昔日文章

“Why d o w e h a v e t o c e l e b r a t e B u d d h a ’ s birthday in May ? God said we should adore（欽崇） no other gods but Him alone.” May Ying asked Father. Father did not know how to answer her while Mother reminded（提醒） us that the whole family would accompany（陪同）Grandma to a shrine （廟宇）to pay respects to Buddha（佛陀）. May Ying got more confused and rejected（拒絕）to go along. Since the temple is very far from home, the plan was to bring Grandma over for a brief（短暫） visit and the whole family would have lunch in that district, and then have the rest of the day for another family activity. Grandma had already booked a table at a nearby restaurant and i s e a g e r l y （ 興奮地） looking forward to that day. What would you do if you were May Ying?    According to what is taught at school and during Catechism （教理問答）class at church, the first commandment（誡命）out of the ten is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”（欽崇一天主在萬有之上）. I would surely not go with my grandmother to a Buddhist place. I could meet them for lunch and could even get the table and wait for my family to arrive. I would also remind my parents that it is stated in John 3:36（若望福音第3章36節） “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal（永恆） life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath （盛怒）remains on them.” My parents should convince（說服）Grandma not to go as well and evangelize（傳教）to her.  There are so many biblical（聖經的）passages that tell us about loving others. If I have a grandmother who is old and cannot accept a new religion overnight（突然）, I could just pray more for her to accept God. I’d share my religion with her only at an appropriate opportunity. I would go with her to the Buddhist sanctuary（聖所）which she longs（期望）to go, I would do so out of love for my grandmother, and that would n o t mean I do n o t honour（尊敬）God. Jesus would be very pleased（欣慰） with me.      p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 18.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 12.1px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Light'; color: #2d2829} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 11.1px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Light'; color: #2d2829} span.s1 {font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; color: #000000} span.s2 {font: 11.0px Helvetica} span.s3 {font: 11.0px MHeiHK} span.s4 {font: 11.0px 'MHeiHK Light'} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Impact; min-height: 15.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 14.1px; font: 14.0px Impact; color: #2d2829} span.s1 {font: 12.0px Impact; color: #000000}  

吱吱和喃喃聽了耶穌講的「富翁與乞丐」比喻後，一直在爭論不停。若望忍不住問牠們︰ 「你們吵甚麼？」 吱吱說︰「若望哥哥，我們只想知道，剛才主耶穌給我們講的『富翁與乞丐』比喻裡的乞丐，他真的名叫拉匝祿嗎？」 若望說︰「是的。」 喃喃說︰「那乞丐後來真的死了嗎？」 若望說︰「真的死了。有甚麼不妥嗎？」 吱吱說︰「若真的死了，為甚麼主耶穌說再過幾天，要去伯大尼探訪拉匝祿呢？」 若望忍不住笑了起來，說︰「你們弄錯了。比喻裡死去的拉匝祿，是虛構出來的角色，而伯大尼的……」 若望還沒有講完，兩隻小鳥便插嘴問︰「伯大尼的拉匝祿也是虛構的角色嗎？」 若望說︰「這位拉匝祿是主耶穌的好朋友，你們也見過他，怎會是虛構的角色呢？」 吱吱和喃喃低頭想了好一會， 才搖搖頭說︰「不是，不是。」 喃喃說︰「我明白了。比喻裡的拉匝祿不是真正存在的人物，只是虛構出來的角色。」 吱吱接著說︰「而伯大尼那位拉匝祿，當然是真正存在的人。他是主的門徒，也是主的好朋友。他死後， 主耶穌還把他從死亡中喚醒，使他可以再次在人間生活。」 （取材自路加福音十六19-21；若望福音第十一章） 想一想︰  1. 哪位拉匝祿是故事裡的角色？ 2. 哪位拉匝祿是主耶穌的好朋友？ 

星期天早上，我與子女上聖堂。假日一早起牀，兒子拖拖拉拉出門，老大不願。路上我沒話卻找話來說說：「你好幾天都出外，很累吧，今天去完聖堂，就回家休息，溫習一下。」兒子聽到溫習，即時火光：「溫甚麼？我早已有溫習，白癡！」 我即時冒火三丈，想破口大罵，但口裡只是淡淡地說：「不用這麼大反應吧？父母總是這樣提點，你不喜歡也不用惡言相向吧？」 然後，我一直沒有作聲。不是因為憤怒，而是在整理自己的情緒：我為甚麼這麼憤怒呢？平日，兒子也常有類此的惡言，他未必是出於惡意，更多是時下年輕人輕率用語，又或是青春期的不規則火氣。平常的我即使不喜，也只是出言規勸，為甚麼這早上如此憤怒呢？  原來，最近三星期，太太都在小病當中。照料太太及子女之餘，還要擔心小病會否長此下去。夫妻都情緒欠穩，睡眠質素也不好，而兒子在這時刻說這樣的一句話，為我來說，就是不能體貼父親這幾星期的苦，而我因此很憤怒。 但是，我冷靜下來想，他真的不知道。十四歲的男孩，難道我還能期盼他洞察人心，明白父親的苦與累嗎？這時，我想起若望福音的一段敘述：  他（耶穌）剛說完這話，侍立在旁的一個差役就給了耶穌一個耳光說： 「你就這樣答覆大司祭嗎？」耶穌答覆他說：「我若說得不對，你指證那裡不對；若對，你為甚麼打我？」（若十八22-23）  終於，我壓下怒氣，心平氣和說道理：「兒子，父母也有心情欠佳的時刻，你說一句好話，為爸爸來說，其實是很大的鼓舞。」