主題：天主子顯聖容滿足人類對無限的渴求
不得不承認，親人之間的關係，非常複雜。最常見的問題總是環繞在父母的「偏心」和子女之間的爭寵！這些例子，在舊約聖經中，俯拾皆是。加音殺死亞伯爾，源於在他眼中，天主「偏心」，沒有悅納他的祭獻而悅納了弟弟的祭獻（創4:5）；撒辣為了保障自己所生的依撒格，可以獨佔將來的產業，就容不下哈加爾和她為亞巴郎所生的依市瑪耳（21:9-10）；創世紀更明明白白地說依撒格愛厄撒烏，因為他愛吃野味，而他的妻子黎貝加卻愛雅各伯（25:28）；後來雅各伯在母親慫恿下，騙取了長子的祝福，遠走高飛！經歷二十年的艱苦經營，纔能與自己的兄弟和解。十二個兒子中，雅各伯偏愛辣黑耳為他所生的若瑟，並給他造了件彩色長衣（37:3），自然引起了眾兄弟的嫉妒。加上若瑟少不更事，幾乎惹來殺身之禍（37:18）！當然在天主的護佑之下，被出賣的若瑟反過來拯救了全家。這一切事的發生：謀殺、爭產、欺詐、偏心等等，在冥冥之中卻配合著天主拯救世界的計劃。天主的上智，何其神妙莫測，令人讚嘆不已！
雖然我們沒有這份福氣，在有生之年可以瞻仰這天主子的光榮，姑且讓我們默想這是怎麼樣的光榮。我們知道這份光榮並不是人世間的文字可以充份地描述的，而且聖史的記載距離我們時日久遠，我們未必能欣賞他們的風格：「在他們面前變了容貎發光有如太陽，他的衣服潔白如光」（17:2），「他的衣服發光，那樣潔白，世上沒有一個漂布的能漂得那樣白」（谷9:3），「祂的面容改變，祂的衣服潔白發光」（路9:29）。這是文字描述的限制，但值得注意的，是門徒們的反應。所謂「人同此心，心同此理」，他們的感受，我們也可感受一二。讓我們留意伯多祿的反應，他說：「主啊！我們在這裡真好！你若願意，我就在這裡搭三個帳棚：一個為祢，一個為梅瑟，一個為厄里亞。」（瑪17:4）究竟天主子的光榮，好在哪？
我相信伯多祿在這一刻，他對無限的渴求，得到了滿足。雖然與主耶穌基督，日夜相處了一段日子，近距離看見過祂施行的神蹟，並在水裡，得到步行在水面上的主，伸手拯救…這一切都被耶穌基督的血肉掩蓋著，不及現在面對著天主真身的直接感受。伯多祿被無限掩蓋了…
「趨吉避凶」真是人性的表現，但願能永遠留在山上，享受天主子光榮的無限安慰。但在享受光榮之前，我們不得不付出血汗啊！即使是美食當前，也要張開口罷可以品嘗。不勞而獲，總不是味道。所以，門徒們淺嘗來世的美果之後，總得返回現實世界，背起自己的十字架，聯同其他的兄弟姊妹，跟隨主耶穌基督，出死入生，成為天父喜悅的子女（瑪17:5）。
各位兄弟姊妹，天父既然信任我們這脆弱的人性，讓我們加把勁，以天主子的光榮作為指標，向天國邁進。
梅瑟和厄里亞的出現，令伯多祿初嘗永恆的滋味。時間不再如河水，一去不復返。他們有幸跳出了時間約束，可以見證到梅瑟和厄里亞這些歷史人物，與天主子交談，伯多祿在沒有時間約束的狀態下，一瞬間有如千年（伯後3:8），他完全經歷了自亞巴郎以來，甚至更早，在天主大家庭的繽紛喜樂：加音、依市瑪耳、厄撒烏、普提法爾的妻子、撒烏耳、達味、哥肋雅、烏黎雅、撒羅滿…固然每個人物，包括我們自己，都有不足之處，但天主的慈愛，填補了人的缺陷！試問人生在世，尚有何求呢？「主啊！我們在這裡真好！」
天主保祐！
圖片鳴謝：https://www.holytrinityutrecht.nl/sermons/transfiguration-2/
Second Sunday of Lent, Year A
Theme: Transfiguration Satisfies Our Desire For The Infinite
We cannot but acknowledge that the relationships among family members are extremely complicated. The most common feuds revolve around parental favouritism and sibling rivalry. Plenty such dramas can be found in the Old Testament. Cain murdered Abel because in his eyes, God did not look with favour upon his offerings but on his brother's (Genesis 4:5); in order to guarantee that Isaac, the son she bore would obtain all the inheritance, Sarah drove away Hagar and Ishmael, the son she bore for Abraham (21:9-10); Genesis even blatantly claims that "Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob." (25:28) Later, persuaded by his mother, Jacob deceived Isaac and obtained the first born blessing. He fled and only after two decades of labour, returned to reconcile with his brother. Among the 12 sons, Jacob loved Joseph best because he was born of Rachel. He made Joseph a long ornamented tunic (37:3). Naturally all other brothers were jealous and Joseph's naivety nearly cost him his life (37:18)! Of course, with God's guidance, the betrayed Joseph turned out to be the saviour of the whole family. God made use of all these: murder, in-fighting, deception and favouritism etc. in His grand plan to save the world. God's wisdom is truly unfathomable and awe-inspiring!
God created men in His own image (1:26). God is infinite. Therefore, deep in our souls, we mortals desire the infinite. Unfortunately, we lacked patience, took a short-cut and rebelled against God. But He does not abandon us. There is an unsurpassable (from human perspective) abyss between God and men. Therefore, in order to deliver us, the Son of God incarnated and took human flesh. He reveals the Father to us and leads us home, raising our status to be adopted children of God. It is not easy to accept God's way of thinking. His plan, codename "Phoenix", is to rise again from death itself in order to usher us into eternal life to share His life. When Jesus Christ told this plan to His disciples, Peter upon this Rock Jesus would build His Church took him aside and began to rebuke him. (Matthew 16:21-22)! God's way of thinking is truly ineffable! In this context, the Son of God brought the nucleus of the Apostles to a high mountain and revealed His glory to them. When the Son of God incarnated, His divinity had been shrouded inside His humanity. Now that He revealed them His glory, which is also the glory of His resurrection, in order to strengthen their faith in resurrection. For this reason, Jesus charged them, "Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." (17:9)
Although we don't have the blessing to witness the glory of the Son of Man during our lifetime, let us meditate what sort of glory it was. We understand that no writings on earth would be adequate enough to describe such a glory. The Evangelists had written long time ago. We may not be able to appreciate their writing style: "And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light." (Matthew 17:2), "And his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them." (Mark 9:3), "His face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white." (Luke 9:29) This is the limitation of writings. But we may pay attention to the reactions of the disciples. We are human. Our feelings would be similar. Let us focus on Peter's reactions. He said, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." (Matthew 17:4) What is so good about the glory of the Son of God?
I believe at that moment, Peter's desire for the infinite was satisfied. Although he had been staying with Jesus Christ for more than two years, watching Jesus' miracles point blank and when he sank, he was delivered by the Lord who was walking on water next to him … all these had been shrouded in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Unlike now, Peter looked face to face into the divinity of God. Peter was shrouded in the Infinite…
Moses and Elijah also appeared. This gave Peter a taste of eternity. Time no longer flows like a river with no return. They were released from the restriction of time. They were able to witness Moses and Elijah, these two historical figures speaking with the Son of God. In the state of freedom from time, a moment is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). Peter was able to experience from the time of Abraham or even earlier, the joy and fun of God's family: Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Potiphar's wife, Saul, David, Goliath, Uriah and Solomon … Of course, everybody is flawed, including us. But God's mercy fills up our inadequacy! What else can we desire on earth? "Lord, it is good that we are here!"
To enjoy comfort and avoid pain is truly human. How we wish we might stay in the mountain and enjoy the infinite comfort shed on us by the glory of the Son of God forever. But before we enjoy the glory, it is inevitable for us to sweat our brow! Even if good food is laid out, we need to open our mouth in order to taste them. No pain, no gain! Therefore, after tasting the good fruit of the life to come, the disciples need to return to the real world, carry their own crosses, unite with other brothers and sisters to follow Jesus Christ and pass over to become children in whom the Father is pleased (Matthew 17:5).
Brethren, the Father trusts in our fragility. Let us move diligently towards the goal set by the glory of the Son of God, which is the Kingdom of Heaven.
God bless!
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