CHAPTER V.
OF THE PERFECTIONS OF THE MOST HOLY MARY IN THE
PRACTICE OF VIRTUES IN GENERAL, AND OF HER ADVANCE IN THEM.
第五章
至圣玛利亚在修行圣德方面的完美,以及她在圣德方面的进步。
481. Virtue is a habit, which ennobles and adorns the rational powers of the creature, and inclines it toward doing good. It is called a habit, because it is a quality which is permanently connected with the faculties from which it is not so easily separated, thereby differing from a virtuous act, which does not remain, but passes away.
481. 德性是一种习惯,它使受造物的理性力量变得高贵和美丽,并使其倾向于行善。 德性被称为习惯,因为它是一种品质,它与不容易分离的能力永久相连,因此不同于那不易存留而易于消失的善行。
It creates an alertness and facility of action tending toward the good; this quality is not inherent in the faculty itself, for these faculties are indifferent toward good or evil. Most holy Mary was adorned from the first instant of her life with all virtues in a most eminent degree, and they were continually augmented by new graces and by new perfection in practice. All the virtues and merits, which the hand of the Lord had showered upon Her, She brought to their fullest perfection.
德性创造了一种趋向于善的行为的警觉和天赋;这种品德不是本身固有的,因为这些能力对善或恶都是中立的。至圣玛利亚从她生命的第一刻起就以最卓越的程度装饰着所有的德性,而且这些德性在操练中不断得到新的恩宠和新的成全的增强。所有的美德和功德,是主的手浇灌在她身上的,而玛利亚使美德和功德达到了最完美的状态。
482. Although the faculties of this Lady and sovereign Princess were in no sense subject to disorder, nor to any of the repugnance, which other children of Adam must first overcome (for sin had not touched Her, nor the leaven of sin, which draws toward evil and resists the good) ; yet, by virtuous habits, these already well ordered faculties were capable of being inclined more and more to what was most perfect, holy and praiseworthy.
482. 虽然圣母并且至尊的公主的官能没有任何紊乱,也没有任何亚当的子孙必须首先克服的抵触(因为罪恶既没有触及玛利亚,也没有触及罪恶的酵母而吸引恶抵挡善); 然而,通过德性的习惯,这些井井有条的官能可以越来越倾向于最成全、最神圣和最值得称赞的圣德。
More over She was a mere creature capable of suffering, and as such She was also subject to pain, to the inclination toward licit repose, and to the inertia, disinclining Her toward the performance of some supererogatory works, which without sin She could have omitted. In order to overcome this natural disinclination and repugnance habits of the most exalted virtues assisted Her, so that this Queen of heaven vanquished them without any weakness and was in no way hindered in pursuing the utmost perfection in all her works.
更重要的是,玛利亚只是一个能忍受痛苦的人,因此她也受到痛苦的支配,受到那种倾向于正当的休息和惰性的支配,这惰性会使她不愿意去做些多余的工作,而这些工作因她没有罪过本来是可以省略的,。为了克服这种天生对最崇高美德的厌恶和反感习惯,玛利亚得到了帮助。所以这位天上母后毫无软弱地战胜了人性的支配,玛利亚在所有工作中追求最大的成全,没有受到丝毫妨碍。
483. On account of this beauty and harmony regarding the habits of virtue, the soul of the most holy Mary was so enlightened, ennobled and entirely bent on the highest Good and last End of all creation ; so alert, prompt, efficient and joyful in the practice of virtue, that, if it were possible for our weak insight to penetrate into the interior of her sacred soul, we would there find a more wonderful beauty than that of all creatures combined and inferior only to that of God himself. All the perfection of creatures were in purest Mary as if in their own sphere and center, and all virtues reached in Her the highest perfection, so that in no manner could it ever be said of Her :
483. 由于德性习惯的美丽与和谐,至圣玛利亚的心灵如此开明、高贵,并完全专心于所有受造物的至善和终极目的;如此警觉、敏捷、高效、快乐地操练德性,以致我们微弱的洞察力若有可能深入到玛利亚神圣的灵魂深处,我们就会在那里发现一种比一切众生总和的美和仅次于天主本身的美要更美妙的圣德。所有受造物的成全都在最纯洁的玛利亚身上,仿佛在所有受造物自己的领域和中心,所有美德在她身上都达到了最高的成全,因此绝不能说她:
this or that is wanting in order to make Her altogether beautiful and perfect. Besides the infused virtues, She possessed all the acquired ones, which She augmented by practice and exercise. In other souls, one single act can not be called virtue, because many repeated acts are necessary to constitute virtue ; but in the most holy Mary each act was so efficacious, intense and consummate, that each one was superior to the virtues of all the other creatures.
这样或那样的需要是为了使玛利亚完全美丽和成全。除了灌注的许多德性,她拥有所有后天获得的德性,她通过操练和修行来增强这些德性。在其他別的灵魂中,一个一次性的善行不能称为德性,因为需要许多重复的行为才能构成德性;但在至圣的圣母玛利亚身上,每一个行为都如此有效、专注和完美,以至于每一个行为都优于所有其他人的德性。
Accordingly, as her acts of virtue were so frequent and did not fall short in the least point of the highest degree of perfection, how incomparably excellent were not the habits of virtue, which the heavenly Mistress attained by her personal exertion? The end for which something is done is that which makes an act virtuous as being well done.
如此说来,既然玛利亚德性的行为如此惯常频繁,丝毫不逊色于至善至美的境界,天上主母通过自己的努力所养成的德性习惯岂不是无与伦比的卓越?完成某事的目的应是使行为成为德性的美好实现。
In Mary, our Mistress, this end was God himself, highest possible end of all activity; for She did nothing through which She was not certain to advance the greater glory and pleasure of the Lord and She looked upon this as the motive and ultimate end of all her actions.
为我们的主母玛利亚,这个目的就是天主自己,是所有行动的可能终极目的;因为玛利亚如不能确保会促进天主更大的光荣和喜悦的话,她不做任何事情,她将此视为她所有行为的动机和最终目的。
484. The two kinds of virtues, the infused and the acquired, are founded upon a third kind, called natural virtue ; this is born within us as part of our rational nature and is called synteresis. It is a certain knowledge of the first foundations and principles of virtue, perceived by the light of reason, and a certain inclination in the will, corresponding to this light.
484. 灌注的和后天的两种德性建立在第三种德性之上,它称为天然的德性;它是与生俱有且是我们天然理性的一部分,被称为良知。它是由理性之光所感知的关于德性的最初基础和原则的某种知识,以及与这种光相对应的意志中的某种倾向。
Such for instance is the sentiment, that we must love those who do us good, or that we should not do unto others, what we do not wish to be done to ourselves, etc. The most holy Queen possessed this natural virtue or synteresis in the most superlative degree, so that from the natural principles She drew all their consequences and relations up to the universal Good, though ever so remote; for She reasoned from these first principles with profoundest insight, and incredible swiftness and accuracy.
例如情绪情感,我们定会爱那些对我们好的人,或者己所不欲,勿施于人等等。至圣的元后以最高的程度拥有这种天然的德性或良知,所以她从天然原则中得出所有因果关系並联到大公的“至善”,尽管众生如此不同;因为她以最深刻的洞察力、令人难以置信的迅速和准确,从这些基本原理中进行推理。
To arrive at these conclusions, She availed Herself of her infused knowledge of created things, especially of the more noble and vast ones, of the heavens, the sun, the moon and stars, the arrangement of all the heavenly bodies and of the elements. Taking in their whole scope from beginning to end, She invited these creatures to praise their Creator and commanded them, as far as was in them, to raise and draw men toward their God until they should arrive at the knowledge of the Creator and Author of all.
为了得出这些结论,玛利亚充分利用了她所灌注的受造之物的知识,尤其是更崇高和更广阔事物的知识,如天空、太阳、月亮和星星,所有天体和元素的排列知识。从始至终涵盖受造物的整个范围,她都在邀请这些受造物赞美他们的造物主,并命令他们尽可能地召集和吸引人归向他们的天主,直到他们认识造物主和万物的作者。
485. The infused virtues are divided into two classes. To the first belong only those, that have God himself for their immediate object ; therefore they are called theological virtues, being faith, hope, and charity. To the second class belong all those other virtues, which have as their proximate object some means or some honorable good, which advances the soul toward its last end, namely God.
485. 灌注的德性分为两类。第一类只属于那些以天主为直接对象的人;因此,灌注的德性被称为超性三德,即信德、望德和爱德。第二类属于所有其它德性,这些德性以某种手段或某种光荣的善行作为它们的直接对象,使灵魂朝向其最终目的,即天主。
These are called the moral virtues, because they are intimately connected with established customs, and, although they are many in number, they can be reduced to four, which are called the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Of all these virtues and their different species I will say farther on as much as I can in order that I may make clear, how all of them and each one in particular adorned the faculties of the most holy Mary.
这些被称为道德之德性,因为它们与既定的习俗密切相关,虽然道德之德性数量众多,但可以减化到四种,称为四枢德,即:明智、正义、勇敢和节制。对于所有这些道德之德性和它们之间的不同,我将尽可能多说,以便阐明这些德性,特别是每一个德性如何装饰至圣玛利亚的能力。
At present I only mention in general, that none of them was wanting in Her, and that all were possessed by Her in the most perfect manner ; moreover they were supplemented by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the fruits of the Spirit, and the Beatitudes. God did not fail to infuse into Her from the first moment of her Conception, all of the graces and gifts conducive to the highest beauty of the human soul and faculties ; and this was true of the will as well as of the understanding, so that She had as well the knowledge as the habit of the sciences.
目前我只是笼统地提一下,玛利亚一个都不缺,都以最完美的方式被她拥有;此外,玛利亚的德性还得到了圣神的恩赐、圣神的果实和真福八端德性的补充。从她受孕的第一刻起,天主就将所有有助于人类灵魂和能力的极致之恩宠和恩赐灌注给她;意志也是如此,理解力也是如此,因此她既有完整的知识又有美好的习惯。
In order to say it all in one word : all the good, which the Most High could give Her as the Mother of his Son and as a mere creature, He conferred upon Her in the most exalted degree. In addition to all this her virtues continually augmented : the infused virtues, because She added to them by her own merits, and the acquired virtues, because She nurtured and multiplied them by the intensity of her meritorious acts.
一言以蔽之:作为天主圣子的母亲和一个纯粹的受造物,至高者给予玛利亚所有祂能给的好,並以最崇高的程度授予她。除此之外,她的德性不断增强:灌注的德性,她通过自己的功德添加到它们中,而后天的德性,她通过功德行为的强度来培育和增加它们。
INSTRUCTION OF TH MOTHER OF GOD AND MOST HOLY VIRGIN.
天主之母和至圣童贞的指示。
486. My daughter, the Most High communicates to all mortals without distinction the light of the natural virtues; to those who dispose themselves by means of them and by his graces, He concedes also the infused virtues at the time of their justification. As He is the Author of nature and of grace, He distributes these gifts with greater or less abundance, according to his equity and pleasure.
486. 我的女儿,至高者无差别地将天然德性之光传达给所有世人;对于那些通过德性之光和天主的恩宠来安排自己的人,天主也在他们成义时承认灌注的德性。由于天主是天然和恩宠的创造者,祂根据祂的公正和喜悦,或多或少地分配这些恩赐。
In Baptism He instills the virtues of faith, hope and charity, and with these, other virtues, by which the creature is to co-operate and exert itself toward the pursuit of Good, not only preserving within itself those received in the sacraments, but acquiring others by its own merits and exertions.
在洗礼中,天主灌输信、望、爱三德,以及其它德性,受造物将通过这些德性通力合作追求善,不仅将圣事中所接受的保留在自己里面,而且靠自己的功劳和努力获得他人(的灵魂)。
This will be the greatest happiness and blessedness of men, that they correspond to the love, which the Creator and Redeemer shows them, adorning their soul and, by the infused habits, familiarizing themselves with the virtuous exercise of their own will. But the failure to correspond to those inestimable benefits brings on their greatest misfortune, because in this disloyalty consists the first great victory of the demon over man.
这将是人类最大的幸福和天恩,因为人类与造物主和救赎主向他们展示的爱相称,装饰他们的灵魂,并通过灌注的习性而拥有、保有,並以他们自己的意志修行的德性而了解他们自己。但这些不可估量的恩惠如果不能得到相对应的回报,则会给他们带来最大的不幸,因为这种不忠包含了恶魔对人类的第一次(亚当厄娃)巨大胜利。
487. Of thee, my soul, I require that thou exercise thyself and co-operate with the natural and the supernatural, gifts of virtue with an unceasing diligence, and that thou acquire the habits of other virtues, which thou shouldst augment by the frequent exercise of those, which God so liberally and graciously has communicated to thee.
487.关于你,我的灵魂,我要求你修炼自己,与天然和超天然的德性合作,不断地勤奋,并且你要养成其它德性的习惯,你应该通过频繁的修炼来加强这些天主如此慷慨和仁慈地传达给你的德性习惯。
The infused gifts, joined to the virtues nurtured and attained by the soul itself, are an adornment and acquisition of marvelous beauty, and very pleasing in the eyes of the Most High. I remind thee also, my dearest, that the Almighty has been so generous in conferring these blessings on thy soul and has enriched it with such great treasures of grace, that if thou shouldst fall into disgrace, it would be thy fault, and thou wouldst incur a greater guilt, than many generations of men.
灌注的恩赐,与灵魂本身所培养和实现的德性相结合,是一种装饰和习得的奇妙之美,在至高者的眼中非常蒙受悦纳。我也提醒你,我最亲爱的,全能者如此慷慨地授予这些祝福给你的灵魂,并用如此巨大的恩宠宝藏丰富你的灵魂,如果你蒙羞,那将是你的责任,你会招致比许多代人更大的罪孽。
Consider and always remember the great nobility of virtue, how it so enlightens and beautifies the soul, that even if there were no other gain or object, the desire of possessing it for its own sake would be entirely justifiable. Now, that which exalts virtue beyond all comparison is, that its final end is God himself, for whom truth and perfection, which are its constituents, must be primarily intended; and as soon as virtues attain this their end, namely God himself, they will be the foundation of the happiness and blessedness of the creature.
思考并永远记住德性的伟大高贵,它是如何启迪和美化灵魂的,即使没有其它好处或目标,为德性而拥有它的愿望也是完全合理的。现在,德性无与伦比的崇高之处在于,德性的最终目的是天主本身,而真理和成全是德性的主要组成部分;一旦德性达到这个目的,也就是天主自己,众多德性就会成为受造物幸福和天恩的基础。