33rd SUNDAY (B) 18 November 2012

Fr. Gerard Kelly

In the early Church – in those first few decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus – people expected the Second Coming to occur very soon.  In fact, they expected to see the second coming of Jesus in their own life time.  This naturally had a great impact on the way they lived their lives and the decisions they made.  If you think the world is going to end soon you quickly get a very different perspective on life.  Things that were once important become less important, and things that had been ignored suddenly become very important.  We all know, of course, that the world did not end in those few decades after Jesus, and we know that he has not come back to earth.  Those people soon came to realise the same thing.

This created new problems for them.  They began to ask questions about God – particularly wanting to know what God was doing.  God seemed to have gone silent, seemed to have forgotten them.  Evil things were still happening.  They came to realise that the time they were living in was no different to any other time.  People still suffered and died, natural disasters still occurred, political and civil strife was still raging in some parts of the territory, and violence still occurred in the streets.  This raised questions for them about Jesus and his message.  Jesus had preached the coming reign of God and had called for repentance and conversion.  When he preached the Beatitudes he had told them that with the coming reign of God people would be blessed.  They were now asking where this reign was.  Where is God?

In this situation they began to reflect on the sayings of Jesus like the one we have heard today.  These are very difficult sayings to understand, and it is easy to misunderstand them.  We need to look for the central message that they are giving and not read them as some scientific statement about the world and its future.

In very imaginative terms, these sayings speak about the confusion that will precede the end time.  They are not sayings about when the end time will occur.  In fact, just the opposite!  Jesus says that no one knows the day or the hour.  This is why these sayings were so important for the early church, which had been expecting the second coming in their own time and were disappointed that it was not happening.  These sayings were meant to help shift their focus from worrying about when the end time might occur to how to live in the present time.  These are sayings that give encouragement in the face of challenges and difficulties.

The basic image of the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory was meant to remind them that God had not abandoned them.  Here was a vision of the future where God would visit them.  For this reason, they had every reason to be hopeful and confident.  It is this vision that now shapes their lives and their choices.  They shouldn’t become overwhelmed by the confusion, or evil, or strife they see around them, nor should they shut themselves off from the world hiding in the knoweldge that Jesus will be back soon.  Rather, they should live in the world, and play their part in giving witness even now – and no matter how imperfectly – to what the reign of God will look like.

That is why these readings have been so influential over the centuries.  Every generation, including our own, finds itself asking questions about the way the world is, or the way the church is, or the way society is, and wanting to know where God is in all of this.  Our world probably suffers no less than earlier generations from natural disasters, political and civil strife, institutional corruption, and bad behaviour.  People still feel hurt when they are badly treated or misunderstood, even by people inside the church.  Many around us are looking for reasons to still believe in God.  And of course, there are those who will use any excuse not to believe in God.  Even those people who think that Jesus was simply a good moral teacher and that his teaching is worth following often don’t believe that God can make much difference. 

This is why the message of today’s readings is still there to be heard.  This message is meant to re-kindle the vision of God’s reign.  At certain times that reign can seem imperceptible, just like the mustard seed that Jesus spoke of elsewhere.  But he told us that the mustard seed grows into a great bush.  The message of the readings encourages us to take hope, and to let the promise of Jesus shape the way we choose to live now.  So, while these readings are not trying to predict the second coming of Christ, and are warning us not to become distracted by these thoughts, they do ask us to think of the second coming on a much larger canvas, and to recognise how it can have an impact even now.  The readings thus not only encourage us, but also invite us to rely on the Holy Spirit so that we live even now, thinking and behaving like God, so that his kingdom will be visible in us and we can show the world what is possible when people welcome the gospel of God.

29th SUNDAY(B) 21 October 2012

Fr. Gerard Kelly

There is an important question in the gospel we have just heard: Jesus asks the brothers, James and John, “what do you want me to do for you.”  Then when they ask their favour he tells them that they don’t know what they are asking for; they have asked the wrong question!  So what is going on?  The two brothers have worked out their own view of what following Jesus means.  Just by the way they ask the question Jesus knows that they have it all wrong – they don’t know much at all about what following him is about.  They want glory.  They want recognition.  They want the prize.  Jesus tells them that they don’t know what the prize is. 

This becomes an occasion for him to teach them about what being a disciple entails.  He speaks about drinking the cup that he must drink and being baptised with the baptism with which he must be baptised.  They quickly say that, yes, they are willing to accept these things.  But do they even know what these things mean?  Jesus is pointing to his passion and death on the cross.  Of course, as he speaks with these two brothers none of this has happened, so they can’t really understand what he is talking about.  It is probably just as well, because if they knew what was in store for him they would probably be terrified rather than want to follow him.  In time they would find out what drinking this cup means in practice.

The second part of the story is just as challenging.  We are told that the other disciples are indignant that these two brothers should even be thinking of seats at the right and left hands of Jesus.  These others show themselves to be not much different from the two brothers.  They too are thinking about glory and recognition and power.  They don’t want others to get it and themselves to miss out.  Here is another opportunity for Jesus to continue his teaching about true discipleship.  He doesn’t speak specifically about drinking the cup that he must drink, but compares the sort of leadership he offers with that practised by other leaders.  For the world, leadership is about having power and authority, so that you can tell people what to do.  We recall that occasion in the gospel when Jesus met a centurion.  He told Jesus that he had power over those under him: he could say to one man, “go”, and he would go, and to another man, “come here”, and he would come.  Jesus turns all this on its head.  He says that true leadership is more like being a servant than a lordly ruler.  Then he presents himself as the true leader.  The Son of Man, he says, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life. Here is the reference to the cup that he must drink!

This teaching springs from Jesus’ original question: “what do you want me to do for you.”  I think it is a question that we have to let him ask us.  In fact, our life as believers began with a similar question.  At the beginning of the baptism ceremony the priest puts the question, “What do you ask of God’s church?”  In other words, what do you want, what can the church do for you, what do you want of God?  The response was: we want baptism, or we want faith.  We were then baptised into his death so that we might share in his resurrection.  So, our response to that question was that we want to know him, we want to see his face, and we want to be counted among his followers.  But did we fully appreciate what this would mean for us and where it might lead us?  Were we any different to James and John?

Like them, we probably never fully understood what this Christian life is about, but at our baptism we committed ourselves to grow more and more into his image.  That is the really important thing.  It is a lifetime task.  Just as we grow physically, emotionally, and intellectually, so we grow spiritually.  We never stop growing in faith.  Growing in faith is not just about learning more facts about Jesus and his teaching.  More importantly, it is about growing in our relationship with him.  It is also about growing from a focus on myself to being more outwardly focused.  This was the growth trajectory that Jesus laid out for those two brothers, James and John.  They began by asking for special places – they were totally focused on their own wants and desires – but Jesus called them to change so that they were prepared to walk with him in his suffering.  To grow spiritually is to grow in our capacity to be self-giving.

As we grow more and more into the image of Jesus we become more effective as his witnesses.  In this sense we can say that we become evangelisers.  The best way for people to come to know Jesus and his message is to meet us who are his friends.  It is not really about us becoming great preachers of the gospel.  Rather it is about our way of life being attractive to others.  How wonderful it is when people can look at us and say, I see by the way you live that God is with you; let me walk beside you so that I can get to know God.  

Peter Wong's 70 Bithday

24th SUNDAY (B) 16 September 2012

Fr. Gerard Kelly 

A few weeks ago someone gave me a book called The Face of Jesus.  It is a book of just over three hundred pages and on every page there are images of the face of Jesus.  It is a picture book, and it looks at the face of Jesus in Christian art dating from about the third century right up to modern times.  These images cover every facet of Jesus’ life: his birth, the beginning of his mission, his miracles, his Passion and Resurrection.  There is even a chapter with various images of Jesus from different parts of the world and different cultural settings.  Of course, the gospels never gave us any details about Jesus’ physical appearance, and all of the images we have were made long enough after his ascension that they were not done by people who had seen him.  Everyone has to imagine what Jesus is like.  There are two basic ways artists have done this.  One way is to use a stylised image such as we see in icons.  They are nothing like looking at a photograph.  Rather they depict his face using colour and lines.  These sorts of images portray a Jesus who is the divine Son of God.  He often sits on a throne of glory.  Another way artists depict Jesus is to place him in the world where they live so that he looks like one of the locals and belongs in that place.  He will look nothing like a first century Palestinian, but perhaps more like a sixteenth century Italian or maybe even a twentieth century American.

The face, of course, conveys a lot about the person.  In some images of the face, Jesus looks strong, as one who has authority.  Other images show him as someone who is full of compassion.  Some images show him suffering and in pain; others show him glorious and risen.  Still other images show his face looking towards us, and questioning us.

Today’s gospel made me think about these images.  Jesus asked the question, “Who do you say I am?”  In St Mark’s gospel it almost seems as though it was easy for Peter and the disciples to say who Jesus is.  Peter answers for them all when he says, “You are the Christ.”  He seems confident in saying this.  He had probably been listening for a couple of years as Jesus preached about the kingdom of God.  Peter had certainly seen his miracles; and he also knew the Scriptures.  He knew that God had promised a Messiah who would come in the future to set people free and usher in God’s reign.  Peter had an image of the Messiah as someone who would come in glory and who would be victorious in overcoming all of the forces that enslaved the people.

Yet we know that Jesus rebukes him?  When Jesus goes on to say that the Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders, to be put to death and to rise on the third day, Peter starts to argue with Jesus.  Peter had missed something in creating his image of the Messiah.  It is as though he had conveniently forgotten some of what the Scriptures say.  He had forgotten what we heard in the first reading, namely that the Servant of God suffers shame and abuse, that he looks ugly and deformed, and that he stands there and takes it all.  The servant does this because he trusts God to save him.  Here is the image of the Messiah: the one who trusts God even when there seems no reason to do so.  Peter had forgotten this; and now he seems to be getting in the way of Jesus’ mission.  That is why Jesus says to him, “Get behind me, Satan.”  Jesus is saying to Peter: do not stand in my way; do not stop me from fulfilling what I was sent to do.  Jesus is telling Peter that the image he has is not adequate.  Peter doesn’t want to look at the whole picture of Jesus.

But Jesus doesn’t just reprimand Peter.  When he says, “Get behind me,” he is also telling Peter to take up a position in readiness to follow Jesus.  Let Jesus lead the way.  I’m sure Peter would have been a little afraid of what he heard that day.  But he was being called to trust Jesus – just as Jesus trusted his Father.  Peter was being called to trust Jesus to lead the way to what God was offering.  We should not think too badly of Peter.  After all, he made a profound profession of faith when Jesus questioned him.  What happened after this was that Jesus took Peter to a deeper level of faith.  Peter’s faith needed to be purified.

All of the images in the picture book I received are answers to the question, “Who do you say I am?”  This is a question that is always before us.  The words and actions of Peter remind us that it is very easy to create our own image of Jesus, and that it can be an image that is only partially right.  All of us have a tendency to filter out those parts that we don’t like or that don’t seem right.  After all, what sort of a God do we worship if this is a God who suffers?  Where is the power of this God?  We have to face up to that question.  In doing so we purify our image of Jesus and we come to know the truth about God.

During this year of grace we are being called upon to look at the face of Jesus. As we gaze on him we open our hearts to the Spirit who purifies our image of Jesus and assists us to join Peter in making the profession of Faith.

20th SUNDAY(B) 19 August 2012

TWENTIETH SUNDAY (B)                                                                          

Fr. Gerard Kelly 

Every society and culture has its wisdom figures.  These are the people that we look up to, so that they might teach us about life.  While they are probably depicted a bit differently in various cultures there are some common features.  Often they are depicted as old, reminding us that the getting of wisdom is a life-time project.  Often they are sitting, reminding us that the learning of wisdom is a leisurely activity.  Wisdom does not really have much to do with learning a lot of things or knowing everything.  Sometimes the wise person in a community is not the one who knows everything.  The wise person is the one who has good judgement.

The contrast to the wise person is the fool.  The fool usually makes shallow decisions, decisions that are short-term and often impulsive.  In ancient societies the classic distinction between the wise person and the fool was seen in the way they dealt with their crops and the seasons.  The wise person wasn’t the one who may have had the largest harvest, but the one who made sure that after the harvest some of the food would be put away so that they would have plenty to eat during the winter months.  In contrast, the fool would eat most of the produce during the summer and his family would go hungry towards the end of winter.  The fool has no long term vision.  The fool really doesn’t know much about living.

The question people often ask is how they can learn wisdom.  The simple answer is that you learn wisdom by getting to know the wise person and learning from them.  In one of the psalms it says, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.”  In the end, to grow in wisdom is to come to know God. God is the source of all wisdom.

In our first reading we had God personified as the wisdom figure who sets out a luxurious banquet of fine food and wine.  Once the table is set Wisdom goes out and invites people to the table.  The point of having such a fine dining table is that people will be in no hurry to run away; they will want to stay and talk.  The conversation around this table will be uplifting, as they listen to Wisdom speak.  Around this table they will learn about life.  They will learn what makes for a good life.  They will learn about true prosperity.  They will learn what good judgement looks like.  Around this table all the barriers and divisions will be broken down.  Food is always a symbol of life; Wisdom’s banquet table is a place to be refreshed in order to go on living.  But more than this: the food at this table, with all of its abundance and opulence, is a symbol of the fullness of life that is held out to those who know God.

There are hints in today’s gospel that Jesus is the true wisdom figure.  He has received this from the Father, and he offers it to those who follow him.  Remember that a few weeks ago we heard the gospel of the multiplication of the loaves.  Each Sunday since then we have listened to Jesus speak about the Bread of Life.  This is a long teaching.  Because the context is food and eating, we can imagine that this teaching is part of the conversation that Jesus may have had with those who were at the banquet table with him.

So what might we learn from Jesus?  His words are simple, but their meaning is profound.  “Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” he says.  Some listening to him did not understand what he was saying – they misunderstood him.  The clue to understanding him is the reference to his flesh and blood.  The earliest Christians knew that this was a reference to his blood that was shed on the cross and his body that suffered and died on the cross.  So, in very simple terms, when he says that his flesh and blood give eternal life, he is telling them that the effect of his suffering and death is to give eternal life to the world.  In other words, his suffering and death have changed the world and opened it up to the future that God has in store for all of creation.  He is the source of life.  When people learn this, they have found true wisdom.

But it is not enough just to know this fact.  Jesus speaks of eating his flesh and drinking his blood.  This reference to eating and drinking reminds us of the banquet table that Wisdom has set.  Around this table we learn wisdom as we listen to the words that Jesus speaks to us in the Scriptures.  But learning wisdom is not just about getting knowledge.  Rather, we learn about life; we let the wisdom of God shine a light on our lives and the choices we make for a good life.  We learn good judgement.

The fact of eating and drinking tells us about how we learn wisdom.  We never eat just once; we do it all through our life.  The food we eat gives life and becomes part of us.  In a mysterious way we eat and drink of his flesh and blood that has suffered and died for the life of the world.  In this way, we not only take this eternal life to ourselves here and now, we also allow his way of life to shape our own.  This is the great lesson of wisdom that Jesus teaches us.  The way to the good life, to eternal life, is the path of self-giving in imitation of him.  We can do this, we can draw life from Jesus, by eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

15th SUNDAY (B) 15 July 2012

Fr. Gerard Kelly

About six weeks ago, on the Feast of Pentecost, the Church began a Year of Grace.  At the time, you will recall, it was described as a time to recognise what God has done for us, for the church and for the world; and to rejoice in this.  There isn’t going to be any big programme that we have to attend or sign up for.  It is more a time of quiet reflection – perhaps a bit like a retreat.  It is a time to listen to God, to receive what God gives, and to start afresh from Christ.

Our liturgy today reminds us that from the beginning of creation God has had a plan for the world and for all life.  This plan can be best summed up in terms of communion with God and among the whole of creation.  The fulfilment of this plan comes about in Jesus – in his death and resurrection.  He is the new creation.

What we are talking about here is the great work of God, the graciousness of God, the grace of God.  Through our baptism we already share in this life promised by God.  We are the recipients of God’s grace.  But our gospel today tells us something more about this gift of God that we have received.  It is not simply that God has blessed us.  God has also drawn us into his life and given us the responsibility of making his good news known.  This too is a gift.  We share in the mission of Jesus.  During this year we re-commit ourselves to Christ.

Today we heard in the gospel that Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs.  We were not told a lot about this, but what we were told is important.  The first thing was that not everyone would welcome the gospel of the kingdom.  But this didn’t seem to deter the disciples: the message is to be offered and if it is refused then they move on.  On the positive side we heard that they helped people to know the kingdom of God and to change their lives; and that they healed the sick.  Of course, this mission describes the life of the church throughout the centuries.  Through the celebration of the sacraments the church offers people the opportunity to participate even now in the fruits of the kingdom of God.  This is why, for example, the church has anointed the sick, and offered people the opportunity to have their sins forgiven in the sacrament of reconciliation.  Of course, we all know that the Church’s ministry also goes beyond the celebration of the sacraments and has focused on the care of the most vulnerable in the society.

It is good for us to consider how each can receive this grace and participate in the mission of Jesus.  For none of us is it a matter of literally moving about from town to town and proclaiming the gospel out loud, or shaking the dust off our feet if people reject the message.  Rather, we participate in the mission of Jesus in our own homes, workplaces and neighbourhoods.  Let’s look at two things that the gospel scene today speaks of: calling for repentance and curing the sick.  These two missions characterised Jesus’ mission from the beginning of the gospel.

The mission to proclaim repentance is about helping people grasp the vision of the kingdom of God and to change their lives where necessary in order to embrace this kingdom.  What might this look like in our day?  I think of parents and how they do this.  They are the first teachers of their children in the faith.  They are the ones who motivate their children to live with a certain set of values.  Sometimes the role of parents can be likened to that of the coach of a modern sporting team.  These days the role of the coach is to inspire and motivate the members of the team.  It is about making sure that they know exactly what they want to achieve, and that they know what they have to do to achieve it.  The vision of winning gets locked into the heads of the players, and they shape their lives around it; they follow a regime of discipline that will ensure that they reach their goal.  The kingdom of God is a grand vision of what God has planned for all of us.  It points to what we are all capable of.  Parents help their children to capture this vision and to do what they need to do to live it.  Parents are also there when there are lapses and falls.  They help their children get up and get back on course.

We can also think about the mission to cure the sick in a similar way.  Families are very good at caring for their sick members.  This can be particularly so as family members age.  Children have a special role to care for their parents.  How they do this depends on the circumstances and health of their parents.  The vision of the kingdom of God is one where people maintain their dignity and are respected.  It is about valuing all people.  When this happens we see a sign that the kingdom is among us.

Perhaps all that I have just spoken of can sound like something that could be expected of any person.  Yes, this is true.  But the point to make today is that we who are baptised have received a gift from God.  We live the way we do in response to that gift.  That gift motivates us in all that we do.  Let’s recommit ourselves to start afresh with Christ.

Fr Peter Choy Sydney visit

 

Talks by Fr. Peter Choy

10th (Tue) 8:00-9:30pm St Monica’s Hall	11th (Wed) 8:00-9:30pm St Monica’s Hall	12th (Thurs) 8:00-9:30pm Kingsgrove Our Lady of Fatima	13th (Fri) 8:00-9:30pm St Monica’s Hall	14th (Sat) 10:00am-4:00pm St Monica’s Hall	15th (Sun) 2:00-4:00pm St Monica’s Hall
我們在這裡真好：教會團體存在的目標和使命。 Objectives and missions of church groups.	耶穌的誘惑：解釋在曠野受誘惑的記載。 Temptation of Christ.	天堂地獄誰來定：近代教會對天堂地獄，煉獄，審判等觀念的看法。 The 4 last things.	從梵二精神看教友在教會中的角色和參與。 Post-Vatican II Laity’s role	生活中的朝聖 (請自備午餐) Pilgrimage in daily life (Bring your own lunch)	生活中的朝聖 (續) Pilgrimage in daily life (cont’)

11th SUNDAY (B) 17 June 2012

The parables Jesus used often left people wondering.  Sometimes they were like a riddle, that you kept puzzling over in your mind, looking for the answer.  What made them particularly interesting was that he used images from everyday life.  So at one level the parables seemed to be dealing with the things that were familiar.  But at another level the people knew that the point he was making was more profound.  All of the parables spoke about the kingdom of God.  This is a somewhat strange notion, which can be hard to grasp.  People naturally ask where this kingdom can be found and what it looks like.  Many people wanted to equate the kingdom with the church.  But we now know that the kingdom is bigger than the church; but also that the church should be a sign of the kingdom.  Another question people ask about the kingdom is when it will be visible.  Some people say that it is something for the future, for the end of the world.  But others want to say that it is here already.

The parables we have heard today shed light on these questions.  The image of a man throwing seed on the ground and waiting for it to ripen tells us that the kingdom has already begun and is still being formed, but that it is not yet complete.  The preaching of Jesus is a bit like the man who goes out and throws seed on the ground.  The seed sinks into the soil and remains hidden, but in this hidden place it is sprouting and growing.  The man doesn’t do anything to make it grow.  He doesn’t have to dig it up each night to see if it is growing.  In fact, if he did that it would die.  The man needs to be patient, and to let the seed do what it is supposed to do.  Even when the shoot breaks through the earth the man doesn’t sit there and watch it grow.  Its growth is imperceptible.  Yet if he goes about his business and perhaps looks at the shoot every week he will notice that it is growing.  This is the miracle of growth.

The kingdom is like this.  We can’t see it growing around us.  Yet if we look back over history we do see signs that it has penetrated human hearts and many cultures of the world.  We can think, for example, of the slow evolution of cultures under the influence of the preaching of Jesus.  Many things that we take for granted and that we are vigilant to see that we don’t lose are signs of the kingdom bearing fruit.  Think of the value that many cultures place on human dignity, or the value they place on caring for the poorest, the neediest and the most vulnerable.  Think of the sense of justice that pervades Christian civilisation.  These are all things that were at the heart of Jesus’ preaching.  They are signs of the kingdom.  They have been the hallmarks of the pastoral care the church has exercised in various locations around the world.

We know that these things didn’t suddenly appear in the cultures of the world.  Only slowly did they become common place.  We can take these aspects of life for granted today, but they have been evolving generation after generation.  We also know that they are still evolving, and that it is possible to lose these fruits of the kingdom.  The kingdom takes root where there are hearts that have been converted and that continue to listen to the gospel of God.  Our own hearts are like the soil in which the seed was planted. Over a lifetime the kingdom grows in us so that we live more and more according to God’s plan.

It is easy to become impatient about the coming of the kingdom.  Any of us can look around and think that the world does not seem to be getting any better.  In fact, sometimes it seems that we are getting worse rather than improving.  At these times we face many temptations.  One is to give up and say that God makes no difference to our world, so why believe.  Another temptation is to say that we must get out there and do something about it.    As we puzzle over the meaning of the parable it seems that neither of these responses is going to make any difference.  The parable calls us rather to maintain our faith and our hope.  It tells us that God continues to be at work in our world, even if we can’t see where or how.  All it requires of us is that we listen to his word and let it penetrate deep into our hearts.  There it will change us and show us the way forward.  Jesus tells us, at another place in the gospel, that the Holy Spirit is like the wind: we might hear its sound, but we don’t know where it comes from our where it is going.  This is how the kingdom comes to birth – through the action of the Holy Spirit.  The parable invites us to trust the Holy Spirit.

The promise is there for us to receive.  We hear it developed in the other parable of today’s gospel: the mustard seed which becomes a great bush.  What may seem like something small and totally insignificant can become something magnificent.  In the Scriptures God always chose the weak and made them strong; he chose the youngest and made him the king of a great nation.  When we are tempted to think that the influence of the kingdom of God is weak or that it is diminishing in our society, we need to remember that the Spirit continues to be at work, unseen by us and that slowly, very slowly, leaves will appear on the tree, and it will be so luxurious that it will be a shelter for all.  Let’s allow ourselves to grow to become that tree.

Fr. Gerard Kelly

教宗本篤十六世 「靜與言 : 福傳之路」

教宗本篤十六世
第四十六屆世界傳播日文告
「靜與言 : 福傳之路」

﹝2012年 5月20日，主日﹞

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主內的弟兄姊妹： 

2012 年世界傳播日快到了，我希望跟大家分享人類傳訊中的一面，其重要性經常被忽略，可是今時今日，實在必須多加反省。我想說靜默與話語的關係：靜與言屬於傳訊的兩面，必須互相保持平衡，輪流交替，才能達致人際間的真誠對話，以及深化人際關係。言與靜若互相排斥，傳訊便崩潰，而且會導致混亂或冷漠；所以必須令言與靜彼此協調，傳訊才可成功。這樣，溝通便產生價值並建立意義。 

靜默是傳訊過程中不可或缺的元素；沒有靜默，內容豐富的話語就不能存在。在靜默中，我們更能聆聽、了解自己，進而思考 ─ 進行有深度的思考；更清楚明白我們想說的，及期望他人的回應；然後選擇如何表達自己。在靜默中，我們讓他人發言表達自己；與此同時，我們避免做井底之蛙，一味自彈自唱。這麼一來，我們互相製造空間聆聽對方，深化彼此的關係。事實上，互愛的人經常在靜默中：藉姿勢、面部表情、身體語言，彼此流露最真摯的愛。喜悅、憂慮、和痛苦都能在靜默中傳遞 ─ 所謂「盡在不言中」往往令表達方式錦上添花。這麼一來，靜默帶動更活躍的傳訊，要求彼此敏銳地聆聽，把人際關係的標準和內涵提升。當信息及資訊過剩，靜默顯然變得必須，以協助我們識別「重要、微不足道、主次之間」。有時乍看毫無關連的事宜，一旦深入思考才發現其中的連繫，讓我們評估及分析，讓彼此分享深思熟慮的意見，共享真知識。為此，必須發展適當的「生態環境」，保持介乎靜默、話語、影像及聲音之間的平衡。

現今的傳訊過程主要建立在「問」與「答」。人們不論尋求意見、概念、資訊或解答，都會不約而同地從網絡搜索器和社交網站起步。目前，互聯網正逐漸成為「問」與「答」的平台 ─ 的確，我們從不提問，卻經常被答案圍攻，彷彿這些答案都十分重要。面對過剩的資訊及其刺激，我們果真要明辨真正重要的問題所在，而靜默乃是解決這問題的珍品。今日的傳訊世界複雜又多元，置身其間，人們往往面對存在性的終極問題：我是誰？我能知道什麼？我應做什麼？我可以希望什麼？跟提問者確認這些問題十分重要，透過文字交流，建立開放深入的對話；當然也要透過靜默反思。這一切總比倉促的答案更具說服力，令搜尋者深入認識自我、開放自己、邁向天主銘刻於人心的知識。 

最後，這停不了的提問流程，證明人類不斷追尋真理，多少也意味著為自己生命帶來意義和希望。其實，不論男女都不滿於表面意見，及含糊不清的交往 ─畢竟人們都在追尋真理。今天，我們渴求真理有過之而無不及：「當人交換資訊時，實則在分享他們自己；分享他們對世界的看法、他們的希望、他們的理想。」（2011 年世界傳播日文告）

今日的網頁、Apps 和社交網站，種類繁多：其中亦包括提供靜默空間、協助真誠反省思考、提供祈禱默想、分享上主聖言等項目。簡單來說，只要是一句聖經章節，也足以反映有深度的思想，令參與交談的人進而培育自己的內在生命。各地宗教及傳統都認同退省和靜默的價值：既能助人重新發現自我，也能同時發現生命的真諦。聖經中的天主盡在不言中：「正如基督的十字架所作的，天主也以自己的靜默說話。對降生成人的天主子來說，天主的靜默，即子被全能天主父離棄的經驗，是祂塵世旅程上的決定性階段……天主的靜默延伸祂從前所說的話。在這黑暗的時刻，祂透過自己靜默的奧祕說話。」（《上主的話》宗座勸諭，21）天主的愛擲地有聲，本來是活於至高無上的恩賜，卻在十字架的靜默中發聲。基督死後，大地一片寧靜。聖週六那天，當「君王就寢，天主睡在血肉中，並喚醒自不同歲月起沉睡的人」（詳見：聖週六大日課）天主的聲音響徹大地，時刻向人類示愛。 

假如天主在靜默中也跟我們說話，我們也應嘗試在靜默中跟天主說話，以及在靜默中談論天主。「我們需要的是讓靜默變成默想，將我們引入天主的靜默中，將我們帶到聖言、贖世聖言的誕生之處。」（國際神學委員會感恩祭中講道，2006年10月6日）。每次談及天主的偉大，人的言語往往不敷應用，必須代之以默想。一股內在的使命感從這類默想中一湧而出，催迫我們「去給你們傳報我們所見所聞」，令眾人跟天主合而為一（若望一書 1:3）。靜默令我們沐浴於愛之根源，引導我們走向近人，感受他們的痛苦；並帶給他們基督之光、祂生命的信息，及祂救恩的滿全之愛。 

在默想中，永恆的聖言，世界藉祂而創造，祂的臨在與日增強，我們察覺到天主在歷史中以言以行完成祂的救贖工程。正如梵二大公會議提醒我們，超性的啟示「藉內在彼此聯繫的言與行形成；天主在救贖史裡興辦的工程，彰明並堅強了用言語所表明的道理和事物；聖言宣講工程，並闡明其中含有的奧蹟。」（《天主的啟示》教義憲章：2）這救贖計劃以納匝肋人耶穌本人作所有啟示的中介和滿全完成。祂讓我們知道天父真正的面目，祂藉十字架和復活帶給我們自由，從罪惡和死亡的奴役中解救我們，使我們成為天主子女。人類存在的基本意義在基督奧祕內找到答案，這答案為不安的人帶來平安。教會的使命源於這奧祕，正是這奧祕激發基督徒成為希望和救贖的使者，為宣揚人類尊嚴和建立公義和平的愛而作見證。

言與靜：學習溝通在於學習聆聽、學習反思、學習說話。這為從事福傳事工的人尤其重要。今日，教會向現世重新宣講基督，在這傳訊工程中，靜與言均是構成元素，缺一不可。謹將教會透過社會傳播工具的一切福傳事工，交託予聖母瑪利亞，她靜默地「聆聽聖言，並令聖言開花結果」（Loreto聖家的私人祈禱, 2007年9月1日）。

本篤十六世
發自梵蒂岡
2012 年1 月24 日
聖方濟各沙雷氏節

7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)

SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)                                                              20 May 2012

It is hard for us to imagine what the disciples must have felt as Jesus left them and ascended into heaven.  There was surely a sense that he was now no longer with them.  They were now confronted by his absence.  Yet it wasn’t as simple as that.  They had already lived through the shock of his death, and were then surprised by his resurrection.  Even though they may have walked with him or eaten with him, they would have been very conscious that this was somehow different to the way they had been with him before his death.  His presence after the resurrection was different.  So while his ascension to the right hand of the Father may have seemed like a definitive departing from them, in fact they very quickly had a greater sense of his presence.

This seems to be the point of the Ascension.  It reminds us that Jesus had to leave this world in order to complete the mission he had been given by his Father.  Only by leaving this world would he become present to all people of all ages and all places.  Only by leaving the world of Jerusalem and Galilee would he become present to us today.  In recent weeks we have seen glimpses of how this would be so.  He would be recognised in the breaking of bread, in the Eucharist.  He would be heard in the proclamation of the Word of God, the Scriptures.

Today we hear something of how this would be possible.  Just before he ascends into heaven Jesus tells the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit.  It is the Spirit who will keep Jesus present among them.  The Spirit will keep the memory of Jesus alive among the people.  But the Spirit will also make Jesus present among them in the sacraments.  Notice today how during the Eucharistic Prayer we will pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon the gifts of bread and wine so that they may become the body and blood of Christ.  We will also pray that the Spirit will come upon us who eat this Eucharistic feast so that we may be the body of Christ.  So when Jesus tells the disciples that the Spirit will give them power, he is telling them that in fact from now on they will be closer to Jesus than they were during his life on earth.  They will be drawn into the divine life; they will participate in the life of God.

There is a sense in which this has been their destiny: to share communion with God.  That is why I said earlier that the Ascension of Jesus completes his mission.  He leaves them in order to send the Spirit so that people of all ages might share in his life, might be part of him, might together form his body.  This began for each of us when we received that first gift of the Spirit at our baptism.  The Spirit ensures that salvation is available to all creation.

But life with Jesus is never given for its own sake.  Salvation is not simply something that we take to ourselves like some greedy person interested only in themselves.  The readings today make it very clear that the ascension of Jesus makes it possible for his mission to continue in the words and actions of the apostles and their descendants.  In fact the kingdom he preached and inaugurated now has to take root in the land of every people and every nation.  This happens by the life and witness of those who have received the Spirit.  Every people and every nation has to be able to recognise in their own midst the salvation Jesus brings.  It will be both familiar and unfamiliar to them.  It will be familiar because it will be dressed in the forms of their own culture.  But it will be unfamiliar because it will also challenge the culture to change and be take up what is necessary in order that it be a place where communion with God is a reality.

I think the feast of the Ascension is the occasion for each of us to reflect on how we are part of the mission of Jesus.  It is not going to be present exactly as we heard in the gospel, where devils were cast out or people were unharmed if they drank poison.  These were signs for a different time.  We need to ask ourselves, what are the signs associated with believers today.  Or more specifically: what are the signs associated with the Chinese community in Sydney.  You can probably think of many of these signs, but let me mention just one.  It is this: a strong family life where there is great respect and care across the generations and where people of every age can flourish.  This is one of the most important signs of salvation – if we understand salvation in terms of communion.  A strong family life will enable family members to have a deep sense of connection with each other and therefore with God.  In this way you are a sign in the world of what salvation looks like.  Of course this doesn’t mean that all families are perfect or that they don’t experience disappointment.  But the thing that characterises a Christian family is that it is also a sign that renewal and reform is possible.  This is part of the message of salvation.

So on this Ascension Day let us rejoice that Jesus’ parting words were to wait for the Spirit so that we might be his witnesses in the world.

Fr. Gerard Kelly