亚里士多德说，最好的活动往往最无用。 Aristotle said that the best activities are the most useless.
这是因为这些事情并不服从于其他目标，而是纯粹为了它们本身而进行。 This is because such things are not subordinated to a further end, but rather done entirely for their own sake.
所以，看一场棒球比赛比理发更重要，而培养一段友谊比赚钱更伟大。 Thus, watching a baseball game is more important than getting a haircut, and cultivating a friendship is greater than making money.
比赛和友谊本身就是美好的善，而理发与赚钱则是为更深的目标而服务。 The game and the friendship are goods that are excellent in themselves, while the haircut and the money-making are in service of something beyond them.
现在，礼仪是所有事物中最无用的，因此也最重要。 Now the liturgy is the most useless thing of all, which means it's the most important.
礼仪就是我们纯粹为了它本身而进行的行动，只因为它美好而善。 The liturgy is what we do utterly for its own sake, simply because it's good and beautiful.
因此，伟大的礼仪神学家罗马诺·瓜尔迪尼将礼仪比作一场戏剧。 This is why the great liturgical theologian Romano Guardini compared the liturgy to a kind of play.
但这场戏剧却极其严肃，因为借着它，我们获得正确的秩序。 But this play is very serious business because, by this play, we become rightly ordered.
神学家迪特里希·冯·希尔德布兰德在他的著作《礼仪与人格》 中说，当我们向神献上正当的赞美时，就能获得内在的和谐。 The theologian Dietrich von Hildebrand, in his book Liturgy and Personality, said that in the very act of giving right praise to God, we achieve an inner harmony.
弥撒，也就是礼仪，就像一艘挪亚方舟。 The Mass, the liturgy, is a kind of Noah's Ark.
在这罪恶的世界中，它保留了神美好秩序的一个缩影。 It's a place where a microcosm of God's good order is preserved in the midst of a sinful world.
然而，更重要的是，弥撒让我们参与并预先体会那伟大的 天上礼仪，也就是众圣人与天使向神献上的正当颂扬。 But more than all this, the Mass is our participation in and anticipation of the great heavenly liturgy, the right praise given to God by the saints and the angels.
基于这些理由和其他因素，梵二会议称礼仪为基督徒生活的泉源与高峰。 For these reasons and others besides, Vatican II referred to the liturgy as the source and the summit of the Christian life.
在这一集中，我将带领大家走过弥撒的全过程，介绍这天上与人间的伟大戏剧的种种面向。 In the course of this episode, I'll walk through the Mass, presenting the various aspects of this great heavenly and earthly play.
谢谢大家。 Thank you.
从某种意义上说，弥撒是从参与者聚集的方式开始的。 In a certain sense, the Mass commences with the manner in which the people who participate in it gather.
他们来自各行各业，拥有不同的社会与教育背景，出身 于各种经济阶层，道德水准也不尽相同，男女皆有。 They come from all walks of life, from different social and educational backgrounds, from a variety of economic strata, with differing levels of moral excellence, and from both genders.
他们共同组成了围绕基督祭坛的团体。 They all form the community gathered around the altar of Christ.
堕落的世界充斥着分裂、隔离和阶层化，而我们 这些罪人又格外关心优先权和排他性的问题。 The fallen world is marked by division, separation, stratification, and we sinners are intensely interested in questions of priority and exclusivity.
谁在里面，谁被排除？ Who's in and who's out?
谁在上，谁在下？ Who is up and who is down?
但正如保罗告诉我们：「并不分犹太人、希利尼人、自主的、为奴的，或男 或女，因为你们在基督耶稣里都成为一了。」众人都在那奥秘的身体里。 But as Paul told us, in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no man or woman; all are members of the mystical body.
当多萝西·戴在考虑皈依公教时，她会去参加主日弥撒。 When Dorothy Day was considering her conversion to Catholicism, she would attend Sunday Mass.
她对富人和穷人、受过教育与未受教育者、女佣和贵妇并肩跪在那里这一事实，深感震撼。 She was deeply impressed by the fact that both the rich and the poor, both the educated and the uneducated, both the housekeeper and the grande dame attended kneeling side by side.
而当公教史学家克里斯托弗·道森告诉母亲，他要从自己原本隶属的英国圣公会转而信 奉公教时，他母亲这样回应：「我并不怎么担心教义本身；只是如今你开始敬拜了。」 And the Catholic historian Christopher Dawson, upon telling his mother that he was converting to the Catholic faith from his native Anglicanism, was met with this response: It's not so much the doctrines that concern me; it's now that you'll be worshipping.
多萝西·戴和道森夫人都敏锐地体察到公教徒聚集祈祷的方式所带来的正当颠覆性。 Both Dorothy Day and Mrs. Dawson intuited the properly subversive nature of the way Catholics gather for prayer.
当我们聚集以后，便开始唱歌。 Once gathered, we sing.
在弥撒中唱歌，不应被视为只是装饰或可有可无；当众多声音合 而为一时，这便具体表达了我们身为神的儿女应当如何生活。 Singing at the Mass should not be construed as merely decorative or incidental, for the harmonizing of the many voices as one is an embodied expression of how we, as children of God, ought to live.
礼仪的正式仪式始于划十字圣号，以及祭司所诵念的「因圣父、圣子、圣灵之名」。 The ritual of the liturgy proper begins with the sign of the Cross and the priest's intonation of the words In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
借着这个动作与这句简短的话语，我们宣告自己属于三位一体的神。 By this gesture and this simple phrase, we announce that we belong to the Triune God.
现代世俗主义以一种前提为基础，认为我们其实不属于任何 人，而是依照自身想法，自主决定并自我引导去追求幸福。 Modern secularism is predicated upon the assumption that we essentially belong to no one; that we are self-determining and self-directed pursuers of happiness according to our own lives.
但保罗很久以前告诉基督徒：「我们没有一个人为自己活，也没有一个人为自己死。」 But Paul told Christians long ago, We do not live to ourselves, we do not die to ourselves.
「我们若活着，是为主而活；若死了，是为主而死。」 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.
「所以我们或活或死，总是主的人。」与现代思想相对照，圣经中的人会说， 你的人生并不关于你自己，而礼仪从一开始就以划十字圣号指出了这一点。 So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. In contradistinction to modernity, biblical people say your life is not about you, and the liturgy signals this at the very beginning with the sign of the Cross.
但这还不止于此。 But there is more.
说到十字架，就是指圣父差遣圣子进入被神离弃 之境，为要借着圣灵将我们聚集到神的生命中。 To speak of the Cross is to reference the great act by which the Father sent the Son into God-forsakenness in order to gather us, through the Holy Spirit, into the divine life.
因为圣子一路深入幽暗，从根本上能够把最顽固的罪人也带回与神的共融。 Because the Son went all the way down, He was able, in principle, to bring even the most recalcitrant sinner back into fellowship with God.
因此，当我们在礼仪开始时呼求十字圣号，就表 明我们是在神内祈祷，而不仅仅是向神祈祷。 Thus, when we invoke the Cross at the beginning of the liturgy, we signify that we are praying in God and not merely to God.
划十字圣号之后，祭司便向会众致意，不是以个人 之名，而是以基督之名说：「愿主与你们同在。」 Just after the sign of the Cross, the priest greets the people, not in his own name, but in Christ: The Lord be with you.
当他穿上遮盖日常衣服的祭衣，也就象征性地遮盖了他平常的身 份；在礼仪中，他是以基督之尊位，而非以自己的人格行事。 Garbed in vestments that cover his ordinary clothes and hence symbolically his ordinary identity, the priest of the liturgy is operating in the person of Christ and not in his own person.
因此，他的动作、言语和行止并非表达他个人的观点与信念，而是体现基督。 Therefore, his gestures, words, and movements are expressive not of his own perspectives and convictions, but of Christ.
所以当信众回应「也与你的灵同在」时，并不是在对这 位人本身说话，而是在对那借着祭司行动的耶稣说话。 This is why the people respond, And with your spirit, for they are addressing not the individual man, but the Jesus in whose person the priest is operating.
在问候结束后，祭司随即邀请所有在场的人回想他们的罪。 Immediately after the greeting, the priest invites everyone in attendance to call to mind his or her sins.
这个简单的举动却意义非凡。 This simple move is of extraordinary importance.
吉尔伯特·K·切斯特顿说：「我的宗教里有圣 人，但那只是意味着他们知道自己是罪人。」 G.K. Chesterton said, There are saints in my religion, but that just means men who know that they are sinners.
对这位杰出的英国护教学家而言，真正的区别不在于有罪或无罪，而在于那些 知道自己有罪的人和那些不知道的人。我们信仰中的伟大英豪，也就是圣徒， 乃是将生命定向于神的人，因此他们最敏锐地察觉自己离理想有多么遥远。 For the great English apologist, the relevant distinction is not between sinners and non-sinners, but between those sinners who know it and those who don't. The great heroes of our faith, the saints, are those who have ordered their lives toward God, and therefore they are most keenly aware of how far they fall short of the ideal.
十字若望曾把人的灵魂比作一块玻璃。 St. John of the Cross compared the soul to a pane of glass.
只要这块玻璃背对光，它的瑕疵便不易显现。 As long as that pane of glass is pointed away from the light, well, its imperfections don't appear.
但如今若转向光线，所有的污渍与痕迹就会清晰可见。 But now turn it toward the light, and now all the smudges and marks become visible.
这就解释了一个深刻的悖论：往往正是那些圣徒会说「我乃罪人中最不堪的」。 This helps to explain the high paradox that it's precisely the saints who often say, I'm the worst of sinners.
因为他们将生命直接面向神的光，所以对罪的觉察更深，而不是更浅。 They have directed their lives toward the light of God; therefore, they are more—not less—aware of their sin.
当礼仪开始，我们沐浴在三位一体真神的光中时，便效法圣徒，承认自己是罪人。 As the liturgy commences and we are bathed in the light of the Trinitarian God, we mimic the saints in admitting that we are sinners.
如此一来，我们就对那种普遍为自己开脱的文化倾向作出了一种纠正。 In doing so, we offer a corrective to a pervasive cultural tendency toward exculpation.
我们对自己说：「我很好，你也很好。」 I'm okay, and you're okay, we tell ourselves.
但若接受这样单纯的想法，本身就说明那人正背向神那照亮人心的光。 But to subscribe to such a naive sentiment is ipso facto to prove that one is facing away from the clarifying light of God.
现在，回想罪过只是为那「主，求怜悯」的呼求——即Kyrie祈祷——所作的准备。 Now, the calling to mind of sins is but a preparation for the Kyrie prayer—the cry of Lord, have mercy.
基督，求怜悯。 Christ, have mercy.
主，求怜悯。 Lord, have mercy.
在这里，没有空间让人自我吹捧或自我欺骗。 There’s no room for self-aggrandizing and self-deception.
我们明白自己无法拯救自己，在主面前犹如乞丐。 We know that we are incapable of saving ourselves, that we are beggars before the Lord.
被礼仪带入这样正确且终能带来自由的态度后，我们便听到祭司的话 ：「神并不想让我们在祂面前因自责而卑躬屈膝；祂要施予宽恕。」 Compelled by the liturgy into this correct and finally liberating attitude, we hear the words of the priest: God has no interest whatsoever in making us grovel before Him in self-reproach; He wants to forgive.
但至关重要的是，我们要认识到自己内在确有需要被宽恕的地方。 But it is imperative that we realize we have something in us that needs forgiving.
Kyrie过后，就是Gloria，这是一篇在我们礼仪传统中极其壮丽的祷文之一。 After the Kyrie, there comes the Gloria, which is one of the most magnificent prayers in our liturgical tradition.
从Gloria中几乎能读出整个公教神学，但我只集中谈它的 首句：「在天上荣耀归于神，在地上平安归于祂所喜悦的人。」 One could read out of the Gloria practically the whole of Catholic theology, but I will focus only on the first line: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of goodwill.
这是通往幸福生活的一种法则。 This is a kind of formula for a happy life.
当我们将最高的荣耀归给神，当祂对我们而言是至高的 价值时，我们的生命便能围绕这中心之爱而和谐有序。 When we give God the highest glory, when He is clearly the supreme value for us, then our lives become harmoniously ordered around that central love.
当神——而非享乐、金钱或权势——被尊为最高荣耀时，就可以在我们中间带来和平。 Peace, as it were, breaks out among us when God—and not pleasure, money, or power—is given glory in the highest.
我们所说的worship（敬拜）一词源于古英语的 “worthship”，意指我们所珍视的事物。 Our term worship comes from an older English word worthship, designating what we hold dear.
礼仪就是我们将敬拜付诸行动的场所，在这里我们用言语与举动 来展示对我们最珍贵的对象，这也因此成为和平的关键所在。 The liturgy is a place where we act out our worship, where we demonstrate by word and gesture what is of greatest worth to us, and this is why it is essential to peace.
在此情境下，重提亚里士多德会很有帮助。 It would be helpful in this context, once again, to invoke Aristotle.
这位伟大的哲学家指出，友谊之所以能持久，在于两位朋友 并不只是彼此相爱，而是共同爱上一位超越他们的第三者。 The great philosopher commented that a friendship will endure only in the measure that the two friends fall in love, not so much with each other, but together with a transcendent third.
当会众在诵念或唱诵Gloria时，他们便在表达共同对神荣耀 的爱；若亚里士多德的看法正确，这将加深他们彼此之间的友谊。 In saying or singing the Gloria, the gathered community is expressing their shared love of God's glory, and if Aristotle is right, this will deepen their friendship with one another.
「在地上平安归于祂所喜悦的人。」 “On earth, peace to people of goodwill.”
礼仪的下一个重要环节是宣读神的道，通常包括诵读旧约中的 选段，接着是十二书信中的一段，最后是一段福音书的选文。 The next major move in the liturgy is the proclamation of the Word of God, usually involving a reading from the Old Testament, a selection from one of the twelve epistles, and then a selection from one of the Gospels.
那么，我们为什么在礼仪中诵读这些经文呢？ Now, why do we read these texts at the liturgy?
我们之所以这样做，是为了进入圣经世界那独特的脉络之中。 We do so in order to be drawn into the peculiar texture of the biblical world.
J.R.R. 托尔金的名著《魔戒》，一开头 就以比尔博·巴金斯的生日宴会作了冗长描写。 J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, commences with a lengthy description of Bilbo Baggins' birthday party.
如果有人听说《魔戒》是一部惊险刺激的冒险故事，便难免会疑惑：剧情何时才正式展开？ Now, those who have been told that The Lord of the Rings is a rollicking adventure story might be forgiven for wondering when the action begins.
托尔金解释说，他必须先将读者带入他所创造的独特世界——其中 有巫师、精灵和兽人，也有其特有的地形、气候、习俗与语言。 Tolkien explained he had to draw his reader into the peculiar world that he was creating—one involving wizards, elves, and orcs; one with its own distinctive topography, weather, customs, and language.
同样地，我们也需要被带入那更加奇异的圣经世界之中。 In a similar way, we have to be drawn into the even stranger world of the Bible.
在前两段经文诵读完毕后，祭司起身宣读福音并宣讲。 After the first two readings, the priest rises to proclaim the Gospel and preach.
我先前提到，在礼仪中，祭司是以基督之尊位行事，而非以自己。 I mentioned earlier that the priest at the liturgy is acting in the person of Christ and not in his own person.
这种更深层身份的呈现，至少在原则上，在讲道时尤其明显。 This opening up of a deeper identity becomes especially clear, at least in principle, during the homily.
因为传讲者并非要传达他个人对于政治、文化，乃至宗教的私见。 For the preacher is not meant to share his private convictions about politics or culture or even religion.
他应当表达基督的心意。 He's supposed to speak the mind of Christ.
当然，他应当运用教会神学、灵修及圣经释义的一 切资源，并确实将经文应用到当代文化情境中。 To be sure, he ought to use all of the resources of the Church's theology, spirituality, and biblical interpretation, and he ought certainly to apply the Scriptures to the present cultural situation.
然而，他并非以自己的声音或出于个人见解发言。 But he's not speaking in his own voice or out of his own private convictions.
传讲者在顺服神的声音时，实际上找到了他最真实的声音 ；并在与基督的态度相符时，发现了自己最真实的态度。 The preacher, in surrendering to the divine voice, actually finds his own most authentic voice, and in conforming himself to the attitude of Christ, he discovers his own most authentic attitude.
当讲道结束后，信众起立诵念信经。 When the homily is complete, the people stand for the recitation of the Creed.
他们可以采用那古老且简短的《使徒信经》，但习惯上会诵念公元325 年尼西亚会议所产生的伟大信仰宣言。在诵读信经中这几句充满诗意的经 文——「由神所出，由光所出，真神出于真神，受生而非受造，与圣父同 体」——教会便重温了在一场古老斗争中的胜利：对抗亚略的斗争。 They can use the ancient and simple formula called the Apostles' Creed, but customarily they pray the great statement of faith which emerged from the Council of Nicaea in 325. In reciting these lyrical lines from the Creed—God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father—the Church rehearses its victory in a very ancient struggle: the struggle against Arius.
亚略是第四世纪亚历山大教会的一位祭司，他否认耶稣完全具有神性。 Arius was a 4th-century priest of the Church of Alexandria who had denied the full divinity of Jesus.
「同体」或「同一本体」，这些是希腊文homoousios的英文翻译，这 是尼西亚会议使用的专门术语，用来表达耶稣与圣父完全共享神性这一事实。 Consubstantial, one in being, those are English renderings of the Greek word homoousios, a technical term used at Nicaea to express the fact that Jesus shares fully in the divinity of the Father.
尼西亚会议与会者意识到，这是关乎基督信仰存亡的关键。 What they sensed at Nicaea was that this was a standing or falling point for Christianity.
若是否认了耶稣的神性，基督信仰很快就会沦为另一种神话或道德体系。 If the divinity of Jesus is denied, Christianity devolves in short order into one more mythology or moral system.
令我感动的是，一千七百年后的今天，教会仍在每个主日中起立，再次宣告对亚略的胜利。 What I find so moving is that 1,700 years later, Sunday after Sunday, the Church rises to declare once again the victory over Arius.
信经开篇的宣告「我信唯一的神」本身就带有一种正当的颠覆性，因为它排除了任 何其他僭越绝对地位的事物，无论是国家、文化、政党，或是富有魅力的领袖。 There is something properly subversive about the opening declaration of the Creed: I believe in one God, since it precludes any other pretender to ultimacy, be it country, culture, political party, or charismatic leader.
因此，那些宣示自己相信这位独一之神的人，便坚决对所有古今偶像崇拜说「不」。 Hence, those who state their faith in the one God are standing resolutely athwart all forms of idolatry, both ancient and contemporary.
当信经诵读完毕后，团体便为生者与亡者献上祈祷。 When the recitation of the Creed is over, the community offers prayers for the living and the dead.
这些「信众祈祷」在礼仪中的名称，充分体现了基 督奥秘之身体各肢体之间不可分割的相互依赖。 These prayers of the faithful, to give them their liturgical name, are expressive of the inescapable interdependence of the members of Christ's mystical body.
我们为彼此祈祷，正是因为我们互相关联，借着基督的最深纽带紧密相连。 We pray for one another precisely because we are implicated in one another, connected by the deepest bonds in Christ.
一个肢体无法理直气壮地对另一个肢体说：「你的事 不关我」，因为我们并非俱乐部，而是一个有机体。 One member of the body cannot coherently say to another, Your concern is not mine, for we are not a club, but an organism.
当我们诵读信经时以行动表达信仰，也就展现了我们奥秘的身份。 As we act out our faith in reciting the Creed, so we act out our mystical identity.
当我们以信众祈祷彼此代求时，弥撒的第一部分——称为「圣道礼 仪」——便告一段落，随后第二部分——「圣餐礼仪」——开始。 As we pray for one another with the prayers of the faithful, the first part of the Mass, called the Liturgy of the Word, comes to an end and the second part, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, commences.
在此刻，如果将弥撒视为一种相会，也许会有所裨益。 It might be helpful at this juncture to think of the Mass as a kind of encounter.
在大多数文化中，也包括我们自身文化，与他人隆重会面 通常包含两项基本步骤：首先是交谈，其次是一起用餐。 In most cultures, very much including our own, a formal encounter with another person usually involves two basic moves: first, conversation; secondly, a meal.
想想宴会、聚会或招待会。 Think of a banquet, a party, or a reception.
我们先迎接宾客，与他们畅谈许久，然后才一起坐下用餐。 We receive our guests, and we spend a substantial amount of time talking to them, and then we sit down to eat.
但弥撒究竟是什么？不就是与基督的相会吗？ But what is the Mass but an encounter with Christ?
这是在礼仪化的形式中与主共处，因此我们在「圣道礼仪」中遵循两个基本步骤。 It’s a formal and ritualized staying with the Lord, and so we follow the two basic moves in the Liturgy of the Word.
我们先聆听祂借着圣经向我们说话。 We listen as He speaks to us in the Scriptures.
接着，我们用歌声和回应与祂对话；我们彼此交流。 Then in our songs and responses, we speak back to Him; we converse.
随后，在「圣餐礼仪」中，我们一起用祂亲自为我们预备的筵席。 And then in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we sit down to eat at a meal that He Himself prepares for us.
根据圣经的基本原则，在一个堕落的世界里，没有牺牲就无法获得共融。 A fundamental biblical principle is that in a world gone wrong, there is no communion without sacrifice.
之所以如此，是因为罪使我们走样，因此与神亲近就会包含把我 们扭转回正位的过程——这是一次痛苦的调整，也是一种牺牲。 This is true because sin has twisted us out of shape, and therefore intimacy with God will involve a twisting back into shape—a painful realignment, a sacrifice.
在祭献牲畜的仪式中，人会取走神创造物中的一个小部分，将它 奉还给造物的源头，以此表达对自身存在与世界存在的感恩。 In an animal sacrifice, a person took one small aspect of God's creation and returned it to its source in order to signal his gratitude for the gift of his own existence and indeed the existence of the world.
要知道，神并不需要这些祭献；祂毫无缺乏。 Mind you, God has no need of these sacrifices; God has no need of anything at all.
重点在于我们自己需要祭献，使我们恢复秩序，进而与神重建共融。 The point is that we need sacrifice in order to reorder us and thereby restore communion with God.
那献给神的祭物可以说在祂完全自足的磐石上破碎，再回流到献祭者那里，使其受益。 What is given back to God, sacrificed to Him, breaks, so to speak, against the rock of the divine self-sufficiency and returns for the benefit of the one who has made the offering.
祭献带来共融。 Sacrifice produces communion.
这正是支撑「圣餐礼仪」的重要内在逻辑。 This is the distinctive logic that undergirds the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
当弥撒进入第二部分时，会将少量的饼、酒和水带到祭台前，让祭司献给神。 At the commencement of the second part of the Mass, small offerings of bread, wine, and water are brought forward so that the priest can offer them to God.
提到饼与酒，就暗示着小麦与葡萄藤；提到小麦和葡 萄藤，则进一步代表着大地、土壤、水、风与阳光。 To say bread and wine is to imply wheat and vine, and to say wheat and vine is to imply earth, soil, water, wind, and sunshine.
说到大地、土壤、水与风，更是暗示着整个太阳系，甚至整个宇宙。 To say earth, soil, water, and wind is to imply the solar system and indeed the cosmos itself.
因此，这些微小的礼物在象征上代表了整个受造界。 The tiny gifts are therefore symbolically representative of the entirety of creation.
祭司接过这些礼物时，诵念Barakah祈祷：「你是应当称颂的，创造万 物的主，我主，因着你的良善，我们领受了这些饼和酒，并将它们献给你。」 Taking these gifts in hand, the priest speaks the Barakah prayer: Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation, for through Your goodness we have received the bread and wine we offer You.
那些献给无所缺乏之神的饼与酒，将以耶稣的身 体与宝血之尊位回返给献上者，被无限地升华。 The bread and wine offered to the God who doesn't need them will return to the offerers immeasurably elevated as the Body and Blood of Jesus.
Barakah祈祷结束后，祭司继续进行弥撒的高潮祈祷— —圣餐祈祷。在此过程中，基督真实、真切且实质地临在。 After the Barakah, the priest moves into the climactic prayer of the Mass: the Eucharistic Prayer, in the course of which Christ becomes really, truly, and substantially present.
在正式祈祷开始前，他号召天上会众的歌声：「因此 ，我们同天使及众圣一起，同声宣扬你的荣耀。」 Just before the beginning of the prayer proper, he invokes the song of the heavenly community: And so, with the angels and all the saints, we declare Your glory, as with one voice we acclaim.
必须明白，这并不只是虔敬的装饰。 It's most important to see that this is not simply a bit of pious decoration.
我提到过，地上的弥撒与天上的永恒礼仪相连——天使与圣徒的颂扬。 I mentioned that the Mass on earth links us to the eternal liturgy of heaven, the praise of the angels and saints.
因此，当聚集的人同声唱道：「圣哉！圣哉！圣哉！万军之主！你的荣 耀充满天地，愿在至高之处和散那！」时，他们就如同天使与众圣一样 ，在至高处把荣耀归给神，真实地实现了神所愿意赐给他们的合一。 Therefore, as the gathered people sing, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Your glory; Hosanna in the highest, they are like the angels and saints giving glory to God in the highest and hence actually realizing the unity that God desires for them.
这篇祈祷本身则始于向三位一体的神表达感恩，感谢祂在创造与救赎中的浩大 恩典：「主啊，你确是神圣，你所造的一切都当赞美你；因为藉着你的圣子， 我们的主耶稣基督，在圣灵的大能与运行下，你赐万物生命，并使之成圣。」 The prayer itself commences with a word of gratitude to the Trinitarian God for the sheer grace of His creation and redemption: You are indeed holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise; for through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy.
接着，他恳求圣父降下圣灵，使饼与酒成圣并转变。 He then beckons the Father to send down the Holy Spirit for the sanctification and transformation of the bread and wine.
「因此，主啊，我们恳切祈求你，藉同一位圣灵的恩典，使我们呈奉给你为祝 圣的礼品成圣，好使它们成为你圣子、我们的主耶稣基督的身体与宝血。」 Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
随后，他继续诵念所谓的「建制叙述」，也就是简要 呈现福音中耶稣在最后晚餐时所言所行的部分记载。 He then continues with what is termed the Institution Narrative, which is to say an abbreviated form of the Gospel account of what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper.
他回忆耶稣如何拿起饼并祝谢，接着从第三人称陈述转为直接引用耶 稣的话：「你们大家拿去吃，这就是我的身体，将为你们而舍。」 He recalls how Jesus took bread and gave thanks, and then he moves from third-person description to direct quotation, speaking the very words of Jesus: Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body which will be given up for you.
对于酒爵也是如此：祭司先叙述耶稣如何祝谢并将酒爵递给门徒，然后再转为第一人称引 用：「这是我的血杯，是我为你们和众人所立的新而永久的约，将为赦免罪而倾流。」 The priest does just the same in regard to the cup of wine, first recounting how Jesus gave thanks and passed the chalice to his disciples, and then moving into first-person quotation: This is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of a new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
教会的信仰认为，靠着这些话语的能力，饼与酒转变成了基督的身体与宝血。 The faith of the Church is that, by the power of these words, the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ.
耶稣以圣餐外形真实、真切且实质地临在于祂的子民当中。 Jesus becomes really, truly, and substantially present to His people under the appearance of the Eucharistic elements.
我现在所在之处，是一座建于四世纪的会堂遗迹。 I'm standing in the ruins of a 4th-century synagogue.
这座会堂兴建于迦百农会堂的旧址，就在耶稣亲自教导的地方。 It was built on the site of the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus Himself taught.
在祂行了五饼二鱼的奇迹并步行海面之后，耶稣就来到了这里。 After the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, after walking across the sea, He came here.
众人跟随祂，祂说：「不要为那会坏的食物劳力，要为存到永生的食物劳力。」 The people followed Him, and He said, Don't seek for bread that perishes, but seek for the food that lasts unto eternal life.
接着又说：「我就是从天上降下来的生命的粮；我的肉是为世人的生命而赐的食粮。」 And then He said, I myself am the living bread come down from heaven; my flesh is food for the life of the world.
对第一世纪的犹太人而言，他们几乎难以想象还有 比这更触及神学争议、甚至更令人反感的话了。 Well, it would be hard to imagine anything that was more theologically problematic—and if I can be blunt, more disgusting—for a first-century Jew than those words.
在整本旧约中，多次强调不可吃带血的动物肉。 Throughout the Old Testament, there are prohibitions against the eating of an animal's flesh with blood.
现在，一个人却宣称：「我要你们吃我的身体、喝我的血。」 Here’s a human being saying, I want you to eat my body and drink my blood.
当他们提出抗议（确实如此）时，耶稣大可以顺势让话语更 具灵意、更带比喻性，好让人明白「其实我在打比方」。 When they protest, as they did, Jesus had every opportunity to render His language more spiritual, more metaphorical—to say, Well, what I mean is something very symbolic.
但祂没有这样做。祂说：「我实实在在地告诉你们，你们若 不吃人子的肉，不喝人子的血，就没有生命在你们里面。」 He didn’t. He said, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
希腊原文的用词很有意思；祂使用了「trogēn」这个词，而不是「phagēn」。 And the words in Greek are interesting; He used the word trogein, not phagein.
「phagēn」是人类进食的常用字；「trog ēn」则更像动物在啃食时的动作，类似“咀嚼”。 Phagēn is the usual word for human beings eating; trogēn was the way an animal would eat, like nongen.
「若不这样咀嚼人子的肉，并喝祂的血……」 Unless you gnaw on the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood.
换言之，人们若反对其中的肉身写实，耶稣就越发强化这个观念。 In other words, when they object to the physical realism of it, He intensifies it.
经文记载，很多门徒退去了；因为这教训让他们难以忍受。 It says that many of His disciples went away; that teaching was too much to bear.
于是，祂转向自己最亲近的那十二门徒，问道：「你们也要离开我吗？」 He turned to His own inner circle, the Twelve, and He asks, Are you going to leave me too?
似乎对于我们公教会所说的「耶稣在圣餐中的真实 临在」，这一教导已经成为能否继续跟随的关键。 It’s as though this teaching of what we in the Catholic Church call the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a standing or falling point.
自那时起，从祂在此的宣讲直到今日，它一直都是分野的焦点。 It has been from that moment, from this sermon here to today, a dividing point.
于是彼得发言说：「主啊，我们还归从谁呢？」 It’s Peter who speaks up: Lord, to whom shall we go?
「你有永生之道。」 You have the words of everlasting life.
彼得承认了圣餐真实临在的真理，此后教会便追随他一直走到如今。 Peter confesses the truth of the Real Presence, and the Church has followed him ever since.
在公元1263年，有一位名为「布拉格的彼得」的祭司正前往罗马朝圣。 In 1263, a priest named Peter of Prague was making his way to Rome on pilgrimage.
他在意大利小镇博尔塞纳停留，准备举行弥撒。 He stopped in a little Italian town of Bolsena to celebrate Mass.
当时，布拉格的彼得对于教会所宣讲的圣餐中耶稣真实临在的教义心存疑虑。 Now, Peter of Prague had been entertaining doubts about the Church's doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
就在祝圣的话语说完后，圣体流出了血，滴到他的手上，又流到祭台的祭布上。 Just after the words of consecration, blood began to run from the host onto his hands and down onto the corporal on the altar.
他因此惊慌失措，径直来到奥尔维耶托，见到当时 的教宗乌尔班四世，并向他忏悔了自己的不信。 So confused was he that he came directly to Orvieto, where the Pope was—Pope Urban IV. He confessed his sin of unbelief.
教宗立刻派人前往博尔塞纳取证，他们带回了被血渍染透的祭布。 The Pope sent a delegation immediately back to Bolsena; they returned with the corporal stained with that blood.
它如今就陈列在我身后的这个地方。 You can see it right here behind me.
乌尔班四世深受感动，于是设立了一个新的教会庆日，即「耶稣圣体圣血节」。 The Pope was so impressed that he inaugurated a new feast in the Church called Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ.
他于是吩咐当时随侍在奥尔维耶托的一位道明会会 士圣托马斯阿奎那，为这个庆日撰写礼仪经文。 He turned to a Dominican friar who was in his entourage here in Orvieto, Thomas Aquinas, and asked him to compose an office for the feast.
也就是一系列的祷词与圣歌。 That means a series of prayers and hymns.
圣托马斯阿奎那创作出了一部中世纪最美丽的诗文作品之一。 Thomas responded with one of the most beautiful poetic works of the Middle Ages.
我们至今仍在唱其中的名篇，如Tantum Ergo和Ador o Te Devote，出自那篇耶稣圣体圣血节的礼仪诗文。 We still sing these great hymns, Tantum Ergo, Adoro Te Devote, from that office of Corpus Christi.
圣托马斯阿奎那非常热爱圣餐；他每天亲自举行弥撒，随后还会紧接着协助另一台弥撒。 Thomas Aquinas loved the Eucharist; he said Mass every day, then immediately after he would assist at a second Mass.
据说他很少能在礼仪中不潸然泪下，因为他与这圣餐的奥秘如此息息相通。 It’s said he rarely got through the liturgy without copious tears, so identified was he with the Eucharistic mystery.
有人说，当圣托马斯遇到学术难题时，他会走进圣体柜，靠着它将头贴上，恳求灵感。 They say when Thomas was struggling with an intellectual issue, he’d go into the tabernacle, rest his head against it, and beg for inspiration.
在他生命的晚期，他撰写了一篇关于圣餐的杰出论文。 Toward the end of his life, he wrote a wonderful treatise on the Eucharist.
完稿后，他仍然觉得无法充分表达这神圣奥秘，便把文章放在十字架前祈祷。 When he finished, he was still unconvinced that he had done justice to this great sacrament, so he placed the text at the foot of the Cross and prayed.
此时，十字架上传来声音：「Bene scriptisti de me。」 A voice came from the Cross: Bene scriptisti de me.
圣托马斯当然听见耶稣用拉丁文说话。 Thomas, of course, heard Jesus speaking Latin.
「托马斯，你写得好。」 You’ve written well of me, Thomas.
「你想要什么奖赏？」 What would you have as a reward?
圣托马斯答道：「Nil nisi te」，也就是「除了你，我什么都不要。」 Aquinas responded, Nil nisi te, meaning, I will have nothing except You.
在那篇放在十字架前的论文中，圣托马斯以「实体转变」的角度探讨了圣餐。 In that treatise that he placed at the foot of the Cross, Thomas discussed the Eucharist under the rubric of transubstantiation.
他指出，在祝圣时，饼的全实体转变为基督的身体，酒的全实 体转变为基督的宝血，即使饼和酒的外观性质依然保持不变。 He said that at the consecration, the total substance of the bread becomes the substance of the Body of Christ; the total substance of the wine becomes the substance of the Blood of Christ, even as the accidents of bread and wine remain unchanged.
若这些术语听起来有些生疏，简单说就是「本质」与「外观」。 If those terms seem odd to us, we could very legitimately translate them simply as this: reality and appearance.
饼与酒最深处的本质变成了基督的身体与宝血，然而饼与酒的外观仍然保持不变。 The deepest reality of the bread and wine changes into the Body and Blood of Christ, even as the appearance of the bread and wine remains unchanged.
其实，古今世界的哲学都曾讨论过外观与本质之间的区别。 You know that distinction between appearance and reality is referenced in the philosophies of the world, both ancient and modern.
这同时也是我们日常经验的一部分。 It’s also part of our common experience.
大多数时候，外观与本质是重合的；事物看起来怎样，实际上也就是怎样。 Most often, appearance and reality coincide; things are as they seem.
然而，我们都知道事实并非总是如此。 But we all know that’s not always the case.
当你在一个晴朗的冬夜仰望天空时，好像能看到所有的星星。 You look up into the sky on a clear winter's night, and you seem to see all the stars.
实际上，你所看到的其实是过去的景象；那道光历经长久才到达你的眼睛。 Well, we know in fact that you’re looking back into the past; it’s taken that long for that light to reach your eyes.
你并不是在看当下正存在的星星，而是在看那些曾经存在的星星。 You’re not looking at the stars that are there but the stars that were there.
外观与本质并不相同。 Appearance and reality are different.
从表面看，太阳似乎每天穿越天空，但我们知道事实并非如此。外观与本质并不一致。 It certainly seems as though the sun moves across the sky, but we know in fact it doesn’t. Appearance and reality don’t come together.
再举个更心理层面的例子：你或许遇见一个人，对他第一印象极差。 Use a more psychological example: you might meet somebody, and he gives a very bad first impression.
你会说：「我不喜欢他。」但更了解他的人则会说 ：「我知道他看上去是那样，可实际上不然。」 You say, I don’t like him, but someone who knows him better says, I know he seems that way, but he really is different.
外观与本质并不总是相符的。 Appearance and reality don’t always coincide.
因此，教会说，在圣餐的情形下，看似普通的饼与酒，其本质层面上其实已经转变。 And so the Church says that in the case of the Eucharist, what appears to be ordinary bread and wine has, in fact, changed at the deepest level of its reality.
我已经说明了这一区分，但你仍可能会好奇，这究竟是如何发生的？ Now, I’ve made that distinction, but you still might wonder, how does this happen?
先来思考一下语言本身的力量。 Consider for a moment the power of words.
语言不仅可以描述现实；在合适的情境下，语言还能改变现实。 Words not only describe reality; words, under the right circumstances, can change reality.
假设我在派对上走向你，对你说：「你被捕了。」 Suppose I walked up to you at a party and said, You’re under arrest.
你大概会觉得我在开玩笑；这些话对你并无约束力。 Well, you’d assume I was telling a joke; those words have no power over you.
可如果是一位依法被授权的执法官员对你说：「你被捕了。」 But suppose a properly deputized officer of the law said to you, You’re under arrest.
那么，无论你是否愿意，无论你有罪或无罪，你确实就被逮捕了。 Well, whether you like it or not, whether you’re guilty or innocent, you are in fact under arrest.
这些话语改变了现实。 Those words have changed reality.
再想象你在瑞格利球场观看一场棒球比赛。 Suppose you’re at Wrigley Field watching a baseball game.
其中一名小熊队球员绕过二垒，头朝前滑向三垒。 One of the Cubs comes around second base; he slides head first into third.
你就在看台上，大喊：「安全上垒！」 You’re there in the stands and you say, Safe.
这样会改变现实吗？ Does that change reality?
一点都不会；这只表达了你的看法。 Not at all; it just expresses your opinion.
可是在你面前却有一位身着制服并获授权的国家联盟裁判。 But right in front of you is a uniformed and deputized umpire of the National League.
他宣布：「你出局了。」 He says, You’re out.
不管你是否愿意，或那名球员是否接受，他事实上确实被判出局。 Whether you like it or not, whether the player likes it or not, he is in fact out.
裁判的那句话已经改变了现实。 Those words of the umpire have changed reality.
那只是我们人类微不足道的言语。 Those are our puny human words.
现在来想想圣经中神的道。 Now consider God’s Word in the Bible.
神借着祂的话语创造万物：「要有光，就有了光；要有大地，大地便出现了。」 God creates through the power of His Word: Let there be light, and there was light; Let the earth come forth, and it came forth.
神的话语不只是叙述而已；祂所说的，必然成就。 God’s Word does not just describe; it affects what it says.
在先知以赛亚书里，我们读到：「雨雪从天而降，并不返回，却滋润了地， 同样，我口所出的话也必如此，不会徒然返回，却要成就我所喜悦的事。」 In the prophet Isaiah, we find this: As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, so my Word goes forth from me and does not return without accomplishing its purpose.
神的道就是如此运行。 That’s how it works with the divine Word.
那么，耶稣是谁呢？ Now, who is Jesus?
祂并不是众多人物或先知当中的一个，而是神的道成了肉身。 Not one figure among many, not one in a long line of prophets; Jesus is the very Logos, the very Word of God made flesh.
神用乃是同一的道创造了整个宇宙，这道在耶稣身上 亲自临在；因此，当耶稣说：「拉撒路，出来！」 The same Word by which God makes the whole cosmos becomes personally present in Jesus, and therefore what Jesus says is, Lazarus, come out!
那人就出来了；「闺女，起来吧！」 and he came out; Little girl, get up!
那死去的女孩便起来；「孩子，你的罪被赦了」，而神确实赦免了她的罪。 and the dead girl gets up; My son, your sins are forgiven, and by God, they’re forgiven.
耶稣也说过：在祂去世前的那一夜，祂拿起饼，说：「这是我的身体，将为你们而舍。」 What Jesus says is, the night before He died, He took bread and said, This is my Body which will be given up for you.
又拿起杯说：「这是我的血杯。」 He took the cup and said, This is the cup of my Blood.
耶稣的话语就是神的道，不只是描述而已，而是在最根本的层面成就、创造并且改变现实。 Jesus' Word is the divine Word that does not simply describe, but rather affects, creates, and changes reality in the most radical sense.
当祭司诵念祝圣的话语时，他并不是用自己的话，而是用基 督那充满大能的神圣话语，能够深刻地影响并改变现实。 When the priest pronounces the words of consecration, he’s not using his own words; he’s using those divine words of Christ, which can affect reality and change reality most profoundly.
在她写作生涯的早期，弗兰纳里·欧康纳——我认为她后来成为二十世纪最 杰出的公教小说家——曾与玛丽·麦卡锡和一群纽约知识分子共进晚餐。 At the very beginning of her career, Flannery O’Connor—who would develop into, I think, the greatest Catholic fiction writer of the 20th century—sat down at dinner with Mary McCarthy and a group of other New York intellectuals.
欧康纳当时紧张万分，几乎说不出话来。 She was so overwhelmed that she barely said a word.
玛丽·麦卡锡或许出于同情，便就圣餐说了几句恭维话，因为她知道欧康纳是公教徒。 Mary McCarthy, probably feeling sorry for her, made a few nice remarks about the Eucharist, knowing O’Connor was a Catholic.
她说：「这是一个非常有力量的象征。」 She said, It’s a very powerful symbol.
欧康纳抬起头来，声音颤抖地说：「如果它只是一种象征，那我才不屑一顾呢。」 O’Connor looked up and, in a shaky voice, she said, Well, if it’s only a symbol, I say to hell with it.
我无法想象有比这更精辟的总结，来说明公教关于耶稣真实临在的教义。 I can’t imagine a better summary of the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence.
在圣餐祈祷结束时，以饼和酒之形真实临在的耶稣，被当作一位活祭献给圣父。 At the close of the Eucharistic Prayer, the Jesus who is really present under the forms of bread and wine is offered as a living sacrifice to the Father.
祭司举起这些祭品，祈祷说：「因祂、同祂、在祂内，万能的圣父 啊！在圣灵的合一中，一切荣耀和尊贵都是你的，直到永远。」 Lifting up the elements, the priest prays, Through Him and with Him and in Him, O God Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours forever and ever.
此刻，公教祭司宛如进入至圣所，他所行的与古时大祭司在赎罪日于圣殿所做的相似。 At this moment, the Catholic priest is in the true Holy of Holies, and what he does is analogous to what the high priest did in the Temple on the Day of Atonement.
古时候，大祭司进入至圣所，在那里为百姓献上祭牲给耶和华。 In ancient times, the priest would enter the Holy of Holies, and there he would sacrifice an animal to Yahweh on behalf of all the people.
然后，他会在至圣所里洒上一部分血，其余的血盛在碗里带 出来，洒在百姓身上，以此建立神与整个民族之间的血契。 Then he would sprinkle some of the blood around the interior of the sanctuary, and the rest he would bring out in a bowl and sprinkle on the people, sealing thereby a kind of blood bond between God and the nation.
在弥撒的高潮时，公教司祭奉献给圣父的并非公牛与山羊的血，而是无比宝贵的基督宝血。 The Catholic priest, at the climax of the Mass, offers to the Father not the blood of bulls and goats but the blood of Christ, beyond all price.
由于圣父无所缺乏，那祭献便完全成了我们的好处。 Since the Father has no need of anything, that sacrifice redounds completely to our benefit.
若我们的困境始于一场糟糕的「用餐」——即摘取分辨善恶树上的果子——那么，我 们的救赎就借着一场恰当的宴席而完成：神以祂自己的身体与宝血来喂养祂的子民。 If our troubles began with a bad meal—seizing at the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—our redemption is effected through a properly constituted meal, God feeding His people with His own Body and Blood.
当会众领受圣餐并献上感谢之后，他们就被祝福并被差遣。 After the congregation has communed and given thanks, they are blessed and sent.
祭司宣告：「弥撒礼成，你们可以平安离去了。」 The priest says, Go forth, the Mass has ended.
人们常说，在祝圣的经文之后，这句话可以说是整台弥撒中最神圣的话。 It’s been said that after the words of consecration, these are the most sacred words of the entire Mass.
现今众人已聚成一个家庭，聆听了神的道，宣认了信仰，为彼此 代祷，并向圣父献上祭礼，且领受了耶稣的身体与宝血。至少在 原则上，他们已更妥善地被塑造，也准备好走出去改变世界。 Now that the people have gathered as one family, heard the word of God, professed their faith, prayed for one another, offered sacrifice to the Father, and received the Body and Blood of Jesus, they are at least in principle more properly formed and hence ready to go out to effect the transformation of the world.
在傅尔顿·辛默想三博士来朝圣婴的故事时，他指出：那三位王走了漫长的路程，经受 了希律王的阻扰，找到了婴孩，向祂献上珍宝，最终受到天使警告后，便绕道返回。 In his meditations on the story of the visit of the Magi, Fulton Sheen indicated that the three kings, having traversed a great distance, having withstood opposition from King Herod, having found the baby, having opened their treasures for Him, and finally having been warned by an angel, went home by a different route.
当然如此。 Of course they did.
他总结说，因为没有人来到基督面前后还照原路回去。 He concluded, for no one comes to Christ and goes back the same way he came.
礼仪是一种与主特殊的共融。 The liturgy is a privileged communion with the Lord.
它是基督徒生活的泉源与高峰，因此凡参与的人都不会空手而归，也不会照原路回去。 It is the source and summit of the Christian life, and therefore those who participate in it never leave unchanged; they never go back the same way they came.