亥年談豬 About Swines

亥年談豬

郭志強執事

值此新春，謹代表聖葉理諾堂仝寅，祝各位來年身壯力健，家肥屋潤，聖寵滿盈。
天主安排在我們身邊的事物，對我們必然有所裨益。今年歲次己亥屬豬，讓我們看看豬怎樣啟示天主對我們的大愛！「家」字，是屋簷下有豬。在同一屋簷下，一群人圍繞著一頭豬生活，便組成一個家，這是多麼有意義！豬多產，供應一家在經濟上，和營養上的需要，功不可抹。

可惜，人類缺乏感恩之心，不但沒有感激豬的貢獻，反而把很多惡劣的質素，投射到豬的身上去：懶惰，骯髒，貪饕，好色等等，【西游記】中的豬八戒，就是典形的寫照！更可惜，連舊約聖經對豬，也好像沒有好感！【肋未紀】定下有關潔與不潔的法律時，走獸中，有偶蹄，有趾及反芻的，是潔的，可以吃，可以觸摸（肋11:3）。豬偶蹄有趾，可惜不是反芻，被定性為不潔，不可以吃（11:7-8）。可能覺得豬愚蠢吧，在【瑪竇福音】，連耶穌也勸我們不要把珠寶投在豬前（瑪7:6），言下之意，不要給愚蠢的人傳授真理（箴23:9）。最後，令人印象最深刻的神蹟，莫過於耶穌把邪魔驅進2,000頭豬之中，讓牠們「笨豬跳」進海裡溺斃了，何其壯觀！（谷5:13）
可是，我們作為基督徒，應該有感恩之心。所以，從另外一個角度看，我們可以再一次肯定豬對人類的貢獻！為了拯救一個人的靈魂和肉身，耶穌基督不惜犧牲2,000頭豬，折合拍賣價約港幣五百二十萬，零售價一千九百萬 ！當然，這個價錢並不能代表一個人的價值，祇反映出天主不惜任何代價，也要設法拯救人類！我們豈能不感謝天主，不感激為我們代罪的豬呢？
至於豬的愚蠢，執事無意在此為豬平反。倘若我們嫌棄豬愚蠢，請記住，人類之中亦有不少「愚不可及」和「大智若愚」的人。所以不要小覷看似愚蠢的豬，否則，我們祇是五十步笑百步而已。從前，科學家曾在豬身上提煉出控制糖尿病的胰島素。今天，科學家印証到豬與人類，有84%的基因是相同的。科學家希望在豬身上，研究出治療更多人類疾病的方法！人啊！你還嫌棄豬懶惰，骯髒，貪饕，好色嗎？
至於宗教上的不潔，反而有點奇怪。天主看了自己的創造，不是認為樣樣都很好嗎（創1:31，宗10:15）？為甚麼會出現不潔的制度，禁止人食用豬呢？學者相信，古代人類的智慧，認為有些人類不應該染指的東西，都冠之以神聖不可侵犯的標籤（例如知善惡樹，生命樹，焚燒的荊棘等）；或者有些會危害團體的事物，都被定性為不潔（例如有寄生蟲的走獸，死屍，血液，外邦人等）。以人類當今的知識水平，豬並非不應染指或者對社會有害，所以豬沒有甚麼「不潔」了。

天主召叫所有人回應祂的愛，並進一步召叫回應了祂的基督徒成聖，成為「聖潔的國民，屬於主的民族」（伯前2:9）。天主願意讓我們分享祂的超性生命，願意我們都成為神聖的，再沒有可以污染我們的豬了！當豬不再是不潔時，豬的多產，豬的犧牲貢獻，便成了基督徒的榜樣。作為基督徒，最低限度，我們應該像豬一樣，貢獻家庭。教宗方濟各在【愛的喜樂】宗座勸諭中指出，沒有一個家庭是圓美無缺的，每一個家庭都是一所「戰地醫院」，以愛照顧受傷的家庭成員。愛是需要忍耐和犧牲的，好像豬一樣。其實，當耶穌基督選擇犧牲一群豬，而不是其他走獸，來拯救附魔的人的時，是以豬的死亡，光榮天主，像他自己和其他宗徒一樣（若12:24，21:19）。因此，豬並非不潔，而且給我們示範了如何光榮天主。光榮天主不是一眾天主教徒所應該追求的事嗎（要理問答#1）？
教宗方濟各在最新的宗座勸諭【你們要歡喜踴躍】，論述基督徒如何在現代世界成聖，他指出「真福八端」是基督徒的身份證。因此，按「真福八端」的態度生活，是基督徒成聖的不二法門。豬的溫良，豬不斷的飢渴，豬的一心一意（心裡潔淨），最後，豬為了人類而受「迫害」，作出完全的犧牲等，凡此種種，把真福的態度，展示在我們眼前！的確，執事鼓勵大家，最少在豬年，效法豬的「真福」態度。但是，祇有態度是不足夠的，我們需要具體和實際的行動。要貢獻家庭，貢獻堂區大家庭和社會大家庭，就要認識和實踐天主教的「社會訓導」。教宗方濟各希望每個天主教徒，成為活生生的「天主教社會訓導」。他細心編寫了一本DOCAT，簡易清晰地講解「天主教社會訓導」。
各位兄弟姊妹，在豬年，讓我們飢渴地精讀【你們要歡喜踴躍】和DOCAT，一心一意，溫良慈悲地貢獻家庭，完全地犧牲服務社會；像豬一樣多產，吸引更多得救的人，加入教會（宗2:47）。
天主保祐！
雞年談五德

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About Swines

Deacon Alex Kwok

On behalf of the Pastoral Team and staff of the St. Jerome's Church, may I take this occasion of Lunar New Year to wish you all a healthy, prosperous and abundantly blessed new year ahead. God arranges things around us. They must be beneficial. This is the Year of the Swine. Let us see how swines show God's love for us. The Chinese character for "family" is "a pig under a roof". How meaningful it is that a group of people living around a pig under the same roof form a family. Pigs are fertile and provide for a family financially as well as nutritively. Their contributions should never be discredited.

Unfortunately, men lack gratitude. Not only are men not grateful for pigs' contributions, but they also project many evil inclinations onto pigs: sloth, filth, gluttony and lust etc. Zhu Bajie in the Journey to the West is such a typical characterization. Unfortunately, even the Old Testament does not spare the pigs. Leviticus defines the Code of Cleanliness, "Any animal that has hoofs you may eat, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud." (Leviticus 11:3) Pigs have hoofs and is cloven-footed. However, they do not chew the cud and are therefore declared unclean. Men should not eat their meat. (11:7-8) Perhaps pigs look stupid. Even Jesus warns us in Matthew not to cast our pearls before swine, (Matthew 7:6) suggesting that we should not teach the stupid the truth. (Proverbs 23:9) Lastly, the most spectacular miracle Jesus did was to drive demons into a herd of 2000 pigs which jumped off the cliff to drown in the sea! (Mark 5:13)
However, we are grateful Catholics. Looking from another perspective, we can affirm once more pigs' contribution to men! For the sake of one person, Jesus Christ is willing to sacrifice 2000 pigs, which cost about an auction price of $5,200,000 or retail price of $19,000,000! Of course, this is not the price of a person. It only reflects how much God wants to save mankind regardless of the cost! How can we not be grateful to God and pigs which pay our price?
As for the stupidity of swine, I do not intend to defend them. But if we despise pigs for their stupidity, don't forget, there are countless stupid people on earth. We are only pots calling kettles black. Previously, scientists extracted insulin from pigs to control diabetes. Nowadays, scientists discover that pigs share about 84% DNA with human. It is hoped that we are able to discover ways to cure more human diseases from pigs. Men! Would you still despise pigs for their sloth, filth, gluttony and lust?
God looked at everything he had made and found it very good." (Genesis 1:31, Acts 10:15) Why then did men set up a system to declare pigs unclean to eat? Scholars believe that ancient wisdom mandated that things forbidden for men should be labelled sacred (e.g. the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Life, the Burning Bush etc.), or things threathening the community's safety should be labelled unclean (e.g. animals with parasites, corpses, blood and aliens etc.) With our level of knowledge today, pigs are neither forbidden nor threantening to our society. There is nothing unclean of pigs.

It is a bit strange to declare pigs unclean when "
God calls us all to respond to His love. He further calls Christians, who have answered Him, to be "a holy nation, a people of his own." (1 Peter 2:9) God wants us to partake in His supernatural life, to become holy such that no pigs shall defile us! Pigs are no longer unclean. They are fertile. Their sacrificial contribution becomes an exemplar for Catholics. At least, we should contribute to our families. In his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis points out that no family is perfect. Every family is a field hospital to nurse wounded members. Love is patient and sacrificial, like pigs. Indeed, when Jesus Christ chose to sacrifice a herd of swine, and not other animals, to save the possessed man, the demise of pigs gloried God, like he himself as well as the Apostles (John 12:24, 21:19). Thus, pigs are not unclean and they show us how to glorify God. Isn't the glorification of God something we Catholics should seek?

In his latest Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis discusses Christian sanctification in the modern world. He points out that the Beatitudes is the ID card of Christians. Thus, leading our life according to the teachings of the Beatitudes is the sure path to sanctification. Pigs are meek. They always hunger and thirst. They are determined (pure of heart) and lastly, they suffer "persecution" for us and completely sacrifice themselves. All these beatific attitudes are displayed before our eyes! Truly, at least in the Year of the Swine, I encourage you to follow the beatific attitudes of pigs. But having attitudes alone is not enough. We need concrete and practical actions. If we want to contribute to our families, our parish and our society, we need to know the social teachings of the Catholic Church and put them into practice. Pope Francis wants every Catholic to become a walking "Catholic Social Teachings". He has meticulously written a DOCAT to explain Catholic Social Teachings in a lucid way.
Brethren, in the Year of the Swine, let us hunger and thirst in reading Gaudete et Exsultate and DOCAT, single-mindedly, meekly and mercifully contribute to our families, totally committed to serve the society. Like fertile pigs, attract more people who were being saved into the Church. (Acts 2:47)
God bless!


Picture Credit:
http://gogonews.cc/article/6552883.html
https://logicvsgod.com/2015/02/28/why-did-jesus-send-demons-into-2000-pigs/
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/propernomenclature/docat/
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-04/pope-francis-apostolic-exhortation-gaudete-et-exsultate-summary.html