主題：教會的十字架
今天的福音故事，發生在耶穌基督傳福音的最鼎盛時期。據馬爾谷福音的記載，耶穌基督在北方加里肋亞省境內，先後兩次增餅，滿足了四、五千人的飢餓。即是說，耶穌基督的傳福音活動，吸引了成千上萬的群眾，甚至追隨者。傳福音祇是耶穌基督拯救世人的其中一步，基督需要建立教會，繼續祂的救世工程。教會是一個有組織的團體，她需要一個領導人。所以，耶穌基督問了兩條問題，找出誰是教會的磐石。馬爾谷福音祇記載了伯多祿宣認耶穌基督是默西亞的身份，而沒有記載耶穌基督，立伯多祿為教會的磐石。這是可以理解的，因為馬爾谷是伯多祿的書記，他寫福音的資料來自伯多祿。伯多祿不說，馬爾谷就不會寫。為甚麼伯多祿不說，而瑪竇，另一位宗徒卻說了呢（瑪16:18-19）？很明顯，伯多祿不想在教會內抬高自己的身價地位。這是明智的，伯多祿清楚知道自己能力有限（路5:8），並且在危急關頭，三次否認耶穌（谷14:66-72）。所謂「磐石」，祇不過是一塊平平無奇的石頭，並不是一塊怎樣了不起，力挽狂瀾的大麻石。一開始，這塊磐石便被耶穌基督責斥為「撒殫」，意思是「敵人」，是阻擋去路的人（8:33）！
於是，耶穌基督提出作為跟隨者的條件：「誰若願意跟隨我，該棄絕自己，背著自己的十字架，跟隨我。」（8:34）這條件除了適用於個人身上，我認為，它也適用於整個教會的身上。
為甚麼要徹底地放棄呢？因為那些對現世財富和權勢的慾望，是永生的障礙，降低了我們享受天主的生命的能力。在新天新地裡，我們不再需要財富提供給我們安全感；在天國裡，我們都是天主的子女，權勢已再沒有意義了。最後要放棄的，就是我們的「個人意志」。雖然我們每年都耹聽耶穌基督在山園祈禱的片段，每天都誦唸天主經，但放棄個人意志，不竟是最困難的事！我們要背著的十字架，就是按「真福八端」的精神生活：選擇貧窮、對世界的罪惡和不幸，感同身受、溫柔良善、渴慕天主的救贖、對人慈悲、心無二志、締造和平、拒絕明哲保身。這是基督徒「棄絕自己，背著自己的十字架」的應有態度，讓我們在生活中實踐罷。
教會是天主子民所組成的得救團體，所以「棄絕自己，背著自己的十字架」，也是整個教會應有的態度。但教會與個人不同，人祇有數十寒暑的歲月，教會卻要經歷上千年的「洗禮」（10:38）。教會的十字架，就是她的內憂外患。
無論在羅馬帝國時代，或是向世界傳教的時代，教會總會遇上掌權者的迫害。遭受迫害的原因總離不開政治因素。當執政者感覺教會威脅到自己的權威和管治時，又或者教會是順手的代罪羔羊，用以轉移視線時，當權者是不會猶豫，發動迫害的。這些外患是無可避免的。因為連溫良和善，對任何人都沒有威脅的耶穌基督，也因為宣傳天主的公義，即天主的拯救和解放，而遭受迫害。倘若教會好像伯多祿一樣，為了自保，在面對迫害時便退縮，噤若寒蟬，豈不是又一次否認自己的師傅嗎？所以，教會仍然需要保持「溫良、慈悲、渴慕正義和樂意為義而受迫害」的心態，背著來自政治上的十字架。
另一方面，教會面對各式各樣的內憂，也要抱著「真福八端」的態度面對。歷史告訴我們，當羅馬帝國逐漸沒落，野蠻民族入侵的時代，教會負起了教化蠻人，保存文化，推廣教育，甚至連管理帝國的責任，也落在教會身上。權力大了，人便腐敗了。所以千多年來，教會內不斷傳出為了權力鬥爭的暗殺、貪污腐敗和性罪行的醜聞。千多年來，天主亦很有耐性地，在教會內扶植不少聖人。他們提倡不同的靈修、司鐸培育、社會服務和制度上的改革，使教會能撥亂反正，獲得醫治。這些改革都是圍繞著「貧窮、哀慟、心靈純潔和締造和平」的教訓，棄絕「高高在上，真理導師」的心態；脫下令人肅然起敬的祭衣，束上腰，以僕人的身份，為臨現在弱勢社群中的耶穌基督洗腳。對，教會也要「棄絕自己，背著自己的十字架」，來應付內患，跟隨耶穌基督。
作為平信徒，我們都是基督奧體的一份子。既然領洗加入了教會，難道我們要與犯了罪的神職人員，劃清界線嗎？既然二千年來，天主沒有放棄建築在千瘡百孔的伯多祿身上的教會，耶穌基督並沒有放棄祂的朋友（若15:15），所以我們也不可以放棄。我們要棄絕的，不是這些！請大家在九月，按主教的指示，棄絕自己，繼續為教會內遭受性侵犯的受害人，與及相關的神職人員，守齋祈禱，作為補贖。願慈悲的天主，寬恕和醫治我們。
首先，十字架根本不是甚麼聖物、裝飾物，而是死刑的刑具，更不是普通的刑具。因此，耶穌基督提出的，是一個徹底的要求。「棄絕」有別於「放棄」。「放棄」可以是短暫的，可以捲土重來的。「放棄」更可以是一種交換的手段，妥協的手段，為了爭取更重要的事物，所謂「棄車保帥」。「棄絕」卻是完全的、徹底的、連根拔起、置諸死地的動作。當然，因為我們跟隨的，是復活了的主基督，是生命的主宰。所以這徹底的「棄絕」背後，是充滿生機的。
從五旬節聖神降臨，教會成立之初，便因信仰上的分歧，而被自己的同胞所拒絕並迫害。結果教會離開自己的發源地，即耶路撒冷，走向世界，把福音傳遍羅馬帝國。加入教會的人數越多，便產生了分裂的危機，結果教會選立了七位執事，去應付問題。可見教會的內憂外患，即她的十字架，是天主用來幫助她成聖的工具。教會既然是基督的身體，她就應該好像耶穌基督─即教會的頭一樣（哥1:18，弗5:23），接納擁抱她的十字架。
天主保祐！
Twenty Fourth Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: The Cross of the Church
The gospel story today took place at the zenith of Jesus' public ministry. According to Mark, Jesus multiplied loaves twice to feed 5000 and 4000 men in the province of Galilee. That is to say, Jesus was able to attract crowds of thousands of people and even followers in his evangelization activities. But evangelization was only one of the many steps in the redemption of mankind. Christ needed to establish the Church to continue the redemption project. The Church is an organized community. She needs a leader. Thus, Jesus Christ asked two questions to uncover who the Rock of the Church was. Mark only mentions Peter's confession about Jesus and not Christ's making Peter the Rock of the Church. This is understandable because Mark was Peter's secretary. His information came from Peter. If Peter was reticent, Mark did not write. But why was Peter silent while, Matthew another apostle talks about it (Matthew 16:18-19)? Obviously, Peter did not want to elevate his status and importance within the Church. This is the virtue of prudence. Peter knew his inadequacies (Luke 5:8). In life-threatening circumstances, he even denied Jesus three times (Mark 14:66-72). This "Rock" is an ordinary stone only, not any extraordinary slab of majestic granite. At the very beginning, Jesus rebuked this Rock, calling it "Satan", which means adversary, an obstacle on your path (8:33)!
Then, Jesus Christ spells out the conditions of discipleship, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." (8:34) In my opinion, not only do they apply to Christians, but they also apply to the Church.
Why do we need to deny totally? It is because the desire for wealth and power is an obstacle to eternal life. It diminishes our capacity to partake in the life of God. In the new heavens and new earth, we do not need wealth to provide us security. In the Kingdom of Heaven, we are children of God. Power becomes meaningless. The last thing we should deny is our will. Although every year we read of the Agony of Jesus in Gethsemane and we recite the Lord's Prayer every day, denying our will is the most difficult thing of all! The cross we take up is to lead a life according to the Beatitudes: to opt for poverty; to mourn for the evil and tragedies of the world; to be meek; to hunger for God's salvation; to be merciful; to be single-minded; to make peace and refuse to compromise. This is the proper Christian attitude "to deny oneself and to take up one's cross". Let us put it into practice in our daily life.
The Church is a community of God's People. Thus, "to deny oneself and to take up one's cross" should also be the attitude of the entire Church. But the Church is different from individuals. Individuals only live for decades but the Church has to undergo millennia of "baptism" (10:38). The cross the Church takes up is her internal and external troubles.
Whether it was during the age of the Roman Empire, or subsequent ages of active evangelization, the Church would meet persecutions from people in power, all for political reasons. When the head of a state feels/imagines that the Church is a threat to his authority and governance, or the Church is a handy scapegoat to divert attention, those powerful people will not hesitate to engineer persecutions. Thus external troubles are inevitable. Even the meek and harmless Jesus Christ was persecuted because he proclaimed God's justice, i.e. God's salvation and liberation. If the Church follows the example of Peter for self-preservation, withdraws and keeps quiet in face of persecutions, isn't she denying her Master once more? Thus the Church has to keep up with the attitude of being "meek, merciful, thirsty for justice and joyful in face of persecution for the sake of justice" to take up the cross which comes from politics.
On the other hand, the Church should also engage all sorts of internal troubles with the Beatitude attitudes. History informs us that during the decline of the Roman Empire, in the age of Barbarian Invasion, the Church took up the tasks of taming the barbarians, conserving the culture, promoting education and even the governance of the Empire. Power corrupts. Thus, for a millennium, incidents of power struggle assassinations, scandals of simonies and sexual abuses have been rampant. For a millennium, God has been patiently grooming many saints who advocated different spirituality, priesthood formations, social services and institutional reforms to put the Church back on the right tract and attain cure. These reforms centre on the teachings of "poverty, mourning, purity of heart and making of peace". The Church has to deny the mentality of the Supreme Teacher of the Truth. She has to take off her awe-inspiring chasuble, gird her loin and wash the feet of Jesus Christ who is present among the underprivileged. Right, the Church has "to deny herself and take up the cross" to handle internal troubles and follow Jesus Christ.
As a member of the laity, we are members of the Mystical Body of Christ. As we were baptized to join the Church, can we part company with sinful clergy? For two millennia, God has not forsaken the Church built upon the feeble Peter and Jesus Christ has not given up his friends (John 15:15). Neither should we! We are not denying them! Remember the appeal of our Bishop. Let us deny ourselves in September. For the victims of sexual abuses and the sinful clergy, let us fast and pray to do penance. May the mercy of God forgive and heal us.
First of all, a cross is no sacred object or ornament. It is a capital punishment, not even an ordinary torture. Thus, what Jesus Christ demands is a total demand. "To deny" is different from "To ditch". To ditch can be temporary. You may later reclaim. To ditch can also be an exchange tactic, a compromise in order to retain something more important. To deny is complete, thorough, uprooting and mortal. Of course, since we are following the Risen Lord, the Author of life. Behind this total denial, there is life.
Since the establishment of the Church at the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost, she underwent rejection and persecutions from her fellow kindred because of differences in beliefs. Consequently, the Church had to abandon her birth place, Jerusalem, and ventured into the world, thus spreading the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire. When more people joined the Church, a crisis of division arose. In the end, seven deacons were chosen to handle the problem. Thus, all these internal and external troubles are the cross of the Church. God make use of them to sanctify her. Since the Church is the Body of Christ, like Jesus Christ, her head (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:23), she has to accept and embrace her cross.
God bless!
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