情慾

祝各位有一個有福的聖母蒙召升天瞻禮！ 1950年11月1日，教宗庇護十二世 (台譯碧岳) 頒布《廣賜恩寵的天主》宗座憲章 (Apostolic Constitution " Munificentissimus Deus")，確立了教會已保存多年的道理為信條，就是聖母蒙召升天。在重覆了歷代教父如何確立了這信理之後，庇約教宗在第44段確立這為信條： 44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. 「無玷的天主之母，貞世童貞瑪利亞在結束她在人間生活的過程後，身體及靈魂都被蒙召升天進入天堂的光榮中。」 有關聖母蒙召升天的道理實在很多，但筆者願意在這裡分享今日在彌撒中的默想：聖母的肉身及靈魂升天跟我們有何關係？

「情慾 (Lust) 是對不合法享受的不合理慾望。這是這世上最泛濫的惡習；它的攻擊最為激烈，它引起的渴望最為難以滿足。因此聖奧斯定說基督徒要保持潔德是最慘烈的戰爭，因為對抗色慾的搏鬥多，但勝利是罕見的。」

今天是聖熱羅尼莫 (St. Jerome) 的瞻禮，他最出名的事蹟就是按教宗聖達瑪穌的指示，將聖經翻譯為拉丁教會一直使用的拉丁通行本 (Vulgata)。不是每個教友都翻譯聖經，但聖人對抗私慾偏情的決心卻是值得我們學習的聖德。