Chittister修女闡釋天主的臨在

Chittister修女闡釋天主的臨在

Joan Chittister修女 許建德譯

「一個人如何尋求與上主的共融呢？」求教者問道。
「你找尋得越心切，距離上主就越遠。」長者如此地回答。
「那麼怎樣才可以把距離縮短呢？」求教者不棄不捨。
「先要瞭解到那個距離根本不存在。」長者回答著。
「你的意思是上主跟我是一個？」求教者繼續著問。
「非一，非二。」長者回答。
「但是……那怎麼可能？」求教者著急了。
「如同太陽和日光、海洋和波浪、歌手和歌曲。非一，非二。」長者如此回答。

我們如何去理解上主的臨在？這是個相當迫切的問題，因為它關係到道德的基礎和生命的意義。在之前的故事裡，長者說明了，上主和我們不是同一個事物，祂卻是萬事萬物所有存在的本質。換句話說，上主不只存在於那些我們很確定、認為是錯不了的事物裡，祂也真正地存在於那些我們毫無疑問地認為不會有上主的地方。天主的臨在並不需要天主做什麼決定，它唯一需要的只在於我們是否意識到「我在的地方、上主都在」這個事實。

難處在於我們是否真正地懂得：無論何時何處「上主在、我也在」的道理？問題並不在於「上主是否跟我在一起？」，而是「我跟上主在一起嗎？」。

一個可以確定「我活在上主臨在中」的標識，就在於我們如何看待這個世界、如何做出回應。一個時常念及「上主臨在」的人，會用上主的眼光去看待世界、而且依此而行。

【譯後記】譯自Five Minutes with Chittister – God's Presence
（https://www.joanchittister.org/~joanchit/audio/gods-presence-june-10-2020Joan） ， Chittister修女的原來錄音談話的文字檔如下：

God's Presence

“How does one seek union with God?” the seeker ask.
“The harder you seek, the more distance you create between God and you,” the elder answered.
“So what does one do about the distance?” The seeker persisted.
“Understand that it isn't there,” the elder answered.
“Does that mean that God and I are one,” the seeker continued.
“Not one, not two,” the elder answered.
“But how is that possible?” the seeker cried.

How do I know that God is present? The question has an urgency to it. It carries within itself the foundations of morality, the purpose of life. The elder in this story makes the point. God and I are not the same thing, but God is the essence of everything, that is. God, in other words, is everywhere as truly in those things where we are sure that God is missing, as in those things that we are sure are infallible signs of the presence of God. The presence of God does not depend on an act of God's will. It depends simply on our own realization that where I am, God is. The challenge is to come to the point that where God is, I am, wherever, whenever. It's not a case of God being present to me, it is a case of my being present to God. The sure sign that we are living in the presence of God is the way we see and respond to the rest of the world. Those who have cultivated the presence of God, see the world as God sees the world and they respond accordingly.