通过十字架走向复活

四旬期第二主日

今日读经一中的命令令人震惊：“带你心爱的独生子依撒格，往摩黎雅地方去，在我所要指给你的一座山上，将他献为全燔祭”（创22:2）。在整部圣经中，天主从没有要求其他任何人做同样的事情。还有，导致耶路撒冷于公元前586年沦陷的诸多罪恶之一，是焚烧“自己的子女”，祭献给外邦人的神巴耳，这是天主“从未吩咐或想到的”（耶7:31，19:5-6）。那里究竟发生了什么事？

《天主教教理》可以帮助我们理解读经一的真正意义。通过甘愿牺牲自己所爱的独生子，“信德之父（亚巴郎）竟肖似天父，天父不吝惜自己的独生子（也是所爱的独生子），反而为了我们众人的得救，把祂交出”（2572）。读经一是一个预言，这预言在耶稣基督身上应验了。耶稣在加尔瓦略山上的献祭，是天主爱每一个人的最完美表达。“天主的羔羊除免世罪”，而这里一只公绵羊代替了依撒格。

当耶稣第一次预言他将死于十字架上时，伯多禄公开斥责了他。这种反应，不论过去，还是现在，都彰显出人类的愚昧，不明白天主的计划（谷8:32-33）。因此，今天天父命令我们听从祂的爱子（谷9:7）。这种听从意味着接受真理，即没有十字架，就没有复活。“我实实在在告诉你们：一粒麦子如果不落在地里死了，仍只是一粒；如果死了，才能结出许多子粒来”（若12:24）。“生命，只能来自死亡和放弃自我”（本笃十六世）。

“若是天主偕同我们，谁能反对我们呢？”（罗8:31）这话是出自那位为了福音的缘故而舍弃自己生命的人。即使整个世界都可能反对我们，但这又有何妨？因为耶稣向我们揭示了此生之后的生命奥秘：“他的衣服发光，那样洁白，世上没有一个漂布的能漂得那样白。厄里亚和梅瑟也显现给他们，正在同耶稣谈论”（谷9:3-4）。的确，在那里真好！但我们不能长留在那里（此世）。从大博尔山上下来后，门徒们想知道“从死者中复活是什么意思”（谷9:10）。答案会在复活节早上找到：“基督耶稣，那已死或更好说已复活，现今在天主右边，代我们转求”（罗8:34）。

根据《希伯来书》，因着相信“天主有使人从死者中复活的能力”（希11:19），亚巴郎得以战胜今日的考验。主耶稣“为那摆在祂面前的欢乐”（希12:2）而忍受了十字架。保禄在狱中写到他渴求与基督同在（斐1:23）。当我们今天从显圣容的大博尔山上下来，面对十字架时，让我们永远不要错过摆在我们前面的：“我要在活人的地域，在上主的面前行走”（咏116:9）。

Love until it hurts

One of the most ‘uncomfortable’ speeches ever made

The National Prayer Breakfast is an event held annually in Washington DC for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and build relationships. The most important part of the event is the morning speech to be delivered by a speaker whose identity is kept confidential. In 1994 Mother Teresa took to the stage and delivered one of the most ‘uncomfortable’ speeches ever made during that event. The audience included the President and the First Lady, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Vice President and Mrs. Gore

A tiny elderly Catholic nun stood among the top influential policy and opinion makers talking about God’s love and its consequences for our lives. She did not tremble. Instead, she invited everyone to pray together the prayer of Saint Francis, “Lord, make me the instrument of peace”. At first, the congregation did not join. She paused and reminded them that they have that prayer in front of them. Then, she asked whether they were ready to pray now. To make the powerful of this world to pray together was in itself quite an extraordinary achievement. But it did not end there.

She quoted two passages from the Scripture. The first was the last judgement (Matt 25:31-46) in which she stressed the famous statement: “Whatever you did for the least of my brethren, you did it for me”. The second one was from the first letter of John: “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Then, she pointed out that this love-charity begins at home: “family that prays together stays together”.

One day she visited a house for the elderly. They had everything – excellent caretakers, good meals, and TV sets. Yet, there was no joy and everybody was looking towards the door. They were waiting for their sons and daughters to visit them, but nobody was coming. Then, she challenged those powerful people, busy and focused on success, whether or not there was someone at their home waiting for them, waiting for a sign of their love.

Then, she moved to a more controversial topic. “The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion”. You could imagine how the pro-choice people in the audience felt. If it were you or me, we would be silenced or booed immediately. Yet, nobody interrupted her. When she finished presenting the reason why destroying a child in mother’s womb is such a terrible crime, many people in the audience applauded, but not all. Some – you can guess who – felt extremely uncomfortable. But, she did not mind. She continued.

She moved to artificial birth control. “If you do not want the child, please give it to me”. She said that there are many families waiting for a child. Adoption was her solution to the problem of abortion. But, she said: “I never give a child to a couple that has used contraception”. Contraception is selfish, love is selfless. It welcomes a new life as the gift from God. Again, you could guess how those who advocated contraception felt. Commenting on the entire speech, Peggy Noonan – author and former presidential speech writer – said: “When she was finished, there was almost no one she hadn’t offended” (Time Magazine, Sept 15, 1997).

I admire her courage but I am particularly struck by this question: ‘Are you willing to love till it hurts?’ Am I willing to love till it hurts? Families are disintegrating, marriages break apart, commitments are revoked, because we are not willing to love till it hurts. We love others till it is convenient, but Jesus loves us till the cross.

Sensing how challenging it must have been for those powerful people to be lectured about the truth and morality, she ended up on a lighter note. Once, she visited a woman suffering terribly from a cancer. In order to console her, our Saint said that this sickness was only the kiss of Jesus, that she had come so closed to the Cross that Jesus could kiss her. The woman joined her hands as in prayer and said: “Mother Teresa, please tell Jesus to stop kissing me.” Everybody laughed and the atmosphere eased.

Twenty four years have passed since that speech and yet its content remains as explosive now as it was then. “Love until it hurts. You must love with your time, your hands, and your hearts. You need to share all that you have”. Saint Mother Teresa reminded us the truth of the Gospel. Christian life is a journey from selfishness to selflessness. Jesus paved the way and invited us to follow.

Towards Easter through the Cross

Second Sunday of Lent – Year B

Readings: Gen 22:1-2,9a,10-13, 15-18; Psalm 116; Rom 8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-10

Today’s first reading contains a shocking command: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you” (Gen. 22:2) . Throughout the entire Scriptures, God never asks anyone else to do such a thing. Moreover, one of the many sins that led to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC was the terrible sin of sacrificing “their sons and daughter” to Baal – a pagan local deity, something that God “never commanded or considered” (Jer 7:31; 19: 5-6). What’s going on here?

The Catechism helps us understand the true meaning of the first reading. By being ready to sacrifice his only and beloved son, “the father of the believers [Abraham] has become like the Father who will not spare his own Son [also the only and beloved], but will give Him up for us all” (CCC 2572). The first reading is a prophecy fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus on the hill of Golgotha is the greatest manifestation of God’s love for each one of us. “Behold, the Lamb of God” and a ram replaced Isaac in today’s story.

When Jesus mentioned his death on the cross for the first time, Peter publicly rebuked him. This reaction was and remains a manifestation of human thinking that does not understand God’s plans (Mk 8: 32-33). Therefore, today, the Father from heaven commands us to obey His beloved Son (Mark 9: 7). This obedience refers to accepting the truth that there is no resurrection without the cross. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”(John 12:24). “Life comes only through death, through loss of self” (Benedict XVI).

“If God is for us, who can be against us? “(Romans 8:31). These words were written by someone who sacrificed his life for the sake of the Gospel. Although the whole world may be against us, it does not matter. Jesus has revealed to us the mystery of life after this life: “And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus”(Mark 9: 3-4). How good it is to be there, yet we cannot remain. Coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples were wondering “what rising from the dead meant” (Mark 9:10). They will find the answer on Easter morning: “Christ Jesus it is who died – or, rather, was raised – who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Rom 8:34) .

According to the letter to the Hebrews, Abraham was able to pass today’s test because of his faith that “God was able to raise even from the dead” (Heb 11:19). Our Lord was able to endure the cross, “for the sake of the joy that lay before Him” (Heb 12:2). Apostle Paul from a prison wrote about his intense desire to be with Christ (Phil 1:23). As we are coming down today from the Mount of Transfiguration to face the scandal of the Cross let us never lose the sight of what lies ahead of us: “I shall walk before the Lord, in the land of the living” (Ps 116:9).