圣希尔德加德——神秘生活的伟大女导师——因为她和艾曼丽之间存在着如此惊人的相似之处。
The latter, being directed by Almighty God to reduce her visions to writing, heard these words :
在全能的天主的指示下,圣希尔德加德把自己的神视异象写成了文字,她听到了这样的话:
"I who am the Living Light enlightening all that is in darkness, have freely chosen and called thee by Myown good pleasure for marvellous things, for things far greater than those shown by Me to men of ancient times; but, that thou mayest not exalt thyself inthe pride of thy heart, I have humbled thee to the dust.
「我(天主)是光,我是照亮一切在黑暗中的生命之光,凭我自已的美意,我呼召了你,白白地拣选了你,召你来做奇妙的事,做远比我向古时的人所显明的更大的事。但为了不让你心因骄傲而自高自大,我已将你贬抑到尘土中。
The world shall find in thee neither joy nor satisfaction, nor shalt thou mingle in its affairs, for I have shielded against proud presumption, I have pierced thee with fear.
世界在你身上必寻不到快乐和满足,你也不能参与世俗的事,因为我保护你,不让你骄傲,我用惧怕刺透你。
I have overwhelmed thee with pain. Thou bearest thy sorrows in the marrow of thy bones, in the veins of thy flesh. Thy soul and thy senses are bound, thou must endure countless bodily pains that false security may not take possession of thee, but that, on the contrary, thou mayest regard thyself as faulty in all thou dost.
我使你痛苦不堪。你的忧伤深入骨髓,渗入血脉。你的灵魂和感官都被束缚,你必须忍受无数身体上的痛苦,以免虚假的安全感占据你,相反,你会认为自己所做的一切都是错误的。
I have shielded thy heart from its wanderings, I have put a bridle upon thee that thy spirit may not proudly and vain-gloriously exalt itself, but that in all things it may experience morefear and anxiety than joy and complacency, Write, then, what thou seest and hearest, O thou creature, who receivest not in the agitation of delusion, butin the purity of simplicity, what is designed to manifest hidden things."
我已保护你的心不再旁骛,我已给你系上缰绳,使你的心灵不再因骄傲和虚荣而自负,而是在所有事情上,你的心所经历的恐惧和焦虑多于喜悦和自满,那么,写下你所看到和听到的吧,你这受造物啊,你不是在妄想的激动中、而是在纯洁的朴素中、接受了旨在彰显隐秘事物的迅息。」
Her contemporary and biographer, the Abbot Theodoric renders this testimony : —"From her youngest years her purity shone so conspicuously that she seemed exempt from the weakness of the flesh.
她的同时代的传记作家,修道院院长提奥多里克提供了这样的证词:「她幼年起,她的纯洁就闪耀着耀眼的光芒,使她似乎摆脱了肉身的软弱。
When she had bound herself to Christ by the religious vows, she mounted from virtue to virtue. Charity burned in her breast for all mankind, and the tower of her virginity was protected by the rampart of humility, whence sprang abstinence in diet, poverty in clothing, etc.
当她用修道圣愿将自己与基督紧紧结合在一起后,她的美德便与日俱增。她的胸中燃烧着对全人类的仁爱之火,她的贞洁之塔被谦卑的壁垒保护着,从那时起,她开始节制饮食、衣着简朴等等。
As the vase is tried in the furnace of the potter, as strength is made perfect in infirmity, so from her earliest infancy, frequent, almost continual sufferings were never wanting to her. Very rarely was she able to walk and, as her body ever seemed near its dissolution, her life presented the picture of a precious death.
正如陶罐在陶工的窑炉中被磨炼,就像力量在虚弱中被练成,照样,从她幼年起,她就从未缺少过频繁的、持续不断的痛苦。她很少能走路,而且当她的身体几乎濒临崩溃时,她的生命呈现出一幅宝贵的死亡画面。
But in proportion as her physical strength failed, was her soul possessed by the spirit of knowledge and fortitude ; as her body was consumed, her spiritual fervor became inflamed." Hildegarde herself laid down as a law established by God, that the prophetic light was never received without constant and extraordinary sufferings. —
但是,她的身体越衰弱,她的灵魂就越被明达和刚毅的神恩所占据;当她的身体被消耗时,她的属神的热忱就燃烧起来了。」圣希尔德加德亲身践行了天主确立的法律,那就是没有持续不断的、非凡的痛苦,就不会得到天主的启示。
"The soul by its nature tends toward eternal life, but the body, holding in itself this passing life, is not in accordance with it ; for, though both unite to form man, yet they are distinct in themselves, they are two.
「灵魂的本质是趋向永恒的生命,但肉体本身却持有这个短暂的生命,与永恒的生命不符;因为虽然两者结合在一起构成了人,但它们本身是不同的,它们是两个。
For this reason, when God pours His Spirit out on a man by the light of prophecy, the gift of wisdom, or miracles, He afflicts his body by frequent sufferings, that the Holy Spirit may dwell in him.
因此,当天主藉著启示的光辉、上智的神恩或神迹,将天主圣神浇灌在一个人身上时,天主就借着频繁的痛苦让他身体受苦,好叫圣神居住在他里面。
If the flesh be not subdued by pain, it too readily follows the ways of the world, as happened to Samson, Solomon, and others who, inclining to the pleasures of the senses, ceased to hearken to the inspirations of the spirit; for prophecy, wisdom, and the gift of miracles give birth to delight and joy.
如果肉体没有被痛苦征服,它就很容易随波逐流,遵循世界的方式,就像发生在三松、撒罗满和其他人身上的事情一样,他们倾向于感官的享乐,不再听从圣神的声音;因为启示、智慧和神迹的恩宠,必叫人欢喜快乐。
Know, O thou poor creature, that I have loved and called by preference those that have crucified their flesh in spirit." St. Hildegarde continues : "I seek not repose, I am overwhelmed by countless sufferings, whilst the Almighty pours upon me the dew of His grace.
可怜的人啊,你要知道,我特别钟爱并优先召叫那些在心神里把他们的肉身钉在十字架上的人。」圣希尔德加德继续说:「我不寻求休息,我被无数的苦难所压倒,而全能的上主却将祂恩宠的甘露浇在我身上。
My body is broken by labor and pain, like clay mixed with water." And again, "It is not of myself that I utter the following words, - the veritable Wisdom pronounces them by my mouth.
我的身体因劳累和痛苦而破碎,就像掺了水的粘土。」又说:「我说出以下这些话,并非出于我自己,而是由我口中真正的智慧(天主上智)发出的。
It speaks to me thus : 'Hear these words, O creature, and repeat them not as from thyself. But as from Me, and taught by Me, dothou declare what follows :'
祂对我说:『人哪,听这些话,并复诵它们,不要像从你自己嘴里说出来那样。而是你要照着我的意思,照着我所教导的,述说以下的事:』
In the moment of my conception, when God awoke me by the breath of life in my mother's womb, He endowed my soul with the gift of contemplation. My parents offered me to God at my birth and in my third year I perceived in myself so great a light that my soul trembled; but unable yet to speak, I could say nothing of all these things.
当我在母腹中受孕的那一刻,天主以生命的气息,将我唤醒,赐给我默观的能力。在我出生的时候, 我的父母就把我献给了天主,在我三岁的时候,我发现自已身上有一道巨大的皓光,它使我的灵魂颤抖;但我还不能说话,所有这些事我都沒能讲出来。
In my eighth year I was again offered to God and destined for the religious life, and up to my fifteenth year I saw many things that I recounted in all simplicity. They who listened asked in amazement whence or from whom I had received them.
在我八岁的时候,我再次被奉献给天主,并注定要过修道生活。直到十五岁的时候,我看到了许多事情,我用最简单的方式讲述了这些事。听到的人惊奇地问我是从哪里领受的,从谁那里听来的。
Then I began to wonder within myself at this that, although seeing everything in my inmost soul, yet at the same time I perceived exterior objects by the sense of sight, and, as I never heard the like of others, I commenced to hide my visions as best I could.
然后,我开始在我的内心感到奇怪,虽然我看到了我灵魂深处的一切,尽管与此同时,我通过视觉感知到了外在的事物,因为我从来没有听到过别人也有类似的经历,我开始尽我所能地隐藏我的神视异象。
I am ignorant of many things around me, on account of the state of constant sickness in which I have lain from my birth to the present moment, my body consumed, my strength utterly wasted.
我对我周围的许多事情一无所知,因为从我出生到现在,我一直处于一种疾病的状态,我体弱多病,力量衰微。
When inundated with the light of contemplation, I have said many things that sounded strange to my hearers; but, when this light had grown a little dim, and I comported myself more like a child than one of my real age, I became confused, I wept, and longed to be able to keep silence. The fear I had of men was such that Idared not impart to any one what I saw."
当我沉浸在默观之光中时,我说了许多使听者听起来很奇怪的话;但是,当默观之光变得有点暗淡,我表现得更像一个孩子而不是我的真实年龄时,我感到困惑,我哭了,我渴望能够保持沉默。我害怕人,所以我不敢把我所看见的告诉任何人。」
How strikingly do not the above words characterize Sister Emmerich! Her body was from her birth a vessel of suffering and like Hildegarde, she too was told by the Celestial Spouse why she endured them : "Thy body is weighed down by pain and sickness that thy soul may labor more actively, for he who is in good health carries his body as a heavy burden."
以上几句话多么鲜明地描述了艾曼丽修女的特点!她的身体从出生起就是一个痛苦的容器,就像希尔德加德一样,她也被天上的净配告知她为什么要忍受这些痛苦:「痛苦和疾病压制你的身体,所以你的灵魂可以更积极地工作,因为健康的人要背負一个沉重的身体。」