心裡潔淨的人是有福的 Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

心裡潔淨的人是有福的（若1:45-51）
「從納匝肋還能出甚麼好事嗎？」（若1:46a）
人是有理性的受造物，這是他們被冠以「萬物之靈」的其中一個原因。在一般情況下，他們要運用腦袋思考，作出判斷，然後採取行動。當中的每一個步驟，都是很費時，很疲累和很痛苦的事。因此，能做出不會後悔的行動，真不容易！所以很多人會建立一套思考的習慣，既可減少消耗量，又可作出迅速的判斷和行動，有助於在這個繽紛的俗世中生活。「偏見」就是這樣的低消耗量思考習慣之一。例如，「有今生，無來世。信耶穌得永生是騙人的。」、「政教分離，信徒不應參加政治。」、「宗教並不科學，祇不過是度人向善，給人心靈慰藉而已。」等等。

「來看一看吧！」（1:46b）雖然斐理伯是正確的，他的確已經找到了應許的默西亞，但他尊重朋友的意見，沒有立刻宣判他錯，並沒有強逼納塔乃耳認同他的意見。他反而客觀在邀請納塔乃耳給自己一個機會，搜尋更多證據，或者他會改變主意，也未可知！
可幸納塔乃耳是一個心中毫無詭詐的以色列人（1:47），當他面對真理─耶穌基督─的時候，不像那些宗教權貴一樣，為了利益受損而拒絕了生命的主宰！讓我們想一想，是「心中毫無詭詐」使納塔乃耳成了十二宗徒之一，並且最後以殉道的方式，表達了他對天主全心、全靈、全意的愛，贏得了永生的榮冠。
天父啊，請賜給我們聖神的明達，消除我們心中的詭詐和偏見，好能看清楚我們的蒙召，是何等的福樂。亞孟。

圖片鳴謝：http://mentalfloss.com/article/93112/15-old-words-duplicitous-we-should-bring-back
生命恩泉

---

Blessed Are the Pure in Heart (John 1:45-51) "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46a)
Man is a rational creature. This explains why man is the crown of Creation. In ordinary situations, they make use of their brains to think, to make judgment and then take action. Every one of these three steps is time-consuming, exhausting and can be rather painful. Thus, being determined to take an action with no regret is not easy! Therefore, many people set up a routine way of thinking in order to reduce the consumption of energy, to quickly reach a judgment and then act. This helps people live in the secular world more easily. Prejudice is one such low-energy mode of thinking. For example, "There is only one life, no life after death. Believing in Jesus to gain eternal life is a hoax". "Politics and Religions should be separated. Believers should stay away from politics" and "Religion is unscientific. It only encourages people to do good and consoles lonely hearts" etc.
"Come and see!" (1:46b) Even though Philip had truly found the promised Messiah, he respected his friend's opinion and did not judge him wrong. Philip did not force Nathanael to agree with him. On the contrary, he invited Nathanael to give himself a chance and to seek more evidence. Perhaps he might change his mind!
Fortunately, there is no duplicity in Nathanael, a true Israelite (1:47). When he saw the Truth --- Jesus Christ ---, unlike other religious authorities, he did not reject the Lord of Life because of damages in advantages. Let us contemplate! It is "no duplicity in heart" which made Nathanael one of the twelve Apostles and finally expressed his total love of God with his heart, soul and mind through martyrdom, thus winning the crown of eternal life.
Heavenly Father, grant us the gift of knowledge to eliminate the duplicity and prejudice in our hearts so that we are able to see how blessed we are to be called. Amen.