信徒的奇蹟

by FLL Editorial Team
2014-01-25


那時候,耶穌顯現給宗徒,對他們說:「你們往普天下去,向一切受造物宣傳福音,信而受洗的必要得救;但不信的必被判罪。信的人必有這些奇蹟隨著他們:因我的名驅逐魔鬼,說新語言,手拿毒蛇,甚或喝了什麼致死的毒物,也決不受害;按手在病人身上,可使人痊癒。」
馬爾谷福音 16:15-18



Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man (1655)
by Nicolas Poussin

耶穌對宗徒們說,信祂的人必有奇蹟隨著他們,包括能因祂的名驅逐魔鬼;說新語言;手拿毒蛇、喝了毒物也不受害;按手在病人身上,也可使人痊癒。可是如果我們實行不到這些奇蹟,是否就代表我們沒有信德?不是。早期的教會需要這些奇蹟,因為信徒需要它們來增加信德,就如初時種植果園,必須用心以水灌溉,使它得以生長,直到它茂盛並紮好根基,便可透過別的滋養讓它繼續成長。

早期門徒的奇蹟多數在肉體或物質上顯露,可是現在的聖教會卻每天在靈性上顯現來自天上的奧蹟:神父為信友覆手時,禁止邪靈進駐他們的心神;當信徒捨棄地上的話語,以天上的言語談及教會的聖事時,正是在講一個新的語言;以善言從別人心中驅趕邪惡的念頭,或在聽見惡言而不受荼毒,就如手拿毒蛇、喝了毒物也不受害;當近人信心薄弱時,以善行鞏固他們的信仰,正是醫好他們精神上的軟弱。這些靈性上的奇蹟更為重要,因為被醫好和變強的不只是人的身驅,更是人的靈魂。

(本文以英文為準)


Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16:15-18

To drive out demons, speak new languages, pick up serpents with their hands, drink poison without being harmed, to heal the sick by the laying of hands; are we then without faith because we cannot do these signs? No, but these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church, for the faith of believers was to be nourished by miracles, that it might increase. Just as when we plant groves, pour water upon them, until we see that they have grown strong in the earth; but when once they have firmly fixed their roots, we leave off irrigating them. These signs and miracles have other things which we ought to consider in greater detail.

For the Holy Church does spiritually every day what the Apostles did physically in their time; for when her Priests by the grace of exorcism lay their hands on believers, and forbid the evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what do they, but cast out devils? And the faithful who have abandoned earthly words for heavenly ones, speak of the Holy Sacraments, speak a new language; they who by their good warnings take away evil from the hearts of others, take up serpents barehanded; and when those who on hearing wicked words, without being tempted to do evil, they drink a deadly poison without being harmed; whenever they see their neighbors growing weak in good works, and by their good example strengthen their life, they lay their hands on the sick, that they may recover. And all these miracles are greater in proportion because they are spiritual, and by them souls and not just bodies are healed and raised.

參考 References:
Catena Aurea (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Homily 29 on the Gospels (St. Gregory the Great)

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