教宗主持公拜苦路:求主恩賜羞愧、懺悔和希望

鹽與光

2018年3月31日
2018年3月30日聖週五晚上,教宗方濟各在羅馬鬥獸場為信友們主持了公拜苦路。在活動結束之際,教宗誦念了一篇祈禱詞,祈求天主幫助我們擺脫各種形式的傲慢,讓我們充滿羞愧、懺悔和希望,如同右盜那樣「以真誠奪得了樂園」。
這是教宗方濟各第6次在羅馬鬥獸場主持公拜苦路,聚精會神地默觀耶穌走上哥耳哥達的苦路十四處。適逢今年將召開以青年為題的世界主教會議,教宗特意把苦路默想託付給15名意大利的高中和大學生。他們撰寫的默想呈現出人類的自私、冷漠和仇恨,以及耶穌的謙卑、受苦和祂對天父旨意的全然順從。
成千上萬盞燭火照亮了黑夜,教宗的禱詞直入世人的內心深處。他呼求道:「主耶穌,求祢不斷賜給我們神聖的羞恥之恩、希望之恩。在祢的至高聖愛前,我們滿心羞愧,因為我們讓祢為我們的罪過受苦,自己卻倉皇而逃;我們沒有選擇祢,而是選擇了巴辣巴、權力、外表、財神和世俗。」
教宗說:「羞愧,是因為我們以口舌、以心靈試探了祢,每當我們面臨考驗時,總會對祢說:『如果祢是默西亞,就救祢自己吧,這樣我們才相信!』羞愧,是因為許多人,甚至連祢的某些僕人都任由野心和虛榮蒙蔽自己,喪失他們的尊嚴與初愛;羞愧,是因為我們世代留給青年一個在分裂和戰爭中破碎的世界、一個在自私中毀滅的世界,在其內青年、弱小者、病患和老人都受到排斥。耶穌,羞愧是因為我們喪失了羞恥心。然而,天主的聖愛偉大無比,這便是我們的希望。希望存在於寬恕和友愛的訊息內,至今仍激勵人們戰勝敵意和恐懼;希望也存在於犧牲中,它在利潤至上的世界裡鼓舞許多青年獻身於天主。」
教宗說:「希望,是因為有眾多男女傳教士今日仍持續對人類沉睡的良知提作出挑戰,冒著生命危險在貧窮、被丟棄、遷徙、隱而不顯、受到剝削、忍飢挨餓和遭受監禁的人身上服事祢;希望,是因為祢那由罪人組成的聖潔教會,在所有令她威信掃地的企圖之下,今日仍持續作光,照亮、鼓勵、寬慰人心,並且見證祢對世人的無窮聖愛、愛人利人的榜樣、救恩的方舟,以及確信與真理的泉源。」
「此外,希望也存在於十字架上;它是膽怯和許多經師及偽善者之貪婪的後果,同時也是主耶穌復活的泉源。教宗於是定睛仰望十字架,懇求人子幫助我們脫去左盜、目光短淺者和腐敗之人的傲慢,因為他們將人子視為可利用的機會、可批評的獲罪者、可嘲笑的失敗者、可卸責的機會;他們將自己的罪過推卸到他人、乃至天主的身上。」
最後,教宗祈求道:「天主子,我們祈求祢讓我們與右盜相結合。他以充滿羞愧、懺悔和希望的目光凝望著祢,懷著信德的目光在祢挫敗的外表下看到神聖的勝利,從而誠服在祢的慈悲前,以真誠奪得了樂園,亞孟!」
教宗方濟各在公拜苦路結束時誦念的一篇祈禱詞
英語全文
Working translation of Pope Francis’ reflection
at the end of the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome
by Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB from the original text in Italian
Lord Jesus, our gaze is turned to you, full of shame, repentance and hope.
In the face of your supreme love, shame pervades us for leaving you alone to suffer for our sins:
-the shame to have escaped before the test even though you have said thousands of times: "even if everyone leaves you, I will never leave you";
-the shame of having chosen Barabbas and not you, the power and not you, the appearance and not you, the god of money and not you, the mundanity and not the eternity;
-the shame for having tempted you with your mouth and heart, every time we have been in front of a trial, telling you: "if you are the messiah, save yourself and we will believe!";
-shame because so many people, and even some of your ministers, let themselves be deceived by ambition and vain glory, losing their worthiness and their first love;
-shame because our generations are leaving young people a world fractured by divisions and wars; a world devoured by selfishness where the young, the small, the sick, the elderly are marginalized;
-the shame of having lost the shame;
-Lord Jesus, always give us the grace of holy shame!
Our gaze is also full of a repentance that pleads your mercy before your eloquent silence: repentance that sprouts from the certainty that only you can save us from evil, only you can heal us from our leprosy of hatred, selfishness, pride, greed, revenge, greed, idolatry, only you can embrace us by giving back the filial dignity and rejoice for our return home, to life;
-the repentance that springs from feeling our smallness, our nothingness, our vanity and that lets itself be caressed by your sweet and powerful invitation to conversion;
-the repentance of David who finds his only strength in you from the abyss of his misery;
-the repentance born of our shame, born of the certainty that our heart will always remain restless until you find yourself and in you its only source of fullness and quietness;
-the repentance of Peter who, when he met your eyes, wept bitterly for having denied you before men.
Lord Jesus, always give us the grace of holy repentance!
In front of your supreme majesty, the spark of hope lights up in the darkness of our despair because we know that your only measure of love is to love us without measure;
-the hope that your message continues to inspire, even today, so many people and peoples that only good can defeat evil and wickedness, only forgiveness can bring down resentment and revenge, only the fraternal embrace can disperse the hostility and fear of the other;
-hope because your sacrifice continues, still today, to emanate the scent of divine love that caresses the hearts of so many young people who continue to consecrate their lives becoming living examples of charity and gratuity in our world devoured by the logic of profit and easy money;
-the hope that so many missionaries continue, even today, to challenge the sleeping consciousness of humanity, risking their lives to serve you in the poor, in the rejected, in the immigrants, in the unseen, in the exploited, in the hungry and in prisoners;
-the hope that your Church, holy and made up of sinners, continues, even today, despite all the attempts to discredit it, to be a light that enlightens, encourages, lifts and bears witness to your unlimited love for humanity, a model of altruism, an ark of salvation and a source of certainty and truth;
-the hope because from your cross, fruit of the greed and cowardice of so many doctors of the Law and hypocrites, the Resurrection has burst forth, turning the darkness of the tomb into the splendor of the dawn of Sunday without sunset, teaching us that your love is our hope.
Lord Jesus, always give us the grace of holy hope!
Help us, Son of man, to identify ourselves with the good thief who looked at you with eyes of shame, of repentance and hope, who, with the eyes of faith, saw in your apparent defeat the divine victory and so knelt before your mercy and with honesty has robbed paradise! Amen!