Are We Paying Attention To Jesus? 我們在聆聽耶穌嗎？

Third Easter Sunday, Year B
Theme: Are We Paying Attention To Jesus? 我們在聆聽耶穌嗎？

The Lectionary takes The Acts for the first readings in the Easter Season instead of books in the Old Testament. However, it does not necessarily follow the chronological order. For example, the first reading today is earlier than that of last Sunday which is the Divine Mercy Sunday because the theme is specific. The context of today’s reading is an immediate follow-up of the first Easter Sunday. It is the second proclamation of the gospel by Peter. Compared with the first one on Pentecost, we are able to see a development in Peter’s message.

Like Jesus and true to being made the rock of the Church, Peter worked many healing miracles in the name of Jesus of Nazareth in Jerusalem. After healing a crippled beggar, Peter proclaimed the gospel again, but the tone was milder than the Pentecost speech in which he called the Jewish authority “lawless” (Acts 2:23). In the Pentecost speech, Peter had to defend the behaviour of the disciples who were manifesting the gift of tongues and speaking in different languages. Some people scoffed that they had had too much new wine (2:13). Peter quoted extensively from the Scriptures to prove that what the crowd witnessed was actually a fulfilment of prophecies and that God had made Jesus of Nazareth both Lord and Messiah (2:36) by raising Him from the dead. Of this, they were all witnesses (2:32). This time, Peter appealed to the crowd as “brothers” and that they acted out of ignorance, just as their leaders did (3:17). Later, he called the crowd “children of the prophets and of the covenant” (3:25). Peter was not confrontational because the Sanhedrin had not yet persecuted or imprisoned the apostles for doing good (4:9).

As for Peter’s message, don’t be offended by his calling Jesus “God’s servant” (3:13) instead of the “Son of God” (Matthew 16:16). We know that there was a development of understanding before the Church could define “the Blessed Trinity” as a Christian dogma. It was also possible that Peter adapted his language to the audience because the crowd was not yet ready to accept a Galilean carpenter to be the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. We are also able to trace a development in Peter’s proclamation. He called Jesus “God’s servant” (Acts 3:13), then the “Holy and Righteous One” (3:14), the “author of life” (3:15) and finally “God’s Messiah” (3:18)! Jesus was innocent but He took up the sins of the world. He defeated death because He is the author of life. God appoints Jesus the Messiah, not only to liberate the Jews from the Romans but all the peoples on earth from the bondage of sin. Unlike the Pentecost speech, Peter quoted the Scriptures only once (3:22-23).

The Lukan narrative of Jesus’ apparition to the apostles on the first Easter Sunday is similar to that of the Johannine. In both narratives, Jesus greeted the apostles with “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36; John 20:19) and took the initiative to show them the Stigmata (Luke 24:39-40; John 20:20). The similarity stops there. Luke has his own agenda. First of all, he had always been sympathetic towards the failures of the disciples. For example, in the narrative of Jesus’ Agony in the Garden, Mark simply says, “When he [Jesus] returned he found them asleep” (Mark 14:37a) but Luke says, “When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief” (Luke 22:45). Again, when the disciples failed to understand Jesus’ teaching, Mark blamed the disciples for the hardness of their hearts. “He appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised” (Mark 16:14), whereas in Luke, Jesus was in full control of the disciples’ understanding. The disciples in Emmaus could understand only when Jesus explained the Scriptures (Luke 24:32) or when he opened the minds of those in Jerusalem to understand the Scriptures (24:45). In short, Luke wants to make the readers humble disciples of prayers.

Last week, I was arguing against using the Stigmata as an identification tag for the Risen Lord. Indeed, the fact that the Emmaus disciples were able to recognize Jesus when they saw him take the loaf, give thanks, break it and distribute it (24:31) strongly suggests that we Catholics should actively seek Jesus wherever his words and deeds could be found. The most obvious place that immediately comes to mind is the Liturgy of the Eucharist where the priest consecrates the bread and the wine. Similarly, inspired by the Parable of Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25, the Church chooses to stand by the poor, serving the Christ present among the needy, the disadvantaged and the socially marginalized. But has the Church been successful? If we take a look at the statistics published in the Vatican News for the year 2022, the numbers are not very encouraging¹. To be sure, there has been growth, but at a rate varied from continent to continent hoovering below 1%! If we put the blame on COVID, we are not courageous enough to face the truth! Worse still, we witness a decrease in the number of priests and bishops but an increase in the number of permanent deacons. This is not healthy and the Church would become unsustainable.

When Jesus spent three years to coach the apostles as well as the larger community of disciples, their minds were occupied by the anticipation of a Messiah to drive out the Romans. Therefore, they failed to pay attention to Jesus’ words that He spoke while He was still with them that the Torah and the Prophets have foretold the Passion and Resurrection of the Messiah (24:44). Now that Jesus has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, have we paid sufficient attention to what Jesus says before His ascension? What were His final words before ascension? And what is occupying our minds such that we miss Jesus’ words? According to Luke, Jesus spent 40 days on earth to gather 120 dispersed disciples after resurrection. He enlightened them on His previous teachings. So, the final words should be the Great Commission recorded in the Matthew, Mark and the Acts. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them …” (Matthew 28:19); “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized…” (Mark 16:15-26a); “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Simply put, we should evangelize and bear witness to the reconciliation mission of the Son of God.

Beloved brethren. Are you paying attention to Jesus’ Great Commission? Or are you conjuring up futile excuses such as I have no time, I am not eloquent, I know no theology, this is the work of the clergy and nuns etc.? Are you aware that you are meeting Jesus who is present among the people you meet every day? This Jesus you meet, perhaps a little child next door; its single mother doing two jobs to make ends meet in a subdivided flat; or an ageing man and his wife struggling to support him together with their domestic helper; or a disillusioned young man hiding from security police etc., is hungry and thirsty for God’s righteousness, aka His salvation (Matthew 5:6; 25:35)! He is waiting for you to extend a helping hand so that both he and you may be able to reconcile the world to the Father (2 Corinthians 5:20). Beloved brethren! Pay attention to the invitation of Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless!
¹https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-04/vatican-central-statistical-office-church-pontifical-yearbook.html

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2021 Reflection
Picture Credit: salvationbiblecell.com

Where Comes Our Peace? 何來平安？

Sunday of Divine Mercy, Year B
Theme: Where Comes Our Peace? 何來平安？

The first reading today seems nostalgic and distant. In context, the apostles had undergone the first round of persecutions from the Jewish authority which failed to nip this new Jesus Movement at the bud. Contrary to their intention, the persecution reinforced the conviction of believers who affirmed that they had to be on the right. Otherwise, they would not be attacked by the corrupted establishment! “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32). This would have turned into a dangerous doomsday mentality, had they not been further persecuted and dispersed. Historically, communism among Christians was confined to the early Church in Jerusalem only and vanished for good when they were dispersed after the death of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen during the second wave of persecutions. Only the apostles remained in Jerusalem (8:1b). This communism was possible because early Christians expected the ascended Lord to return soon. It was no longer necessary to accumulate wealth for future uses. Therefore, the best way to spend their money was to share it among believers. This practice was both attractive and charitable. Many poor people, in particular widows, joined the expanding Christian community and sharing wealth in common became helping the poor and the needy. Did the early Christians in Jerusalem worry about the sustainability of this practice? No. They were putting Jesus’ teaching into practice. They believed that they were doing God’s will and therefore God would provide (Genesis 22:8).

In reality, the community of believers were not exempted from malicious attacks both from within and from without. Luke was candid and did not portray a rosy picture of the early Church, reporting only good things and evading bad ones. No, he reported the scandal of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and the neglect of Greek-speaking widows in Act 6. Let’s be realistic. With the incarnation of the Son of God, the Kingdom of Heaven broke into this sins-infested world. The mission of the Church is to reinforce the foothold and extend the reign of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This mission is a continual struggle until the Kingdom comes into her full actualization at the end of the world. Had Luke painted a perfect society, Christians of latter generations would have had a hard time following it. His candid portrayal gives us encouragement as well as an ideal to pursue. Therefore, Christians cannot afford to be complacent. It is true that Easter is joyful because of the promise of a new life in Christ. Furthermore, the early Church has shown us that Christian communism was possible. What does this message or ideal mean for us in today’s world? Shall we dismiss it as being unrealistic in today’s world? If not, how should we proceed?

I think that it is unrealistic. There were in record 5000 Christians (Acts 4:4) and “Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them” (5:14). Luke began to lose count of the population of Christians in Jerusalem. Starting in Acts 6, there arose a new class of ecclesiastics, namely the deacons to take care of the Greek-speaking community. It was similar to the development of the 12 tribes of Israel. When 600,000 Israelites left Egypt, the tribe of Levites were singled out to serve the Lord. This class did not produce. The support of their livelihood was shared among the remaining eleven tribes which took over different regions of Canaan, the Promised Land and grew independently from each other. Even after King David managed to unite the 12 tribes into one kingdom, they did not pool their resources together into one. Therefore, Christian communism is viable only for small communities under, say 10,000 people. Modern communism is capable of putting a population of more than 1.4 billion under control only because it is totalitarian. However, the threat of civil war always remains.

Now, let us turn to the gospel message today. I have spent more than sufficient ink to defend Thomas before. Today in view of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russian invasion into Ukraine, I would like to meditate more on the topic of peace. According to John’s record, Jesus says, “Peace be with you” three times in this chapter (John 20:19, 2, 26). So, what is the significance of this greeting?

The apostles had given up their families, their jobs and their peers to follow Jesus for three years. In other words, they had totally forsaken their previous life to start a new way of life which promised them a kingdom of some sorts! At the zenith of their movement, they managed to attract more than 5000 men and many women were following too. After Jesus had entered Jerusalem triumphantly a few days before the feast of Passover, things turned sour rapidly and on the day before Sabbath, Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. The movement He had started looked certain to fail. People expected the Jewish authority to round up the apostles after Passover! They looked like caged birds waiting for the butcher. Fear for life infused their hearts. Some disciples had already started leaving Jerusalem before the Temple guards arrived. As for the apostles, they were totally lost because they had severed all their relationships three years before! To whom could they turn to or where else could they go? Peace of heart was in short supply! Thus when Jesus greeted them peace, what a relief for the apostles! Jesus, who had been the centre of their life for three years, had returned. The apostles were no longer lost anymore. They would follow their master wherever He went! Their master had defeated death as well as the murderous attempts of life from the Jewish authority. Their fears literally vaporised. In short, they were able to continue their previous relationship with Jesus.

However, Jesus did not stop there. He gave the apostles Holy Spirit and told them to forgive sins (20:23). Notice that the apostles had abandoned, had betrayed and had denied Him. In short, they were grave sinners. Besides fear and a sense of loss, all the apostles were carrying a heavy guilty conscience even though Jesus was merciful and did not count their failures. They would never forgive themselves and their failures.
Why then did Jesus give them the faculty to forgive sins? The apostles themselves needed forgiveness badly. By giving them the faculty to forgive sins, Jesus opens up for them an opportunity to forgive themselves. Do you remember the Lord’s Prayer? It says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). By not forgiving, the handle to control over our debtors remains in our hands. By forgiving, we grant them freedom! Now Jesus returns the ball to our court. By forgiving others, we learn to forgive ourselves. After sufficient practices, we will be more capable of accepting God’s forgiveness!

Beloved brethren! When a guilty conscience, fear and a sense of being lost vaporize, our peace is total. Let us sing praises to the divine mercy of the Lord to restore peace in our hearts and to be able to celebrate genuine freedom with each other. Amen.
God bless!

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2021 Reflection
Picture Credit: corpuschristiphx.org

Sharing Our Faith Through Mission

Sharing Our Faith Through Mission

April 4, 2024

When we talk about mission, the images of missionary martyrs, like the opening scene of the 1986 movie THE MISSION readily come to mind. In ancient times up to the twentieth century when transportation was still slow and hazardous, the chances of missionaries returning home were extremely slim. Most of them died and were buried abroad. Thus, when priests decided to become missionaries, their departures were literally permanent. On the other hands, migrants and even refugees still cherish the hope of returning home one day. They must leave home for various reasons in order to improve the livelihood of their families. The Holy Family fleeing the murderous attempt on the life of the Messiah was a prime example (Matthew 2:13-15). As for me, my parents were refugees fleeing from the turmoil of the Communist Revolution in 1949. Like many of their kinfolks, my parents would return to mainland China to meet their relatives who were unable to flee and to bring them provisions. I was born here in Hong Kong as a second-generation refugee and she was a British colony before the handover in 1997. I still remember how my parents put layer upon layer of clothes on me to enter mainland China and stripped me nearly naked when we returned to Hong Kong! Poverty was rampant in those early days! Thus my emotional bond with kinfolks in mainland China is weaker because my paternal siblings and I did not grow up together and did not share the same cultural background.

Nowadays, thanks to the convenience of transportation by air, missionaries are able to enjoy their sabbatical leaves at home or, to be buried at their home countries after death. Thus, the boundary between missionaries and migrants blurs. We migrants are also missionaries! What mission do we migrants/refugees have towards the land we have come to live? As for us Chinese refugees in the 1950’s, we are proud of ourselves because we have been able to transform Hong Kong into an international cosmopolitan. Before the British took over Hong Kong as a colony in 1842, she was only a fishing port. In order to open up China to do business, the British government turned Hong Kong into a trading centre. The Communist Revolution closed the China market for some time but a lot of money and labour fled to Hong Kong and transformed Hong Kong into an industrial and financial city. During the Vietnam War in the 1970’s, a lot of Vietnamese refugees arrived in Hong Kong, but their final destination was USA. They were locked up in refugee camps in Tuen Mun and Kai Tak to wait for migration. The Vietnamese refugees failed to contribute and integrate into Hong Kong. After the decade long Cultural Revolution in China, she began to open up. Hong Kong needed to catch up with the economic growth of mainland China. She needed to release the female labour from families. Then you arrived in Hong Kong to help.

As Christian migrants, not only do we contribute to the economic growth of this city, but we also should share our faith with the local people. In other words, we migrants are also missionaries. But we should not be too ambitious. Some of us are only able to stay here for one or two contracts. It seems that there is little we can do within such a short time-span. This mentality is wrong because it underestimates the power of God’s grace. Allow me to share my experience with a missionary who died 47 years ago tomorrow after sustaining fatal injuries in a car crash while looking for activity facilities for the underprivileged! He was Fr. Enea Tapella, PIME, serving in various parishes for a few years each. His dedication to the service of the physically and mentally handicapped children has inspired and planted the seed of diaconate vocation in my classmate and I within the two-year time span he served in the Holy Family Parish of Choi Hung where our alma mater resides. Both of us were ordained permanent deacons separately nine years ago. As for the physically handicapped children we befriended, one of the girls became a member of the Hong Kong Paralympic Table Tennis Team. Another three run their own businesses, yet another one engages in the advocacy for the rights of the disabled etc. Therefore, your two-year contract is good enough for sharing your faith with the people you meet. No doubt, we migrants can be missionaries.

The Catholic faith is very broad. We can only share the most important article of faith with people we meet. Here, I would like to draw your attention to the gospel reading of the coming Sunday, the Divine Mercy Sunday. This is the story of the “Doubting Tom” with which everybody is familiar. To be fair, Thomas was only a more demanding disciple among disciples who easily took things for granted. When Jesus appeared to the ten apostles while Thomas was out, He took the initiative to show them His wounds (John 20:20a). When Thomas returned and the ten testified that they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas rejected the testimony of the ten though for a Jew, two witnesses would be sufficient to establish the truth. Thomas was more demanding in the sense that he wanted to be a witness himself and he wanted hand-on experience! He was left out last time. He did not want to be excluded again. Jesus Christ is a model teacher. He would not disappoint such a demanding and serious disciple (20:27a)! Furthermore, Jesus Christ corrects Thomas’ mistake, “Do not be unbelieving, but believe” (20:27b). However, this teaching is too abstract.

I have a simpler and more concrete question. Why does the almighty Son of God keep the wounds? He is powerful enough to wipe away the scars without leaving a trace. What does He want to teach us with those ugly scars? That Jesus keeps the wounds lest His disciples would not recognize Him is one such possibility but this reason is weak because Jesus is not the only person bearing such wounds. Tens of thousands were crucified by the Romans! Some were known to have cheated death! Moreover, the story of the Emmaus disciples totally refutes this explanation. It is true that at the beginning, the two disciples were unable to recognize Jesus (Luke 24:16) but when they recognized Jesus, it was not because Jesus showed them the wounds, but taking “bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him” (24:30b-31a)! Therefore, making use of the wounds as an identification aid is questionable.

What do those wounds mean to believers? They represent the sins of the world and the cruelty of human evils. The Son of God is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) by taking all of them over and carrying them on His body! His resurrection tells us the mercy and the might of God. God’s love and mercy is more powerful than all evils. The wounds on Jesus, the Stigmata are not the same wounds of all others who were crucified. Like what the penitent thief says, “And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal” (Luke 23:41a), Jesus’ Stigmata are different because they are not His but ours! Paul says, “For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15). As a righteous ex-Pharisee, Paul had to acknowledge the existence of a law of flesh struggling against the power of the Holy Spirit even after conversion (8:1-12). When we fail after baptism, we can look up the Stigmata of Jesus to draw strength and consolation.

What does Jesus want to tell us by keeping the wounds? When Mary anointed Jesus with an expensive ointment, Judas the betrayer complained that it would have been better to spend the money on the poor. Jesus answered, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:8). Poverty is only a part of human evils. If poverty is perpetual, human evils will also be perpetual until the end of the world! God’s mercy and love shall sustain until the end when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes …” (Revelation 21:4a). Probably this would be the time for Jesus’ Stigmata to disappear when all evils are consigned to the past! Jesus Christ the King of the Universe would say, “Behold, I make all things new” (21:5b)!

Ladies and Gentlemen! This is our faith, namely that God’s love and mercy is more powerful than all evils. This article of faith is more tangible than the concept of the Blessed Trinity and the dual natures of the Son of God! Let’s be candid. The Son of God does not come to condemn sinners, but to help them reconcile with the Father, not by annihilating Satan but by bearing the sins of the world. So, don’t be too ambitious to eradicate abuses, addictions, exploitations and human trafficking etc. overnight. Instead, let us continue to show the people we meet that God’s mercy and love is more powerful than all evils. Take prison visits as an example. Though my emotional bond with my kinfolks in mainland China is weak, when as a young boy returning to my home country and heard the local dialect for the first time, an inexplicable emotion surged within. Similarly, in the Tai Lam Centre of Women I visited, there were Filipino inmates serving more than twenty years of sentence. When I organized Filipino volunteers to visit them once a month on Sunday, to do bible sharing and hymn singing, all the Filipino inmates were tearful because they would interact freely in their mother tongues! We are unable to reduce their sentences but life in prison would become more bearable when inmates have visitors or pen-pals!

Open our hearts to see the needs of the people we meet, including your bosses. Recently, a woman in her 70’s suffocated her husband of 80’s and later attempted to commit suicide herself. The couple or rather their children are able to employ a domestic helper to take care of them and yet, the old lady saw no future. Perhaps she suffers from depression and worries about her inability to take care of her beloved bed-ridden husband. I would ask where their children were. If the couple had no children, I would ask who should care for the mental conditions of the caretaker! Even if you don’t have the professional qualifications to handle such psychiatric cases, you are still able to pray! Beloved brethren! Prayer is powerful beyond our imagination. We are the first beneficiary because in prayers, we find peace and the will of God. We shall be able to see the impossible become possible (Luke 1:37).
Thank you and God bless!

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Video Credit: The video is an excerpt from Facebook video of CFM Hong Kong at
https://www.facebook.com/cfmhongkong/videos/292159817305649 ; and
https://www.facebook.com/cfmhongkong/videos/761097256090776

「基督我等聖善光」與「逾越頌」對比之管見 A Myoptic Opinion

「基督我等聖善光」與「逾越頌」對比之管見

「喝過醇醪美酒，回頭喝拜神水酒，情何以堪！
嘗過基督徒的恩寵自由生活，豈可再活在罪惡的奴役中！」

逾越節三日慶典，以聖周六守夜禮為高峰。預備了四十多天的候洗者， 在慶典中領受入門聖事，加入得救的聖者行列，就是教會大家庭，其隆重情況可想而知。
守夜禮分四個部份，第一個是「燭光禮」，象徵耶穌基督的復活蠟燭，進入一片漆黑的教堂中，信眾從復活蠟燭引火，點燃手上的蠟燭。教堂在一片燭光之中，光明戰勝了黑暗，象徵著偉大君王的勝利。接著，執事以宣講的形式，在復活蠟燭前詠唱「逾越節報導Praeconium Paschale」，又稱「逾越頌Exsultet」，歌頌這復活蠟燭所象徵的天主子，耶穌基督。
1969年，為了響應梵二【禮儀憲章】的要求，把禮儀本地化，劉玉亭神父作曲，蔡濯堂先生填詞，為中文聖樂譜寫了「基督我等聖善光」。在沒有其他選擇之下，該曲應用於復活前夕禮儀的「逾越節報導」，剛好半個世紀了。1975年，江克滿神父把傳統的「逾越頌」經文，譯成中文，並以傳統的額我略調配曲。相信這是第一版，以國語詠唱，可參閱以下 Youtube 短片

目前香港教區使用的【聖周禮儀】『至聖之夜逾越節守夜禮』第58-64的「逾越頌」，是2009年「聖樂委員會版本」，標明是「曲：1975（香港）」，但與國語版不同，旋律更豐富，更優美，更配合粵語。江克滿神父的音樂靈感，真是令人讚歎！

「基督我等聖善光」與「逾越頌」兩首音樂，風格迴然不同，各有千秋。下文試從音樂、神學及禮儀三方面，試作對比。 雖然筆者有自己的立場，但絕對尊敬三位作者對中文聖樂的貢獻。

1. 音樂：
   「基督我等聖善光」一曲，蔡濯堂先生採用七言詩的格式填詞，劉玉亭神父以四拍四的曲式配樂。詩的格式，在聽眾心中描繪一個意境，一個圖像，是相當適合的。詩，寄意尚可，但因為平仄押韻的限制，用作宣講或者敘事，恐怕不是一個適當的媒體，除非是荷馬的史詩。耶穌基督的逾越奧蹟，是基督信仰的核心部份。「基督我等聖善光」的詩節祇有168字，重句28字，用它來宣講基督的逾越，負荷過重了。
   整個「逾越節報導」，當中情緒起伏：有懇切的邀請、有謙卑的認罪、有慚愧的感激、有抒情的讚美、有激昂的歌頌、有神秘的靈修與及教會共融的喜樂。「基督我等聖善光」以四拍四的曲式，6句旋律，3段詩節，太工整呆板，很難完全表達到上述豐富的情緒。
   反觀江克滿神父的「逾越頌」，有14段詩節，共731字（不計Amen），有足夠的空間宣講。用額我略的自由拍子，有充足的時間抒發上述複雜的情緒。
2. 神學：
   「基督我等聖善光」少量的文字，祇能集中講述以色列人出谷，預示耶穌基督纔是真正的逾越節羔羊，領帶世人重返天父的懷抱。
   「逾越頌」有大約4倍的文字，除了能宣講上述的逾越出谷之外，還有足夠的文字，歌頌聖父的慈悲，聖子的光輝，「原罪」的奧秘與及教會的幅度。14段不同，但相若的旋律，美妙地表達出起伏的情緒；並且有充足的時間，抒發不同的情懷。（見下表）

基督我等聖善光

逾越頌

（重句） 基督我等聖善光，照耀我心如朝陽； 基督我等生命糧，賴爾引導神業昌。 暗中行旅借主光，指點迷途達天邦； 以民出谷心惶惶，黑夜胥賴火柱長。 直達天主許諾鄉，人生斯世如大荒； 基督嚮導光萬丈，追隨同到聖父堂。（重句） 以民出谷夜正長，戶戶齊食踰越羊； 門塗羊血災可除，天上羔羊預比方。 基督聖血此徵象，此夜聖血流如漿； 此夜復活共瞻望，全救世人長流芳。（重句） 此夜生命退死亡，罪惡毀滅聖寵旺； 愛情奏凱仇恨忘，上主待人如兒郎。 身在塵世望天鄉，基督為伍共遠翔； 天地盡時萬夫仰，我主再現滿榮光。（重句）

天上的眾天神，請歡欣踴躍！世間所有萬物，請讚頌上主！ 為了偉大君王的勝利，一起謳歌慶祝。普世萬民，請鳴鼓奏樂！ 因為永生之王的光輝驅散了黑暗，照耀著世界。 我們的慈母聖教會，要與我們同樂！ 天主的子民共聚一堂，同聲歡唱，慶祝基督光榮的復活。 【致候詞】 （領）願主與您們同在。（眾）也與您的心靈同在。 （領）請舉心向上。（眾）我們全心歸向上主。 （領）請眾感謝主、我們的天主。（眾）這是理所當然的。 我們全心全靈，同聲讚頌，無形無狀的全能天主聖父。 稱揚祂的唯一聖子、我們的主耶穌基督，這是理所當然的： 因為基督代替我們，向聖父還清了亞當的罪債，並為我們受苦犧牲，免除了我們應受的處罰。（眾）Amen! 現在是我們的逾越慶典：真的代罪羔羊，為我們作了祭獻，祂的聖血，保護信友闔家平安。（眾）Amen! 在這一夜，祢拯救了以色列的子孫，祢幫助他們逃離埃及，安渡紅海，擺脫了奴役他們的敵人。（眾）Amen! 在這一夜，祢藉著火柱的光芒，驅散了罪惡的黑暗。 在這一夜，全世界基督信徒，遠離了邪惡，滌除了罪污恢復了聖寵，加入聖者的行列。（眾）Amen! 在這一夜，耶穌基督催毀了死亡的鎖鍊，凱旋地走出了陰府。（眾）Amen! Amen! 聖父！祢對我們的照顧，令人驚訝；祢對我們的恩愛，無法估計； 為了拯救奴婢，祢竟然將愛子捨棄。 的確，必須先有亞當的罪，纔能賴基督的死亡，予以一筆勾消。 天主救人的計劃，真是深奧。（眾）Amen! Amen! 啊！幸運的罪過！你反而為人掙得了如此偉大的救主！（眾）Amen! Amen! 這真是神聖的一夜：它為我們驅逐邪惡，滌除罪過，使墮落者痛心悔改，給憂苦者帶來了喜樂。（眾）Amen! 這真是幸福的一夜：天上與人間又走上合一之路，天主與人類再度和好。（眾）Amen! 在這神聖的一夜，祈求聖父接受我們的讚頌，收納我們的祭獻。 教會藉著祢揀選的聖職人員，將蜜蜂製成的蠟燭呈送到祢台前，代表我們對祢的心願。（眾）Amen! Amen! 上主！我們懇求祢，使這為光榮祢而奉獻的蠟燭，驅逐長夜的黑暗，常燃不熄。 願此蠟燭的光芒，為天主所悅納，猶如馨香，加入星辰的行列，照耀四方。（眾）Amen! 願此燭光常燃不熄，直到曉明之星的昇起；這永遠照耀的曉明之星，就是基督自己。（眾）Amen! 祂已從死者中復活，光照普世。 祂是祢的聖子，永生永王。（眾）Amen! Amen! Amen!

3. 禮儀：
   「逾越節報導」，有如宣讀福音或者講道，是執事的責任。教友的積極參予，在於靜心聆聽，並偶爾作出適當的對答。
   以下短片，剪輯自2015年聖伯多祿大殿的「逾越頌」，由一位亞洲裔的執事清唱。試譯了中文。
   「基督我等聖善光」旋律簡單，並且有重唱部份，沒有可能要求教友靜心聆聽，而不加入詠唱。何況，它與其他適用於四旬期和聖周的歌曲，例如「黑夜之中放光明」、「仁愛救世天主」、「基督的譴責」等內容相類似，其實在整個禮儀年的彌撒中，有更適合它的位置。當年在沒有「逾越頌」中文版之前，「基督我等聖善光」勉強地充塞了空缺；但在出版「逾越頌」之後，仍然採用「基督我等聖善光」作「逾越節報導」，便是執事失職了！
   當然，目前天主教香港教區祇有二十多名活躍的執事，很多堂區，還沒有執事的服務。但按禮書的指示，在沒有執事時，可以由神父，甚至領唱員宣講！

在這裡，小弟呼籲各位執事及聖詠團團員，還有一個月就到復活節了，練習好江克滿神父的「逾越頌」吧，機會總是留給有準備的人的！

March 18, 2019.

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不經不覺，已經係五年前嘅牢騷喇。嚿年江克滿神父逝世，曾想過喺復活節守夜慶典為佢獻唱，以表敬意。可惜唔係天主嘅旨意，奈何！
五年嚟，聽力衰退咗; 又加上缺乏練歌嘅機會，次次在台上食老本，唱起歌嚟不停跳線走音，再無資格要求唱《逾越頌》喇。
惟有向火雲邪神偷橋，留低首「雁歌」，希望有緣人能傳頌下去。

April 1, 2024

Let’s Be Candid About Resurrection 且讓我們誠實地看待復活

Easter Sunday, Year B
Theme: Let’s Be Candid About Resurrection 且讓我們誠實地看待復活

We are historical animals and our understanding evolves with time. It is true in particular for us to fathom the infinite mystery of the Blessed Trinity, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that the Church as the Spouse of Christ etc. Therefore, modern Christians should not feel offended when they read of the testimony of Peter in the first reading today. Peter was testifying in the home of Cornelius, a Roman centurion and said; “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible …” (Acts 10:40). Peter was not denying the divinity of Jesus Christ when he chose the term “This man”. On the contrary, we should not blame Peter for stressing too much about the humanity of Lord Jesus, the Son of God incarnate. It took the Church more than a few centuries to acknowledge the divinity of Jesus. We have our finite languages to blame only. Peter’s proclamation is simple. The God whom Cornelius worships is the God of all peoples. God accepts all who fear Him and act uprightly (10:35). Jesus Christ is the Lord of all (10:36) not just for all peoples on earth but also for all the living and the dead because God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power (10:38). Though His own disciple betrayed Him and the Romans crucified Him, God raised Him on the third day, thus conquered death. This understanding does not come overnight. It takes time for us to unearth the mystery more deeply. Not only did Peter and John run with different speeds to the empty tomb, but their belief in the Risen Lord also came with different speeds too (John 20:8)!

Sometimes, the wording of Paul’s writings is not easy to follow probably because he was a deep-seated Pharisee before his conversion. We may not be able to appreciate some Jewish thinking that Paul had taken for granted while that Jewish worldview is alien to our cultural background. Take for an example the second reading today. Paul says, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). What does Paul want to convey with the choice of “hidden”? In context, Paul was talking about baptism as a death of the old self in carnal desires and the birth of a new self in spirit and truth. Thus Paul says, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above” (3:1). One literal meaning of “hidden” would then be “burial”. We bury our old self with Christ in baptismal immersion. On another level, some biblical scholars notice that the word “hidden” could probably a word play on “secret knowledge” which was popular among the Colossians. They were interested in angels, astral powers, cultic practices and ascetical disciplines etc. (2:15-18) Paul emphasizes that Christ alone is the reality and through knowing Christ and befriending Christ, we know the Truth!

However, I sense something else in the word “hidden”! In baptism, not only have we died and been buried with Christ, but we have also clothed ourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27), “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:14)! By clothing ourselves with Christ, we may be energized by Him, like Elisha who received the spirit and power of Elijah by picking up the garment Elijah had left behind for him (2 Kings 2:13-14). Putting on clothes gives us power and authority to serve the needy. Perhaps this is what “putting on Christ” means.

On the other hand, clothes hide our nakedness, frailty and shame, thus giving us dignity. Indeed, this was how the Jews understood the forgiveness of sins by God. They thought of it as a covering of sins probably they believed that what had been done could not be undone. So, they believed that when God forgave, God did not remember and did not see their sins which still remained. For example, when the enemies of Jews mocked them for trying to rebuild the Temple, Nehemiah prayed to God, saying, “Do not hide their crime and do not let their sin be blotted out in your sight, for they insulted the builders to their faces!” (Nehemiah 3:37), “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalms 32:1, 85:3; Romans 4:7). Not only Paul but some other authors of the New Testament also talk about covering a multitude of sins (James 5:20, 1 Peter 4:8).

What about the concept of cleansing of sins. In the Old Testament, only three Major Prophets spoke of it (Isaiah 1:16, 4:4; Jeremiah 4:14, Ezekiel 16:9). The NT authors advocate a lot about the cleansing of sins by the blood or the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 1:7, Revelation 7:14 etc.). Therefore, it really challenges our imagination to read, “…These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14b). Of course, it is not a chemical trick! We should not read it literally but should understand its symbolism instead. It is actually a fulfilment of the prophecy by Isaiah who says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

We greet each other “Joyous Easter” today. But let’s be candid. Do sins bother us after baptism? How often do you seek help and growth through the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Or do you go into the confessional like going into a washing machine, coming out clean? Regret to say that if we don’t receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are cheating ourselves. If we go too often, we are denying the saving power of Jesus’ sacrifice or the sanctifying ministry of the Spouse of Christ! It is truly a dilemma! The reality is we are branches in time and Jesus is the True Vine in eternity. It takes time for us to secure an enriching and empowering relation with the Lord. We cannot become a super-hero overnight because our sinfulness remains even after baptism!

Beloved brethren! Perhaps a little imperfection is essential for our growth and failures will synchronize our dancing trots with Christ. Whatever our stations in life, bear in mind that proclaiming the Lord’s Resurrection is our major concern because it shows our love and care for our neighbour. If we do not feel the urge to evangelize, our hope becomes dim and our love shall extinguish soon. Amen!
God bless!

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2010 Reflection
Picture Credit: kcmifm.com

猶達斯的角色是必要的嗎？ Is Judas’ Role Indispensable?

猶達斯的角色是必要的嗎？ Is Judas’ Role Indispensable?

筆者無意，亦沒有本領為出賣耶穌的猶達斯平反。筆者祇想理解多一點，慈悲的主有關於猶達斯的一句話。「但是出賣人子的那人卻是有禍的，那人若是沒有生，為他更好」（瑪26:24b）。筆者注意到，這句說話並沒有批評、或判決的意味，而是一個客觀的敘述：猶達斯的結局是悲慘的。這句話反而帶有憐憫和痛惜的意思。究竟耶穌想表達甚麼意思呢？

首先，耶穌並沒有因為猶達斯出賣祂而憎恨他，反而對他說：「你所要做的，你快去吧」（若13:27b）。在革匝瑪尼園，猶達斯用「口親」的暗號出賣祂時，耶穌說：「朋友，你來做的事，就做吧」（瑪26:50a），與若望的敘述吻合。驟耳聽來，猶達斯好像是耶穌執行任務時的伙伴。猶達斯負責出賣耶穌，耶穌負責死在十字架上，替世人贖罪！當猶達斯還有所猶豫不決的時候，耶穌勸他為了大局著想，一起犧牲小我，完成任務。

這是一厢情願的美麗誤會；要知道，在《瑪竇福音》，「朋友」一詞共出現了四次，每次都與「罪人」有關（11:19, 20:13, 22:12, 26:50）。耶穌基督為了拯救罪人，便與罪人為伍，稱兄道弟，治療他們，指示他們應走的道路，回歸父家。所以耶穌稱呼猶達斯為「朋友」，反而是肯定了猶達斯是罪人的狀態，而不是執行任務，出生入死的戰友！

其次我會問，在天主的救贖工程中，必須有「負賣者」這個角色嗎？事實上，即使沒有「負賣者」，耶穌一樣可以前往公議會「自首」；在大司祭面前說他認為是褻瀆的話，被判死刑。用不著犧牲一個宗徒，令他因內疚而自殺（27:3-5），並且遺臭萬年。當然，遺臭萬年的還有比拉多和大司祭。倘若沒有他們兩個，耶穌是死不去的。一個在政治上判耶穌死刑，另一個在宗教上判耶穌死刑，以至耶穌必死無疑。所以這兩個人的角色，比「負賣者」的角色，更為重要，更不可或缺。

那麼，猶達斯有甚麼值得耶穌憐惜呢？我覺得猶達斯的自殺，更合符耶穌的敘述「那人若是沒有生，為他更好」。除了抑鬱狀態導致的自殺外，一般的自殺甚至協助的自殺，都是對天主作出控訴，指摘祂讓自殺者出生在世上，是一個錯誤的決定！自殺者拒絕給天主向他施恩的機會。 若他沒有生在世上，就不會觸犯這個大逆不道，「控訴天主」，拒絕天主的大罪了！注意，耶穌這句嘆息的話，同樣適用於以色列的第一位君王撒烏耳身上，他與猶達斯一樣自殺死了，同樣是一個悲劇性的人物！

親愛的諸位！四旬期今天完結，懇求你們，即使不控訴天主，也要給天主一個機會，向你施恩赦罪，為你披上慈悲的外衣吧（格後5:20）！亞孟。

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圖片鳴謝：catholicregister.org

不再有懸念 No More Opportunism

不再有懸念 No More Opportunism

上主與亞巴郎立約，許下三個諾言：一，他要成為一個大民族；二，成為萬民的福源（創12:2-3）；三，賜客納罕全地〔即今天的巴勒斯坦〕作為他和他後裔的永久產業（17:8）。人總是缺乏耐性，亞巴郎也不例外。天主許諾他要成為一個大民族，但當時他膝下猶虛，而且撒辣又是石女。於是他採納了撒辣的建議，由她的埃及婢女哈加爾給他生下了依市瑪耳（16:15）。但天主的應許並不是由哈加爾所生的兒子實現，而是由出自撒辣所生的依撒格來實現（17:21）！天主的第二個承諾，由「亞巴郎之子、達味之子耶穌基督」（瑪1:1），藉著祂所建立的教會實現了。而且，透過教會，把先知的預言，即「我要使你作萬民的光明，使我的救恩達於地極」（依49:6b），一併實現。當然，耶穌基督把教會交由宗徒們管理、聖化和教導，免不了滲雜了一些人性的元素，有如亞巴郎以自己的方法，實現天主的諾言一樣。藉著天主聖神的助祐，雖然她的表現強差人意，但二千年來總算有驚無險。

很不幸，預言的前半節，即「你作我的僕人，復興雅各伯友派，領回以色列遺留的人，還是小事」（49:6a），雖然實現了，以色列在1948年復國了，但是她並不銳意以「天主選民」的身份，實現成為「萬民福源」的承諾，祇把全部精力，用人的方法來實現天主對亞巴郎的第三個承諾，導致今天的加沙，幾成了人間地獄！誠然，按天主的旨意行事是艱苦的。耶穌基督不是曾教訓我們，要「竭力由窄門而人罷！因為將來有許多人…要想進去，而不得入」（路13:24）嗎？但人總會心存僥倖，依恃耶穌基督的慈悲，做個「悔改的右盜」。

雖然教會不敢妄斷猶達斯必然下地獄，但福音對猶達斯的評價，已經十分明確，不再有懸念（瑪26:24, 27:3-5; 谷14:21; 路22:3; 若6:70-71, 12:6, 13:2, 27, 30; 宗1:18）。可是，現代人心存僥倖，並且喜歡挑戰權威；二十世紀就有不少耶穌傳的音樂劇或電影，為猶達斯進行平反！難道與猶達斯近距離接觸過的人不足信嗎？請注意，我們不能選擇性地相信【聖經】；假如我們不相信福音的敘述，我們盡失信仰耶穌基督的基礎，「我們就是眾人中最可憐的了」（格前15:19b）！

親愛的諸位！不要再心存僥倖，努力尋求天父的旨意罷！
天主保祐！

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圖片鳴謝：the treasury of Brussels Cathedral