我们不仅仅是作为一个团体聚在一起欢迎这个新生儿，也不仅仅是为了给婴儿祝福。 We're not just coming together as a community to welcome this new baby; we're not just gathering to wish the baby well.
这些当然都很好，但洗礼圣事是一件客观的事情。 I mean, those are all good things, but the sacrament of baptism is something objective.
多年前，当我在芝加哥郊外的十字圣保罗教堂做全 职牧养工作时，我最喜欢做的事情之一就是施洗。 When I was involved in full-time pastoral ministry many years ago at St. Paul of the Cross Church outside Chicago, one of my favorite things to do was baptisms.
我用复数形式说'施洗'，是因为几乎从来都不是一次只给一个人施洗。 I put baptisms there in the plural because they hardly ever took place one at a time.
通常情况下，我每次施洗都会有十到十二个孩子。 Typically, when I would baptize, there would be 10 or 12 kids.
所以我会在周日下午两点出来，看到所有的家庭都聚集在教堂前面。 So I would come out at 2 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, and there would be all the families gathered up in front of the church.
我刚做完简短的介绍和欢迎，那十二个婴儿就仿佛约好了似的，一起开始哭起来。 I would do a little kind of introduction and welcome, and then almost on cue, the 12 babies would start crying all at once.
于是在这欢乐的嘈杂声中，我就得提高嗓门念完各种祷文，给婴儿们施洗。 So amidst this happy cacophony, I would kind of shout my way through the various prayers and baptize the babies.
但这总是很快乐的事；我很喜欢给人施洗。 But it was always a joy; I loved doing baptisms.
不得不说，自从成为主教以后，我给人施洗的机会就不多了。 I must say, since becoming a bishop, I don't have that many opportunities to baptize.
我有点想念那段时光。 I kind of miss it.
不过就在几周前有一个例外，我有幸为海泽尔·罗斯·卡明斯施洗。 But an exception took place just a couple of weeks ago now when I had the privilege of baptizing Hazel Rose Cummins.
海泽尔是道格·卡明斯和他的妻子埃里卡的女儿。 Hazel is the daughter of Doug Cummins and his wife Erica.
道格是我们圣巴巴拉火中之言事工的副制片人。 Doug is the associate producer here at Word on Fire in Santa Barbara.
我们在圣巴巴拉的圣罗克教堂聚集，这是我在这里的本堂教区，那是一次美好的经历。 So we gathered over at San Roque Church, which is sort of my local parish here in Santa Barbara, and it was a wonderful experience.
我想和你们分享一下那天我对聚集在那里的小群众所说的一些话。 But I want to share with you a little bit of what I shared with the small crowd gathered there that day.
我首先谈到了洗礼的客观层面，我以马修·胡德神父这个现在颇为有名的案例作为切入点。 I first talked about what I'll call the objective side of baptism, and I used as my point of departure this idea: the now kind of famous case of Father Matthew Hood.
你们可能听说过这位底特律总教区的年轻神父，梵蒂冈最近发表声明说，要使洗礼有 效，必须用水浇灌或洒水，并说出这样的话：「我奉父、子、圣灵的名给你施洗」。 You've probably heard about this young priest from the Archdiocese of Detroit, and the Vatican recently came out with a statement saying that, you know, to be validly baptized, you have to be baptized with the pouring of water or sprinkling and then the words, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
胡德神父年纪不大，他受洗时正好是有摄像机的年代。 Okay, so Father Hood is young enough to have been baptized at a time when there were video cameras and so on.
他回去看自己受洗的录像，令他不安的是，他发现为他施洗 的执事没有说「我给你施洗」，而是说「我们给你施洗」。 He went back and watched the video of his own baptism and discovered, to his unhappy surprise, that the deacon in question who baptized him didn't say, I baptize you, but rather, We baptize you.
你可能会说，不就是一个小小的词的差别吗，但这里面其实有天壤之别。 Now, you say, Well, it's just one little word, but see, there's a world of difference there.
因为当牧者施洗时，他不是以自己的名义，也不是以团体或本堂的名 义行事，而是以基督的身份行事，我们称之为「以基督的位格」。 Because when the minister is baptizing, he is not operating in his own name or in the name of the community or of the local parish; he's operating in persona Christi, we say, in the very person of Christ.
所以这个「我」就是施洗的基督的「我」。 The I therefore is the I of Christ who baptizes.
好吧，一旦发现这个问题，这位可怜的年轻神父就去找 他的总主教说：「总主教，我想我的洗礼可能无效。」 Okay, well, once he discovered this, the poor young priest went to his archbishop and said, Archbishop, I think I wasn't validly baptized.
事实确实如此，这也就意味着他的初领圣体也无效，因为要有效地领受圣体必须先受洗。 And indeed, that was the case, which in turn meant that he didn't receive First Communion because you've got to be baptized to receive First Communion validly.
他的坚振礼无效，因为那需要洗礼，他的司铎圣 职也无效，因为那也取决于是否是已受洗的人。 He wasn't validly confirmed because that requires baptism, and he wasn't validly ordained because that depends too on your being a baptized person.
长话短说，总主教很快就给他施洗、让他领受圣 体、给他施行坚振礼，最后重新祝圣他为神父。 Well, long story short, the archbishop in short order baptized him, gave him First Communion, confirmed him, and then finally ordained him.
你可能会说，好吧，这个奇特的故事总算有个圆满的结局。 And you say, Well, okay, that's I guess a happy ending to kind of a quirky story.
但我要再次强调的是，洗礼有其客观性。 But my point again is there's something objective about baptism.
通过这些动作和话语，某些事情就发生了。 Through these gestures and these words, something happens.
这就是教会的神学。 That's the theology of the Church.
我们不仅仅是在庆祝已经存在的恩典，不仅仅是作为团体聚在 一起欢迎这个新生儿，也不仅仅是聚集在一起为婴儿祝福。 We're not just celebrating a grace already present; we're not just coming together as a community to welcome this new baby; we're not just gathering to wish the baby well.
这些都是好事，但洗礼圣事是一件客观的事情。 Those are all good things, but the sacrament of baptism is something objective.
按照经典的定义，圣事是无形恩典的有形标记。 The classic definition, you know, a sacrament's a visible sign of an invisible grace.
在这个圣事中，通过这个圣事，一个孩子或成人成为奥体的一员 ，被收纳，成为基督奥体中的一个细胞、一个分子、一个器官。 In this sacrament, through this sacrament, a child or an adult becomes a member of the mystical body, is now adopted, becomes a cell, a molecule, an organ in the mystical body of Christ.
确实发生了某些客观的事情。 Something objective happens.
如果这仅仅是庆祝已有的恩典，或者仅仅是团体的欢迎 ，那么，借用弗兰纳里·奥康纳的话说，那就算了吧。 If it's just a celebration of an already existing grace or it's just the welcome of the community, well then, I'd paraphrase Flannery O'Connor and say, Well then, the heck with it.
所以我告诉聚集在那里的人们，胡德神父的案例 很好地提醒我们洗礼和所有圣事的客观重要性。 So the case of Father Hood, I told the folks gathered there, is a good way of reminding ourselves of this objective density to baptism and to all the sacraments.
但是，说完这些，我并不打算收回任何一句话，我接着说还有一个主观的层面。 But then, having said that and not for a minute unsaying it, I said there's also a subjective side.
这就是我的意思。 And here's what I meant.
因为现场有很多小朋友，所以我用了一个老故事来吸引他们的注意力。 I did it through an appeal to an old story because there were a lot of little people there, a lot of little kids, so I wanted to draw them in.
我讲了那个大家熟悉的故事，关于一个从鹰巢里滚落到地上的蛋，它滚到了一群鸡中间。 I told that familiar story of the egg that rolls out of the nest of an eagle and falls to the ground, but it rolls among a group of chickens.
于是这只鹰孵化了，但它不认识自己的鹰父母和鹰兄弟姐妹；它只知 道鸡的世界——这些在地上啄食、从不飞翔、生活范围很窄的小鸟。 So the eagle is hatched, but he doesn't know his eagle parents or his eagle siblings; all he knows is the world of chickens—these little birds pecking around the ground and never flying, living in a very narrow range.
就这样，这只天生就该翱翔万里的鹰，却长大后只会在地上啄食，从不飞翔。 And so the eagle, who's born to fly and to soar and to cover hundreds of miles, grows up pecking the ground and never flying.
然后我接着说，故事讲到有一天，一只大鹰飞过，往下看，在这群鸡中间发现了这只鹰。 Well, then I continued, and according to the story, one day a great eagle appeared, flies past, and looks down and sees amidst these chickens this eagle.
它降落到地面上说：「你这是怎么了？」 He comes to the ground and says to them, What is the matter with you?
「你为什么像只鸡一样在地上啄食？」 Why are you pecking around the ground like a chicken?
「你是一只鹰啊！」 You're an eagle!
那只鹰回答说：「我不知道，我从没见过这样。」 And the eagle responds, I don't know; I've never seen this.
「我从未意识到自己有这样的能力。」 I never realized my own capacities.
于是那只成年的鹰把它带入那个世界，教它如何展翅，如何飞翔。 And so then the adult eagle draws him into that world and teaches him how to spread his wings and how to fly.
所以我告诉聚集在那里的人们，这个小婴儿通过这个圣事 ，客观上接受了收纳的恩典，成为了基督身体的一员。 So I told the folks gathered there that this little baby, objectively, through this sacrament, receives the grace of adoption and becomes a member of the mystical body.
确实发生了某些事情，这是真的。 Something happens; that's true.
但现在，围绕在这个孩子周围的团体的任务就是要用各种方式提醒她她是谁。 But now the task of the community gathered around this child is to remind her in every way who she is.
你看，我对他们说，我的担忧是，在我们国家和世 界各地，有太多受过洗的人实际上是神的儿女。 See, my complaint, I told them, is that an awful lot of baptized people in our country and around the world are, in fact, children of God.
他们实际上是注定要成为伟大圣人的。 They are, in fact, destined to be great saints.
他们实际上是注定要翱翔的。 They are, in fact, destined to soar.
但问题是他们像鸡一样，一辈子都在地上啄食。 But the problem is they spend their whole lives pecking around the ground like chickens.
我的意思是，他们不效法伟大的圣人，而是模仿当下流行文化所推崇的一切。 What I mean here is they imitate not the great saints; they imitate whatever the popular culture is throwing up at the moment.
他们追求财富、权力、享乐和世界上所有那些微不足道的东西。 They seek wealth and power and pleasure and all the little petty goods of the world.
这也许能让你在世人眼中显得伟大。 And that might make you great in the eyes of the world.
这就像你本该成为一只鹰，却只做了一只出色的鸡。 That's like being a great chicken when you're meant to be an eagle.
所以我对他们说，看，这就是你们现在的任务。 So I told them, Look, that's your job now.
你们的任务就是在她的一生中提醒她她是谁，她注定要成为一位 伟大的圣人，而不是可悲地成为她本该成为的人的拙劣仿品。 That's your job is to remind this little girl throughout her life who she is, and she's meant to be a great saint and not a pathetic simulacrum of what she's supposed to become.
这就是我如何理解客观的一面。 So that's how I read together the objective side.
关于洗礼的主观一面，我最后说这一点：如我所说， 我认为在我们国家，大多数人都是受过洗的基督徒。 And if you want the subjective side of baptism, and I'll close with this: as I mentioned, still, I think it's true that most people in our country are baptized Christians.
大多数人客观上都是神的儿女，注定要成为伟大的圣人。 Most people are objectively sons and daughters of God, meant to be great saints.
问题是，我们大多数人都像鸡一样在地上啄食。 The trouble is, most of us are pecking around the ground like chickens.
如果这个国家的每个受洗的人都意识到自己注定 要成为什么样的人，那才是真正的美国革命。 If every baptized person in this country realized who he or she is meant to be, that would be the true American revolution.
感谢观看！ Thanks for watching!
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