Thought for the Day: The Monastery

I would like to share with you a story by Anthony DeMello.

An old holy man was meditating in the Palestinian desert. He had been deep in prayer. When he opened his eyes he was surprised to find an unexpected visitor sitting there before him the abbot of a well-known monastery!

“Why have you come to see me?” asked the Desert Father.

At that, the abbot recounted a tale of woe. At one time the monastery had been famous throughout the entire world. It was filled with young aspirants and its church resounded to the chants of its numerous monks. Visitors came from the entire world to visit and bask in the spiritual warm of the place. But now something had changed. Hard times had come to the once famous monastery. People no longer flocked there to nourish their souls. The stream of aspirants had dried up. The monks were so few that the chants echoed hollow in the great chapel. Only a handful of monks remained and they went about their duties with heavy hearts.

“What have we done? Have we committed some sin that caused our monastery has come to this low state?” asked the abbot.

After a long silence the Desert Father said, “Yes—yes, you have committed a sin of ignorance.”

“What sin might that be?”

“The Messiah lives among you in disguise and you are ignorant of this!” said the Desert Father and with that the old man returned to his prayers.

Throughout his journey home the abbot’s mind raced! The Messiah, the Messiah himself, had returned and was living in the monastery. It too wonderful! But who could it be? Brother Cook? Brother Prior? Brother Sacristan? No. They all have so many faults. But wait! The Desert Father had said that the Messiah was in disguise. Maybe these faults were part of the disguise!!! But everyone at the monastery had faults. Yet, one among them was the Messiah.

When the abbot returned he told monks what he had discovered. Each monk looked at the others in disbelief. The Messiah? Here? It’s unbelievable! But wait—remember! He was in disguise!

One thing was certain if the Messiah was here and in disguise then it was not likely that they would recognize him. So each monk began to treat everyone else with respect and consideration. “After all” they would say, “you never know—this one might be the Messiah.”

In a short time the atmosphere in the monastery changed. The monks did all their duties with great care and the whole place was vibrant with joy. Visitors started to return to experience the great holiness of the monks. Soon dozens of aspirants were seeking admission to the order. Once again the chapel echoed with the holy and joyful chant of monks who were aglow with the spirit of love.