Four / Rite Makes Might: The Difference Mass Makes
第四章／礼仪生威：弥撒带来的改变
To go to Mass is to go to heaven, where “God Himself … will wipe away every tear” (Rev 21:3–4). Yet heaven is even more than that. Heaven is where we place ourselves under judgment, where we see ourselves in the clear morning light of eternal day, and where the just Judge reads our works from the book of life. Our deeds go with us when we go to heaven. Our deeds go with us when we go to Mass.
去参加弥撒，就是去到天上；在那里，「神要……擦去他们一切的眼泪」（启21:3—4）。然而，天国不止于此。天国是我们把自己置于审判之下的地方；在那里，我们在永恒白昼明净的晨光中照见自己；在那里，那位公义的审判者要从生命册上宣读我们的行为。当我们去到天上，我们的行为与我们同去；当我们去参加弥撒，我们的行为也与我们同去。
To go to Mass is to renew our covenant with God, as at a marriage feast—for the Mass is the marriage supper of the Lamb. As in a marriage, we take vows, we pledge ourselves, we assume a new identity. We are changed forever.
去参加弥撒，就是像在婚宴上一样，与神更新我们的约——因为弥撒就是羔羊的婚筵。正如婚姻里那样，我们立誓，我们自我献上，我们领受新的身份。从此被改变。
To go to Mass is to receive the fullness of grace, the very life of the Trinity. No power in heaven or on earth can give us more than we receive in the Mass, for we receive God into ourselves.
去参加弥撒，就是领受丰满的恩典，就是领受三位一体的生命。天上地下再没有什么能力，能把比弥撒所赐给我们的更多的给我们了，因为我们在弥撒里把神迎进了自己里面。
We must never underestimate these realities. In the Mass, God has given us His very life. This is not just a metaphor, or a symbol, or a foretaste. We must go to Mass with eyes and ears, mind and heart open to the truth that is before us, the truth that rises like incense. God’s life is a gift we must receive properly and with gratitude. He gives us grace as He has given us fire and light. Fire and light, misused, can burn us or blind us. In a similar way, grace received unworthily subjects us to judgment, and to much more dire consequences.
我们绝不可轻看这些真实。在弥撒中，神把他自己的生命赐给我们。这不只是一个比喻，不只是一个象征，也不只是一点预尝。我们必须带着眼与耳、心与意都向真理敞开的状态去弥撒——那就在我们眼前、像香一般升起的真理。神的生命是礼物，必须以合宜并感恩的心来领受。他把恩典赐给我们，正像他把火与光赐给我们一样。火与光若被滥用，会灼伤我们、刺瞎我们；同样，恩典若被不配地领受，就会叫我们陷于审判，甚至更严厉的后果。
In every Mass, God renews His covenant with each of us, setting before us life and death, blessing and curse. We must choose the blessing for our own, and reject the curse, and we must do this from the very start.
在每一台弥撒中，神都与我们各人更新他的约，把生与死、祝福与咒诅摆在我们面前。我们必须选择祝福，拒绝咒诅，而且从一开始就要这样做。
MAKING A SPLASH
圣水入门
From the moment you walk into church, you place yourself under oath. By dipping your fingers into holy water, you renew the covenant begun with your baptism. Perhaps you were baptized as an infant; your parents made the decision for you. But now, with this simple motion, you make the decision for yourself. You touch the water to your forehead, your heart, your shoulders, and you sign yourself by “the name” in which you were baptized. Wrapped up in this motion is your acceptance of the creed, which your parents accepted in your name at your baptism. Wrapped up in this motion is your rejection of Satan, and all his pomps, and all his works.
从你踏进教堂的那一刻起，你就把自己置于誓言之下。把手指蘸进圣水，你就更新了在洗礼中开始的那约。也许你婴儿时受洗，是父母替你做了决定；但如今，借着这个简单的动作，是你自己在做决定。你把水点在额头、心口与双肩上，用你受洗时所奉的「那名字」给自己画上记号。这个动作里，包含了你对信经的承认——这是你受洗时你的父母代你承认的；这个动作里，也包含了你对撒但、他的一切虚华与一切作为的拒绝。
Doing this, you testify, you make testimony, as you would in court. In court, a witness puts himself, his reputation, and his future on the line. If he fails to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, he knows he will face severe consequences.
这样做，你就是在作证，在宣誓，就像在法庭上一样。在法庭上，作证的人把自己、名誉与前途都押上了。如果他不能把真话、全部的真话、唯独真话说清楚，他知道自己将面对严重的后果。
You, too, are under oath. Don’t forget: the Latin word sacramentum literally means “oath.” When you make the Sign of the Cross, you renew the sacrament of baptism, thus renewing your obligation to live up to the rights and duties of the New Covenant. You will love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; you will love your neighbor as yourself.
你同样是在誓言之下。别忘了：拉丁文sacramentum的本义就是「誓言」。当你划十字圣号时，你就在更新洗礼这件圣事，从而更新你在新约之下、要履行其权利与义务的责任。你要尽心、尽性、尽意、尽力爱神；你要爱人如己。
You have especially vowed to tell the truth during this Mass. For this is the court of heaven; here, God will open the book of life; here, you will take the witness stand. Many, many times during the Mass, you will say “Amen,” the Aramaic word that conveys assent and agreement: Yes! So be it! Truly! “Amen” is more than a response; it is a personal commitment. When you say “Amen,” you commit your life, so you’d better mean it.
尤其在这台弥撒中，你已经立誓要说真话。因为这里是天上的法庭；在这里，神要展开生命册；在这里，你要走上证人席。在弥撒中，你会一再地说「阿们」——这是一个亚兰词，表示同意与认同：「是的！就这样吧！诚然如此！」「阿们」不只是应答，而是一种个人的委身。当你说「阿们」时，你把生命押上了，所以你最好是真心的。
Thus, in the Mass, you are not merely a spectator. You are a participant. Yours is the covenant that you will renew. Yours is the covenant that Jesus Himself will renew, here and now.
因此，在弥撒中，你不只是旁观者；你是参与者。要更新的，是你的那约；要在此时此地亲自更新这约的，是耶稣——而这约也是你的。
OATH MEAL
立约之宴
Whenever God made a covenant, He also gave a program for its renewal. A covenant wasn’t just a past event; it was ongoing, perpetually present, continually reactualized. Generations might pass since the covenant at Sinai; but whenever the children of Israel renewed that covenant, whenever they marked the Passover, it was as if the covenant were being made today.
神每次立约，也同时规定了更新这约的方式。约从来不只是过去发生的事；它是持续的、常在的、不断被重现的。即使西奈之约已过了好几代；但以色列人每逢更新那约、每逢守逾越节，就好像这约今天正在被立一样。
The Mass is our perpetual renewal of the New Covenant. The Mass is a solemn oath you take before countless witnesses, as in the court of the Book of Revelation. “And so with all the choirs of angels we sing …” When heaven touches down upon earth, you receive the privilege of praying beside the angels. But you also receive the duty of living up to your prayers. Those same angels will hold you accountable for every word you pray.
弥撒就是我们不断更新新约的方式。弥撒是在无数见证人面前你所立的郑重誓言，正如启示录里的法庭。「因此，我们同万千天军一起歌唱……」当天在地上降临时，你得享有在天使身旁祈祷的特权；但你也同时领受一个义务：活出你所祈的祷告。那些天使会按你所祈的每一句话来追责。
And not only for what we pray, but for what we hear. Because it is God’s Word that we hear proclaimed, and not the promises of some politician whom we can vote “for” or “against.” We hear the Word of God, and not some news report whose reliability we may choose to doubt. In earthly courts, witnesses merely swear on the Bible; at Mass, we swear to the Bible. We hear God’s Word; we will be held to it.
追责的不只是我们所祈的，也包括我们所听见的。因为我们听见被宣讲的是神的道，不是某个政客的承诺，叫我们决定投「赞成票」还是「反对票」。我们听见的是神的道，不是某条新闻，任凭我们选择要不要相信。在地上的法庭，证人不过是按着圣经起誓；在弥撒中，我们是向圣经起誓。我们听见神的道，也要受它的约束。
“I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” Do we live by the teachings of that Church without stint and without exception? Studies indicate that more than 90 percent of Catholics in the United States, for example, reject the Church’s teaching on artificial birth control. Yet we can assume that these same Catholics place themselves under oath each Sunday and recite the creed. What are the consequences of such enormous false witness?
「我信独一、圣洁、大公、使徒的教会。」我们是否毫无保留、毫无例外地遵行这教会的教导？研究显示，例如在美国，超过九成的公教徒拒绝教会关于人工节育的教导。然而，我们也可以假定这些公教徒每个主日仍把自己置于誓言之下，朗诵信经。如此巨大的假见证，会带来什么后果？
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We, who beg God’s mercy, place this condition upon His mercy: that we will first forgive those who have wronged us. Yet nearly all of us carry some grudges with us, even beyond the doorway of the church.
「免我们的债，如同我们免了人的债。」我们这些求神怜悯的人，给他的怜悯加上了一个条件：我们要先饶恕得罪我们的人。然而，我们几乎每个人把怨恨都带出了教堂的门外。
“Peace be with you. And also with you.” We symbolically extend peace to every neighbor. Yet how many hours will pass between the end of the Mass and the first outburst of our temper?
「愿你平安。也与你同在。」我们象征性地把平安传递给身边的每一个人；然而，从弥撒结束到我们第一次发火，中间会过几个小时呢？
“The Body of Christ. Amen.” With what attention do we receive the Bread of Life, the Christ of faith and history? If we greeted an earthly king with the same attention, how would we be judged?
「基督的身体。阿们。」我们带着怎样的专注来领受这生命的粮——那位信仰与历史中的基督？如果我们以同样的注意力去迎接一位地上的君王，会被如何评价呢？
To hear the Word of God. To receive the Bread of Life. These are profound mysteries; they are incredible gifts; yet they are also mighty commitments. In the Mass, we receive divine life, divine power, more mighty than the greatest forces on the earth. Think about electricity, which can light your home or stop your heart. Think about fire, which can warm your family or consume a city block. These are but dim shadows of the supernatural power of God, Who created fire and formed the earth out of nothing. If we teach our children to treat electricity and fire with respect, how much more respectfully should we ourselves treat the very mysteries of heaven, which fill us in Holy Communion?
聆听神的道，领受生命的粮——这些都是深奥的奥秘，是不可思议的礼物，但同时也是极重的委身。在弥撒中，我们领受神的生命、神的能力——这能力远胜于地上最强大的力量。想想电：它可以照亮你的家，也可以让你的心脏停跳。想想火：它可以温暖你的家人，也可以吞噬整整一片街区。这些不过是神超自然大能的微弱影子——他创造了火，也从无中造了地。如果我们教孩子要恭敬地对待电和火，我们自己岂不更要恭敬地对待天上的奥秘——那些在圣体中充满我们的奥秘吗？
TRUTH—OR CONSEQUENCES
真理——或后果
We cannot explain away the judgment we bring upon ourselves when we fail to live up to our witness. Hear the testimony of St. Paul: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). Guilty of blasphemy! This is no small matter. To ensure a pure sacrifice, the early Christians confessed their sins—in public! Today, the sacrament of confession is private, and not as burdensome. Do we make the most of it?
当我们活不出自己的见证时，招来的审判，不可能用解释来推脱。听保罗的见证：「所以，无论何人，不按理吃主的饼，喝主的杯，就是干犯主的身、主的血了。」（林前11:27）这是亵渎之罪！这可不是小事。为了确保祭献清洁，早期基督徒公开认罪！今天，告解圣事是私下进行，也不那么有负担。我们是否充分去领受了呢？
“This is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor 11:29). We dare not dismiss this as outdated or superstitious. Paul meant what he said, and the Church, even today, preserves this idea in its liturgy. Bad Communions bring judgment upon our heads. The priest, before receiving Communion, says: “Let it not bring me condemnation, but health in mind and body.”
「因此，在你们中间有好些软弱的与患病的，死的也不少。」（林前11:29）我们不敢把这话当作过时或迷信。保罗说的就是真意，而教会直到今天仍在礼仪中保留这一观念。带着不当 disposition 的领圣体，会把审判招到我们头上。祭司在领圣体之前会祈祷：「求你使我领受你的圣体，不至于受审判，反而使我的身心获得健康。」
To receive Communion, then, is to receive heaven—or to bring the most severe punishment upon oneself. In some times and places, the weight of this judgment kept Christians away from Communion for years at a time. Yet this is not Paul’s solution. Rather than stay away, he recommends repentance. “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28).
因此，领圣体要么是领受天上的福，要么是把最严厉的刑罚带到自己身上。在某些时代和地方，这种审判的重量甚至使基督徒多年不敢领圣体。然而，这不是保罗的办法。他不是叫人远离，而是劝人悔改：「人应当自己省察，然后吃这饼，喝这杯。」（林前11:28）
This is an exam that no one passes. We are all sinners. No one is worthy to approach almighty God—never mind enter into Communion with Him. Even St. John, the Beloved Disciple and a model of purity and virtue, fell down in awe when he saw His best friend, Jesus Christ, in glory. How do we respond, interiorly, when the priest holds up the Host and says, “This is the Lamb of God …”?
这是一场无人能及格的考试。我们都是罪人；没有人配到全能的神面前——更不用说与他共融了。就连挚爱主的约翰——那纯洁与德行的典范——看见他最好的朋友耶稣基督在荣耀中显现，也都俯伏敬畏。祭司举起圣体说：「这是神的羔羊……」的时候，我们内心作何反应？
No doubt about it: We must fight the spiritual battles that will win us recollection, attention, and contrition during the Mass.
毫无疑问：我们必须在弥撒中打好属灵的仗，好得着专注、留心与痛悔。
TRUE LOVE ALWAYS
永远的真爱
We want the blessing of the covenant, and not the curse. The more we are prepared for Mass, the more grace we will take away from the Mass. And remember: the grace available in the Mass is infinite—it’s all the grace of heaven. The only limit is our capacity to receive it.
我们要的，是约中的祝福，而不是咒诅。我们对弥撒预备越充分，从弥撒带走的恩典就越多。要记得：弥撒中的恩典是无限的——是天上一切的恩典。惟一的限制是我们领受的容量。
This blessing is pure power, though not as the world understands power. Grace means freedom, though not as the world understands freedom. Union with Christ made Simon Peter stronger than the Roman emperor Nero, even though Nero authorized Peter’s death. Peter received heaven; Nero ruled the world, but was consumed by his perversions, which grew ever more depraved, driving him to suicide in the year A.D. 68.
这祝福是纯粹的能力，但不是世人所理解的那种能力。恩典意味着自由，但也不是世人所理解的那种自由。与基督的结合，使西门彼得比罗马皇帝尼禄更刚强，尽管尼禄下令处死了彼得。彼得得了天上的生命；尼禄虽统治世界，却被自己的败坏吞噬，愈发堕落，最终在主后68年自杀。
Grace makes up for every weakness of our human nature. With God’s help, we’re able to do what we could never do on our own: namely, love perfectly, sacrifice completely, lay down our lives as Christ did. We will cling to nothing of the earth, preferring instead to rise to heaven.
恩典弥补我们人性的一切软弱。有了神的帮助，我们能做成自己绝对做不成的事：完全地去爱，彻底地去献上，像基督那样舍命。我们不再执着于地上的任何东西，而是宁可向天上提升。
The martyrs of the Apocalypse are the ones who speak from the altar. They are sacraments of the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ. In their lives, they manifested the true nature of love: sacrificial self-offering.
启示录中的殉道者，就是在祭坛下呼喊的那些人。他们是基督圣体祭献的「可见的记号与工具」。他们一生显明了爱的真相：以牺牲自我作为奉献。
We can live this martyrdom wherever we are. We need not travel to oppressive, anti-Christian countries to be martyrs. We need only do all the same things we’ve always done—but now making every one of those gestures, actions, thoughts, and feelings an expression of love for the Father, an imitation of the Son within us. That’s what it means to live the Mass.
我们无论在哪里，都可以活出这殉道。不必跑到压迫、反基督的国家才算殉道。我们只要把以往所做的一切照做——但如今要把每个动作、每个行为、每个思想与感受，都变成向父之爱的表达，变成圣子在我们里面的摹仿。这就是活出弥撒的意思。
WORKING WONDERS
在日常中行奇事
That’s what it means to be a missionary and a martyr, restoring all things in Christ. It means cooking dinner unto Christ, and through Him to the Father, and for His children, who are yours. It means going to work and doing a job with friendship for your coworkers, and not merely to get a better wage next year, or get a promotion, but to earn an eternal inheritance.
这就是作传教士、作殉道者、使万有在基督里复归于一的意义。它意味着：为基督做饭，借着他把这奉献归给父，也为着他的儿女——就是你的家人；它意味着：去上班时，要带着对同事的友爱来工作，不只是为了明年多加点薪水，或谋个升迁，而是为着要得永恒的基业。
Remember again the words of Vatican II: “[T]heir work, prayers and apostolic endeavors, their ordinary married and family life, their daily labor, their mental and physical relaxation … all of these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. During the celebration of the Eucharist these sacrifices are most lovingly offered to the Father along with the Lord’s body.”
再记得梵二的话：「他们的工作、祈祷与使徒事业，他们平常的婚姻与家庭生活，他们每日的劳作，他们身心的休息……这一切，借着耶稣基督，都成为神所悦纳的属灵祭。在庆祝圣餐的时候，这些祭献以最深的爱，与主的身体一起，奉献给圣父。」
Our whole life gets caught up in the Mass and becomes our participation in the Mass. As heaven descends to earth, we lift up our earth to meet it halfway. That’s the splendor of the ordinary: the workaday world becomes our Mass. That’s how we bring about the Kingdom of God. When we begin to see that heaven awaits us in the Mass, we begin already to bring our home to heaven. And we begin already to bring heaven home with us.
我们整个人生都被纳入弥撒，成为我们参与弥撒的方式。当天降临到地上，我们也把地举起来，与天相会。这就是日常的光辉：平凡的日子成为我们的弥撒。我们就是这样带来神的国。当我们开始看见弥撒里有天国等着我们，我们就已经开始把家带到天上；我们也已经开始把天国带回家里。
We become martyrs, witnesses to Jesus Christ, Whose Parousia, Whose Presence, we know most intimately.
我们成为殉道者，作耶稣基督的见证人；他主再临、他的临在，是我们最为亲密所认识的。
SUPPER’S READY
晚餐好了
We were made as creatures on earth, but we were made for heaven, and nothing less. We were made in time like Adam and Eve, yet not to remain in an earthly paradise, but to be taken up into the eternal life of God Himself.
我们被造为地上的受造物，但我们被造是为着天上的，少一点都不行。我们在时间里被造，像亚当和夏娃一样，但不是要留在地上的乐园，而是要被带进神自己永恒的生命里。
Now, heaven has been unveiled for us with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now is the Communion God has created us for. Now, heaven touches earth and awaits you. Jesus Christ Himself says to you: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20).
现在，借着耶稣基督的死而复活，天国已经向我们揭开。现在，就是神创造我们要进入的共融。现在，天触及大地，正在等你。耶稣基督亲自对你说：「看哪，我站在门外叩门；若有听见我声音就开门的，我要进到他那里去，我与他，他与我，一同坐席。」（启3:20）
The door opens now on the marriage supper of the Lamb.
这扇门现在向着羔羊的婚筵敞开了。