我今天想先问一个简单的问题：性别重要吗？ I'd like to begin today by asking a simple question: Does gender matter?
性别重要吗？ Does gender matter?
许多后现代学者声称，性别真的是一条模糊的界限吗？ Is it really the blurry line that many postmodern scholars proclaim it to be?
性别真的只是一种滑溜而难以界定的东西吗？ Is gender something simply that is slippery and difficult to identify?
「男性」和「女性」这两个词是不是已经过时，会把人太过分地限制住？ Are the words male and female old words that box people in too tightly?
性别难道不是真正令人困惑吗？ Isn't gender actually really confusing?
这就是为什么如今在我们的各所大学里都需要所谓的「性别研究」专业吗？ And isn't that why we need at all of our colleges today the major known as gender studies?
如今许多人提出了这样的问题，而我们必须非常紧要地了解公教会对此的立场。 Many people ask such questions today, and it is critically important and critically urgent that we understand where the Church comes down on this.
我们正处于一个危机时期；我想我们都可以坦然承认这一点。 We are in a period of crisis; I think we are all safe in admitting that.
而且这场危机或许与我们历史上所经历的任何危机都迥然不同。 And this crisis is perhaps unlike any other that we've ever faced in history before.
这就像我们正乘坐一架老旧又摇摇欲坠的飞机，飞机开始震动，零件也在开始脱落。 It seems like we are flying in an old and rickety airplane, and the plane is starting to shake, and pieces of the plane are starting to fly off.
看起来一切都在各个方面分崩离析。 It looks like things are coming apart in all directions.
因此，我想向各位提出一个观点：在这场危机之中，我们 的世界急需的一样东西，就是公教基督徒的男子气概。 I want to propose to you then that something that our world is desperately in need of in the midst of this crisis is Catholic Christian masculinity.
但那究竟是什么？ But what is that?
公教会对于男子气概有什么论述？ What does the Church have to say about masculinity?
虽然性别学者认为性别只是一种生理上的差别，然而公教会实际上非常明确， 本笃教宗最近提醒了主教们，性别不仅是生理的，也包括心理和灵性层面。 While the gender scientists say that gender is really just an anatomical difference, the Church is actually very clear that Pope Benedict just recently reminded the bishops that gender isn't just physical, but it is also psychological and spiritual.
教宗还指出，它也涉及本体层面。 It is also, the Pope notes, ontological.
这意味着它触及我的存在核心。 That means it goes to the core of who I am.
我的男子气概就在我存在的每一根纤维里；它是我的核心所在。 My masculinity is in the very fiber of my being; it's at my core.
公教会说，如果我试图否认这一点，那么一切都会严重出错。 If I try to deny that, the Church says, then things will go terribly awry.
作为公教徒，我们有一个如今备受嘲讽的概念，称为「自然律」。 As Catholics, we have this idea that is roundly mocked today called the natural law.
自然律认为万物都有其本性，如果违背了本性，就会招致祸患。 The natural law says that things are made with a nature, and if things try to deny their nature, disaster will ensue.
比方说，如果我把核电厂当作燃煤发电厂来运转，就会发生核灾。 For example, if I try to run a nuclear power plant like it runs on coal, there will be a nuclear meltdown.
如果我试图用救生筏当降落伞，我会直接摔到地面上。 If I try to use a raft as a parachute, I will hit the ground.
如果我试图用降落伞去冲击 5 级急流，我会丧命。 If I try to use a parachute to navigate class 5 rapids, I will die.
在灵性的层面，我们也同样遵循自然律，被造来成为神的儿女。 In the spiritual realm, we are also, along with that same idea of natural law, made to be children of God.
这是我们的本性。 It is in our nature.
如果我们试图否认这一点，就会变得不快乐。 If we try to deny that, we become unhappy.
性行为本质上是敞开地接纳生命的。 Sex is by its nature open to life.
当我们进行不敞开生命的性行为时，一切就会失衡。 When we engage in sex not open to life, things break down.
如果我是男人，却试图反抗自己的天生身份，那么灾祸也会紧随而至。 If I am a man but I try to rebel against what I am made, then disaster will follow shortly behind as well.
自然律指出，万物皆有其本性，如果不按照这本性来使用或行事，就会招致祸患。 The natural law states that things have a nature, and if they are not used according to that nature or they do not operate in accord with that nature, disaster will ensue.
审视这个男子气概的概念时，公教会是如何理解的呢？ Looking at this idea then of masculinity, how has it been understood in the mind of the Church?
有一个词能够概括公教会对男子气概的理解：牺牲。 There is one word that sums up the Church's understanding of masculinity: sacrifice.
我最喜欢的电影有「光荣」、「老爷车」、「指环王三 部曲」、「黑暗骑士」、「不死劫」以及「角斗士」。 My favorite movies are Glory, Gran Torino, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight, Unbreakable, and Gladiator.
这些电影都有一个什么共同点？ What do all of those films have in common?
我认为大多数男人都会认同或会列入最爱前五名的电影就是这些，而大多 数男人认同的东西，都以牺牲为核心，不论是为了家庭还是为了国家。 The films that I think most men identify with or would list in their top five favorites are those movies, and those things that most men identify with have at their core the idea of sacrifice, whether it's for family or for country.
牺牲正是大多数男人所认同的核心。 Sacrifice is at the heart of what most men identify with.
就如公教会所言，这似乎被铭刻在我们存在的每一根纤维里。 It's as if, as the Church says, it's written in the very fiber of our being.
男人也认同运动、工具和打斗，而这些事物的核 心都包含牺牲的概念：保护、守卫受托之人。 Guys also identify with sports and tools and fighting, and all of these have at their core the idea of sacrifice: protection, defending those placed in their care.
我们身为男人，生来就注定要如此，也生来就注定要牺牲。 We as men are hardwired for these things, and we are hardwired for sacrifice.
按照自然律，男人应当关注牺牲、守护，以及奉献自我。 It is the natural law for men to be concerned with sacrifice, with protection, with giving of oneself.
若望保禄二世教宗指出，当男人观察自己的身体时， 我们的性器官就是为了将自己奉献给女性而设计的。 Pope John Paul II notes that we see this when men look at their physical bodies, that our sexual organs are geared towards giving of ourselves to women.
然而，这不仅仅是身体上的特征；同样，它也在我们存在的每根纤维上留下烙印。 But again, that is not just simply an anatomical feature; again, it defines itself as the very fiber of our being.
我们被造就是为了将自己奉献给他人，并作出牺牲。 We are made to give of ourselves to others and to sacrifice.
因此，我们蒙召去牺牲，可是就像我被召唤去做的任何事情一样，我必须选择牺牲。 We are called to be sacrificial then, but as with anything I am called to, I have to choose it.
我蒙召成为神的儿女，但我必须选择跟随他。 I am called to be a child of God, but I have to choose to follow Him.
神呼召我保持纯洁，但我必须选择活出纯洁。 God calls me to be pure, but I have to choose to be pure.
神呼召我去敬拜他，但我必须选择前去敬拜他。 God calls me to worship Him, but I have to choose to go and worship Him.
神呼召我成为一个男人，并在我存在的深处写下 我所需的一切，但我仍需选择去活出这一点。 God calls me to be a man and has written on me at the depth of my being everything I need to do so, but I have to choose to live it.
人类是唯一能低于自己被造目的的受造物。 Human beings are the only things created that can be less than what they are created to be.
蚂蚁无法选择放弃它作为蚂蚁的属性，转而成为 土豚或松鼠；树、鱼或行星也都是同样的道理。 An ant can't choose to forsake its ant-ness and decide to be an aardvark or a squirrel, and the same goes for trees and fish and the planets.
它们就是它们。 They are what they are.
而我们，则可以付诸行动去实现我们心中所写下的东西，也可以选择背弃它。 We, on the other hand, can either put into action what is written on our hearts or we can forsake what is written on our hearts.
我们可以成为原本应有的样子的影子。 We can be shadows of what we are supposed to be.
我们身为男人，心中铭刻着要牺牲的召唤，但我们可以选择无视它。 We have a call that is inscribed on our hearts as men to sacrifice, but we can choose to ignore that call.
因此，在当今社会中，我们看到有些人失去了活出那份加诸于他们身上的男子气概召唤。 Part of what we see then in our society today is a loss of people living out that call to masculinity that has been placed upon them.
我们看到人们要么不愿意、要么逃避牺牲，而是走向两个相反的极 端。这两个极端都是我们被召唤的男子气概和牺牲的虚假替代品。 We see an unwillingness or a shying away from sacrifice and instead either toward one of two opposites, both of them extremes, both of them shadows and, in fact, counterfeits of the masculinity and the sacrifice that we are called to.
有些人会选择一个极端来逃避真正的男子气概，这个极端就是支配：包括身体 虐待、只顾自身性欲而不顾女性需求，也不关心治理下的人是否得以成全。 Some will choose one extreme in an attempt to flee from authentic masculinity, and that extreme is towards that of domination: physical abuse, sexually only being concerned with one's pleasure as opposed to considering the needs of the woman, a lack of building up of those placed under one's care.
这些都是属于一种虚假男子气概和虚假牺牲的征兆：表面的、以支配为核心的假象。 Those are some of the symptoms of that which is a false form of masculinity and a false form of sacrifice: the facade and the counterfeit of domination.
还有些人则走向另一个同样有问题的对立面，那就是偏向被动、柔弱、女性化 的所谓男子气概——这种人会回避各种艰难，尤其是对抗、领导和为父之责。 Others, on the opposite side of that, an equally problematic counterfeit, would be that which is a masculinity that instead prefers to be passive, soft, and effeminate—one that avoids that which is difficult, especially confrontation, leadership, and fatherhood.
尽管有些事情可能铭刻在我们心中，但一个人身处的文化若竭力让那份内心的召唤 噤声，甚至摧残和镇压，那么此人要回应心中所写下的东西就会变得极其困难。 While something can be written on our hearts, it can also be the case that when a person is immersed in a culture that does everything it can to silence and even beat down and repress that which is written on our heart, a person can find it very difficult to respond to what is written on their heart.
我们知道，当我们周围的人都不按我们认为对的方式生活时，我们 自己也更难坚持那种生活方式。我想，如今的男子气概正是如此。 We know that when we're surrounded by a crowd of people who are not living the way that we know we ought, it becomes harder for ourselves to live that way, and I think that is surely the case with masculinity today.
一方面是女性化、被动、爱抱怨、柔弱，另一方面则是 带有支配、逞强和傲慢等同样有问题的非男子性特质。 The effeminate, the passive, the whiny, and the soft on one hand, and its opposite but equally problematic unmasculine characteristics of domination, bravado, and arrogance.
当我们被这些两种情况或兼而有之所包围时，全社会便会陷入不断向下的螺旋之中。 When we are surrounded by either and both of those, it becomes a spiraling downward for all those in society.
当那些真正活出男子气概的人变少，而那些活在假男子气概 中的人变多时，这不仅是男人的问题，更是全社会的问题。 When we lose those who are living authentic masculinity and we see an uptick in those living the counterfeit versions of masculinity, that's not just a problem for men; it's also a problem for all of society.
真正的男子气概榜样越来越少，结果就让对立面愈 加普遍，也让人们更难看到真正男子气概的展现。 There are less and less role models for masculinity, authentic masculinity, thus making the opposites more and more pervasive, making it harder and harder for people to see authentic masculinity on display.
我透过博客与发布视频进行我所谓的网络传福音工作。 I engage in what I like to call internet evangelization through blogs and the posting of videos.
我努力探讨具有挑战性且切合当下的话题，我深信男子气概之所以稀少，是因为当 我行使我属灵的为父之责时，很多人会惊讶地说：「天哪，你可一点也不温柔。」 I try to confront challenging and relevant topics, and I'm convinced that masculinity is rare because when I exercise my spiritual fatherhood, many are shocked, saying things like, Gosh, you aren't really nice.
我们如今对做男人的含义有种严重扭曲的认识，而这对整个社会都有害。 We have a totally warped sense of what it means to be a man today, and it is to the detriment of all in society.
再次强调，我们是群体性的受造物，当我们看到他人活出我们 自己也知道应当追随的榜样时，我们才能更好地发挥潜力。 Again, we are communal creatures, and we do best when we see others as living examples of what we know we ought to be.
在圣人之中更容易成为圣人；同样地，在粗暴之人之中更容易成为粗暴之人。 It is easier to be a saint when living amongst saints, just as it is easier to be a brute living in the midst of other brutes.
因此，我们的世界需要男人，需要那些具有真正男子气概、甘 于牺牲并奉献自我，同时没有逞强、傲慢或支配欲的男人。 Our world then needs men; it needs men who are masculine, authentically masculine, who are oriented towards sacrifice and self-giving, which is at the same time absent of bravado, arrogance, and domination.
牺牲既不是被动也不是柔弱，尽管邪恶势力常会在那些为他人好 的牺牲者耳边低语，想要让他们灰心丧气，告诉他们他们软弱。 Sacrifice is neither passive nor soft, although the demonic will surely try to whisper that into the ear of those who are sacrificing for the good of others, trying to discourage them and tell them that they're weak and soft.
当真正的男子气概愈发稀少时，我们该向何处寻求正统的指引呢？ So as authentic masculinity is becoming more and more rare, where ought we to look for authentic guidance?
我相信，我们应当先向圣人们学习，特别是在我们所 处的时代，公教会遭受逼迫的日子似乎已渐行渐近。 One place we ought to look, I believe, is at the saints, especially as a time of Catholic persecution looks to be drawing nearer in our own day.
我认为，我们尤其可以从早期教会在遭受迫害时汲取宝贵榜样。 I think we can take good role models from especially the early Church when they were persecuted as well.
安提阿的圣依纳爵在就义的路上写信给朋友，鼓励他们让野兽 吃掉他，把他的骨头碾成细粉，并且鼓励朋友们不要介入。 Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote a letter to his friends on the way to his death, encouraging them to let the animals eat him to death and grind his bones into fine flour, encouraging his friends to not intervene.
这就是男子汉；这就是男子气概；这就是牺牲。 That is manhood; that is masculinity; that is sacrifice.
除了那些历经世纪迫害的圣人之外，还有另一位伟大的圣人 ，那就是圣约瑟，他是为父者和众男人们的大能代祷者。 Another great saint, in addition to all those who have endured persecution through the centuries, would be Saint Joseph, a powerful intercessor for fathers and for men.
正如我们刚才在福音中所听到的那样，我们听到了当马利亚被发现怀了耶稣的故事。 As we heard in the Gospel just proclaimed, we hear the story of when Mary was found pregnant with Jesus.
我们听到约瑟说，他正打算与她离婚。 We hear Joseph saying he was planning to divorce her.
我们听到福音说，约瑟打算暗中休退她——暗中，不张扬那所谓的丑 闻，不再给他的新娘马利亚带来更多伤害，只是默默地要休退她。 We hear the Gospel saying that Joseph was planning to divorce her quietly—quietly, not calling attention to the scandal, not bringing further harm upon Mary, his bride, but simply planning to divorce her quietly.
当我们寻找实践牺牲之道时，我们可以参考的另一个范例就是弥撒。 Another example that we can look to when we are looking for ways to live out sacrifice is to look at the Mass.
牺牲正是弥撒的核心；这就是为什么我们称它为「弥撒圣祭」。 Sacrifice is what is at the heart of the Mass; that's why we call it the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
不幸的是，在我们当前这个时代，有时我们会失去弥撒作为牺牲的 观念，以致它有时变成了正如本笃教宗所说的一场纯粹的聚会。 But sometimes, unfortunately, in our own day, we lose that notion of the Mass as sacrifice, and it can become, as Pope Benedict notes, a merely communal gathering.
但是当弥撒仅仅成为一个聚会，失去了其牺牲的概念后，男性就难以产生 共鸣，这也是为什么在如今的美国堂区，男性更有可能错过弥撒的原因。 But when it becomes only a communal gathering and loses its notion of sacrifice, then men don't respond so well, which is why men are much more likely to miss Mass in today's American parish.
当没有牺牲时，男性就没有得到相应的教导，因为他们知道自己与牺牲紧密相 连；当他们既未领受也未听到牺牲的讯息时，他们会在内心深处感到空缺。 When there is no sacrifice, there is no instruction for men because men know that they are hardwired for it, and when they're not receiving it and it's not being talked about, men sense that at their core.
另一个我们显而易见该去仰望的对象就是基督。 Another place, obviously, to look when we're talking about sacrifice is to Christ.
基督当然是做男人以及做人的完美典范。 Christ, of course, is the perfect example of what it means to be a man and to be a human being.
若望保禄二世最喜欢的梵蒂冈第二届大公会议文献《牧灵宪章》 第22段指出，正是耶稣基督向我们启示了做人最圆满的意义。 John Paul II's favorite passage from the documents of Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 22, notes that it is Jesus Christ who reveals to us what it means most fully to be human.
他牺牲；基督也牺牲，但他以安静的方式进行， 如经上所说，像被牵到宰杀之处的羔羊那样。 He sacrifices; Christ does, but He does so quietly, like a lamb led to the slaughter, as the Scriptures note.
基督体现了男子气概中的牺牲精神，同时没有捶胸顿足，也没有傲慢或自大。 Christ takes on the masculine notion of sacrifice while also not pounding His chest, wallowing in arrogance or bravado.
他既不被动也不骄傲；他活出了真正的男子气概，我们要以他为榜样。 He's neither passive nor arrogant; He lives authentic masculinity, and we do well to look to Him for example.
未来几周还有什么更好的时机与机会，让我们聚焦于基督为我们所做的牺牲精神呢？ What greater time, what greater opportunity than the next couple of weeks as well to focus on that sacrificial notion of what Christ did for us?
一周后，我们将进入圣周。 In a week, we begin Holy Week.
基督的男子气概常被描绘成柔弱或胆怯，但在我们再次回顾他荣进耶路撒冷、与朋友共 进最后的晚餐以及被出卖的故事时，我们将看见他的男子气概完全展现在我们面前。 Christ's masculinity, again often portrayed as soft or sheepish, will be on full display for us as we recount again His entry into Jerusalem, His Last Supper with His friends, and His betrayal.
基督常被描绘得软弱，但在接下来的两周里，我们所要回顾的并没有任何柔弱之处。 Christ is often portrayed as weak or soft, but there's nothing soft or weak about what we remember these next two weeks.
让自己被捉拿他的人几乎打到濒死，这毫无柔弱可言。 There's nothing soft or weak about allowing oneself to be bludgeoned nearly to death by those who captured Him.
反复让自己被捆在柱子上鞭打，尤其是在明明随时都能终止的情况下，也毫无柔弱可言。 There's nothing soft or weak about allowing oneself to be scourged at a pillar over and over and over again, especially when a person has the ability to stop that at any time.
让自己戴上荆棘冠冕，没有丝毫的软弱。 There's nothing weak or soft about allowing one's head to be crowned with thorns.
让双臂被伸展开来，钉在十字架上，几个小时的剧痛，直到无法呼吸，也毫无软弱可言。 There's nothing weak or soft about allowing one's arms to be stretched out on a cross and nailed in place to suffer in agony for hours until no longer able to breathe.
他交出了自己的灵，死了。 He gave up His spirit and died.
基督所行的一切，没有任何的软弱。 There is nothing soft about what Christ does.
基督向我们男人展现了牺牲的完美典范：既不被动软弱，也不自大狂妄或逞能炫耀。 Christ shows us as men the perfect example of sacrifice, of not being passive or weak, but of also not being arrogant or pounding one's chest or displaying bravado.
但愿在你的人生中也有其他男人能够成为好的见证。 Hopefully as well, there are other men in your life who are good witnesses.
如果你生活中没有父亲，也许是因为父亲去世了，或你从未认识过父亲， 或者关系疏远，希望在你的生命中仍有其他男性能成为父亲般的人物，帮 助你理解并为你提供榜样，教你如何活出真正的公教基督徒男子气概。 If you don't have fathers in your lives, if maybe our father passed away or we have not known our father or it's been an estranged relationship, hopefully there are other men in your life who you can look to as father figures who can help you to understand and provide role models for you on how to live out authentic Catholic Christian masculinity.
但愿我们也能向我们的祭司学习。 Hopefully as well we can learn from our priests.
愿祭司也向他人展现真正的男子气概，正如教区中的父 亲们和其他男性也会向祭司们提供榜样和示范一样。 Hopefully priests are displaying authentic masculinity for others, just as fathers and other men in the parish are displaying and providing example to our priests as well.
希望这是一条双向的道路。 Hopefully it's a two-way street.
不幸的是，我们有时会看到父亲们当中真正男子气概的衰退，而在祭司中也同样存在。 Unfortunately, we sometimes see a decline in authentic masculinity among fathers, and we also see it then in priests as well.
就像为人父者不去管教孩子更轻松，同样，对祭司来说，不谈避孕、不去警告 同居的危害，或者不提其他任何需要在讲道中提及的艰难话题也要轻松得多。 Just as it is easier for a dad to non-discipline his kids, so it is a lot easier for priests to not preach contraception, to not warn against cohabitation, or any of the other difficult topics that a priest is to be raising from the pulpit.
或者，有些人即使提出了这些话题，却态度傲慢，缺乏爱心。 Or it's easy for some to raise those topics, but again to do them arrogantly, to do them without love.
我们务必为我们的祭司祈祷，正如祭司也为他们教区里的父亲和男性祈祷一样。 We must pray for our priests just as priests pray for the fathers and the men in their parish.
我们必须彼此祈祷，也当彼此召唤，一同继续成长并继续发展我们的公教基督徒男子气概。 We must pray for one another, and we must call each other to continue to grow and to continue to develop our Catholic Christian masculinity.
我们的世界太迫切需要更多榜样。 Our world is so desperately in need of more examples.
将他人纳入你的羽翼之下，激励他人，也从你生命中遇到的人身上汲取激励。 Take people under your wing, be an inspiration for others, and draw inspiration from those in your life as well.
最后，让我们在此花些时间注视祭台与在那里陈列的圣餐。 Finally, may we spend time here gazing at the altar and the Eucharist exposed there.
愿我们能从基督的临在中汲取力量，他在世人面前展现了最完美的公教基督徒男子气概。 May we draw strength from Christ's presence, He who is most perfectly Catholic Christian masculinity on display for all to see.
愿我们静坐默想，让我们的心更紧密地与他的心合而为一。 May we sit in silence, allowing our hearts to be more closely conformed to His.
愿我们都能借着耶稣圣心的炽热火焰与他的心融为一体，并在这 一天更加完全地效法他的男子气概，从而向整个世界带来光明— —这个世界极其需要更多真正活出公教基督徒男子气概的男人。 May our hearts be melted into His through that fire of the Sacred Heart, and may we more fully conform ourselves to His masculinity this day so we may go forth providing a light to all of the world, a world that is so desperately in need of more men who are living out authentic Catholic Christian masculinity.