Much of the world is looking to the Olympics in Beijing next month as the major 2008 landmark in China’s relationship with the West. But for me, that landmark already came.
I was able to attend in Pope Paul VI Hall when the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera House Chorus played and sang for Pope Benedict XVI and about 7,000 people in May.
今年五月份，在教宗保禄6世大厅里，中国爱乐乐团（China Philharmonic Orchestra）和上海歌剧院合唱团（hanghai Opera House Chorus）为教宗本笃16世和大约7000多人现场演奏和演唱时，我也有幸能够身在其中。
The press saw this as possibly a warming of relations between China and the Vatican. Some people were making the connection with the ping-pong diplomacy of Richard Nixon.
媒体视它为中国和梵蒂冈关系的可能性缓和。有些人怎把这一事件与理查德尼克松时的乒乓球外交联系起来。
I saw it as something more: Chinese musicians praying in the universal language of art and the Mass in the heart of the Catholic world.
The orchestra played Mozart's Requiem. In it, the choir and orchestra ensemble sing out the different parts of a funeral Mass in Latin, interspersed by the voices of the soloists: soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor and base. I could not help thinking to myself: "If only the musicians knew what they were singing (and praying) for!"
Being enraptured in the beauty of the voices, I find myself praying along, and on behalf of the Chinese people.
在这极其美妙的声音中，我狂喜着，并不由自主地与他们一同祈祷，协同及代表着所有的中国人，我祈祷着。
In the entrance hymn, Mozart begins the piece dramatically. At one point, the chorus repeatedly intoned Exaudi, exaudi orationem meam (hear, hear my prayer). Many times, even without knowing it, we ask God to hear us. There is in the depth of the human heart a yearning to be heard.
The Chinese people, represented by the choir, without knowing what they were saying, are crying out to the heavens to be heard.
这些以合唱团为代表的中国人民，尽管他们自己不知道他们在说些什么，但仍在大声地祈求着上天俯听他们。
In the Latin Mass, the only words in Greek that have been preserved from the ancient liturgy are melodiously repeated: Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison (Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy).
I found myself praying: "God have mercy on me, and on the Chinese people who did not know you."
我发现我自己也在跟着祈祷：“上主，求你怜悯我，求你也怜悯那些还不认识你的中国人。”
We then arrived at the spectacular sequence of Dies Irae, Dies illa (The day of wrath! That day!) It was a rather frightening warning about the reality of the Last Judgment.
The choir continues alternating with the soloists: Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando judex est venturus, Cuncta stricte discussurus! (What trembling there shall be when the Judge shall come to weigh everything strictly!)
As if to placate the divine ire, the stanzas followed with a plea for the mercy of God: Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix justus sit securus? (What shall I, a wretch, say then? To what advocate shall I appeal when even the just man is barely safe?)
The tune turns to a very sweet melody of petition. Salva me, fons pietatis! (Save me, fount of merciful love!) This was echoed various times by the Chinese choir.
在甜美的曲调中，萦绕着这样的恳祷：“拯救我，仁慈之爱的源泉！”中国合唱团不停地吟咏着。
Looking at the Asian faces of the choir and the orchestra, I felt this is a prayer of all of us, believers or not, of our yearning to be saved.
Recordare, Jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae. (Remember, merciful Jesus, that I am the reason for the path you trod!) The choir sang under the immense sculpture of the Risen Christ arising among the tortuous branches symbolizing the tree of life. It appeared to me as if Christ is stretching out his saving hands to embrace China under the benevolent gaze of the Pope.
The most moving part for me came from the Offertory: Quam olim Abrahae promisisti, et semini ejus (as once you promised to Abraham and to his seed). The word promisisti (you promised) was repeated many, many times.
我觉得最感人的地方就是奉献仪式：“一旦你许诺给亚巴郎和他的子孙……”“许诺”这个词一再被重复着。
Yes, God has promised us his salvation through our Father in faith. He will not abandon us; he will not abandon a quarter of the world's population.Promisisti . This promise is mysteriously and providentially united to our mission to spread Christ's Kingdom of love. Surrounded by 400 others of my Legionary family, I felt this to be a part of our call to evangelize China, my extended family and patria.
The rest of the Mass was sung, in Mozart's characteristic composition of majesty alternating with sweetness: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus ... Osanna in excelsis … Agnus Dei.
弥撒剩下的部分，以莫扎特极富特征性的雄伟与甜蜜交相辉映的曲风来咏唱，“圣，圣，圣……”
At the end, the applause lasted for almost 10 minutes. The Pope was visibly pleased. He went up to greet and shake hands with the director and the soloists. One of them must be Christian, because he kissed the Pope's ring. Benedict XVI then gave a speech thanking the musicians and organizers of the event.
He noticed how the interpretation of Mozart by Chinese artists "brings together their own musical talent and Western music."
他留意到：这些中国艺术家们怎样将他们自己的音乐才能与西方音乐有力的结合起来以诠释莫扎特的音乐。
Chinese musicians could play Western music "precisely because music expresses universal human sentiments, including the religious sentiment, which transcends the boundaries of every individual culture."
In the end, the Holy Father reminded them that the setting of Paul VI Hall symbolized "a window opening onto the world, a place where people from all over the world often meet, with their own personal stories and their own culture, all of them welcomed with esteem and affection."
Lastly, the Pope sent his greetings to the entire Chinese people, and "with a special thought for those of your fellow citizens who share faith in Jesus and are united through a particular spiritual bond with the Successor of Peter."
The Olympics will no doubt be a great tribute to the human spirit. But this calling out of the human spirit to the divine is imbedded in my memory now.
