The Rabbi in the Woods

I'll be using this story in my sermon this week on The Early Church. The story is interesting, and I have used it once years ago.

It seems that a monastery had fallen onto hard times. No more novices came seeking admission, the industries by which the monks sustained themselves were not attracting customers...the monastery was dying.

The Abbot knew of one resource. He undertook a journey deep into the nearby woods to see an old man who was the last surviving Jew from a persecuted group. He was known simply as "The Rabbi Who Walks In The Woods."

The abbot came to the rabbi's house, and was invited in. Between them on a table sat the Bible. Both contemplated it, and the abbot, overwhelmed with sadness at the demise of his monastery, began to weep. The rabbi wept with him.

Finally, the rabbi reached across the table and touched the abbot's hand. "I have something to tell you," he said, "but you must repeat it only once...then no more."

Then the rabbi simply said, "The messiah walks among you." Then he dismissed the abbot.

The abbot returned, gathered the monks together and repeated the statement with the warning that the statement was never to be spoken again.

From that day, the monastery changed. Monks began to ask themselves, "Who among us can it be?" And, they began to act differently toward one another.

As the monks changed toward one another, visitors noticed something new about the monastery...something appealing. The atmosphere of love there became palpable. People wanted to be a part of it.

Today, you can go to that monastery and find a thriving community which attracts people from all the world. The sense of love is such that you feel its touch the moment you enter that place. The Rabbi Who Walks In The Wood is long gone, only a small sign denotes the place where his hut once stood. The abbot has been succeeded by new generations of leaders. The result of their conversation, however, is alive with the vibrancy that only love can bring.

Let him who has ears hear.

Curtis Rivers
5/12/11

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK

Wednesday of Holy week: the Bible is silent. I am reminded of the marvelous novel SILENCE , by Shusaku Endo: a story from the 1600's in which a Catholic Priest, Fr. Rodriguez, is imprisoned in Medieveal Japan.  His crime: claiming Christ.  The thing which will allow his release: to deny Christ by trampling on an icon of Jesus; which, in the end, he does after years of crying out to Jesus to speak to him and tell him what to do, but Jesus is silent.  Only after he curses Jesus, does Jesus speak to him and let him know that Jesus' mission is to bear our betrayals and sins.  The silence of Jesus finally leads him to understanding and to faith. Mother Teresa's confessional letters to her confessor are collected in a little book called Come Be My Ligh t.  Pope John Paul II allowed these letters to be published so people would know how much Mother suffered from the Silence of God. St. John of The Cross titled these dark moments when God is silent: when God seems remote,   
Read more

GOOD FRIDAY

Image
GOOD FRIDAY. Early in the morning, Jesus is condemned to death by crucifixion. His disciple who betrayed him, Judas, hangs himself. At approximately 9:00 AM, Jesus is condemned. Jesus is brought to Pilate, who tries to avoid his death by using a custom to have one of two prisoners freed and the other punished. Pilate asks the people to choose between Jesus and a criminal who has committed awful crimes: Barabbas. The people of Jerusalem choose to free Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Pilate relents to the custom, although he states that he "finds no fault" in Jesus. Jesus, who has been whipped and is wearing a crown of thorns, is paraded through the streets carrying his cross. The route through which he is taken (The Via Dolorosa) leads to Golgotha, the "place of the skull," where hi is crucified at about noon. By 3:00 PM, Jesus is dead. By 6:00 PM, Jesus body is interred in a tomb in the garden of Joseph of Aramithea, who later flees Jerusalem to England to escape pe
Read more

TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK

On Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus travelled from Bethany to Jerusalem where he has more confrontations with the priests. Following that, he and his disciples go the The Mount of Olives, where Jesus talks with the crowd and teaches them.  On the way there, he is hungry and stops at a fig tree to get some figs.  The tree is barren, and he curses it, and it withers.  He compares the fig tree to people who are barren of spiritual fruits in their lives.  The example of the fig tree reminds us that we are called to bear the fruit of our spiritual life in terms of how we influence the world about us.  We are called to bear fruit. While Jesus is teaching, darkness is encroaching.  Judas leaves the disciples and goes to the priests and Sanhedrin and negotiates to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Followin his teaching at The Mount of Olives, Jesus returns to Bethany where he will stay all night, and all Wednesday, so far as we know.
Read more