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Wednesday 31 May 2017

教導世人敬畏天主 Teaching People to Fear God

教導世人敬畏天主
(路1:39-56

【聖母讚主曲】提醒我們要信賴天主,祗有天主纔能使世界更合符公義。因為聖母所歌頌的天主,是一個喜歡鋤強扶弱的天主,一個伸張正義的天主。

一般的婦女,頂多渴望嫁給君王,為他生個孩子,自己將來可以母憑子貴,貴為君王的母親。聖母出身卑微,造夢也不敢嫁入豪門。但天主卻從創世之初,揀選了她成為天主子之母。出於祂的神聖,天主賜予瑪利亞特殊的恩寵,讓天主聖子「提前」救贖了她,使她始胎無染原罪。貴為天主之母,當然「萬世萬代都要稱我有福。」(路1:48)天主在聖母身上所行的,確是偉大的事(1:49),令天使與人類,讚嘆不已。

既然天主喜歡鋤強扶弱,「使饑餓者飽饗美物,反使那富有者空手而去。」(1:53)為何過了這麼多世紀,貧貴懸殊的情況,日益嚴重呢?難道基督徒忘記了為世界的公義,祈求天父嗎?不一定。
聖母說:「祂的仁慈世世代代於無窮世,賜於敬畏祂的人。」(1:50)即是說,無論貧富,祗要是敬畏天主的,天主必仁慈對待他們。可惜現代科學昌明,人類變得高傲自大,沒有把天主放在眼內,又何來懂得「敬畏天主」呢?所以基督徒除了為更公義的世界祈求外,還有責任教導世人敬畏天主。

勸勉高傲的人,敬畏天主是一件非常困難的事。不過,不是沒有可能的。而且「敬畏天主」是聖神七恩之一。因此,教導世人敬畏天主,離不開教導世人認識聖神。但聖神有如風一樣,很難捉摸。所以,我們惟有祈求天父賜下聖神了。
聖父啊!我們奉耶穌基督,我們的主之名,求祢沛降聖神,使大地更新,我們也因而蒙受再生之恩。亞孟。

生命恩泉


Teaching People to Fear God
(Luke 1:39-56)

The Magnificat reminds us to rely on God. Only God can make this world fairer. It is because the God to whom the BVM sings praises is a God who defeats the proud but defend the humble, a God who sees justice done.

At most, a common woman could only dream of marrying a king, giving birth to heir so that she would be the mother of a king. The BVM came from a lowly class. She could not even dream of marrying into a rich family. But before Genesis, God had chosen her to be the Mother of the Son of God. Out of His holiness, God gave Mary special graces, allowing the Son of God to redeem her beforehand so that she was conceived without the Original Sin. As the Mother of God, "henceforth all generations will call me blessed." (Luke 1:48) What God has done on her was really great (1:49) so great that all angels and men marvel.

If God likes to defeat the proud and defend the humble and "has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich has sent empty away." (1:53), why after so many centuries, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has widened so much. Have Christians forgotten to pray to the Father for justice in the world? Not necessarily.
The BVM says, "His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation." (1:50) That is to say, no matter you are rich or poor, as long as you fear Him, God will be merciful to them. Unfortunately, with the advancement of science and technology, men become haughty so that there is no place of God in their equations! How would they fear God? Therefore, besides praying for more justice in the world, Christians have the duty to teach humanity to fear God.

No doubt, it is extremely difficult to persuade haughty people to fear God. But it is not impossible. "Fear of God" is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, teaching people to know the Holy Spirit is indispensable to teaching people to fear the Lord. But like wind, the Holy Spirit is so unpredictable. Therefore, we can only beg the Father to grant us the Holy Spirit.
Holy Father! We implore in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord that You grant us the Holy Spirit to renew the creature so that we may live again. Amen.

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