，我们看到一个完整的人性展现。 We see a human being in full in the person of Mary.
教父们急切地将神之母马利亚与万物之母夏娃加以对比。 The Church Fathers were eager to contrast Mary, the Mother of God, and Eve, the Mother of all the living.
在关键时刻，夏娃摘下分辨善恶树上的果子，屈服于渴望攫取神性地位的诱惑。 At the decisive moment, Eve took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, succumbing to the temptation to seize godliness.
为什么神禁止吃那果子？ Why had God forbidden the eating of that fruit?
难道是因为他嫉妒人类的昌盛吗？ Because He was jealous of human flourishing?
绝不是。 Hardly.
实际上，那正是蛇——那说谎之父——所暗示的。 That, in fact, is precisely the suggestion of the serpent, the father of lies.
神几乎把伊甸园完全交给我们的始祖，这象征着他渴望他们能够充满生命力。 God gave our first parents practically free reign in the garden, symbolizing thereby His desire that they be fully alive.
在神的园地里玩耍的亚当与夏娃，让人联想到从运动 、政治、哲学到艺术、科学的各种人类活动与成就。 Adam and Eve at play in the field of the Lord are evocative of the full range of human activity and achievements—from sports to politics to philosophy to art and science.
那么为什么会有那道禁令呢？ So why the prohibition?
因为神希望我们爱上他。 Because God wants us to fall in love with Him.
当两个年轻人相遇并彼此吸引时，他们会互相打量，分析、研究、评估对方。 When two young people meet and are attracted to one another, they size each other up; they analyze, study, and evaluate each other.
但只有当他们在这一过程的尽头坠入爱河，他们之间的融洽才能真正萌发。 But their rapport will come to life only in the measure that, at the limit of this process, they fall in love.
他们彼此交付自己。 They surrender to each other.
在我们完成所有成就的终点，我们必须让自己被神所成就。 At the end of all of our achieving, we must let ourselves be achieved by God.
这就像马利亚宣告自己是主的使女，并让自己成为神 之母，虽然她当时几乎无法完全领会这意味着什么。 This is Mary declaring herself the handmaid of the Lord and allowing herself to become the Mother of God, though she barely glimpsed the full implications of what this would mean.
她的顺服扭转了夏娃的不顺服。 Her obedience reversed the disobedience of Eve.
因此，中世纪的人想象天使的「Ave」（A- V-E）正好扭转了「Eva」，就是夏娃。 Hence, the medievals imagined the Ave (A-V-E) of the angel reversing Eva.
神学家韩斯·乌尔斯·冯·巴尔萨说，教会生活的所有形式都源于马利 亚的形态——对神旨意的顺从，这种“愿照你的话成就于我”的态度。 The theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar says that all of the forms of the Church's life spring from the Marian form—this acquiescence to the will of God, this attitude of fiat: Let it be done to me according to your word.
由于圣伯尔纳的影响，西方对马利亚的兴趣突然高涨。 There's an explosion of interest in Mary in the West because of St. Bernard.
回到十二世纪，在伯尔纳的影响下，所有宏伟的大教堂都 称为Notre Dame，也就是献给圣母的教堂。 Go back to the 12th century, and in the wake of Bernard, all the great cathedrals are Notre Dame—they're all Our Lady.
这是为什么呢？ Why is it?
有人说这是因为欧洲变得更加文明温和，因此女性特质逐渐融入其中。 Some say because Europe was becoming more civilized and gentle, so this feminine dimension was coming in.
但马利亚自始就已存在；她在圣经里出现。 But Mary has been there from the beginning; she's there in the Scriptures.
教父们对作为新夏娃的马利亚十分关注，因此她一直都在那里。 The Church Fathers are very interested in Mary as the New Eve, so she's always been there.
我想，正是马利亚是神之母的事实让人们深感惊奇 ——神竟如此谦卑，以至于拥有一位人类的母亲。 I think it's just the very fact that Mary is the Mother of God that always struck people as utterly fascinating—that God would become so humble as to have a human mother.
如果他有母亲，那他就有表兄弟姐妹；他也有外祖母和外祖父。 And if He has a mother, then He has cousins; He has a grandmother and a grandfather.
我认为，这是在强调道成肉身的真实与丰厚。 I think it's a way of emphasizing the reality and density of the Incarnation.
神真正成为血肉之身，而马利亚与怜悯和温柔相 连，她是我们的辩护者，也是全人类的辩护者。 God really becomes flesh, and then Mary is associated with, as you say, mercy and gentleness, and she’s our advocate; she’s the advocate of the human race.
马利亚在救恩历史中是关键人物，因为她在旧约与新约之间架起桥梁。 Mary is a pivotal figure in the history of salvation, for she’s a bridge between the Old Testament and the New.
我不知道还有哪座圣殿能比献给圣母的沙特尔主 教座堂更能彰显旧约与新约之约之间的关联。 I know of no other sacred building that better exemplifies the connection between the Old and New Covenants than the Cathedral of Chartres, dedicated to Notre Dame, Our Lady.
不过，「奉献」一词无法完全涵盖这座教堂的意义。 But dedication doesn’t capture the full meaning of it.
去读亨利·亚当斯写的《蒙圣米歇尔与沙特尔》这本绝妙的书，你会发现中世纪的人不仅把 这类建筑视为奉献给马利亚，也不单单是马利亚的居所，而是把它看作马利亚身体的象征。 Consult the wonderful book of Henry Adams called Mont Saint-Michel and Chartres to grasp that the medievals saw a building like this not only as dedicated to Mary, not only as Mary’s dwelling place, but as a representation of Mary’s body.
教堂的后殿对应马利亚的头部，翼廊对应她的手臂，而中殿则象征她的身体。 The apse of the cathedral corresponds to Mary’s head, the transept to her arms, and the nave to her body.
在中殿约三分之二处，正好在象征子宫的位置， 有一条刻在圆圈里的蜿蜒道路——那就是迷宫。 The labyrinth, a winding path inscribed within a circle, is located about two-thirds of the way down the nave, at the level of the womb.
在我身后，是沙特尔主教座堂西侧的玫瑰花窗，乃世上最壮丽的之一。 Behind me is the west rose window of Chartres Cathedral, one of the most magnificent in the world.
它的大小与周长都与教堂地面上的那个迷宫完全相同。 It’s the same size and circumference as the labyrinth on the floor of the cathedral.
当光线恰到好处时，那扇窗的色彩会完美地洒在迷宫之上 ，象征道成肉身——借着天上的光充满童贞女的子宫。 When the light is right, the colors of that window shine down perfectly on the labyrinth, and so it speaks of the Incarnation—the impregnation of the womb of the Virgin by heavenly light.
这种关联让我们更深入地看到了马利亚奥秘的另一面。 This association allows us to see more deeply into another aspect of the mystery of Mary.
马利亚就是锡安；她就是以色列。 Mary is Zion; she is Israel.
她概括了这个历经数百年预备、被神呼召来接受他话语的圣民中所有伟大人物。 She sums up the great figures of this holy people whom God had prepared over many centuries to receive His word.
她是亚伯拉罕的女儿，那位首个以信心聆听神的人。 She is the daughter of Abraham, the first one to listen to God in faith.
她就像撒拉、哈拿以及参孙的母亲，因为她在所有预料之外怀孕生子。 She’s like Sarah, Hannah, and the mother of Samson, since she gives birth against all expectations.
她也像以赛亚、耶利米与以西结这些伟大的先知一般，渴望弥赛亚的到来。 She’s like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the great prophets who longed for the coming of the Messiah.
她应验了约柜与圣殿的预表，因为她以最真实的方式成为了神的道的承载者。 She is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple, since she becomes, in the most realistic way possible, the bearer of the divine word.
她又像诗篇、智慧书与箴言的作者，因为正如路 加所写，她常把这一切事存在心里反复思想。 She’s like the author of the Psalms and the books of Wisdom and Proverbs, for she, as St. Luke puts it, reflects on these things in her heart.
马利亚是以色列最美好的体现。 Mary is Israel at its best.
她忠诚、忍耐、留心神的话语，而且对神的引导反应迅 速——有趣的是，“急忙”一词常与马利亚放在一起。 Faithful, patient, attentive to God's word, and quick to respond to the divine promptings—how interesting that the word haste is used in connection with Mary.
圣路加告诉我们，在天使报喜之后，她就急忙往山地去了。 St. Luke tells us that after the Annunciation, she proceeded in haste into the hill country.
以色列常常对神的呼唤反应迟缓，而马利亚却行动起来。 Israel was often slow in responding to God, but Mary moves.
在迦拿的婚宴上，马利亚对用人说道，语调里带着以色列所有先知、师长与族长的风范 ——而这也是她在福音书中留下的最后一句话：「他告诉你们什么，你们就做什么。」 At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary turns to the servants and says, in the cadences of every prophet, teacher, and patriarch of Israel— and these are her last recorded words in the Gospels—Do whatever He tells you.
我认为在公教的虔敬表达中，可能会有一种过度甜腻、感伤的 方式去呈现马利亚，但她在圣经中并不是一个感伤的形象。 Well, I think there’s a danger within Catholic piety to express Mary in a kind of overly cloying, sentimental way, because she’s not really a sentimental figure in the Bible.
马利亚接受了这信息；她是一个机敏的年轻女子，她会 问天使这样带点挑战性的问题：「这事怎能成就呢？」 Mary receives this message; she’s a canny young woman who asks the angel this sort of provocative question: Well, how is this possible?
她的纯正与智慧得到尊重，随后她明白自己该如何做。 Her integrity and intelligence are respected, and then she knows what to do.
她急忙前往山地看望她的亲戚，接着就在救恩历史中以这样的勇气与纯朴继续前行。 She proceeded in haste to the hill country to visit her cousin, and then she moves through the history of salvation with this kind of courage and simplicity.
因此她并非一个感伤的形象，而是一位坚韧的圣经人物。 So she’s not really a sentimental figure; she’s a strong biblical figure.
她就是那追随神的道的新以色列。 She’s the New Israel who follows the divine word.
若我们对马利亚过度感伤化，确实会有这样的误区。 So maybe that would be a danger as we over-sentimentalize Mary.
她是门徒的典范。 She’s the model disciple.
奥古斯丁说过，她是第一位门徒，因此她是我们的榜样。 Augustine said that she’s the first disciple, and so she’s the model for all of us.
当耶稣在十字架上临终时，他看着自己的母亲和那所爱的门徒，对马利 亚说：「母亲，看，你的儿子！」又对约翰说：「看，你的母亲！」 As He was dying on the cross, Jesus looked to His mother and to the disciple whom He loved and said to Mary, Woman, here is your son, and then to John, Here is your mother.
我们得知，从那时候起，那门徒就接她到自己家里去了：「耶稣见母亲和他 所爱的那门徒站在旁边，就对他母亲说：『母亲，看，你的儿子！』又对那 门徒说：『看，你的母亲！』从此，那门徒就接她到自己家里去了。」 We are told that from that hour, the disciple took her into his own home.
这段经文支持了一项古老的传统：使徒约翰在前往小亚细亚的以 弗所时，带着马利亚同行，并且他们二人在那里度过了晚年。 This text supports an ancient tradition that the Apostle John would have taken Mary with him when he traveled to Ephesus in Asia Minor and that both ended their days in that city.
确实，在以弗所城外的一座高山上，俯瞰爱琴海之处 ，有一座简朴的宅院，传说那就是马利亚的住所。 Indeed, on the top of a high hill overlooking the Aegean Sea, just outside of Ephesus, there’s a modest dwelling that tradition holds to be the house of Mary.
我正站在以弗所古老主教座堂的遗址里。 I’m standing in the ruins of the ancient cathedral church at Ephesus.
公元431年，这里召开了一次会议。争论的焦点在于耶稣的本性与位格该如何陈述。 A council took place here in the year 431. At issue was the articulation of the nature and person of Jesus.
让我们回到耶稣自己在巴尼亚斯提出的问题：「人们说我是谁？」 Go back to that question that Jesus Himself posed at Banias: Who do people say that I am?
这个问题在初期教会中始终环绕，人们当时最卓越的思想者竭尽全力加以回答。 That question haunted the mind of the early Church, and the greatest intellects of the time strove mightily to answer it.
325年的尼西亚大公会议和381年的君士坦丁堡大公会议都推动了此问题的进展。 然而在420年代，因为当时君士坦丁堡的主教涅斯多留的教导，又出现了新的争议。 Progress was made at the Council of Nicaea in 325, then the Council of Constantinople in 381. But in the 420s, a new controversy arose due to the teaching of Nestorius, who was the bishop of Constantinople.
他深受安提阿学派的影响，该学派极为强调耶稣的人性。 He was very influenced by the Antioch school, which placed a great stress on the humanity of Jesus.
他主张在基督里有两个位格——神性与人性——以一种强烈的道德结合相连。 He said that in Christ, two persons come together—divine and human—in a sort of intense moral union.
因此，作为耶稣人性来源的马利亚，可以称为「基督之母」，却不该被称为「神之母」。 This meant that Mary, who was responsible for the human element in Jesus, could be called Christotokos, bearer of Christ, but not Theotokos, not Mother of God.
实际上，涅斯多留认为称神有一位母亲是极大亵渎。 In fact, Nestorius thought it was a height of blasphemy to say that God is a mother.
当时，亚历山大的主教区利罗对此提出了强烈反对。 Well, Cyril, who was the bishop of Alexandria, took issue with this.
他认定涅斯多留是异端，并呼吁在431年夏天于此召开会议。经过长时 间的讨论，大公会议的教父们认定，不能将耶稣仅视为与神深度相合的人 ，因为那样只会把他当成某种至高的圣徒，而不是道成肉身的神的儿子。 He thought that Nestorius was a heretic and called for the council that met here in the summer of 431. After much deliberation, the council fathers determined that Jesus ought not to be thought of simply as a human person with an intense relationship to the person of God, for that would make Him a sort of supreme saint but not the Incarnate Son of God.
在耶稣独特的位格里，神性与人性合一。因此，大公会议的教父们断 言，涅斯多留否认马利亚「神之母」的称号是错误的；因为若耶稣确 实是神，而马利亚是耶稣的母亲，那么她就应当被称为神之母。 In His unique person, divinity and humanity come together, and this means, the council fathers concluded, that Nestorius was wrong to deny Mary her title Theotokos because if Jesus truly is divine and Mary is the mother of Jesus, she ought to be called the Mother of God.
当该宣告正式颁布时，以弗所的民众在夜间举行了火把游行以示庆祝。 When this formal declaration was made, the common people of Ephesus celebrated that night with a torch-lit parade.
这正是一个极好的例子：我们对马利亚所说的一切，并非要凸显她自己，而是要强调基督。 This is a very good example of the general principle that whatever we say about Mary is meant not so much to draw attention to her as to Christ.
宣称马利亚是神之母，正是要捍卫这样一个内涵丰富的真理 ：耶稣确实拥有神性，神在他之中真正成为我们的一员。 To say that Mary is the Mother of God is to defend that densely textured claim that Jesus truly is divine, that in Him God became one of us.
富尔顿·J·辛曾说，马利亚就像月亮；她的光芒永远是从更伟大的源头反射而来。 Fulton J. Sheen said that Mary is like the moon; hers is always a reflected light coming from a greater source.
关于马利亚有两条教义，虽然正式颁布的时间比较近，但其根 源却相当久远：那就是「无染原罪」与「圣母升天」的信条。 There are two doctrines concerning Mary that were formally declared only in relatively recent years, but whose provenance is quite ancient: the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Virgin.
请注意，这些教义在何等程度上是具体的、甚至会让人惊异 ；它们迫使我们看见神在卑微的人类身体上所施行的工作。 Notice how physical, even disturbingly so, these teachings are; how they compel us to see God's activity in regard to the lowly human body.
在这方面，它们再次展现出基督论的意义，因为它们谈及了道成肉身。 In this, once again, they are Christological in purpose since they speak of the Incarnation.
1854年，教宗庇护九世宣告，马利亚借着特 殊的恩典，自她受孕的那一刻起便免于原罪。 In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared that Mary, through a special grace, was preserved free from original sin from the moment of her conception.
这也就是为什么在天使报喜时，天使会称她为「蒙大恩的女子」。 This is why the angel at the Annunciation could refer to her as full of grace.
若她与我们毫无二致，都带着原罪，她便极可能在实际生活中陷于各种罪中。 Were she simply like the rest of us, tainted by original sin, she would have fallen almost certainly into a variety of actual sins.
然而，神使她免于罪，因此在她生命伊始就以恩典充满她。 But God preserved her from sin and hence filled her with grace from the first moment of her life.
那神为什么要这样做？ And why would God do this?
这种说法是否暗示马利亚并不需要被拯救？ Wouldn't this teaching somehow imply that Mary doesn't need to be saved?
对此，第一个问题的传统答案是：神要为他的话语预备一个合宜的器皿。 Well, the answer traditionally to the first question is that God wants to prepare a worthy vessel for the reception of His word.
正如耶路撒冷圣殿里的至圣所被保持纯洁与尊崇，这座 最终极的圣殿、这新的至圣所在本质上也当未受玷染。 Just as the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple was kept pure and inviolate, so this definitive Temple, this new Holy of Holies, should be untrammeled.
他也知道马利亚在救恩历史中将扮演决定性的角色，与他儿子的作为紧密相连。 He also knew that Mary would play a decisive role in the history of salvation, that she'd be tightly associated with the work of her Son.
因此，让她与耶稣一样无罪是合宜而且适切的。 Therefore, it was fitting and appropriate that she, like Him, should be sinless.
对第二个问题的回答是：马利亚与我们一样，都靠基督的恩典得救。 The answer to the second question is this: Mary is like the rest of us, saved by the grace of Christ.
但由于那份恩典就其实质而言是永恒的，或在时间之外 ，因此它可以以某种方式施行，超越了寻常的时序。 But since that grace is, properly speaking, eternal or outside of time, it can be applied in a way that undermines the ordinary rhythm of time.
因此，正是透过某种先行的恩宠，使基督的恩典在基 督尚未亲身降临前，就已除去了那位蒙福之母的罪。 Thus, it was by a kind of preemptive strike that Christ's grace removed sin from the Blessed Mother even before Christ appeared physically.
这一教义在比利牛斯山脚下的一个简陋法兰西小镇上，获得了最令人惊讶的印证。 This doctrine received a most surprising ratification in a humble French town nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
1858年2月，苏比鲁一家六口就住在这间只有一房的小破屋里。 In February of 1858, the six members of the Subiru family lived in this tiny one-room hovel.
这里被称作「卡修」，因为它原本是一座改造过的监狱。 It was called the Cachot because it was a converted prison.
卢尔德的市政官员显然觉得这里的环境对囚犯而言 过于严酷与简陋；实际上，这里几乎就是个山洞。 The city officials of Lourdes evidently felt that the conditions here were too harsh and primitive for the prisoners; really, it was little more than a cave.
1858年2月11日，苏比鲁的长女——伯纳德特， 从这里前往卢尔德小镇郊外的垃圾堆——马莎比耶。 On February 11, 1858, the eldest Subiru child, Bernadette, made her way from this place to Massabielle, a garbage dump on the outskirts of the little town of Lourdes.
她与妹妹和一位朋友来此拾柴，为家中取暖。 She'd come there with one of her sisters and a friend to look for wood with which to heat her family’s home.
当她的同伴四处跑动时，身患哮喘的伯纳德特留在湍急的河流旁边。 While her friends scampered away, Bernadette, due to her asthma, stayed behind near the fast-flowing river.
她感到一阵风，并听到了一阵响动。 She felt a puff of wind and heard a sound.
回头察看究竟时，只见一位美丽的年轻女子，全身披着白衣，两只脚上各有一朵黄玫瑰。 When she turned to see what had caused the stir, she spied a beautiful young woman clothed in white and with a yellow rose on each of her feet.
出于本能，伯纳德特掏出自己的念珠，而那位女 子则拿出一串华美的珍珠念珠，与她一起祈祷。 Instinctually, Bernadette reached for her rosary, and the woman, who had a spectacular rosary of pearl, began to pray along with her.
当伯纳德特完成祈祷后，那女子微笑着，随后隐去。 When Bernadette finished the prayer, the woman smiled and disappeared.
伯纳德特觉得自己必须再回到马莎比耶，所以隔日她就带着几位同伴一起来到那处。 Bernadette felt compelled to return to Massabielle, so the next day she came to the spot with a few of her friends.
她再度看到了那位女子，而这回那位神秘来访者开口说： 「你可以恩准我，在接下来的十五天每天都来这里吗？」 She again saw the lady, but this time the mysterious visitor spoke: Would you do me the favor of returning for the next 15 days?
随后，她给司祭们带了信息：「在此处建一座圣堂，并让人们来此朝圣游行。」 Then she had a message for the priests: Build a temple on this site and let processions come.
但当伯纳德特将此讯息告诉堂区的帕里马尔神父时，却遭到了严厉的斥责。 When Bernadette brought this message to the parish priest, Father Parimal, she was sharply rebuked.
即使面对嘲笑与当局的阻挠，她仍旧坚持下去。 Yet she continued, despite mockery and official opposition.
某次探访中，那女子要求她挖开地面，找出一股泉水。 On one of her visits, the lady asked her to dig into the ground and find a spring.
她照办时，人们都以为她疯了。 When she did so, people thought that she had lost her mind.
可是，不久后那处果然涌出泉水，并且有一位重度残疾的男孩在那水中沐浴后痊愈了。 But in time, water indeed flowed from the spot, and eventually, a severely crippled young boy was cured after bathing in it.
在那十五天里，伯纳德特日日前来，与那女子相会。 Bernadette came for those 15 days, and she communed with the lady.
尽管外界众说纷纭，但她从未声称自己知道这神秘来访者的真实身份。 But despite the speculations of many, she never claimed to know who this mysterious visitor was.
她只称呼对方为「那位女士」，或用当地土语称之为「Aquero」，意指「那一位」。 She referred to her only as the lady or, in her own local dialect, Aquero, that one.
3月24日，正值天使报喜瞻礼前夕，她心中感到一股力量催促自己前往山洞。 On March 24th, the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, she felt an inner impulse to go to the grotto.
那位女士准时在那里等待她，伯纳德特强烈地想要问对方的名字。 The lady was there to meet her, and Bernadette felt the urge to ask her name.
她问了三次，终于，那位女士神情严肃，声音因激动而微颤，说道：「我是无玷始胎。」 Three times she petitioned, and finally, the lady looked at her with a serious expression, and her voice trembling with emotion, she said, I am the Immaculate Conception.
马利亚竟向这样一位贫困卑微的人显现，这是多么奇妙，又是多么典型！ How wonderful and typical that Mary should appear to such a poor and humble soul!
在路加福音里马利亚的尊主颂中，她赞颂那位使有权者失位、却抬举卑微者的神。 In her great Magnificat in Luke's Gospel, Mary sings the praises of the God who cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.
伯纳德特本身有些像个住在山洞的女孩，却获得了「无玷始胎」与「天上之后 」的探访；那位在一间破屋里领受天使报喜、并在洞穴里生下神儿子的女性。 Bernadette, who was herself something of a cave girl, was visited by the Immaculate Conception, by the Queen of Heaven, who received the message of the angel in a hovel and gave birth to the Son of God in a cave.
我们其实怀着某种偏见；我想我们自认为是思想冷静、善 于分析的现代人，而那些过去的穷苦人就——多可怜！ We have such a prejudice; I think it’s that we’re these cool moderns with analytical scientific minds, and those poor people back then—poor things!
你看，这个傻乎乎的女孩编了个荒诞的故事，他们却全都相信了。 You know, this goofy girl comes up with this crazy story, and they all believe her.
这完全是我们在居高临下地看待他们。 That’s a complete act of condescension on our part.
可他们并不是傻子。 These were no fools.
是的，他们或许没受过教育，但绝不愚蠢。 I mean, they might have been uneducated, but they weren’t fools.
实际上，这个地方的人——虽缺乏教育而不算文雅，却颇有机敏—— 所采用的一套微妙标准能分辨一个人是乱编疯话，还是确有实见。 And in fact, there was a very subtle set of criteria, you might say, that people in this part of the world—uneducated, unsophisticated but canny—used to determine the difference between someone who’s just carrying on in a crazy way and someone who really has seen something.
他们应用了那些标准；他们细细推敲她所说的话。 They applied those criteria; I mean, they analyzed what she had said.
她在各种程度上都被审问、被试探。 She was, you know, poked and prodded in so many ways.
伯纳德特之所以令人信服，部分原因在于她的叙述既直率又平凡，且说法十分一致。 Part of the charm of Bernadette was that she was so blunt and ordinary and straightforward in her account, and she was very consistent.
你看，迦玛列在使徒行传里就阐明了一个原则。 You know, there’s a principle articulated by Gamaliel; it’s in the Acts of the Apostles.
当时有人说：「我们是不是该把这些基督徒除掉？」 When they were saying, Shouldn’t we get rid of these Christians?
他很明智地回应：「先让他们且行且看吧。」 he very wisely said, Look, why don’t we leave them alone?
如果他们不出于神，必会自行消亡。 If they’re not of God, they’re just going to fade away.
倘若他们属神，而我们却与之斗争，最后只会发现自己在与神为敌。 If they are of God and we fight them, we will find ourselves fighting God.
这是个极佳的准则。 That’s a really good principle.
可见必然有所发生，有些事确实发生了。 So something’s going on; something happened.
那么我们该怎么办？ What do we do?
不如先放任其发展，看看结果如何？ Why don’t we leave it alone and see what happens?
想想那些曾宣称见到奇异异象、听到神秘启示或看见某些事迹的人。 Think of all the people who’ve claimed extraordinary visions or locutions, or they’ve seen something.
最终结果如何？ What’s come of it?
没什么后续，它们大多随着时间消失了。 Nothing; it fades away over time.
然后再看这个事例，依照迦玛列原则，若我们当时抗拒它，极可能就是在抵挡神。 Then you look at this and you say, well, with the Gamaliel principle, if we were fighting this, we probably were fighting God.
「圣母升天」这一教义直到1950年才由教宗庇护 十二世正式宣布为教会信理，但其渊源十分古老。 The Assumption of the Virgin was declared as a dogma of the Church only in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, but the roots of this doctrine are very ancient.
该教条宣示：马利亚在地上生命结束时，肉身与灵魂一同被接往天堂。 The teaching is that Mary, at the close of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven.
我知道这对现代人的思维而言，或许听来离奇甚至像神 话。但我们要思考圣经中并不将身与灵二分的观念。 Now I know this can strike the modern mind as bizarre or mythological, but consider the non-dualism of the Bible.
圣经的信仰并非希腊哲学；它不将灵魂与身体相对立，也不把救赎视为灵魂对身体的逃离。 Biblical religion is not Greek philosophy; it doesn't set the soul over and against the body, nor does it construe salvation as the escape of the soul from the body.
反倒认为救赎是整体的变容、完善，与提升。 Rather, it sees salvation as the transfiguration, the perfection, the elevation of the whole self.
事实上，它所呼求的并非脱离此世，而是新天新地的降临。 Indeed, it calls not for an escape from this world but for a new heavens and a new earth.
马利亚灵体同被接升天，再次提醒我们不应该以空间的概念来理解这件事。 Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, and again, we shouldn’t think about this in spatial terms.
其意义在于：马利亚整个人在神的领域中被提升。 It means just this: the elevation of Mary in the entirety of a person into the dimension of God.
在《使徒信经》的末尾，我们听到对身体复活的宣告。 At the end of the Apostles' Creed, we hear about the resurrection of the body.
而马利亚就是那位确实经历了这最终救恩的人。 Well, Mary is someone who has experienced precisely this definitive salvation.
关于马利亚升天的教理，极其郑重地看待我们所处的世界以及我们卑微的身体。 The doctrine of the Assumption of Mary takes with great seriousness this world of ours and these lowly bodies of ours.
当我们谈及马利亚的「安眠」，这其实是个很有意思的概念；我们说马利亚好像睡去了。 When we talk about the dormition of Mary, which is actually a very interesting idea, we say that Mary fell asleep.
对一个无罪之人来说，从此世进到来世会是如何的情形？ What would it be like for a sinless person to pass from this world to the next?
我们这些罪人之所以对死亡感到恐惧，是因我们与神隔离，所以面对死亡时会有惧怕感。 We sinners experience death as something kind of horrible because we’re alienated from God, and so we approach death with a kind of horror or terror.
若你是无罪的呢？ What if you were sinless?
无罪之人完全顺服于神的旨意。 Being sinless, you’re utterly responsive to God’s will.
那么从此生过渡到来世，岂不会就像入睡那般？ Wouldn’t the transition from this life to the next be a bit like falling asleep?
就如人在夜里入睡时，并不会怀着恐惧，而是相信自己会醒来，继续生活。 When you fall asleep, when I fall asleep tonight, I don’t do so in terror; I do so with great confidence that I’m going to wake up and go on with my life.
因此，一位圣徒，或甚至现在一位无罪之人——一 位无罪的神之母——难道不会在主里安然入睡吗？ So, a saint, or even now a sinless person— a sinless Mother of God— wouldn’t she fall asleep in the Lord?
在我看来，用「安眠」来形容马利亚离世的方式，极具启示意义。 To me, it’s a very telling way to describe the difference in the way Mary left this world.
因此，我认为这些关于马利亚的教导，虽然从表面看可能略显 奇异或像神话，实则十分关键；它们直指基督信仰的核心。 So, I think those teachings about Mary, though they can strike us first as kind of weird and mythological, are actually very telling; they cut right to the heart of what Christianity is about.
那无染原罪、为神之母的马利亚，灵体同被接升天，并不只 是个历史话题，也不只是一个强而有力的属灵榜样而已。 Immaculate Mary, the Mother of God, assumed body and soul into heaven, is not of merely historical interest, nor is she simply a powerful spiritual exemplar.
相反，作为众圣之母后的马利亚，依然在教会的生命中持续地在场、在行动。 Rather, as the Queen of all the Saints, Mary is an ongoing presence, an actor in the life of the Church.
她的根本使命，自始至终，都在于带领人们与她的儿子相交合一。 Her basic task, as always, is to draw people into fellowship with her Son.
教会相信，马利亚以一种神秘的方式，继续向神说「是」，并继续奔赴使命。 The Church believes that in a mysterious way, Mary continues to say yes to God and to go forth on mission.
在公教会历史的漫长岁月里，据说有成千上万起关于这位蒙福之母显现的报告。 There are literally tens of thousands of reports of apparitions of the Blessed Mother up and down the Catholic centuries.
我们先前探讨了她在卢尔德向伯纳德特的显现。 We’ve already explored the appearance to Bernadette at Lourdes.
现在，我想提一个更加特别的相遇：蒙福之母与一位 小人物之间的故事（这正是她通常所拣选的人）。 I want now to turn to a most extraordinary encounter between the Blessed Mother and, typically enough, one of her little ones.
1531年12月9日，大约在西班牙人首次将信仰带到此地的十年后，一位名叫胡安· 迭戈的印第安人——他是刚刚归信的基督徒——在我所站的特佩亚克山这一路上前行。 On December 9th, 1531, just about ten years after the Spaniards first brought the faith to this part of the world, an Indian man named Juan Diego, a recent convert to the faith, was making his way here along this hill of Tepeyac, where I’m standing.
他正要去望弥撒。 He was on his way to Mass.
他听见忽然传来一阵鸟鸣。 He heard a burst of birdsong.
他回头查看声源，只见到令人惊叹的一幕：一位身披天上光彩的女子伫立于此。 He turned to see where it was coming from, and he saw an extraordinary sight: there was a woman clothed in celestial light.
她宣称自己是至高神的母亲，并向胡安·迭戈提出一个简 单的请求：请他去见主教，为纪念她而在此建一座圣堂。 She announced herself as the Mother of the Most High God, and she had a simple request for Juan Diego: he would ask the bishop to build a temple here in her honor.
胡安·迭戈为人朴实谦卑，他立即去见那位主教。 Being a simple, humble man, Juan Diego went directly to the bishop.
他向主教转达了此事；主教听完后说：「我想要一个凭证。」 He relayed the story to him; he took it in, but he also said, I’d like a sign.
胡安·迭戈于12月12日再次回到特佩亚克。 Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac on December 12th.
那女子请他脱下坎特，即农民所穿的简陋粗麻衣，用仙人掌纤维编织而成。 She invited him to take off his tilma, that was a simple coarse garment worn by peasants; it was woven from cactus fibers.
她帮他在那件坎特里放了一束玫瑰花，明明已是年末，玫瑰却仍然盛开。 In that tilma, she helped him to arrange a group of roses that were blooming despite the lateness of the year.
那就成了要给主教的标记。 That would be the sign for the bishop.
胡安·迭戈捧着这束玫瑰，立刻前去见主教。 Juan Diego took the bundle of roses and went directly to the bishop.
他被要求等候一阵。 He was made to wait for a while.
据说，主教那些多事的随从试图探看他藏在坎特里的东西，但他不肯让他们看。 They say that officious aides of the bishop tried to find out what he was hiding in the tilma, but he wouldn't show them.
最终，他被引见到主教面前。 Finally, he was ushered into the bishop’s presence.
他敞开坎特，玫瑰便落在地上。 He opened the tilma, and the roses spilled to the ground.
然而，让他大感意外的是，主教及其随从竟都跪下了，因为发生了 更神奇的事：在坎特的里侧，显现了一位披着光芒的女子形象。 But then, to his great surprise, the bishop and his aides were kneeling because something even more amazing had happened: on the inside of the tilma, there was the image of the woman clothed in light.
有些人也许会说：「噢，这是个来自更纯朴、更轻信时代的动人传说。」 One might be tempted to say, Oh, it’s a charming story from a simpler, more credulous time.
不过，对质疑者最有力的反驳，正是那件坎特本身，你在我身后就能直接看到。 But the best counter-indication to the skeptics is the tilma itself, which you can see directly behind me.
研究显示，它确实出自16世纪；确实是由那种普通的仙人掌纤维 所编织，一般情况下这类纤维最久也只会保存二十或二十五年。 Studies have shown that it is indeed from the 16th century, and it is indeed woven from those simple cactus fibers which, under the best of circumstances, would normally last 20 or 25 years.
然而，五百年后的今天它依然完好。 And yet there it is, 500 years later.
再说到那幅既奇异又美丽的图像；经过细致研究，发现它 并非出自已知的任何颜料，也看不出任何底稿的痕迹。 And the image—the strange and beautiful image—careful studies have revealed that no known pigmentation was involved in the making of it, and no underdrawing is discernible.
不仅如此，它所蕴含的象征力量更是非凡。 More to it, the symbolic power of it is extraordinary.
图中是一位梅斯蒂索血统的女子——既不是西班牙 人，也不是阿兹特克人，而是两种血缘的融合。 Here is a mestiza—not a Spaniard, not an Aztec, but a blend of the two races.
墨西哥人称她为「La Morena」，即那位棕色皮肤的少女。 She’s called by the Mexicans La Morena, the brown-skinned girl.
她腰间束着的带子是阿兹特克象征怀孕的标志。 The cincture that she wears was an Aztec sign of pregnancy.
她立于太阳之前、月亮之上，披风上缀满了星辰。 She stands in front of the sun and on the moon, and her cloak is bedecked with stars.
对古阿兹特克人而言，日、月与星辰都是神祇。 Sun, moon, and stars were all gods for the ancient Aztecs.
而这女子却高过它们。 This woman is greater than they.
然而同时，她双目低垂，双手合十，显明自己仍有至高者在上。 At the same time, she keeps her eyes down and her hands folded in prayer, acknowledging that there is one greater than she.
她的名字「瓜达卢佩」，很可能是西班牙语对「科阿特拉奎」的转写。 Her name, Guadalupe, is probably a Spanish deformation of Coatlacue.
它的含义是「践踏蛇者」。 It means the one who crushes the serpent.
在阿兹特克神话中，那条蛇是另一位主要神祇， 而践踏蛇者正是《创世记》中所预言的那位。 The serpent was another chief Aztec divinity, and the crusher of the serpent is the one predicted in the book of Genesis.
毫无争议的事实是，该显现发生后十年之内，几乎整 个墨西哥民族都皈依了基督信仰，人数高达九百万。 It is an undisputed fact that within 10 years of the apparition, almost the entire Mexican nation was converted to Christianity—nine million people.
这相当于每日有三千人归信，连续十年不间断——可说是持续十年的小型五旬节。 This amounts to approximately 3,000 people per day for 10 years—a mini Pentecost every day for a decade.
而那图像至今仍然让人着迷、令人惊叹，并不断召唤着世人。 And the image continues to beguile, fascinate, and beckon.
瓜达卢佩圣母的圣殿是基督信仰中最受人朝拜的宗教场所之一。 The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most visited religious sites in the Christian world.
每年数以百万计的人来到此处，与那位「褐肤圣母」相交祈 祷，有些人更是跪着走近，带着恳求、忏悔或感恩之心。 People come here by the millions to commune with La Morena, some approaching her in supplication, penitence, or gratitude on their knees.
在历经数世纪的历史中，关于圣母显现的传说可谓成千上万。 There are literally tens of thousands of stories of Marian apparitions up and down the centuries.
我们可以说，其中许多（如果不是大多数的话）都值得商榷。 Let’s say many of which, if not most, are questionable.
但也有些，或许只是少数，却并不那么容易被否定，让人难以忘怀。 There are, however, some—maybe a handful—that are harder to dismiss, and they kind of haunt the mind.
它们的细节以及叙述本身的完整性，都给人留下了深刻印象。 There’s something about the detail of them, something about the integrity of the account.
然后，我还会看它所带来的结果。 But then also, I would say, the consequences.
你可以凭其结果而判断这是否是一种属灵的作为。 You judge the spiritual act by its fruit.
那么，它带来了什么结果呢？ What’s the result of it?
当你看到这种景象时，首先就会发现墨西哥人的广 大归信——这是瓜达卢佩事件中最为惊人的事。 You look at a place like this and you can see this massive—first of all, the conversion of Mexico—which is the most extraordinary thing about Guadalupe.
在圣母显现后的短短十年里，整个墨西哥几乎都皈依了基督 信仰。而在此之前，方济各会传教十年却几乎没什么进展。 Within 10 years of the apparition, the entire country has been converted, while prior to that, the Franciscans, after about 10 years, had made very few inroads.
胡安·迭戈原本堪称一个异类——一名皈依了基督信仰的阿兹特克人。 Juan Diego was kind of an odd duck—an Aztec who had become a Christian.
可是在瓜达卢佩显现之后，整个国家都皈依了。 In the wake of Guadalupe, the entire country is converted.
直到今天，近五百年过去，仍有无数人前来朝圣。 And then to this day, almost 500 years later, people still come.
与那些人们在高速公路立交桥滴下的盐渍里看出圣母像的荒诞事情 相比（几年前在芝加哥曾有这种报导），没人会去在意那种事。 In contrast to a kind of silly thing where people saw an image of Mary in the salt dripping from the highway overpass—remember that was a few years ago in Chicago—well, no one bothers about that.
那件事并未带来任何影响，如今也无人会去那个地方。 That had no effect; no one goes there to this day.
所以我认为，你应该凭着它所结的果实和产生的结果来判断其真伪。 So I think you judge it by its fruit, by its consequences.
我现在所在的位置，是在特奥蒂瓦坎古城内的太阳金字塔顶端。 I’m standing on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in the ancient city of Teotihuacan.
在我身后，你能看到月亮金字塔的身影。 Behind me, you can see the Pyramid of the Moon.
这是前哥伦布时期最美的建筑典范之一。 This is one of the most beautiful examples of pre-Columbian architecture.
尽管建筑壮丽，可这里也让人不寒而栗，因为我们了解 到，在古代墨西哥的许多类似地方都曾发生过人祭。 Despite the beauty of the architecture, it’s also a place that chills us a bit because we realize that here, as in so many other places like it in ancient Mexico, human sacrifice took place.
但我要先声明，我并非意图将古阿兹特克或玛雅文化妖魔化；许多古代文明都曾进行人祭。 Now, mind you, I’m not trying to demonize the ancient Aztec or Mayan cultures; many ancient cultures practiced human sacrifice.
事实上，若当代哲学家勒内·吉拉尔的观点正确，那 么人祭一般的行为存在于大多数人类社会之根基。 In fact, if the contemporary philosopher René Girard is right, something like human sacrifice lies at the foundation of most human societies.
吉拉尔认为，人类社会中本来会自然产生各种张 力，随后便会出现他所谓的「替罪羊机制」。 Girard says that tensions naturally arise within human communities, and then what kicks in is what he called a scapegoating mechanism.
我们往往会找出某个人或某个群体将其归罪，把我们的焦虑投射到他们身上。 We tend to find someone or some group to blame, and we cast, as it were, our anxieties onto them.
我们会迫害他们，排斥他们；更极端时，甚至将他们杀害。 We persecute them, we ostracize them; at the limit, we kill them.
在这个过程中，我们却会觉得自己的社群得到了某种更新。 And in that process, we feel a kind of renewal of our community.
这也就能解释，在吉拉尔的理论中，为何古人会觉得诸神乐见以替罪羊的暴力行动。 That explains why, on Girard's reading, ancient people saw the gods as pleased with scapegoating violence.
这就是为什么在这样的金字塔之顶，当他们把依然跳动的祭品 之心高举给众神时，就被视作平息那些掌管宇宙之力的手段。 That’s why here, on top of pyramids like this, when they would raise the still-beating heart of the victim to the gods, they were seen as placating these powers that govern the universe.
勒内·吉拉尔发现一件很有意思的事，出现在圣经里关于耶稣受试探的伟大故事中。 Something René Girard found very interesting is in that great biblical story of the temptation of Jesus.
当魔鬼将世上的万国都展示在耶稣面前，而耶稣拒绝它 时，祂用到这样一个词，说道：「退去吧，撒但！」 When the devil displays before Him all the kingdoms of the world and Jesus resists him, Jesus uses this term: He says, Begone, Satan!
希腊文的「Hosatanas」意思就是指控者、归咎者。 “Hosatanas” in Greek means the accuser, the blamer.
它暗示了在社会的根基之处，某种替罪羊机制正以这种方式运作。 The implication is that somehow, at the foundation of society, is something like this scapegoating mechanism.
当瓜达卢佩圣母向胡安·迭戈显现时，曾说：「我是至高神之母。」 Our Lady of Guadalupe, when she appeared to Juan Diego, said, I am the Mother of the Most High God.
她宣告了那位真神进入人间，而在祂生命的巅峰时刻 ，祂不是替罪羊式暴力的加害者，而正是那受害者。 She was announcing the emergence into the world of the true God, who at the climax of His life became not the perpetrator of scapegoating violence but precisely the victim of it.
在被钉十字架的耶稣身上，我们看到真神并不站 在施暴者的一方，而是切实地与被迫害者同在。 In Jesus crucified, we see that the true God stands not on the side of the victimizers, but precisely on the side of the victims.
这世界并非靠暴力得到秩序；恰恰相反，这世界是靠爱与非暴力而被安置。 The world is ordered not through violence; the world is ordered precisely through love and through non-violence.
我并不抱有任何幻想，以为当初将信仰传到此地的西 班牙人就是天使，或者无人曾以基督之名犯下暴行。 I labor under no illusions that the Spaniards who brought the faith to this part of the world were angels or that no atrocities were perpetrated in the name of Christ.
然而，不可否认的是，墨西哥在被传福音的过程中，确实接收到了这伟大的讯息。 There were, however, this great message came through as Mexico was evangelized.
人祭的做法因此终止，我认为这正是福音传入后改变社会本质的一个重要例证。 This practice of human sacrifice ended, and there I think is a prime example of how the evangelization of the country changed the very nature of the society.
在路加福音第一章里，我们看到马利亚向耶和华所献的宏伟赞歌。 In the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we find Mary’s great hymn of praise to Yahweh.
它以一句质朴的宣告开始：「我心尊主为大。」 It commences with the simple declaration, My soul magnifies the Lord.
马利亚在此宣称，她的全部存在都为颂扬神而活。 Mary announces here that her whole being is ordered to the glorification of God.
她的自我并不为自己寻求任何益处；她只愿自己成为尊崇神的契机。 Her ego wants nothing for itself; it wants only to be an occasion for giving honor to God.
然而因神本无所需，马利亚献给神的所有荣耀反倒 回馈于她，使她在尊崇神的同时也得以被高举。 But since, as we’ve seen, God needs nothing, whatever glory Mary gives to Him returns to her benefits, so that she is magnified in the very act of magnifying Him.
正因为完全献身于神，马利亚就成为一个极丰盈的生命源泉；实在的说，她因之怀着神。 In giving herself away fully to God, Mary becomes a superabundant source of life; indeed, she becomes pregnant with God.
这一既奇妙又奥妙的「尊崇与被尊崇」的节奏，正是理解马利亚一切奥秘的关键——从 她身为神之母，到她被接升天与无染受孕，以及她在教会生活中的使命，皆取决于此。 This odd and wonderful rhythm of magnifying and being magnified is the key to understanding everything about Mary—from her divine motherhood to her assumption and immaculate conception, and to her mission in the life of the Church.
十九世纪的伟大耶稣会诗人杰拉德·曼利·霍普金 斯在他的诗作《五月尊主颂》中捕捉到了这一点。 The great 19th-century Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins caught this in his ballad “The May Magnificat.”
他在开篇的几节漫步诗中疑惑，五月为何要献给马利亚 ？遂借马利亚之口作答道：「求问那位全能之母。」 He wonders in the first few stanzas why May should be a month dedicated to Mary, and he provides Mary’s own answer, writing, Ask of her the mighty mother.
她的回答抛出另一个问题：「什么是春天？」 Her reply puts this other question: What is spring?
回复是：「万物的生长。」 Growth in everything.
接着，霍普金斯以他一贯灵巧的文字与洋溢的神性热情，描绘了春日的生 长方式：血肉与茸毛、皮毛与羽翼、青草与翠绿之野——共同汇聚，繁星 般眼眸，草莓色胸脯的画眉鸟，高踞于她那簇如号角般湛蓝的卵上。 Then, with typical verbal dexterity and spiritual enthusiasm, Hopkins delineates the modes of growth in springtime: flesh and fleece, fur and feather, grass and green world—all together, star-eyed, strawberry-breasted throstle above her nested cluster of bugle-blue eggs.
渺小的形体舒展、温暖着内里的生命，鸟儿与花朵在泥土、茎鞘或外壳中一同茁壮。 Thin forms and warms the life within, and bird and blossom swell in sod or sheath or shell.
他想象身为神之母的马利亚，以无限的喜悦眺望这一切生命。 And he imagines Mary, the Mother of God, surveying all of this life with limitless pleasure.
他写道：「万物皆腾升，万物皆壮大」，马利亚 洞观并与这充满美善天性的母性世界产生共鸣。 He writes, All things rising, all things sizing,” Mary sees, sympathizing with that world of good nature’s motherhood.
马利亚因全心全意尊崇神，遂成为生命的源泉。 Mary's utter willingness to magnify the Lord made of her a matrix of life.
春天的勃勃生机，不过是她所释放之生命力的一丝暗示而已。 The spring itself, in all of its wild fecundity, is but a hint at the vitality that she unleashes.