009.真福艾曼丽修女的生命与启示第六章 恶灵的圈套

CHAPTER VI.

第六章

Snares of the Evil Spirit

恶灵的圈套

As soon as Anne Catherine had become sufficiently strong to resist the open attacks of Satan, Almighty God allowed her to be tormented by him. But the evil one tried in vain to draw her from the path of perfection along which she was walking so courageously.

当全能的天主看到安纳•加大利纳的灵命渐渐成长，已经足以抵御撒殚的公开攻击，此时，天主允许她被撒殚折磨。但是，恶魔的尝试却是徒劳的，牠无法把勇敢前行在全德道路上的安纳拉回来。

She despised his cunning, his malice, and his power. The more humble she became, the more difficult was it for her to comprehend how he could intimidate a soul. His first attacks were directed against her life. She tells us herself: —

她鄙视撒殚的狡诈、恶意和能力。她愈是谦卑，就愈难理解撒殚怎么能威胁到一个灵魂。撒殚第一次攻击是直接指向她的生命。安纳亲自告诉我们：

"When a child my life was repeatedly in danger, but by the help of God I was always saved. I knew very well that these perils were not accidental ; I knew they came from the evil spirit.

「当我还是个孩子的时候，我的生命屡次处于危险之中，但是在天主的帮助下，我总是得救的。我很清楚，这些危险并非偶然。我知道它们来自恶灵。

They generally happened when I was not thinking of the presence of God, or when I had negligently committed some fault. I never could attribute them to chance.

它们通常发生在我没有思想天主临在的时候，或者当我疏忽地犯了一些什么错误的时候。我从不归咎于偶然。

God always protects us if we do not wander from Him. His angel is ever at our side, but we must render ourselves worthy of His care.

如果我们不偏离天主，祂总是保护着我们。祂的天神总是在我们身边，但我们必须使自己配得天主的看顾。

Like grateful children, we ought never to leave Him. We ought constantly to beg His assistance, for our enemy lies in wait to destroy us.

像知恩的孩子一样，我们应该永远不离开天主。我们应该不断地请求祂的帮助，因为我们的敌人正伺机毁灭我们。 （伯前5，8-9）

When I was only a few years old, my parents went out one day and left me at home alone, my mother charging me to stay in and mind the house. Presently an old woman came in who, for some reason or other, wanted to get rid of me for a while.

当我只有几岁的时候，有一天我的父母出去，把我一个人留在家里，我的母亲嘱咐我呆在家里看顾房子。不一会儿，一个老妇人走了进来，出于某种原因，她想打发我离开家片刻。

'Run',she said ; 'run get some pears off my tree !

『快，』她说：『快去我家梨树上摘些梨子！

Run fast before your mother comes back!'I yielded to the temptation, forgot my mother's orders, and ran to the old woman's garden in such haste that I stumbled over a plough half-hidden in the hay and, striking my breast violently against it, I fell unconscious to the ground.

在你妈妈回来之前快去！』我屈服于诱惑，忘记了妈妈的吩咐，跑向老妇人的花园，匆忙中我被半掩在干草中的锄犁绊了一跤，胸部重重地撞在犁头上，我摔倒在地，不省人事。

My mother found me in this state, and brought me to by a smart correction. I felt the effects of this accident a long time.

我妈妈找到了晕倒中的我，通过巧妙的救助使我恢复了过来。这次事故对我的影响持续了很长时间。

Later I was shown that the devil had made use of the old woman to tempt me to disobedience through gluttony and that, by yielding to the temptation, I had endangered my life.

后来我被告知，魔鬼利用老妇人，藉着贪食诱使我不听话，而我屈服于这种诱惑，使我的生命受到威胁。

This gave me horror for the latter vice, and I saw how necessary it is for man to deny himself."

这使我对贪食这种恶习产生了恐惧，我看到了人是多么有必要克制自己（欲望）」

When Anne Catherine began her nocturnal vigils, the attacks of the evil spirit became bolder and more frequent.

当安纳•加大利纳开始她的守夜祈祷时，恶灵的攻击变得更加大胆和频繁。

He tried to frighten her from her prayers by terrible noises and apparitions, even by blows.

恶灵试图用可怕的声音和鬼影把她从祈祷中吓跑，甚至击打她。

She often felt icy-cold hands grasping her by the feet, casting her to the ground, or lifting her high in the air but, though terror-stricken, the child never lost countenance.

她常常感到一双冰冷的手紧紧抓着她的脚，把她摔倒在地，或者把她举到空中。这孩子虽然吓坏了，但从来没有惊慌失色。

She continued her prayer with redoubled fervor till Satan was forced to withdraw.

她以加倍的热忱继续祈祷，直到撒殚被逼退为止。

She even returned to the place in which she had been maltreated, saying:"Miserable wretch!thou shalt not chase me away.

她甚至回到她受到虐待的地方，说：「你这个可怜的家伙！你不能把我赶走。

Thou hast no power over me! thou shall not hinder my prayer ! "

你对我无能为力！你拦阻不了我的祈祷。」

These attacks were renewed whenever she prayed for the souls in purgatory or performed penances.

每当她为炼狱中的灵魂祈祷，或做赎罪善功时，这些攻击就会重新出现。（注：penance：补赎；赎罪善功：对违反教会戒律者，所规定之处分，包括祈祷、克己苦行或善行。又称 works of penance 。）

But as she was always instructed how to resist the enemy, and the beloved souls were often visible thanking her for the relief she gave them, they served but to animate her courage and nerve her to fresh exertions.

但是，由于她总是被教导如何抵抗敌人，而且心爱的炼灵们经常显现，感谢她的代祷给他们带来的解救，炼灵们更激发了她的勇气，鼓励她重新使劲。

Sometimes she went at night to pray before a rustic Crucifix which stood toward the middle of the hamlet.

有时，她会在晚上去村子中央的粗糙的十字架前祈祷。

The road was crossed by a narrow by-path upon which there often stood facing her a horrible beast like a dog with an enormously large head.

路的对面是一条狭窄的小径，小径上经常站着一只像狗一样的可怕野兽，它的头非常大。

At first she used to shrink back some steps in horror ; but quickly summoning courage, she would say to herself: " Why flee before the enemy?"

起初，她常吓得往后退几步；但她很快就鼓起勇气对自己说：「为什么要在敌人面前逃跑呢?」

Then with the sign of the cross, she would boldly push by the monster.

然后，她会在胸前画十字圣号，勇敢地从怪物身边挤过去。

But she trembled violently, her hair stood on end, and she flew rather than walked over the road that led to the crucifix, the brute running along by her side, sometimes even brushing up against her.

可是她颤抖得很厉害，她的头发都竖了起来，她在通向十字架的路上飞着，而不是走着，那畜牲跟在她身边跑着，有时甚至碰到她。

However, she speedily surmounted her fear, and walked on bravely by her enemy who, unable to endure his own discomfiture, soon took to flight.

然而，她很快克服了恐惧，勇敢地从她的敌人身边走过，敌人无法忍受自己的挫败，很快就逃跑了。

As the devil could not force her by apparitions to desist from penance, he instigated a wretch to attack her near the crucifix ; but, aided by her angel, she courageously defended herself and forced him to retire. Owing to the angels protection, she was delivered from innumerable dangers.

由于魔鬼无法通过鬼影来迫使她停止做赎罪善功，魔鬼便唆使一个恶棍在苦像附近袭击她。但是，在她的天神的帮助下，她勇敢地自卫，迫使坏人退去。由于有了天神的保护，她从无数的危险中解脱出来。

Once the evil spirit tried to hurl her down a ladder ; again he pushed her into a deep ditch, plunging her repeatedly to the bottom in order to drown her. But her angel drew her out and placed her on the brink safe and sound.

有一次，恶灵想把她从梯子上扔下去；恶灵又把她推到一个深沟里，为了淹死她，恶灵不断地把她扔到水底。但她的天神把她拉了出来，把她放在坚实安全的岸边。

These attacks have a deep signification which may not, perhaps, be understood at first. We discover in them not only the rage and malice of hell aiming at the destruction of God's chosen instrument, but also an essential part of the mission assigned her.

这些攻击有着深刻的意义，也许一开始人们并不理解。我们在恶灵身上不仅发现地狱的愤怒和恶毒，其目的是在摧毁天主所拣选的工具，同时也是要摧毁派给她使命的重要部分。

This was, indeed, to draw upon herself heirs hell’s fury, to expose herself to its assaults, thus to avert them from certain other souls whose sins rendered them powerless to resist.

事实上，这样做是为了让自己承受地狱的怒火，让自己暴露在地狱的攻击之下，从而避免其他一些因罪孽深重而无力抵抗的灵魂受到攻击。

She took the place of those who had incurred chastisement ; she suffered for those who exposed themselves to the danger of being lost ; and she paid off their debt by her own combats.

她代替了那些遭受惩罚的人（而接受魔鬼的攻击）； 她为那些暴露在灵魂失落危险中的人受苦； 她通过自己（与邪灵的）斗争还清了他们的罪债。

As she took upon herself the corporal maladies of her neighbor in order to deliver him from them, so also did she bear for him the attacks of the demon, sustain the struggle in his stead, and gain for him the victory.

就如她亲身承担了邻人身体上的疾病，把他从这些疾病中解救出来一样，她也为邻人承受了恶魔的攻击，代替他经历斗争，并为他赢得胜利。

She not only took the place of the members of the Church, but she also guarded the treasures that had been confided to her pastors, and which were now exposed to the fury of hell.

她不仅取代了教会成员的位置，而且还守护着那些曾托付给她的神父们的宝藏，而这些宝藏现在正暴露在地狱的愤怒之下。

Her painful exercises, her vigils, etc., were not dependent on her own will;they were all regulated by her angel, by instructions received in vision.

她的痛苦神修、她的守夜祈祷等等，并不取决于她自己的意志；而是由她的天神，通过在神视中收到的指示来规范的。

Her own choice does not move her to make the long Way of the Cross at night, or to pray in the open fields — all forms part of the task marked out for her.

她自己的意愿不会选择在夜间长久的拜苦路，或在广阔的田野里祈祷——所有这些任务都是为她指定的一部分。

（注：Way of the Cross ：十字苦路；十字架的道路；十四处苦路；苦路经：纪念耶稣受难途中所历经之十四项事迹。拜苦路经为天主教隆重祈祷之一，源于第十五世纪，由方济会大力推广。）

Its accomplishment demands that she should traverse the lonely road that led to the centre of the hamlet to expiate the negligence of a slothful pastor who sleeps whilst the wolf breaks into the sheepfold ; she must struggle with the rapacious animal and prevent his devouring the flock.

为完成这项善功要求她穿过通向村子中心的一条偏僻的路，以补赎一个懒惰司铎的疏忽，当狼闯进羊圈时，这个司铎正在睡觉；她必须和这个贪婪的动物搏斗，防止它吞食羊群。

Is she dashed from a ladder, or thrown into a ditch ? — it is for a soul in mortal sin whom she snatches from the demon at the moment in which he thinks himself sure of his prey.

为了一个身陷大罪的灵魂，她从梯子上摔下，被扔进沟里，在恶魔自以为稳操胜券的时刻，她从恶魔手中夺回了这个灵魂。

If frightful visions and phantoms fill her soul with horror, they are the terrors from which she delivers the dying, that they may prepare in peace for the hour of death.

如果可怕的异象和鬼影使安纳的灵魂充满了恐怖，那就她把临终的人从这些恐惧中解救出来，以帮助他们平静的准备迎接死亡的时刻。

These attacks of Satan were redoubled whenever her prayers confounded the efforts of his malice, or disconcerted his plans.

每当她的祈祷挫败了恶魔的恶意，或扰乱恶魔的计划时，撒殚的这些攻击就会加倍。

"Once," she said, " I was going to church in the dark when a great dog passed me. I stretched out my hand, and received so violent a blow in the face that I staggered.

「有一次，」她说，「我在黑夜里去教堂，突然一只大狗从我身边经过。我伸出手祈祷时，脸上挨了一记重击，打的我摇摇晃晃。

My face and hand swelled up in church and both were covered with blisters. When I reached home I was un- recognizable. I was cured by bathing with baptismal water.

在教堂里，我的脸和手肿了起来，都起了水泡。当我回到家时，我已面目全非了。我用洗礼的圣水清洗，伤就好了。

On the road to the church was a hedge over which I had to climb. When I came to it early on St. Francis's day, I felt a great black figure pulling me back.

在去教堂的路上有一道树篱，我必须翻越过去。圣五伤方济瞻礼那天一大早，我来到那道树篱时，就感到一个巨大的黑影要把我拉回来。

I struggled and succeeded in crossing. I was not frightened. He, the demon, used to station himself in the middle of the road to force me to turn aside, but he never succeeded."

我挣扎着，成功地穿过了树篱。我并不害怕。牠，那个恶魔，过去常常站在路中间迫使我转向，但是恶魔从来没有成功过。」

The devil now sought to perplex her by more artful and subtle attacks. The mortification of her early years which had acquired for her such strength to resist, was hateful to him.

魔鬼现在想用更狡猾、更巧妙的攻击来迷惑安纳。她早年的克己苦行使她获得了坚强的意志去抵抗，这使恶魔憎恨入骨。

He tried to tempt her to some little self-indulgence, but she only redoubled her austerities as soon as she discovered the artifice.

魔鬼试图引诱她放纵一下自己，但她一发现这种诡计，就更加倍克苦。

Then, taking the opposite course, he urged her to carry her penances to excess ; but she with the advice of her director immediately moderated them.

然后，魔鬼采取相反的做法，怂恿安纳克苦过度；但是，在神师的建议下，她立即节制苦行。

It will be seen further on that although Satan never desisted from tormenting Anne Catherine in every conceivable way, yet he could never excite in her the slightest movement opposed to perfect purity.

我们还将进一步看到，尽管撒殚从未停止过用一切可能的方式折磨安纳•加大利纳，但撒殚却永远无法在她身上激起丝毫相反成全圣洁的举动。

He dared not present this temptation to a soul endowed with the gift of prophecy and confided to the visible guardianship of her angel.

魔鬼不敢把这种诱惑显露给一个被赋予预言恩賜，并且又把自己的灵魂委托给一个看得见的守护天使的人。

Hers was, indeed, to be a way of sorrows, but no stings of concupiscence were to spring up in her path. He did, it is true, sometimes place impure objects before her imagination, but never could he lead her to cast a glance upon them.

她的道路确实是一条痛苦的道路，但是在她的道路上不会出现任何私欲偏情的刺激。的确，魔鬼有时会把一些不纯洁的东西放在她的想象中，但是魔鬼永远不能使安纳看这些东西一眼。

（注：concupiscence：私欲偏情；七情六欲；贪欲；情欲：意指追求理想过程中，违反理性的纵欲倾向，其本身非罪，但易受误导：善用有功，妄用有过。）

He did, indeed, instigate his wicked slaves to attempt violence against the young virgin ; but, with the courage of a lioness, she struck the wretches to the ground. " My Lord and my God does not abandon me !" she said.

的确，魔鬼唆使牠邪恶的奴隶试图对这个年轻的贞女施暴；但是，安纳以母狮般的勇气把这些被魔鬼辖制的人打倒在地。她说：「我的上主，我的天主，必不会抛弃我。」

"He is stronger than the enemy !" This confidence in divine protection was her buckler, the shield that warded off every attack.

「天主比敌人更强大！」这种对天主护佑的信心是她抵御一切攻击的盾牌。