|Bishop Barron
翻译|Carrie

朋友们，今天的福音描述了基督徒在末日之前面对的迫害。教会何时不再受迫害？只有当主归来的时候。

 

从一开始到现在，耶稣基督团体就一直是世间暴力的靶心。“杀死信使”这一旧原理显露无遗。在末日来临之前，教会将不断宣告旧世界正消亡，载满爱、非暴力和生命力的新世界正兴起。这个宣告总会激怒罪恶的世界，因此二十世纪是史上最血腥的——期间的殉道者也是最多的。

 

那我们要怎样做？我们要对正在消亡的旧世界保持超脱的态度，把目光集中投向永恒的新世界。同时，我们要满怀信心地、勇敢无畏地、充满激情地传达福音和主的死而复活。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel passage describes the persecution Christians face before the end of the world. When will the Church stop being persecuted? When the Lord returns, but not before.

 

From the earliest days until the present, the community of Jesus Christ has been the focus of the world’s violence. The old principle of "killing the messenger" applies here. The Church will announce, until the end of time, that the old world is passing away, that a new world of love, non-violence, and life is emerging. This announcement always infuriates the world of sin, which explains why the twentieth century was the bloodiest on record—and the one with the most martyrs.

 

What do we do in the meantime? We maintain a detachment from the world that is passing away, our eyes fixed on the world that will never end. And we speak confidently, boldly, provocatively the message of the Gospel, the dying and rising of the Lord.