教皇フランシスコは27日、水曜恒例の一般謁見で、新たに「悪徳と美徳(Vices and Virtues)」をテーマにした連続講話を始められた。初回は「心をしっかりと守る(safeguarding the heart)」ことの重要性を取り上げ、聖書と霊的生活の先達たちがどのようにして悪を根源から拒絶するよう私たちを促しているかを説かれた。
*人間の心にとって最も危険な”落とし穴”は
講話で教皇はまず、旧約聖書の創世記を取り上げ、エデンの園のアダムとエバの物語で悪魔と誘惑の力がどのように描かれているかに注目された。
教皇は、「蛇は、物陰に隠れた、ゆっくりとした動きの生き物であり、誘惑と罪の危険を表しています。アダムとエバに語りかけ、『神は本当に、園のどの木からも(実を)取って食べてはいけない、と言ったのか』(創世記3章1節)と、神の意図と配慮についてのうわさ話や疑惑を、彼らの心に植え付けようとします」とされた。
そのうえで、「蛇が言ったことは偽りです。神は特定の木、すなわち善悪の知識の木の果実以外の、園のすべての果実を男と女に与えられた。神が善悪の知識の木の果実を取って食べることを禁じたのは、しばしば誤って解釈されているように、人に理性を使うことを禁じられたのではなく、知恵の限界を示されようとしたのです」と語られ、さらに「『善悪の支配者になりたい』という誘惑は、今日でも問題となっており、人間の心にとって、最も危険な”落とし穴”です。 こうした罪に煽り立てられることが、主への私たちの親密さと、私たちの人生に対する主の愛ある計画への従順を脅かす可能性があります」と警告された。
*悪は巧みに、私たちを誘惑の罠にかける
また教皇は「アダムとエバの物語は、彼らが『神に対する疑いを心に植え付けた蛇の誘惑に抵抗できず、それに陥り、エデンでの調和のとれた生活の崩壊につながったこと』を示しています… 悪は、騒々しい、(目立つような形で)人間の生活に入り込むのではなく、ゆっくりと巧みに、思考を通して疑いを育て、最終的にはその誘惑の罠に、はめてしまうのです」と注意された。
*悪魔の誘惑に心の扉を閉じよう
教皇はさらに「悪魔は、私たちに悪をなすよう誘惑し、狡猾さと抜け目のなさで私たちを神から引き離そうとします。ですから、私たちは決して悪魔と対話をしてはなりません」と強調。 「イエスは、決して悪魔と対話をされなかった。悪魔を追い出されました。砂漠で悪魔の誘惑に遭われましたが、対話はせず、ただ聖書の言葉、神の言葉で応えられたのです。 誘惑に直面したとき、私たちは誘惑への扉を閉ざします。対話はありえません。自分の心をしっかりと守らねばなりません」と説かれた。
*心の宝物を守る知恵を学べるように
講話の最後に、教皇は、私たちも聖徒たちの模範に倣い、自分の心をしっかりの守るよう勧められ、 「常にそばにおられる主の助けによって、私たちの心の宝物を守る知恵である行為を学べるようにしてくださる恵みをいただけますように」と祈られた。
(翻訳・編集「カトリック・あい」南條俊二)
バチカン公式発表の英語版全文は以下の通り。
Cycle of Catechesis. Vices and Virtues. 1. Introduction: safeguarding the heart
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Today I would like to introduce a cycle of catechesis – a new cycle – on the theme of vices and virtues. And we can start right from the beginning of the Bible, where the Book of Genesis, through the account of the progenitors, presents the dynamic of evil and temptation. Let’s consider the earthly Paradise. In the idyllic picture represented by the garden of Eden, a character appears who will be the symbol of temptation: the serpent, this character who seduces. The snake is an insidious animal: it moves slowly, slithering along the ground, and sometimes you do not even notice its presence – it is silent – because it manages to camouflage itself well in its environment, and above all, this is dangerous.
When it begins to converse with Adam and Eve, it shows that it is also a refined dialectician. It begins as one does with wicked gossip, with a malicious question. He says, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’” (Gen 3:1). The phrase is false: in reality, God offered man and woman all the fruits of the garden, apart from those of a specific tree: the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This prohibition is not intended to forbid man the use of reason, as is sometimes misinterpreted, but is a measure of wisdom. As if to say: recognize your limit, do not feel you are the master of everything, because pride is the beginning of all evil. And so, the story tells us that God establishes the progenitors as lords and guardians of creation, but wants to preserve them from the presumption of omnipotence, of making themselves masters of good and evil, which is a temptation – a bad temptation, even now. This is the most dangerous pitfall for the human heart.
As we know, Adam and Eve do not manage to resist the temptation of the serpent. The idea of a God who is not so good, who wanted to keep them in subjection, who wanted to keep them in his submission, insinuated itself into their minds: hence the collapse of everything.
With these accounts, the Bible explains to us that evil does not begin in man in a clamorous way, when an act is already manifest, but the evil begins much earlier, when one begins to fantasize about it, to nurse it in the imagination, thoughts, and ends up being ensnared by its enticements. The murder of Able did not begin with a thrown stone, but with the grudge that Cain wickedly held, turning it into a monster within him. In this case too, God’s recommendations are worthless.
One must never dialogue, brothers and sisters, with the devil. Never! You should never argue. Jesus never dialogued with the devil; He cast him out. And when in the wilderness, [with] the temptations, He did not respond with dialogue; He simply responded with the words of Holy Scripture, with the Word of God. Be careful: the devil is a seducer. Never dialogue with him, because he is smarter than all of us and he will make us pay for it. When temptation comes, never dialogue. Close the door, close the window, close your heart. And so, we defend ourselves against this seduction, because the devil is astute, intelligent. He tried to tempt Jesus with quotes from the Bible! He was a great theologian there. With the devil you do not dialogue. Do you understand this? Be careful. We must not converse with the devil, and we must not entertain ourselves with temptation. There is no dialogue. Temptation comes, we close the door. We guard our heart.
And that is why we do not converse with the devil. This is the recommendation – guard the heart – that we find in various fathers, saints: guard the heart. Guard the heart. And we must ask for this grace of learning to guard the heart. It is a form of wisdom, how to guard the heart. May the Lord help us [in] this work. But he who guards his heart, guards a treasure. Brothers and sisters, let us learn to guard the heart. Thank you.