四旬期第五周星期一
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
读经一
恭读达尼尔先知 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
从前有一个人住在巴比伦，名叫约雅金，他娶了一个妻子名叫苏撒纳，是希耳克雅的女儿；这女子非常美丽，而且敬畏上主，原来她的父母都是义人，常按照梅瑟的法律教育了自己的女儿。约雅金是个很富有的人；靠近他的住宅有一个果园；由于他比众人更有声望，犹太人经常到他那里集会。
那一年，有两个长老由人民选为民长，上主曾论及这类人说：“邪恶充塞巴比伦，是由于只在表面上治理人民的长老和民长。” 这两个人经常到约雅金的家里来；凡有诉讼的，都到这里来见他们。中午时，人民离去以后，苏撒纳常走进她丈夫的果园里散步。那两个长老每天见她进去散步，遂对她起了邪念。他们昧着良心，转眼不看上天，全不思念正义的裁判。他们在等待一个适当的机会。有一天苏撒纳像往日一样，只带着两个婢女进了果园，由于天热，她想在园中沐浴。那时园中除了这两个藏着窥看她的长老外，没有别人。苏撒纳对婢女说：“将油和香皂给我拿来，关上园门，我要沐浴。”
婢女们一走出去，这两个长老便起来，跑到她面前，对她说：“看，园门关了，没有人能看见我们，我们早就爱上了你，你要答应我们，与我们交合吧！不然，我们就要作证控告你，说有一个青年人同你在一起，所以你才打发婢女们离开你。” 苏撒纳叹息说：“我真是左右为难！因为我若作了这事，我是必死无疑；我若不作这事，我也难逃你们的手。我不如不作，宁可落在你们手里，也不愿在上主面前犯罪。” 苏撒纳遂高声喊叫，这两个长老为对付她也喊叫起来，其中一个跑去开了园门。家人一听见园中的喊声，就急忙从侧门跑进来，要看看她遭遇了什么事。但是当长老们说出这段话以后，仆人们都感觉羞惭，因为从来没有人说苏撒纳有过这样的事。
第二天，人民聚集到她丈夫约雅金那里的时候，那两个长老也来了，满怀恶意，一心要将苏撒纳置于死地。他们在人民面前说：“派人将希耳克雅的女儿，约雅金的妻子，苏撒纳带上来！” 差人便去了。苏撒纳同她的父母，她的孩子和她所有的亲戚都来了。她的亲友和看见她的人都在哭泣。那两个长老遂在人民中站起来，把手按在苏撒纳的头上。她哭着仰视上天，衷心依赖上主。两个长老说：“当时只有我们两人在园中散步，她同两个婢女进来，随即关了园门，并辞退了两个婢女。一个预先藏在园中的青年人，走到她面前，与她睡在一起。我们在园中的角落里看见这种丑事，便跑到他们那里。我们虽然看见他们二人在一起，但我们却不能捉住那个青年，因为他比我们有力，他便开门逃走了。我们捉住这女人以后，问她那个青年是谁，她却不肯告诉我们：对于这些事，我们是见证。” 会众相信了他们，因为他们是人民的长老和民长，于是便定了苏撒纳的死罪。
苏撒纳遂大声呼号说：“永生的天主！你洞察隐秘的事，凡事在发生以前，你已知道了；你知道他们对我所作的是假见证；看，现在我要死了，然而我并没有作过，他们恶意对我所捏造的事。” 上主俯听了她的呼声；当她被押赴刑场的时候，天主感动了一个青年人的圣善心灵，这青年名叫达尼尔，他便高声呼喊说：“对于流这女人的血，我是没有罪的！” 民众转过身来问他说：“你说这话有什么意思呢？” 达尼尔立在民众中间说：“以色列子民！你们怎么这样糊涂？未经审问，不查实情，就定一个以色列女子的罪案吗？你们再回审判厅！因为他们二人作了假见证，诬陷了她。” 于是民众急忙回去，众长老对达尼尔说：“请你来，坐在我们中间，明白地告诉我们，因为天主把长老的智慧赐给了你。” 达尼尔对他们说：“将这两个长老隔离开，让我来审问他们。” 把他们二人隔开以后，达尼尔叫过其中的一个来，对他说：“你这个一生作恶的老妖，你以前犯的罪，现在已临到你身上了！你宣布不义的裁判，判定无辜者有罪，释放有罪的人，虽然上主曾说：不可杀害无辜和正义的人。如果你真看见了她，现在你告诉我：你看见他们在一起是在什么树下？” 他回答说：“是在乳香树下。” 达尼尔说：“够了！你在说谎，应砍你的头，因为天主的天使已奉天主的命，要把你斩为两段。” 达尼尔叫他退下，命将另一个带上来，对他说：“客纳罕的苗裔而非犹大的苗裔啊！美色迷惑了你，淫欲颠倒了你的心。你们一向这样对待了以色列的女子们，她们由于害怕而与你们交往，但是这个犹大女子，却不能忍受你们的邪恶！现在你告诉我：你发现他们在一起，是在什么树下？” 他回答说：“是在樟树下。” 达尼尔对他说：“的确，你也一样在说谎话，也必要砍下你的头！天主的天使手中已拿了利剑在等待着，要将你斩为两段，消灭你们。” 全会众遂大声呐喊，赞美天主，因为他拯救了那些仰望他的人。众人都起来攻击那两个长老，因为达尼尔按照他们工人的口供，证实了他们作假见证；他们怎样恶意对待了自己的近人，民众也怎样对待了他们。于是众人按照梅瑟的法律将他们处死；这样，那一天救了无辜者的血。
Reading 1
A reading from the Book of Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna,
the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter
according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich;
he had a garden near his house,
and the Jews had recourse to him often
because he was the most respected of them all.
That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges,
of whom the Lord said, “Wickedness has come out of Babylon:
from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.”
These men, to whom all brought their cases,
frequented the house of Joakim.
When the people left at noon,
Susanna used to enter her husband’s garden for a walk.
When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk,
they began to lust for her.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.
One day, while they were waiting for the right moment,
she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only.
She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.
Nobody else was there except the two elders,
who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
“Bring me oil and soap,” she said to the maids,
“and shut the garden doors while I bathe.”
As soon as the maids had left,
the two old men got up and hurried to her.
“Look,” they said, “the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us;
give in to our desire, and lie with us.
If you refuse, we will testify against you
that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you.”
“I am completely trapped,” Susanna groaned.
“If I yield, it will be my death;
if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.
Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt
than to sin before the Lord.”
Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,
as one of them ran to open the garden doors.
When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden,
they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.
At the accusations by the old men,
the servants felt very much ashamed,
for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.
When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day,
the two wicked elders also came,
fully determined to put Susanna to death.
Before all the people they ordered:
“Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah,
the wife of Joakim.”
When she was sent for,
she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.
All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.
In the midst of the people the two elders rose up
and laid their hands on her head.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
The elders made this accusation:
“As we were walking in the garden alone,
this woman entered with two girls
and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.
A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.
When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime,
we ran toward them.
We saw them lying together,
but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we;
he opened the doors and ran off.
Then we seized her and asked who the young man was,
but she refused to tell us.
We testify to this.”
The assembly believed them,
since they were elders and judges of the people,
and they condemned her to death.
But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him, “What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”
Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”
After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him,
“Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you,
lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.
福音
恭读圣若望福音 8:1-11
那时候，耶稣上了橄榄山。清晨他又来到圣殿，众百姓都到他跟前来，他便坐下教训他们。那时，经师和法利塞人带来一个犯奸婬时被捉住的妇人，叫她站在中间，便向耶稣说：“师傅！这妇人是正在犯奸淫时被捉住的，在法律上，梅瑟命我们该用石头砸死这样的妇人；可是，你说什么呢？” 他们说这话，是要试探耶稣，好能控告他；耶稣却弯下身去，用指头在地上划字。因为他们不断地追问，他便直起身来，向他们说：“你们中间谁没有罪，先向她投石吧！” 他又弯下身去，在地上写字。他们一听这话，就从年老的开始到年幼的，一个一个地都溜走了，只留下耶稣一人和站在那里的妇人。耶稣遂直起身来向她说：“妇人！他们在那里呢？没有人定你的罪吗？” 她说：“主！没有人。” 耶稣向她说：“我也不定你的罪；去吧！从今以后，不要再犯罪了。”
Gospel
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 8:1-11
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”