O- One of you is the Messiah

This April for the #A-Z 2020 challenge I have taken short stories from books of Fr Anthony De Mello – “the song of the bird” and the “prayer of the frog” .  I would like to share these stories and hopefully believe that these stories will inspire you too.   

There is a story of a monastery which was famous once upon a time, where people flocked and its cells were filled with young aspirants and its church resounded to the chants of its monks. But now people no longer flocked there to nourish their spirit, the stream of young aspirants had dried up, and the church was silent.

So the Abbot goes to meet a Guru who is in meditation to seek the answer to the current situation in his monastery. The Guru esquires to find out what the Abbot wanted? The Abbot recounted the tale of woe and asked the guru whether this situation was because of some sins that the monastery has been reduced to such a state.

The Guru responded to the Abbot – yes said the Guru, “a sin of ignorance.”

“And what sin might that be” replied the Abbot.

The Guru replied “One of your members is the Messiah in disguise and you are ignorant of this.” Having said that the Guru closed his eyes and returned to his meditation.

Through out the arduous journey back to his monastery the Abbot’s heart beat fast at the thought of the Messiah- but the Messiah himself – had returned to the earth and was right there in the monastery. How is it he had failed to recognize him? And who could it be? Brother Cook? Brother Sacristan? Brother Treasurer? Brother Prior? No, not he; he had too many defects, alas. But then the Guru had said he was in disguise. Could those defects be one his disguise? Come to think of it, everyone in the monastery had defects. And one of them had to be the Messiah!

Back in the Monastery he assembled the monks and told them what he had discovered. They looked at one another in disbelief. The Messiah? Here? Incredible But he was supposed to be here in disguise. So, maybe, what if it were so-and so? Or the other one there?..Or..

One thing was certain: If the Messiah was there in disguise it was not likely that they would recognize him. So they took to treating everyone with respect and consideration. “You never know,” they said to themselves when they dealt with one another, “maybe this is the one.”

The result of this was that the atmosphere in the monastery became vibrant with joy. Soon dozens of aspirants were seeking admission to the order – and once again the Church re-echoed with the holy and joyful chant of monks who were aglow with the spirit of Love.

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Thank you for reading this post; I would love to hear your thoughts.

During this lock down period, hope you are #staying at home #staying safe-  We must be thankful to the Medical professionals and pray for their good health, for it is they  who are in the front line fighting COVID-19 risking their lives and that of their families. 

Be Blessed & Be Happy!