WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 55

Angel of Grass

An old legend says that in the beginning, when God created the world, He gave every living thing an angel to bless and guard it - an angel for man, one for the birds, one for the beasts of the forest, one for the trees, and one for the flowers.

Even the common grass had an angel. But the angel of the grass was not pleased. Humiliated, he said, "I will have nothing to do with it. That old, homely grass can grow by itself!"

The season passed. The grass shrivelled. The flowers died because the grass held no dew. The deer in the forests and the cattle in the fields died because there was no grass. Seeing the effect and further consequences God intervened.

He turned His eyes upon the angel of the grass and asked, "Was it a small thing, or a great thing that I asked thee to do?"

In shame the angel of the grass fell at the Lord's feet and begged His forgiveness, for he saw now the unsuspected greatness of his seemingly lowly task.

Rose Bennington

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 48

The Atheist and the Bear

A committed atheist (who steadfastly did not believe in a god of any sort) was on a trekking holiday when he became lost in some dense woods.
A large angry bear, with ten starving cubs back home and claws like kitchen knives, suddenly emerged from the undergrowth.

The atheist screamed in terror, turned and ran. The bear was quicker however, and after a long and desperate chase eventually cornered the atheist in a gully.
The exhausted atheist sank to his knees, shaking.
The bear, seeing that its prey was trapped, moved slowly towards the petrified man, drooling.
The atheist lifted his head, with tears in his eyes, and uttered the words he thought he would never say in all his life: "God help me..."

With these simple three words, a blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky. There was a deafening crash of thunder. The clouds parted. A brilliant light shone down. The forest fell silent. The bear froze still, in a trance. The atheist stood gaping, transfixed.

A voice came loud from above. Louder than twenty AC/DC concerts all happening at the same time. We can safely assume this voice to have been the voice of a God of some sort.
"You atheists make me seriously mad," boomed the god, "You deny me all your life. You tell others to deny me too. You put your faith in all that bloody Darwinian airy-fairy scientific nonsense, and then what a surprise - you get lost because you can't read your stupid map, and now you're about to get eaten by an angry bear all of a sudden you're on your knees snivelling and begging for my help?......... You must be joking..."

The atheist looked down, realising that he was not arguing from a position of strength.
"Okay, I take your point," said the atheist, thinking on his feet, while he still had them, "I can see it's a bit late for me to convert, but what about the bear?... Maybe you could convert the bear instead?"

"Hmmn... interesting idea..." said the voice, thinking hard, "...Okay. It shall be done." At which the brilliant light dimmed and vanished; the clouds closed; and the noises of the forest resumed.
The bear awoke and shook its head, a completely different expression on its face. Calm, at peace.

The bear closed its eyes, bowed its head, and said, "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful, Amen."

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 41

There are no Shortcuts

There was once a man who loved God and spent many hours in prayer and contemplation. One day God appeared before him. The man was overjoyed and sang praises thanking God for appearing. God remained with him for a long time and the man was able to clear up all his doubts and matters of faith. Still God didn’t go anywhere, so the devotee thought he would ask something about heaven.

“Oh Lord,” he enquired, “What is time like in heaven?”

God smiled and replied, “One million years on earth is equal to a minute in heaven.”

The man was astonished and ventured a further question. “Oh Lord, what is the value of currency of heaven?”

“One euro in my realm is worth about a million euros on earth.” God replied with great love.

The man could not believe his ears. He had one final question for God.

“Oh merciful Lord, if that is so, would you please give me one heavenly euro?”

“Sure,” the Lord relied. “Just wait a minute.”

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 21

Love does not brood over injury.

Once a woman who was supposedly having visions of God went to a Bishop for advice. He told her: “You may be believing in illusions. You must understand, as bishop of this diocese, I am the one who can decide whether your visions are true or false.”
“Yes your excellency.”
“So you must do as I say.”
“I will, your excellency.”
“So listen: the next time God appears to you, you must perform a test by which I will know if it is really God.”
“Yes, your excellency. But what is the test?”
“Say to God, ‘Please tell me the personal and private sins of the bishop.’ If it is God appearing, he will reveal my sins to you. Afterwards, come back and tell me but no-one else.”
“I will, your excellency.”
A month later, she asked to meet with the bishop and he asked her, “Did God appear to you again?”
“I think so, your excellency.”
“Did you ask him the question I told you to ask?”
“Of course, your excellency.”
“What did God say?”
“God said to me, ‘Tell the Bishop that I’ve forgotten all his sins!”

God sees us in the present and envelops us in a boundless love.

Anthony de Mello

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 17

The tiger and the fox

A man walking through the forest saw a fox that had lost its legs and wondered how it lived. Then he saw a tiger come through the trees with game in her mouth. The tiger had her fill and left the rest for the fox.

“God is surely good” thought the man. The next day, the tiger came back with more meat and again the injured fox did not starve. The man continued to contemplate God’s greatness and said to himself, “I too shall just rest in a corner with full trust in the Lord and he will provide me with all that I need.”

He did this for many days but nothing happened. He was almost at death’s door when he heard a voice within say,
“O you who are in the path of error, open you eyes to the truth! Follow the example of the tiger and stop imitating the disabled fox.”