黃謙善神父 – 主日講道

The point of today’s homily is that the Father wants us to become more active as persons, because we tend towards passivity. We want a better life, but we want it in the easiest way possible. Most people want to be in better shape, but without pain. That’s why they sell those ab machines—if we just roll in them, then we’ll lose weight. We want to overcome our sins, but we do the minimum to accomplish it. We all tend towards passivity.

今天講道的重點是:天父希望我們成為更積極的人，因為我們傾向於被動。我們想要更好的生活，但我們卻希望以最容易的方式來獲得。大多數人都想有美好的體型，但無需經歷任何痛苦。這就是為什麼有人賣那些健身機—我們只需要隨著它們運轉，就能減肥。我們想要克服我們的罪孽，但我們盡了最少的努力去完成它。我們都傾向於被動。

請問：人們還在互相祝賀「新年快樂」嗎？如果是，最好，因為現在還是新年伊始，還有成長的機會，我們都想成長。

Happy New Year again, everyone!
I’m going to make a statement, and I’d ask for your honest reaction, either a thumbs up, halfway, or thumbs down. And the statement is this: 2022 is not going to be easier than 2021. How do you feel about that?

One spiritual truth that we need to keep in mind is that it’s the good things that distract us from Jesus. For many people, the devil doesn’t tempt us with sinful things because it doesn’t work. So, he tempts priests to think more about his people than Jesus—that’s my problem. He tempts parents to think more about their children than Jesus. He tempts us to think more about COVID than Jesus. What have we been discussing during Christmas get-togethers? Did we talk about important things, such as how we’re doing spiritually, our deep hopes for the next year, where we want to grow, and the best graces of 2021? Or did we talk about COVID, and problems in the world? Did that help? We seem to talk about everything except Jesus, the Person Who loves us.

我們需要記住的一個神修的真理，是美好的事物讓我們從耶穌身上分心。對許多人來說，魔鬼不會用罪惡的東西來誘惑我們，因為它不起作用。所以，它誘使神父們更多地考慮他的教友，而不是耶穌–這也是我的問題。他鼓勵父母多為自己的孩子著想，而不是為耶穌著想。它誘使我們多考慮CoVID而不是耶穌。我們在聖誕聯歡會上談了些什麼？我們有沒有談到重要的事情，比如我們在神修上做得如何，我們對來年的深切希望，我們想要在哪方面成長，以及2021年最大的恩寵是什麼？或者我們談到了COVID，以及世界上的問題？這有幫助嗎？我們似乎什麼都談論，除了愛我們的耶穌。

各位聖誕快樂！在這個聖家的瞻禮日，讓我們來看看若瑟和瑪利亞的養育方式，並將其與熱門動畫片中父母的形象進行比較。史蒂文·格雷達納斯執事(Steven Greydanus)是一位天主教影評人，也是奧斯卡的投票委員，他寫過幾篇文章，主題是「少年最了解junior-knows-best」

Merry Christmas, everyone! We’re going to talk about humility tonight, because Christmas celebrates Jesus’ humility. He didn’t come to earth as a powerful, grown man, but as a baby. Why? To disarm us, to help us let down our guard. Let’s consider three ideas:
• First, where do we need to admit our need for help? Where would we like to grow in the upcoming year?

I want to tell you a story about Bryan. In his mid-20s, he and his girlfriend were far from God and sexually active. Bryan had such a strong addiction to pornography that he was no longer able to be physically intimate, and so he found a new girlfriend. (He said that he had a fourth-degree black belt in selfishness.) But his intimacy problems continued. Eventually, he and his former girlfriend got back together and decided to marry in the Church because she was Catholic.

我想給你講一個關於布萊恩的故事。在他25歲左右的時候，他和他的女朋友遠離天主，性生活活躍。布萊恩沉迷色情， 上癮極深，以至於他不能再與人保持身體上的親密關係，所以他另找了一個新的女朋友。 (他自嘲說他是自私黑帶四段高手。)。但他仍然有“親密”問題。最終，他和他的前女友重修舊好，並在教堂結婚，因為她是天主教徒。

多年來，當我聽告解時，我有時會給這樣的補贖：「我要你感謝耶穌在你的生命中所做的三件好事，…。你必須帶著微笑去做這件事。」。這個人通常會笑。
為什麼？因為當我們微笑的時候會有濟於事；有時我們不得不選擇這樣做來讓我們振作起來；而這個補贖表明了一個小小的行動是如何起到幫助作用的，對嗎？

Our opening question is: When will the darkness pass? In the book Discernment of Spirits in Marriage, which we’re using as an aid, Anne sees a pattern: When we’re in dark times, it feels like it’s “going to continue, all day, all week, maybe even forever if the darkness is heavy enough. Then you find that it doesn’t. It ends sooner, usually a lot sooner than the darkness wants you to believe” (80-81).

Mark wrote in his journal that things are a mess. This past month for him has been dark, and he’s keeping his wife at a distance. He’s not praying as before, and has skipped his prayer meetings with other men for the past two weeks. Today has also been tiring. He hasn’t stopped from the moment he left home. As an optometrist, he had to tell two patients that they would likely lose their sight, and one got very angry with him, saying that she would find another doctor. Because of all this, Mark left the family dinner as soon as he decently could (Fr. Timothy Gallagher, Discernment of Spirits in Marriage, 45-47).

馬克Mark在日記中寫道，事情一團糟。過去的一個月對他來說是黑暗的，他與妻子處於疏離狀態。他不再像以前那樣祈禱了，在過去的兩周里，他缺席了與其他人一起祈禱的祈禱會。今天他也很累。從他離開家的那一刻起，一天都沒個停歇。作為一名驗光師，馬克不得不告訴兩名患者他們可能會失明，其中一名患者對他非常生氣，說她會再找一名醫生。由於所有的這些原因，晚餐時，馬克盡快地離開了餐桌 (Fr. Timothy Gallagher, Discernment of Spirits in Marriage, 45-47)。

今天的講道是關於三個大的逆轉，我們的期望被耶穌反轉了的地方。讓我們從今天福音的視頻開始，看看你是否能發現這些逆轉。

When was the last time you changed your opinion about something important? It’s hard to do. We don’t like admitting that we were ‘wrong’ about something. However, part of being an intellectually honest person, and especially if we’re disciples of Christ, is following the truth wherever it leads us, even if it means changing our minds.