「悔改」即打破因循

四旬期第一主日（甲年）
主題：「悔改」即打破因循

「聖誕期」剛結束了大概兩個月，不覺又到了「四旬期」。顧名思義，四旬即四十日。當年，耶穌接受若翰的洗禮後，便進入曠野四十日，接受魔鬼的試探、考驗，為將來傳福音建立天國作好準備。同樣，教會亦為候洗者安排四十日的最後淨化，幫助他們好好準備在復活前夕領受洗禮。已經洗禮的我們，就用這四十天的時間，一方面陪伴候洗者淨煉，領洗重生；另一方面也好像耶穌一樣整裝待發，在五旬節聖神降臨後，向世界宣講福音。

讓我們來默想今天第一篇讀經中創世紀所記載人類墮落的故事。首先，我們要撇開性別歧視的問題，不要把責任全部推卸在女人身上。在聖經中，人類所說的第一句話，亦是男人對女人說的第一句話，不是「這真是我骨中之骨，肉中之肉」嗎？既然做夫妻，「有福同享，有難同當」是理所當然的，豈可獨善其身呢？其次，會說話的蛇祗會在「寓言故事」中纔會出現。所以，創世紀的故事是一個「寓言故事」，告訴小朋友為甚麽蛇用肚爬行，告訴男人為甚麽在天主所創造的美好世界中還要如此辛苦地工作，告訴女人為甚麽要服從男人等等。脫去這些外衣之後，我們可以了解故事的真正意義。人是天主的肖像，人渴望永恆，想超越作為受造物的有限。就算沒有魔鬼，這心魔始終是揮之不去的，因為人是天主的肖像。其實天主是明白這一切的，在時機成熟，天主會提昇我們的存在。怪祗怪原祖沒有耐性等待，所以不要怪魔鬼。渴望相似天主，扮天主是人類的死穴。

在今天的福音的故事中，耶穌以血肉之軀抗拒魔鬼的誘惑，為人類勝回一仗，証明人類是有能力抵抗誘惑的。誘惑是甚麽呢？我認為誘惑是來自需要和渴望得不到滿足。要生存就要滿足生存的需要，例如生理上的需要，安全的需要。人要生活就需要愛、需要尊嚴、渴望實現潛能、渴望超越自我、渴望天主等等。誘惑就是嘗試以不正當的手段來滿足需要，走捷徑來滿足合理的渴望。

為我們的益處，耶穌留下三個試探的經驗。其實在耶穌的公開生活中，這些誘惑以新的形式，不斷出現。例如，魔鬼誘惑耶穌將石頭變餅充飢，可以理解成為以經濟手段，解決貧窮的問題。耶穌在伯達尼宴會上，有個女人用昂貴的香水為他洗頭，猶達斯就表示不滿，認為浪費了可以救濟窮人的機會。耶穌抗絕這個誘惑，為那個女人的行為辯護。耶穌在抗拒魔鬼的試探時，祗引用【申命紀】的教訓，指出人不單祗要解決物質上的貧乏，亦要處理靈性上的貧乏。吃過知善惡樹的果子，人有了判辨是非的能力。祗要按聖經的教訓，就足夠對抗魔鬼的試探了。

教宗方濟各在今年的四旬期文告中說得十分清楚明白：耶穌以他的貧乏，令我們富足，所以基督徒有責任令身邊貧乏的人富足。今天的貧乏有三：第一，物質上的貧乏。就算這最簡單的貧乏，經濟手段亦不能滿意地解決。所謂「不患寡而患不均。」解決物質上的貧乏有賴我們按公義分配社會上的資源。第二種貧乏是倫理上的貧乏。教宗列出四種現代人容易陷入的奴役：酒精、毒品、賭博和色情。另外，有些人覺得生存沒有意義，與及在社會上受到歧視和剝削。第三種貧乏是靈性上的貧乏。現代人離棄天主，拒絕天主的愛，遇上困難時不懂得轉向天主求助。教會有責任幫助人脫貧，不但脫離物質上的貧乏，更要出力消滅社會性的罪惡並以福音恢復人類靈性上的富足。

具體地說，四旬期是我們打破因循、慣性和惰性，向天主開放的好時機。生活習慣固然是好的，既省力又舒適，但容易令人偷懶，容易放棄基督徒的價值，容易隨波逐流。守齋、祈禱和施捨不是我們格外多做的克己。這些原本是我們平時都做的事，祗不過四旬期，我們打破因循，改變了優次而已。所以，今年的克己，除了做慣了的守齋、施捨和祈禱外，不妨多做一件事：不要推卸責任。天主問亞當為何食禁果，亞當把責任推到天主和女人身上；天主問女人的時候，女人把責任推在蛇的身上。這真是人類的劣根性。大家都見到推卸責任不但不能解決闖出來的禍，更會將問題擴大。
所以，今年四旬期，如果是自己做錯事，就不要賴人。做錯了捱罵是應該的，並要虛心聆聽，不要爭辯。耶穌在真福八端不是教訓過我們「是就說是，非就說非，其他的都是出於邪惡」嗎？善後工作固然不要連累他人，但亦不要驕傲，應要謙遜地接受別人的幫助。
如果你是另外一種極端，凡事都攬到自己身上話，你就應該把責任放回應該負責任的人身上。「做好人」固然好受，但你正在剝削他人成長成聖的機會。今年試一試「做醜人」的滋味吧！
願耶穌陪伴我們在四旬期克己，洗心革面。到復活節一起做新人。天主保佑。

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First Sunday of Lent (Year A)
Theme: To repent is to break our routines

Just two months after Christmas, we have reached the season of Lent. Lent lasts for 40 days. After baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness to undergo tests from Satan in order to equip himself for evangelization and the building up of the kingdom of heaven. In like manners, those who will receive baptism are going through the final stage of purification, to prepare themselves for baptism to start a new life on Easter Vigil. For us who were baptized, not only are these 40 days a good time to accompany those awaiting baptism to go through their final purification, it is also a preparatory time for Christians to reorganize themselves to proclaim the gospel to the whole world after Pentecost.

Let us begin by a meditation on the story of the Fall of our first parents in Genesis. First of all, strip the story of sexual discriminatory elements and do not put the blame of the Fall on women. Isn’t the first sentence man spoke in the Bible, a sentence spoken toward the woman “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23)? Being spouses, we should “share the same prosperities and plights”. How can we wash our hands and leave the others to blame? Secondly, a talking serpent can only appear in fables. Therefore, the Genesis story is only a fable, explaining to children why snakes crawl on the belly, consoling men why they still have to work so hard when God had created a good world and telling women why they should submit to their husbands etc. Removing these literary strappings, we will be able to understand the true meaning of the story. God created man in his image. Therefore, man longs for eternity, longs to transcend the limitations of being a creature. Even if there were no Satan, man would never be able to shake off this obsession because he is an image of God. God understands all these. It is a matter of time when God will elevate our being. Our first parents just could not wait. Longing to be like God, to play God are our Achilles heels.

In the gospel reading today, we read of how Jesus overcame the temptation of Satan in his humanity. Jesus won back for human one battle, proving that human beings are able to resist temptation. So, what is temptation? I think temptation comes from needs and desires unfulfilled. In order to survive, we need to meet our needs: physiological needs, security needs. To live, a man needs love and dignity. He desires to actualize his potentials, to transcend himself and he longs for his Creator. Temptation is an attempt to satisfy these needs with inappropriate means, to fulfill reasonable longings with shortcuts.

For our sake, Jesus left us three temptation experiences. In fact, these temptations resurfaced in new forms during his public ministry. For example, Satan persuaded Jesus to turn stones into bread to feed his hunger. This can be understood as solving the problem of poverty with economic means. In Bethany, a woman washed the hair of Jesus with expensive ointment. Judas protested that it was a waste of money which could have relieved many poor people. Jesus rejected this temptation and defended the action of the woman. In combating the Devil, Jesus only quoted the teaching of Deuteronomy, pointing out that not only does man have to solve the problem of material poverty, but he also needs to handle his spiritual poverty. After eating the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil, man has the ability to judge right from wrong. It is enough to follow the teachings of the Bible to resist temptations.

Pope Francis made it clear in his Lenten message: Jesus enriches us with his poverty. Therefore, Christians have the responsibility to make people living in destitution enriched. Nowadays, there are three types of destitution. Firstly, it is material destitution. Even for this simplest form of destitution, economic means are inadequate to handle it satisfactorily. We need to allocate resources in the society in a fair and just manner. Secondly, it is moral destitution. The Pope listed four types of slavery for modern men: alcohol, drugs, gambling and pornography. Besides, there are people who find life meaningless and those who are discriminated and exploited. The third is spiritual destitution. Modern men have abandoned God, have rejected his love. They would not seek help from God in times of difficulties. The Church has the duty to deliver people from material poverty. Moreover, she needs to eradicate structural evils in the society and restore the spiritual rich of men with the gospel.

To put it into practice, Lent is a season for us to break our routines, habits and inertia. It is a good opportunity to open ourselves to God. Habits are good. They make life efficient and comfortable. However, they also make us lazy and abandon our Christian values to follow the crowd. Fasting, prayers and almsgiving are not extra things we do for the sake of self-renunciation. These are ordinary things a Christian should do in his daily life. In Lent, we break our daily routines and give these three a higher priority. Therefore, for the purpose of Lenten self-renunciation, on top of fasting, prayers and almsgiving, I invite you to do one more thing: do not put the blame on others. When God gave Adam an opportunity to explain his disobedience, Adam put the blame on God and the woman. When God asked the woman, she put the blame on the serpent. What a human nature! We can see that not only did this passing the buck fail to solve the problem, it intensified the problem.

Therefore, during this Lent, if it is your fault, do not blame the others. Being scolded is to be expected. Listen with humility and do not argue back. Hasn’t Jesus taught us that “let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”? Of course, we should not bring in others to clean up our mess. Yet, don’t be arrogant. We should humble ourselves to receive the generosity of other’s help.
If you are on the other extreme of the spectrum such that you always take on yourself others’ faults, you should lay the responsibility where it is due. It feels good to be the good guy but you are taking away others’ opportunity to grow and to sanctify. This Lent, try to be the bad guy.


May Jesus our Lord accompany us in our self-renunciation in Lent so that we may rise together a new man in Easter. God bless.