耶穌升天節，乙年
主題：不願走出羊棧的羊
曾執教鞭當老師的，必定明白「教而後知困」的道理。在教學上遇上困難的課題時，便去進修。同樣，天主教的神學也是迫出來的，並不像幾何學一樣，有系統地推導出來。當基督徒的信仰受到挑戰時，教會的神長們會坐下來辯論，尋求共識，然後向所有信徒頒布信理。例如，天主子也是天主，因為祂與聖父同性同體。雖然聖母是受造物，但她是天主之母親，因為天主子耶穌基督的天主性與人性，是不能分割的…這就是天主教信仰的一大特色。倘若上至教宗、下至平信徒，人人都熱心地宣揚福音，教會就不用召開梵蒂崗第二次大公會議，商議如何把福音更有效地傳給現代人。這半個世紀以來，天主教會不停頒布有關傳福音的文件。1975年，聖教宗保祿六世提出「新福傳」，目光不但放在非信徒身上，同時亦注意到教友的培訓。聖教宗若望保祿二世在任內，發表了多篇新福傳的通諭和宗座公函；榮休教宗本篤十六世任內成立「宗座新福傳推廣理事會」，定2012-13年為「信德年」，慶祝召開梵二大公會議五十周年，第十三屆全體主教會議所討論的主題也是「新福傳」。教宗方濟各上任八個月，便發表他的第一篇宗座勸諭《福音的喜樂》；2020年，教廷聖職部頒佈「為福傳的堂區牧靈更新」訓令…可見，傳福音是天主教教會內，每一個層面所要面對的，一個十分嚴峻的問題，否則，教廷用不著這樣喋喋不休！
我們知道，傳福音是主耶穌建立教會的目的。在祂離世升天，返回天父的右邊時，耶穌基督明確地把傳福音的使命交給教會（瑪28:19-20，谷16:15-16，路24:47-49，宗1:8）天主子的任務是使世界與天父修好，所以祂建立教會，把這個修好的任務交託給伯多祿（瑪16:19）。這修好的任務當然不祇落在伯多祿一人身上，或聖職人員身上。保祿更呼籲全體信徒，成為基督的修和大使（格後5:20）；他甚至激動地說：「我若不傳福音，我就有禍了」（格前9:16）
誠然，教會在成立之初，基督徒佔人口的極少數，有一望無際的傳福音空間。但當整個歐洲祇剩下新生嬰兒可以接受洗禮之外，而哥倫布尚未發現新大陸之前，傳福音成了沒有意義的事！交通不便，經絲綢之路往返遠東，除非為了賺錢，或者逃避迫害，否則，根本沒有把福音帶往中國的動機。首先傳入中國的「景教」，不就是聶斯多略異端嗎？多世紀以來，即使出現異端，也是針對聖職人員的腐敗，多於信理上的爭論…從另一個角度看教會的歷史，教會的「成功」，埋下了她「失敗」的種子。在安逸的生活，沒有任何挑戰的環境下，耶穌基督的教會就好像一所「完美的羊棧」，信徒是羔羊，聖職人員是羊棧的工人。單純的羔羊無憂無慮在羊棧裡生活，沒有野心的工人也無憂無慮地在羊棧裡服務。
在以往的世代，教會以身教的方式，宣講福音。在愛德服務方面，天主教比其他世界性宗教更入世。當教宗可以說服野蠻人放棄洗劫羅馬城的念頭，當教會成為了羅馬文化的保護者的時候，當絕大部份人都願意聽從教會訓導的時候，我們不需要「硬銷」福音。神長們和修會的兄弟們，祇以默默的臨在，以愛德服務，便可以向「世界」宣講得救解放的福音了。他們不知道還有「新世界」的存在，忘記了耶穌基督曾說過祂還有別的羊，還不屬於這一棧（10:16）。時移世易，世人受的奴役更大了，愛德服務與默默的臨在，已不再有效地宣講解放的福音了。因此，半個世紀以來，天主教會不斷提出新福傳，重燃教友心中久違了的傳福音熱忱。
如何克服那安逸的心態，不願離開安全的羊棧的心態呢？更有甚者，傳福音的時候，必然會遇上不可預期的困難甚至生命危險，到時怎麼辦呢？耶穌不是說過：「我派遣你們猶如羔羊往狼群中」（瑪10:16，路10:3）傳福音豈不是自尋死路，凶多吉少？大家可能忘記了耶穌基督的許諾（瑪28:20，谷16：17-18），祂曾被宰殺，如今復活了。縱使外面是刀山油鑊，有祂相伴，何懼之有？
各位兄弟姊妹，你們可以保證當你們99隻羊留在羊棧內時，善牧沒有跑到外面尋找那隻亡羊嗎？何不跟善牧一起尋找亡羊，到時，我們必然是第一個受益人。我的羔羊，去吧！向一切受造物傳福音，使萬民成為門徒。
天主保佑！
2018年講道
圖片鳴謝：slideshare.net
Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord, Year B
Theme: Lambs who prefer Staying In the Fold
Teachers should be able to appreciate the aphorism “Teach and you know the difficulty”. When a teacher meets a difficult topic, he or she will take refresher’s courses. Similarly, many Catholic doctrines are “forced” into existence. They are not deduced logically and systematically from axioms like geometry. When the faith of Christians is challenged, Church fathers come together to debate and reach a consensus. Then, it will be promulgated as articles of faith among believers. For example, the Son of God is God because the Son of God is consubstantial with the Father. Although the BVM is a creature, she is the Mother of God because the divinity and humanity of the Son of God Jesus Christ can’t be separated … This is a characteristic of Catholicism. Had the Pope down to the laity been fervent in evangelization, the Catholic Church would not have convened the Vatican II to explore how to proclaim more effectively the gospel messages to the modern world. For more than half a century, the Church keeps promulgating documents of evangelization. In 1975, St. Pope Paul VI started talking about New Evangelization. The focus is not only on non-believers but also on the formation of the baptized as well. During his pontificate, St. Pope John Paul II promulgated many encyclicals and apostolic letters on New Evangelization. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI set up the “Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization”，made 2012-13 a “Year of Faith” to celebrate the golden jubilee of the opening of Vatican II. The Thirteenth General Assembly of Synod of Bishops also made New Evangelization their theme. Within eight months of his pontificate, Pope Francis promulgated his first Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”. In 2020, the Congregation for the Clergy issued an instruction “The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church” … Thus, evangelization is seen as an acute problem at every level of the Catholic Church. Otherwise, the Roman Curia doesn’t have to keep talking about it tirelessly!
We know that evangelization is the raison d’être of the Church. When Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and returned to the right hand of the Father, He explicitly commissioned the Church to proclaim the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-16, Luke 24:47-49, Acts 1:8). The mission of the Son of God is to reconcile the world to the Father. Thus, He set up the Church and gave this mission of reconciliation to Peter (Matthew 16:19). This reconciliation mission does not fall solely on Peter or the clergy. Paul calls on all Christians to be Christ’s ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20). He even laments, “Woe to me if I do not preach it” (1 Corinthians 9:16).
To be candid, in the early years of the Church, Christians were an extreme minority. A huge space for evangelization was opened up for them over the horizon. But when only new born babies in Europe remained to be baptized and Columbus had not yet discovered the New World, evangelization was meaningless! When travel was perilous, nobody traversed the Silk Road to the Far East unless they wanted to make money or to flee persecution. Otherwise, there was no motivation to bring the gospel to China. Wasn’t Jingjiao a Nestorian heretic? Many centuries since, heresies arose, not out of theological controversies but the corruption of clergy … Looking at the Church history from another perspective, her successes breed her falls. Living in a comfortable environment void of challenges, the Church set up by Jesus Christ looks like a “Perfect Fold” where believers are lambs and clergy are workers in the fold. Simple lambs led a carefree life in the fold while mediocre clergy with no ambitions served the fold without worries.
Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) After finding faith in Jesus Christ, were baptized and entered the Church, many people became lambs which entered through the gate of Lord Jesus Christ and found security in the fold. In providing security, the Church proves to be very successful! From cradle to grave and the marital familial life in between, the Church renders a through-train service without competition. There was no need to call for external support. Can we blame the clergy for not being ambitious? Consequently, workers bring lambs into the fold, taking care of their security within the fold and the food they need, very much like Noah’s Ark. Workers do not find it necessary to bring the lambs out, graze them in the pasture to obtain new nutrition, to stretch their feet and work out, meeting other lambs that haven’t yet belonged to the fold! I just want to say, not only is evangelization an obligation of Christians, but Christians are also the first beneficiary themselves! When we meet challenges and difficulties in evangelization, we look for solutions and seek help from the Holy Spirit. Don’t we become the first beneficiary? In the long run, when more people believe in Jesus Christ, we are improving our living space and are able to enjoy greater religious freedom. Time changes and the Church is besieged in the modern world. On one hand, there are totalitarian governments which trample on religious freedom. On the other, there are rivalry from secularism, individualism and new cultures. If the Church does not evangelize, how is she different from death row inmates!
In previous generations, the Church preached by examples. With her charity works, Catholicism is more down to earth than other global religions. When the Pope was able to persuade barbarians from sacking Rome, when the Church became the guardian of Roman culture, when most people were willing to accept the teachings of the Church, we didn’t need to hard-sell the Gospel. The silent presence and charitable works of clergy and friars were sufficient to proclaim the liberating gospel to the “world”. They didn’t know the existence of the New World and had forgotten that Jesus says that He has other sheep that do not belong to this fold (John 10:16). Time changes and people are more enslaved today. Charity and silent presence are not adequate in proclaiming the liberating messages of the gospel. Thus, for more than half a century, the Catholic Church keeps talking about New Evangelization to rekindle the long forgotten zeal of gospel proclamation.
How do we overcome the complacency and the reluctance to leave the security of the fold? Even more accutely, when we proclaim the gospel, we shall definitely encounter difficulties and sometimes it can be life-threatening. What shall we do? Hasn’t Jesus said, “Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves” (Matthew 10:16, Luke 10:3)? Isn’t evangelization suicidal? Perhaps we have forgotten Jesus’ promises (Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:17-18). He was killed and now lives. Though it’s hellish out there, with Him, fear not!
Brethren! Are you sure when you stay inside the fold among the 99 sheep, the Good Shepherd has not gone out to seek the one lost sheep? Why not go with the Good Shepherd to seek the lost sheep together? Then we shall be the first beneficiary. My lambs! Go forth! Proclaim the gospel to every creature. Make disciples of all nations.
God bless!
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