The Philippines paused to pray Sunday, nine days after one of the worst recorded storms devastated the central part of the country, killing thousands of people. In many of the affected areas churches and charities serve as critical hubs for relief and recovery.

星期天，菲律宾为台风中遇难的人举行哀悼。10天前，菲律宾中部受到风暴袭击，造成数千人死亡，这是记载中最强烈的风暴之一。天主教救济会等教会和慈善机构成了救援和重建的重要力量。

In this devout Catholic country typhoon survivors are filling damaged churches, looking not only for shelter, but solace. It is a trying time for priests and nuns, viewed as community leaders, now taking on the overwhelming task of helping distribute aid while trying to make sense of it all.

在虔诚的天主教国家菲律宾，台风幸存者涌进破损的教堂，不仅寻找庇护，更是寻求安慰。对被看作是社区领袖的神父和修女们来说，这是一段艰难时期，他们承担起帮助分发救援物资和安慰灾民的沉重责任。

The Philippine people have maintained their faith despite repeatedly enduring disasters of biblical proportions, according to the pastor of this Ormoc church, Father Gilbert Urbina.

圣彼得和圣保罗教区的吉尔伯特·乌尔维纳神父说，菲律宾人民尽管承受过多次圣经中描述的灾难，可是他们仍然保持着对上帝的虔诚。

“Scriptures describe apocalyptic times in terms of the natural calamities, floods, volcanic eruptions, wars and what the scripture says is we need to be prepared for all this to persevere, these are trying times, have faith,” said Father Urbina.

乌尔维纳神父说：“圣经描述过自然灾害、洪水、火山爆发和战争给我们的启示，圣经说，我们要为生存而做好一切准备，这些都是艰难时刻，要保持信仰。”

At the heavily damaged cathedral in Palo, a town just south of Tacloban, also flattened by the typhoon winds, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the 83-year-old Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., led mass.

塔克洛班南部的小镇帕罗被台风夷为平地，在一座遭到严重破坏的教堂里，来自美国华盛顿特区的83岁的枢机主教西奥多·麦卡里克正在带领大家做弥撒。

Speaking to VOA later in the day in Ormoc, he acknowledged some traumatized survivors might initially find scripture inadequate.

麦卡里克稍后在教堂里接受VOA采访时说，他承认有些灾难幸存者可能认为经文没有足够说服力。

“I think it is probably not, right at the beginning, because at the beginning everyone is hurting so. And they lost so many, they lost so many friends and family. And they do not know why God is doing this to us. Well, in a real sense we say it is not that God is doing this to us, he is allowing these things to happen, probably for a greater cause,” said the cardinal.

他说：“我想一开始可能不够，因为一开始大家都很悲痛，他们失去了这样多，他们失去了朋友和家人，他们不知道上帝为什么要对我们这样。事实上，我们说，不是上帝要对我们这样，他让这样的事情发生可能有更好的原因。”

Whatever the cause, a sudden effect is a global outpouring of good will. Among those at the forefront of the civic response: Catholic charities, on the ground in some of the worst-hit communities.

不管是什么原因，全世界都很快表达出善意，最突出的是民间反应，天主教慈善机构向受灾最严重的社区伸出援手。

Martha Skretteberg, secretary general of Caritas Norway, said they are coordinating closely with local Catholic churches.

挪威明爱慈善机构秘书长玛莎·斯克雷特博格说，他们正在和当地教会密切合作。

“The people run to the church at the first [chance] in order to get protection, in order to get food, some help.”

她说：“人们为了食物和帮助，第一时间跑向教堂。”

Many who lost their homes in Ormoc were relocated to the area after a 1991 typhoon-generated flash flood destroyed their community. Now they have to decide whether to try to rebuild here or move on again.

这里的很多人在1991年台风造成的洪水中失去家园，他们被重新安置到这里，现在他们要决定是要在这里重建家园，还是再次搬家。

With her grandchildren hovering about, a 72-year-old widow, Demetria Omega, is hoping to sell some fruit and vegetables. She borrowed $25 to start a modest store in what remains of her residence. Most of her home blew away in the storm.

72岁的寡妇德米提雅·欧米茄带着孙子孙女，她希望可以卖一点水果和蔬菜为生。她借了25美元，在残破的房子里开设了这个简陋的小店，她的房子大部分被风暴刮走了。

“I do not even have a place to lie down to sleep, I have to sleep sitting. I move aside my fruit and vegetables and place on the stand a [plastic] mat that I use as my roof during the day.”

她说：“我连个躺下的地方都没有，我只能坐着睡觉。我把水果和蔬菜放在旁边，在架子上面放一块塑料布，这是我白天的屋顶。”

Hers is one of 5,000 households the priest at the damaged church down the road now struggles to provide the barest necessities for body and soul.

这一位只是5000户灾民之一。在不远处的破损教堂里，神父艰难地为那些身体和精神上都一无所有的人提供最起码的必需品。