「依撒伯爾一聽到瑪利亞的請安…遂充滿了聖神。」（路1:41）
天主真是神妙莫測。身為宇宙萬物的根源，萬有的創造者，竟然願意由自己一手創造的受造物誕生！祂把自己「無始無終」特質，屈就在有限的時間和空間之中，為的是與人共處，救萬民於水深火熱之中。「但時期一滿，天主就派遣了自己的兒子來，生於女人。」（迦4:4）是瑪利亞孕育了天主子，並把祂帶來這個世界。她的確是所有基督徒的榜樣，基督徒之所以是基督徒，不就是生活福音的教訓，把耶穌基督帶來這個世界嗎？
瑪利亞不但把聖子帶到這個世界，而且把聖神也帶到這個世界。總領天使讚美她充滿恩寵（路1:28），又說聖神要臨於她，至高者的能力要庇蔭她（1:35）。無論怎樣理解，瑪利亞都是一個充滿聖神，「攜帶」著聖神行走的人。當她問候依撒伯爾的時候，竟然「感染」到依撒伯爾也充滿聖神！這是多麼奇妙啊！
瑪利亞願意完全地和天主配合（1:38），所以聖子得以降生人間。不但如此，天主更樂意透過瑪利亞，把聖神賦予那些渴望天主救贖，並且是天主願意施恩的人。雖然得到丈夫的愛護，素不生育的依撒伯爾始終生活在遺憾之中。如今已懷孕六個月，天主已把她的恥辱洗刷了。不但如此，天主更藉著瑪利亞，把聖神灌注到她身上，一如將來在五旬節，聖神藉著瑪利亞，降臨在一百二十個信徒的身上一樣（宗2:1-4）。
基督徒，瑪利亞既然是你們的榜樣。那麼，你們該怎樣生活，把聖神帶給你們所接觸的人呢？倘若自己沒有聖神，又怎能把聖神帶給其他人呢？基督徒，你的生活有聖神嗎？
慈悲的天父，祢願意眾人得救。請賦予我們聖神，讓我們跟隨瑪利亞的榜樣，把聖神傳染給我們所接觸到的人。亞孟。
"When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary ... and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." (Luke 1:41)
God is truly ineffable. Being the source and Creator of the known universe, God was willing to be born of a creature of His own creation! Without beginning and end, God bent Himself to fit into a finite space-time to live with men, to deliver them from bondage. "But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman." (Galatians 4:4) It was Mary who nurtured the Son of God in her womb and brought him into this world. She is truly an exemplar of all Christians. Aren't Christians Christians because they live up the gospel and bring Jesus Christ to this world?
Not only did Mary bring the Son of God to this world, but she also brought the Holy Spirit into this world. Archangel Gabriel praised her for being full of grace (Luke 1:28) and that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her (1:35). In whatever way we interpret this piece of text, Mary is full of the Holy Spirit and carries the Holy Spirit around. When she greeted Elizabeth, she was able to "infect" Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit. How amazing!
Mary was willing to cooperate fully with God (1:38) so that the Son of God would take flesh. Not only that, God is more than happy to give the Holy Spirit through Mary to those who desire God's salvation and whomsoever God wants to bestow grace. Although loved by her husband, the life of Elizabeth was regrettable because of her barrenness. Now that she was pregnant for six months, her shame had been cleansed. More than that, God would infuse her with the Holy Spirit through Mary, just as what would happen on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would descend on the 120 disciples through Mary (Acts 2:1-4).
Christians. If Mary is your exemplar, then how would you lead your life such that you may bring the Holy Spirit to whomsoever you reach? If you do not have the Holy Spirit yourselves, how would you bring the Holy Spirit to others? Christians. Do you have the Holy Spirit in your life?
Merciful Father, You will the salvation of all. Give us the Holy Spirit and let us follow the model of Mary to infect the Holy Spirit to all we are able to reach. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment