“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.
“成为遵循上帝旨意的人,你就会激励这个世界。”圣.凯瑟琳锡耶纳说到。婚姻应该是男人和女人相互帮助成为遵循上帝旨意的人,回归最深入、最真实的自我。
Many are full of fear for the future of the prospects of our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one – this is a joyful day! It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.
很多人对我们这个世界未来的前景非常恐惧,但在这个国家以及那些远远超越其国界的地方传递出的这个庆贺的信息是正确的——这是一个令人欢欣的日子!在每一块陆地上的人们都能够一起庆贺,这很好,因为每一个婚礼的日子都应该是一个充满希望的日子。
In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.
从某种意义上说,每一个婚礼都是王室婚礼,作为造物主的国王和王后,新郎和新娘共同创造新的生活,让生命通过他们延续到未来。
William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
威廉和凯瑟琳,你们选择了在仁慈的上帝面前结婚,他对这个世界是如此的慈爱,以至于通过耶稣.基督这个人把他自己给予了我们。
And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.
在这个仁慈上帝的精神下,夫妻将把自己奉献给彼此。
A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.
当爱情在自我之外找到它的中心点时,精神生活才会成长。建立在忠实和承诺基础上的关系为神秘的精神生活打开一一扇门,在其中我们会发现,我们越多的奉献自我,在灵魂上我们就越富有;在爱情上我们越多的超越自我,我们就会变得更接近真实的自我,我们的精神之美就会更多地显现出来。在婚姻中,我们追求带给彼此更完善的生活。
It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. And people can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.
当然,一下子改变自我为中心是很难。人们可以梦想着这样做,但应该履行这样的希望 - 这是一个庄严的决定,不论是什么困难,我们已承诺要彼此仁慈地相爱。
You have both made your decision today – “I will” – and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.
今天你们两人都做出了“我愿意”这个决定,通过建立这个新的关系,你们让自己与我们所相信的保持一致 - 生命是精神的成长,将会为人类带来一个有创意的未来。
We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely a power that has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.
我们共同期待着一个既充满希望又充满危险的世纪,通过上个世纪的发现,人类面临着如何智慧的运用赋予我们手中权力的问题,我们不会靠更多的知识而转变成未来的希望,而是通过对生命、大地、以及彼此的爱的智慧和崇敬。
Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. It is possible to transform as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:
婚姻是应该令人改变的,只要这种改变是建立在夫妻将对方成为自己的艺术作品。婚姻是可以改变的人的,只要我们不要有去改造对方的雄心。精神的成长绝对不是靠强制,每个人必须给予对方空间和自由。伦敦的诗人乔叟,在诗中写道:
“Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon,
Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon.”
As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.
由于在西方很多人淡忘了上帝这样的现实,从而产生了对两性关系相应膨胀的期望,希望两性关系能提供生活的意义与幸福。这会给我们的伴侣带来巨大的负担。我们都不完整:我们都需要安全而不是压抑的爱,我们需要相互宽恕,共同成长。
As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.
遵循着耶稣.基督的榜样,当我们心怀仁慈走向我们的伴侣时,圣灵在我们之中增长,我们的生活会越来越充满光明。这会为下一代提供最佳的家庭生活条件,在这种条件下,下一代能够训练和交换那些能够克服恐惧和分裂才能,并培养未来世界的精神,这精神成果是爱、欢乐与和平。
I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today, will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen, that way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day:
我祈祷今天所有在场的以及观看今天仪式并分享欢乐的亿万人民,都能尽其所能支持你们的新生活。我也祈祷上帝能够保佑你们,使你们所选择的生活正如你们之前写下的祈祷一样美满:
God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.
我们的天父,我们感谢您赐予我们彼此的家庭,相互的爱情以及幸福的婚姻。
In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.
让我们在忙碌的每一天中,将目光放在生命里真实而重要的事情上,指引我们奉献我们的时间、爱与能量。
Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.
让我们结合并增强力量,指引我们去服务与安慰那些受苦的人。我们以耶稣基督的精神祈祷。阿门。
(责任编辑:allen)