A story you may be familiar with. A monastery had fallen on hard times. Its numbers had dwindled. There were only five monks left in the monastery, the Abbot and four others. All were over seventy. Clearly it was a dying order.
A Rabbi from town occasionally visited a nearby hermitage. It occurred to the Abbot to visit the hermitage to see if the Rabbi could offer any advice that might save the monastery. The Rabbi welcomed the Abbot and the two for some hours spoke quietly of deep things.
When it came time for the Abbot to leave, he asked the question he’d been wanting to ask, “Have you no piece of advice that might save the monastery?” “I have no advice to give,” said the Rabbi. “The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you.”
When the other monks heard that the Messiah was among them, they thought for sure it was the Abbot, afterall, he’d been their leader for years. But then, they thought, “What if it’s me? It can’t be me because I don’t deserve it.”
As they all considered this possibility, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect, on the off chance that one of them might be the Messiah.
Meanwhile, because the monastery was located near a beautiful forest, people would come to walk in the woods and occasionally stop in to visit the monastery. During their time there, they could sense a change in the monks. They saw the extraordinary respect the five old monks had for each other. After a time, they began to come more often, bringing their friends, and their friends brought friends.
Some of the younger men who came to visit became good friends with the monks. After a while, one asked if he might join them. Then another, and another. Within a few years, the monastery once again became a thriving order. And thanks to the Rabbi’s gift it became a shinning, light for the whole region.
As we heard today in Matthew 11, as Jesus prays, he says, “I give praise to you Father of heaven and earth for you have hidden from the learned and the wise what you have revealed to the children.”
After the Abbot’s visit with the Rabbi the monastery thrived. There are two signs that the Spirt is at work within a community that is thriving. One is seen in the “child-like trust” a community shows in how it treats each of its members with extraordinary respect. The other is seen in a community’s ability to honor in “child-like trust” the collective wisdom within the community that needs to be heard.
We will have the chance to be these things for each other next fall. All in the parish will be invited to gather to dream big about how we can build on the strong tradition of the quality faith formation we’ve offered the kids of our parish. More on that later as fall approaches. Also know that we are putting in place a solid faith formation experience for your kids for the coming school year. More on that later as well.
In the meantime, remember the two simple things we can do for each other. We can respect each other, and we can listen to each other. Like the old monks in the monastery that once again thrived, our willingness to be these for each other can work miracles. That’s the exciting part. It’s ours to make happen.
Thought for the day…
Don’t forget those you pass on the way up because if you forget them, you just might be passing them on the way down. And I’m not talking about the next life. I’m talking about this life.