The Law Was Given That Grace Might Be Sought

Of all the events, institutions, and people that characterize the Old Testament – patriarchs, crossing the Red Sea, Passover, covenants, priests, prophets, kings, Jerusalem Temple, etc. - “law” is one that really stands out. By “law”, we refer to the Decalogue, the various law codes preserved in the Pentateuch, and the new laws and customs of the emerging Judaism in the later years of Israel’s history (see New Jerome Biblical Commentary 67:132). St. Paul simply generalized the Old Testament as a time when men were “under the law” (Rm 6:15).

The exhortation to observe the law, expounded so forcefully by Moses in Dt. 4:1-8, is a resounding theme in the OT books. The rule was straightforward: if Israel obeyed God and kept His commandments, statues and decrees, they would live and receive God’s blessing; if not, they would perish (cf. Dt. 30:15-17). But try as they might, the people of Israel just couldn’t muster up enough will to follow Moses’ exhortation sincerely and persistently. The result was as straightforward as the rule: God’s punishment in the form of exile and generations of repressive foreign domination.

To rub salt into the wound, the legal corpus itself was tainted over time by what Jesus called “human precepts” and “human tradition” (Mk. 7:7-8) that were often trivial and even unreasonable. By Jesus’ time the whole system smacked of hypocrisy and legalism that favored the elite and powerful. No wonder as far back as the exilic time, the prophet Ezekiel had referred to such laws as “statutes that were not good, and ordinances through which they could not live” (Eze. 20:25).

So what are we supposed to make of this puzzling biblical account that spanned more than a millennium of Israel’s history and formed the backbone of OT teaching? One that appeared to be just a futile divine exercise: God imposed on men His law, warning that failure to follow would bring punishments; men failed to follow God’s law and sure enough they got punished; and finally the law itself became trivialized, burdensome, incomprehensible, and unreasonable. (Sounds familiar? Yes, that's just the nature of all laws, the result of legalism.)

The lesson to be learned is that man cannot achieve goodness, least of all perfection and holiness, by relying on his own effort to follow the law. Since time immemorial, the ultimate human dream was to be self-sufficient, to be in control of his own destiny, to become like God or, to be more succinct, to become God. This story of human pride has been foretold and summed up in the Garden of Eden account, in which man desired to see and know like God (cf. Gen 3:6); as well as in the Babel tower account that portrayed man’s desire to reach the sky (cf. Gen 11:4). The reason for man’s misery was his heart, which was twisted, rebellious, and in need of healing. Man was in dire need of a “heart surgery”, the procedures and benefits of which had been listed in detail by Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you [hearts of flesh]. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees” (Eze. 36:25-27).

The Holy Spirit, in other words, is our surgeon in charge; the medicine that untwists or cleanses our hearts is not antibiotics and steroids but the purity of baptismal water! With hearts made of flesh and filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be able to observe God’s law as statutes and ordinances “written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh” (2 Cor 3:3).

Still, why did God go through all these troubles of putting Israel “under the law” (Rm. 6:15) to begin with? Why not give them the solution outlined in Ezekiel’s prophesy above from day one? As usual, it’s St. Augustine who came to our rescue by answering this difficult question in one simple statement: “The law was given that grace might be sought; and grace was given that the law might be fulfilled” (De Spiritu et Littera, 19, 34: CSEL 60, 187). Man’s attempt to fulfill the requirements of law on his own was a complete failure that convinced him what he really needed was grace. What grace? The grace of redemption! In the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of his redemptive grace and not our own human effort, we can fulfill, and have already fulfilled, the stern requirements of the law! Alleluia!

東方文化能解除人類的枷鎖嗎？

最近閱讀了中文大學哲學系教授、國學大師和思想家霍韜晦先生的著作《當代文化批判》。霍先生從公元前七世紀的希臘哲學開始，至近代的後現代主義，將主要的西方哲學遂一簡介和批判，從而指出當今世代在生命意義、道德、和價值標準上的迷惘和失落。

興趣使然，我讀大學時用商科學位剩餘學分主修哲學。畢業後，我也不時閱讀哲學書籍，特別是我喜愛的希臘哲學。來加後先後因移民的壓力、學業、事業、和信仰上的改變，接觸哲學的機會少了很多，這次因友人好意贈書才偶然再看。不料看後感受良多，在此特別分享其中兩點。

在霍教授帶领下，跟隨歷史發展，按步重温西方哲學，就像時光倒流，洪洪三千年的文化巨流，仿如三小時的紀錄片在眼前隨隨展開；蘇格拉底、柏拉圖、老莊孔孟也仿如昨天才出現過的人物！《當代文化批判》可說是一個開啓愚蒙、令人感觸的旅程。啓蒙者，是因為霍先生深入淺出的講述，讓我重新認識我曾經喜愛的哲學思想，因而得益不淺。感觸者，是因為自己多年不接觸哲學，現在偶爾再看，發覺心境與當年完全不同。因為在個人思維和信仰上，今日已介入了一個新的要素，即啟示真理(revealed truth)的要素，亦即天主傳留在聖經、聖傳、和教會中的真理。於是，同樣是思考生命意義，我今天的方法，已從純理性思考變成信德的光照(如聖奥斯定說，不是明白然後相信，是相信然後明白) ；我今天的著眼點已不是某某思想家的看法(不論他如何偉大；也不論我如何仰慕他) ，而是有情的天主基於無限愛情而啓示給人的，絕對和永恆不變的訓示和指引。

我要分享的第二點感受是霍教授對人類文化的分析、批判、和結論。霍教授準確地看見西方文化憑理性去追尋知識，目的是尋求自由和幸福。藉發展科學和確立民主，人類好像愈來愈自由幸福(可去月球，可用手機)。其實，理性為了滿足人心裡永無止境的欲望(霍先生稱它為「心魔」)，早淪為工具，被人心裡的欲魔牽著鼻子走，成了「工具理性」，為欲魔服務。(下次你升級購買了不夠一年的手機，或剛去完歐遊現又想去亞拉斯加郵輪十日遊的時候，你便會明白「心魔」是多凶猛。)當今科學所帶來的知識和發明，現代民主所推廣的自由、平等、和人權，成了社會人欲橫流，平面價值，胡作妄為的動力和藉口。於是這麽多年來，人類尋求自由和幸福的努力，得來的是不自由和不幸福。

這是多麽諷刺和悲哀的結果啊！這是西方文化尋求知識，只求真而不求善的結果。於是，霍教授主張人(特別是我們東方人)應克己復禮，用東方文化(特別是儒釋道)去治理好人的「心魔」，人類文化才有轉機，因為西方文化發展至今，已淪為只教人「成器」(即器具），不教人「成人」。「成人」就是現代文化之所需，亦是東方文化之所長。

霍教授對當代文化批判可說一針見血，重視生命意義和價值的讀者，看後必定若有所思，對人類今日的處境，痛深惡絕和深感憂慮。套用聖經啓示，我不禁將人類尋求釋放的努力和當年以色列被埃及奴役相比。人類要獲得自由幸福，要脫離奴役(罪惡、痛苦、生老病死、「心魔」等)，不是人自己的努力所能做到的，也不是源於人的智慧和努力的東方文化所能促成的，而是要超越人類的天主的幹預和介入才能完成。令人興奮的是，這幹預和介入已發生了，我們稱之為「福音」。這也是耶穌在苦架上呼出最後一口氣前，給全人類肯定了的。他肯定了甚麽？他說：「完成了。」然後低下頭，交付了靈魂 (若19:30) 。釋放人類的工程，終於由耶穌在苦架上完成了！

人類已獲釋放，他們的釋放者不是西方哲學和科學，也不是東方文化和老莊孔孟，是聖經中以色列的釋放者梅瑟所預告(prefigures) 的，全人類的釋放者耶穌基督。悠悠數千年歷史文化中的人類，就是聖經所說的以色列人，他們長期活在奴役中。奴役人類的各種苦楚，特別是罪惡和生老病死，就是聖經所說的埃及。正如以色列人不能靠自己努力逃離埃及的奴役，而需要天主介入，由梅瑟帶领，奇蹟地過紅海，最後終於進入福地；同樣地，人類也不能靠自己努力逃離罪惡和死亡的奴役，而需要天主介入，由祂的聖子耶穌基督帶领，奇蹟地從水中經過(领洗) ，最後終於會進入福地，即天國。

霍先生一如歷代哲學家般，具慧眼和真知灼見，能準確地看見人在枷鎖下苦痛呻吟的苦况。但是，他也一如歷代哲學家般，固執地用理性和靠人的努力，去嘗試完成人力所不能完成的，釋放人類的工程；總不願意承認和接受，人類釋放者耶穌基督已「完成了」的救贖工程，反建議和引入「新」的人類釋放者 -- 東方文化。這是不是驕傲呢？這不正是聖經一開始便給人的警告 -- 不要「吃禁果」，不要依靠人的智慧 -- 嗎？

What The Human Eyes Cannot See

Summer in Toronto is a beauty. Too bad it is so short. This summer of mine began with an 8-day cruise trip from Vancouver to Alaska, in which I was reunited – or reacquainted – with 3 very good secondary school classmates whom I had not seen for almost 40 years. Every evening on the cruise, we would gather in my cabin to play “catch-up”, rediscovering 40 missing years of one another’s whereabouts, undertakings, accomplished ideals, and unfulfilled aspirations.

At one of the evening meetings, I recounted the story of my personal conversion, how it happened to me almost 20 years ago, and how it changed me drastically from a “Church rebel” to an apologist whose life now featured only Christ and the Church as its centerpiece. They listened to my story intently and with great respect. At the same time, if my perception was correct, there was also a little bit of skepticism. “Really…?”

Maybe the perceived skepticism was just suspicion on my part. But if it was true, I wouldn’t blame them. After all, they knew me well. They remembered well my shortcomings as a youth. They knew where I came from, how I grew up, how I used to crave for “good look”, earthly success, and honor. “Ah, so all of a sudden you want to be a saint, eh? I see…” They probably believed they got me “figured out”.

What they could not figure out – what the human eyes could not see and human reason could not fathom – however, was my spiritual transformation, which my personal misdeeds and shortcomings, no matter how bad, could not impede; and my ancestral roots, whether extraordinary or common, could not generate. It was the work of the Holy Spirit who, like the wind, “blows where it wills” (Jn 3:8). It was God’s grace that saved in spite of my wretchedness; illuminated in spite of my blindness; and lifted aloft in spite of my lowliness.

Jesus’ contemporaries also thought they had Jesus figured out because they knew his family and where he came from (cf. Jn 6:42). How could the carpenter’s son whom they knew so well make the ridiculous claim that he “came down from heaven” (Jn 6:41), they wondered. Jesus’ true identity is something no human eyes can see and no human reason can fathom because it is of divine origin. So is the conversion of a sinner's heart.

在支流源頭的大湖暢泳

我的高齡老父與二姊及數位弟妹分别在纽約各區居住。家人的宗教信仰，可說滿天神佛：有信天主教的，有基督教，守望台，還有天道和無教。其中一位仍在追尋信仰的弟弟，喜愛轉寄一些談論如何做人處事的電郵，作者們來自不同宗教背景，其中不乏有識之士和名人。前兩天，他送出的電郵提及一位年老神父所說的處世心得，我看後答覆如下：

聖經經文引用得很好，文中好幾点做人處世的道理也很精警和獨到。作者平安喜樂的心境和對天主的信靠，在分享中表露無遺。

但對於你，我的忠告仍是那一句：要活在真善美的源頭內，不要在千千萬萬的支流裡尋尋覓覓。文中生活體驗各点，皆充滿真理和智慧，但這些真理和智慧就像千千萬萬的支流裡的礦物，有金，有銀，有瑪瑙和很多奇珍異寶，每一粒礦物都很珍貴。但人要在千千萬萬的支流裡尋覓它們，始終太費氣力了，而且所獲有限，也不完備。最好的方法是離開八陣圖般的支流，走到礦物源頭的大湖中，那處甚麽礦物都有，而且豐富。

這源頭在那裡？怎麽去？其實源頭離你不遠，就在福音中，就在教會內。信耶穌，接受他的救恩就是所有奇珍異寶的源頭。人當信從他，光榮他，將他活於世上；做得不足之處，耶穌救恩能為人承擔一切，就像巨鷹展翅，乘著幼雛在高空自由飛翔一般。我在礦物源頭的大湖中暢泳，悠然自得，看見千萬有心羣眾，如螻蟻般在各支流中轉動，營營役役而所獲無幾，間中也有被急流冲走的，實心有不忍，決定要幫助他們與我共享這源頭的大湖。我提前退休，致力福傳，就是為了這個原因。

另一点要提醒你的是，世間大部份宗教學說都犯了同一錯誤：它們都著重自救(例如主張靠做學問，靠自己努力尋求智慧，靠自己修身養性，靠做善事為自己和子孫「積陰德」等)，不明白人軟弱罪惡，無力自救的道理。所以基督徒相信貴為天主，無限完美的耶稣，是將人和天連接上的唯一道路、真理、生命，除非經過他，世上没一人能靠自己的力量去到天主那裡，與衪全面和永恆地結合(即得救上天堂)。

在尋求真理的路途上，望謹記以上兩點提示，時常反覆思量。縱使今天不明白和不相信，只要你願意謙卑自下，保持心靈開放，天主無限慈悲，在聖神助佑下，總有一天祂會助你頑石點頭，將鐵石的心換上血肉的心。願共勉，並互相代禱！

Old Friends Part II

Feelings come, feelings go. Good feelings? They don’t always come, but when they do, they can be overpowering. They enter deep into the inner chambers of our hearts, and stay fresh in the corners of our minds. Good feelings – they often come at the most inopportune time.

Exhausted from playing tennis the day before, I skipped my jogging routine this morning and chose to walk briskly around the Toogood Pond after warm up exercises and Tai Chi. The water level of Toogood Pond was noticeably lower than usual due to a lack of rain for more than a week. Still, it’s spring time. The new branches and foliage, still less than full grown, displayed a refreshing green and a hopeful luster unseen at any other times of the year. The Canada geese were crowding the paths of the park, showing forth their new-born goslings whose innate understanding of the art of lining up was an attraction for the tourists to marvel at.

As I walked, my thoughts turned to the numerous emails I exchanged with three secondary school friends in the last couple of weeks. They are good secondary school friends whom I haven’t seen for more than 30 years. But next month, we will have a reunion on a cruise trip from Vancouver to Alaska. No question it’s a dream come true. We’ve been preparing for this reunion for more than a year. Now we are into the final stretch of our preparation. It all began in March 2014. From searching out each other, to re-connecting, to an explosion of communications, to now waiting anxiously to see each other in Vancouver – the whole train of events raced through my head and triggered an immense amount of memories and feelings. Feelings that warmed my heart, feelings that overwhelmed, feelings…feelings that I simply had to express because they couldn’t be suppressed.

Over the last 15 months, 4 good old secondary school friends re-discovered each other - older and rather different now, but somehow still naïve and familiar as ever. The teenage selves that we saw in each other from the secondary school days are still there. Our human nature is such that the little bit of familiarity that exists in our collective psyche is enough to enable us to continue to trust each other and enjoy each other’s friendship the way we were accustomed to when we studied together in the same classroom. Over the last 15 months, we yearned to hear from each other and we communicated almost non-stop, all because of that little bit of familiarity and bonding from the teenage years – a familiarity and bonding in the human hearts we call “friendship”. Friends, teenage friends, secondary school friends – something everyone has; something so common and yet so special; something so human and yet so spiritual and overpowering!

While all these feelings were tugging at my heartstrings, I also realized with a little discomfort that I needed to prepare for the delivery of the Bible Study Program today. O, those good, heart-warming, fussy feelings…They can’t wait, can they? They always come at the most inopportune time. They pass you by if you don’t take a moment to acknowledge their unexpected visit; they speed off in a cloud of dust if you don’t accord them time to enjoy their companionship, and disappear faster than the refreshing green of spring. So Bible Study Program be damned, I must not allow these good feelings to disappear on me before they are captured in a post.

But then again, feeling is one thing, the reality can be quite another. When I was doing my undergrad in Canada, I had very good feelings about a friend in Hong Kong. But the good feelings quickly vanished the moment the two of us met each other again after my graduation. Good feelings can be fragile. Sometimes they surprise us and make us realize that they are mere illusions. Here’s hoping that they would do no such tricks on me and my secondary school friends this time!

(Note to reader: This is a sequel to another post entitled "Old Friends" dated March 30, 2014.)

耶穌升天究竟發生在那裡?

根據今天耶穌升天節的福音讀經，馬爾谷福音中的記載，這事在加里肋亞發生（馬爾谷福音16：7）。瑪竇也說是在加里肋亞發生（瑪28：7,16）。至於路加, 他跟馬爾谷及瑪竇的記載有分歧, 將事發地點放在耶路撒冷（路24：50-52）。

那麼，我們應該相信誰呢？若這不是聖經的記載出了錯誤，那麼會是什麼呢？若不是路加出了錯, 便是馬爾谷和瑪竇出了錯 。 總之在這記載上，一定有人犯了錯誤。對不對？那麽，我們如何去解釋這明顯的矛盾呢？但教會卻仍堅持，認為聖經中的記載是完全沒有錯誤的（啓示憲章Dei Verbum 11）。試問教會怎麼還可以教導聖經的無誤性？

無可否認，聖經的記載是有歷史成份的，因為「聖經的啟示是深深植根於歷史」(天主聖言Verbum Domini 42）。但聖經卻不是一本歷史書。這樣一來，它的辭彙必須「從歷史文學和基督宗教的觀點」（VD 42）的範疇來理解。換句話說，我們必須找出聖經作者描寫某件歷史事件時的真正意向。

路加記述耶穌升天的意向，不在於講述歷史，也不在於準確地記載這事件發生的歷史地點。多數聖經學者都認為路加和瑪竇都採用馬爾谷和Q（一個早已遺失了的福音記錄）作為他們的資料來源。在寫升天的事蹟時，兩位作者都假定讀者已經從這兩處知道了耶穌升天是在那裡發生。假如它真的是在加里肋亞發生，路加將它放在耶路撒冷, 並不是因為他記載錯誤，而是因為他受到聖神的默感, 從基督宗教的教義來詮釋，來肯定耶路撒冷聖殿的轉化。

路加用歷史文學觀來闡釋他的認知,在他的福音裡, 以耶路撒冷聖殿作為福音開始時的背境(當時匝加利亞正在聖殿中擔任司祭) ，也用耶路撒冷聖殿作為福音的終結（門徒們返回了耶路撒冷，常在聖殿裏稱謝天主）。但是，在經歷了耶穌受難，死而復活和升天的過程後, 福音完結時的耶路撒冷聖殿，在路加筆下是充滿著歡樂和對天主的讚美的，這形像正好指向著天上的耶路撒冷聖殿 — 那最終的和轉化了的聖殿。

(英文原文 - Edmond Lo，中文翻譯 - 生命恩泉翻譯小組)

慕道班的早上

星期天的早上，我和慕道者討論教會有關婚姻和性的教導，解釋了為甚麼教會根據聖經教導，反對離婚和重婚。

甲慕道者：「你說離婚和重婚是罪行，是因為天主教的教導抑或因為基督教的教導？」
盧：「離婚和重婚是罪，不是因為天主教的教導 ，也不是因為基督教的教導 ，而是在客觀和真實的真理內，這些行為是罪過。」
甲慕道者：「若我想同一個離過婚的男友結婚，有問題嗎？」
盧：「有。」(然後解釋問題所在和如何補救。)
甲慕道者：「入教會那麽多束縛，豈不使人卻步？」
乙慕道者：「對！這些限制是不是太嚴厲無情？」
盧：「不是教會無情，而是她不能不遵照主耶穌的教導。主說：『凡天主所結合的，人不可拆散。』(瑪19:6)這些規定的確不易跟隨。但是大家都知道，入天國的路不易行。所以耶穌說：『你們要從窄門進去，因為寬門和大路導入喪亡； 但有許多的人從那裏進去。那導入生命的門是多麼窄，路是多麼狹! 找到它的人的確不多。』(瑪7:13)

所有慕道者默然不語，一片無奈和不滿。

盧：「今天是救主慈悲主日。在講述有關婚姻和性的規條的同時，我不想大家忘記天主無限的慈悲。的確，這些規限不易遵行，在俗世洪洪巨流中，在傳媒和各種背離真理的主義和學說的影响下，很多人被衝擊得東歪西倒。但是，那一個人敢說自己是完全清白的呢？聖詠說：『上主，你若細察我的罪辜，我主！有誰還能站立得住﹖』(詠130:3) 要明白，人能進入天國，最終不是因為人自己的努力，能做好自己，使自己聖善和完美無瑕，而是因為天主慈悲，寬恕人的罪惡。主耶穌基於無限愛情，貴為天主而願意為人承担罪過，因著他的承担，因著天父無限慈悲，離婚者或重婚者若願意信從耶穌，一樣有機會得救。千萬不要因為這些規限難做，而不加入教會，放棄跟隨耶穌和得救機會。」

甲慕道者灰暗面臉突然泛起笑容。
乙慕道者在我引用聖詠詩句時，突然熱淚奪眶而出，急忙俯首往手袋找纸巾，不斷抹擦。

甲慕道者：「其實我們從國內來的，離婚 、重婚、 婚外情都很普遍。這些罪耶穌都寬恕嗎？」
盧：「天主無限智慧，衪判決時能夠考慮到很多我們人所不能看見的因素。國內同胞因各種客觀環境因素影響之下所犯過錯，很多不在他們控制能力中，全能和至公的天主，必作最公平的判斷。反觀我們很多來自香港的，相對地有很好的條件在婚姻和性方面做好自己而偏不做，天主定必給予這些人最嚴厲的懲罰。所以主耶穌說：『給誰的多，向誰要的也多；交托誰的多，向誰索取的也格外多。』」(路12:48)

聚會完畢，慕道者懷著希望和感恩之心辭別。