The Rabbi’s Gift

There is a story, perhaps a myth.  Typical of mythic stories, it has many versions.  Also typical, the source of the version I am about to tell is obscure.  I cannot remember whether I heard it or read it, or where or when.  Furthermore, I do not even know the distortions I myself have made in it.  All I know for certain is that this version came to me with a title.  It is called “The Rabbi’s Gift”.

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times.  Once a great order, as a result of waves of anti-monastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the Abbot and four others, all over 70 in age.  Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a Rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage.  Through their many years of familiarity  they could always sense when the Rabbi was in his hermitage.  “The Rabbi is in the woods, the Rabbi is in the woods again,” they would whisper to each other.  As he agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the Abbot at one such time to visit the hermitage and ask the Rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.

The Rabbi welcomed the Abbot at his hut.  But when the Abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the Rabbi could only commiserate with him. “I know how it is,” he exclaimed.  “The spirit has gone out  of the people.  It is the same in my town.  Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore.”  So the old Abbot and the old Rabbi wept together.  Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things.  The time came when the Abbot had to leave.  They embraced each other.  “It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years,” the Abbot said, “but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here.  Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?”

“No, I am sorry,” the rabbi responded, “I have no advice to give.  The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you.”

When the Abbot returned to the monastery, his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, “Well, what did the Rabbi say?”

“He couldn’t help,” the Abbot answered.  “We just wept and read the Torah together.  The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving – it was something cryptic – was that the Messiah is one of us.  I don’t know what he meant.”

In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the Rabbi’s words.  The Messiah is one of us?  Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery?  If that’s the case, which one?  Do you suppose he meant the Abbot?  Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot.  He has been our leader for more than a generation.  On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas.  Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man.  Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light.  Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred!  Elred gets crotchety at times.  But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people’s sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right.  Often very right.  May be the Rabbi did mean Brother Elred.  But surely not Brother Philip.  Philip is so passive, a real nobody.  But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him.  He just magically appears by your side.  May be Philip is the Messiah.  Of course the Rabbi didn’t mean me.  He  couldn’t possibly have meant me.  I’m just an ordinary person.  Yet supposing he did?  Suppose I am the Messiah?  O God, not me.  I couldn’t be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off-chance that one among them might be the Messiah.  And on the off, off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate.  As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place.  There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it.  Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray.  They began to bring their friends to show them this special place.  And their friends brought their friends.

Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks.  After a while one asked if he could join them.  Then another.  And another.  So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the Rabbi’s gift, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the realm.

– M.Scott Peck

[http://www.amazon.com/Different-Drum-Community-Making-Peace/dp/0684848589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330255955&sr=8-1]

[PHOTO by italiancajun on photobucket.com]

A Prayer of Thanks

Because we did not make ourselves;
Because we do not keep ourselves;
Because we cannot forgive ourselves;
Our hearts reach out to you, O God.
We thank you for our creation, preservation, and redemption:
for hills to climb,
burdens to carry,
temptations to resist,
and fears to overcome.
We thank you for all that helps us in our pilgrimage:
the remembrance of those who walked this way before us and
did it well;
signs of your presence, often in unlikely places, giving us to
know that we are not alone;
the unanswerable logic of lives given over to your service in
selfless love;
the work of your Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts, uniting
for us the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.
With all that lies within us we acclaim your goodness and speak your praise,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
– Ernest T. Campbell in Where Cross the Crowded Ways: Prayers of a City Pastor

[BOOK: http://www.amazon.com/Where-Cross-Crowded-Ways-Campbell/dp/0802829813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328978250&sr=8-1]

[PHOTO by 2bornlady on photobucket]

Mystic Monday: Trust in the Slow Work of God

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown,
something new.
Yet it is the law of all progress that is made
by passing through some stages of instability
and that may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow.
Let them shape themselves without undue haste.
Do not try to force them on
as though you could be today what time
– that is to say, grace –
and circumstances
acting on your own good will
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new Spirit
gradually forming in you will be.

Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
Above all, trust in the slow work of God,
our loving vine-dresser.

– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

[Heartlight provides positive resources for daily Christian Living, like this artwork   LINK TO HEARTLIGHT: http://www.heartlight.org]

Hearts on Fire Update

This Sunday’s Homily Notes are in the Homily Notes (or 2) File.

Food for Thought:

If you board the wrong train,
it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction. 
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Mothers Day: My Mother, My Gem by Loretta Coley Lipsey

[My post for today is a wonderful tribute to the author's mother. It seems to me that it applies rather well to Blessed Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother.  Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and some other Christians believe that when Jesus gave his mother to the Apostle John's care, Jesus also gave her to us.]

My mother, my gem, what beauty she holds
Her worth is far greater than rubies or gold.
She was created by God and sent from above
And the first gem she gives me is the gemstone of LOVE.

A love unconditional, she loves at all time
Her love never fails me for, you see, it’s sublime.
The second gem she gives me is GUIDANCE each day
As she follows the Lord and shows me the way.

He gave her the knowledge through His Holy Birth
To pass on to me for survival on earth.
But the ultimate goal at the end of her miles
Is to hear her God say, “Well done, my child.”

Then came the third gem God gave with no price
And with His great wisdom came the gem of SACRIFICE.
A Mother who’s true to God’s Holy Word
Will lay down her life and not a sigh will be heard.

She will give all she owns and never ask why
To keep safe those God loaned her from heaven on high.
Next comes the fourth gem, and she will walk through the fire
To give all that is needed to ENCOURAGE and INSPIRE.

Whatever my task or the choices I make
She’ll help me get through with fewer mistakes.
She fears the Lord and for this she is praised
And her faith will be rewarded at the end of her days.

Then comes the fifth gem of COURAGE, not fear
She teaches me to listen just so I may hear.
I have Satan to battle every minute of each day
But God is the answer if I’ll follow His way.

She is always there, be it day or night
To build up my courage and teach me what’s right.
Many women do noble things, but she surpasses them all
When, as a Mother, she listens and responds to God’s call.

Last but not least is the gemstone of PRAYER
She spends hours on her knees to keep me safe in His care.
She teaches me daily that life’s trials can be long
But if I’ll have faith God will help me be strong.

She can be soft and tender but tough when it’s time
For she loves me unselfishly and her love is entwined
Around the heart of God and then back to me
For she gives me her love unconditionally.

She is my Mother, my Gemstone, so precious and rare
And I’m so thankful God placed me safe in her care.

Written and Copyright © 2003 by Loretta Coley Lipsey

[Stained glass window in the Church Kilianskirche of Heilbronn, Mary (mother of Jesus) Deutsch: by  Joachim Köhler courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.]

SILLY SATURDAY PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION # 1: Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

The optimist says the glass is half full.
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
And the cynic… wonders who drank the other half.
The cheapskate is only concerned about who is paying for the next round.
The ground-down mother of a persistently demanding five-year-old says sweetheart it’s whatever you want it to be, just please let mommy have five minutes peace and quiet.
The homemaker sees the dirty glass, washes and dries it, then puts it away.
The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning.
The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn’t.
The sycophant will say whatever the boss wants to hear.
The logician says that where the glass is in process of being filled then it is half full; where it is in the process of being emptied then it is half empty; and where its status in terms of being filled or emptied is unknown then the answer is, “Its a mystery.”
The grammarian says that while the terms half-full and half-empty are colloquially acceptable the glass can technically be neither since both full and empty are absolute states and therefore are incapable of being halved or modified in any way.
The philosopher says that the glass is not empty at all – it is half-filled with water and half-filled with air – hence, fully filled on the whole!
The obsessive compulsive postpones the question until the level is checked, and checked again, and again, and again…
The germaphobe says yuck, someone drank out of it and left their germs on the glass.
The co-dependent hurries to fill your glass, but not so completely that you would spill it and  get upset. Because when you get upset…
The Zen Buddhist says the glass is neither half full or half empty, the glass simply IS.
The recently ordained Reformer of the Reform chastises the priest for using glass instead of precious metal and calling it a cup instead of a chalice.
The optimist says: “The glass is half-full.” The pessimist says: “The glass is half-empty”. And while they are arguing, the pragmatist takes the glass and drinks it.

[adapted and added to from businessballs.com and other websites].

[This photo was released into the public domain by Derek Jensen (Tysto) and available on Wikkimedia Commons.]

Saint Mary Mazzarello (1837-1881) ON PRAYER

[This is the tenth of a series of posts featuring a saint, mystic, or writer to include some of their thoughts on prayer as well as a prayer written by or ascribed to him or her.  May 13 is this saint's Feast day For more about her, visit the Saint of the Day blog on the right column of this blog.]

When the cross gets heavy, look at the crucifix and say,
“Jesus, You are my strength”

Make up your mind to become a saint.

A Prayer by Saint Mary Mazzarello
Lord, I did not know that
I could make up my mind to become a saint.
Yet why not?
It is not that I can become a saint by my own power,
because it is only through Your grace that sanctity comes.
But if I make up my mind to become a saint,
then I must have made up my mind to always do YOUR WILL.
You will that everyone become a saint.
So Your Will would be sanctity for me.
You know the way to bring me to holiness in my life.
Help me to walk with You, wherever You go,
to bring me to that holiness. Amen.

[This photo is in the public domain due to its age; PD-OLD-100.]

H is for Happiness

“I am in desperate need of help — or I’ll go crazy. We’re living in a single room — my wife, my children and my in-laws. So our nerves are on edge, we yell and scream at one another. The room is a hell.”

“Do you promise to do whatever I tell you?” said the Master gravely.

“I swear I shall do anything.”

“Very well. How many animals do you have?”

“A cow, a goat and six chickens.”

“Take them all into the room with you. Then come back after a week.”

The disciple was appalled. But he had promised to obey! So he took the animals in. A week later he came back, a pitiable figure, moaning, “I’m a nervous wreck. The dirt! The stench! The noise! We’re all on the verge of madness!”

“Go back,” said the Master, “and put the animals out.”

The man ran all the way home. And came back the following day, his eyes sparkling with joy. “How sweet life is! The animals are out. The home is a Paradise, so quiet and clean and roomy!”

– Anthony de Mello, SJ, One Minute Wisdom

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
–Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
– Jesus in John 10:10b

Whoever possesses God is happy.
– St. Augustine (354-430)

Happiness is when
what you think,
what you say, and
what you do
are in harmony.
–Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)

The reason people find it
so hard to be happy is that they always see
the past better than it was,
the present worse than it is, and
the future less resolved than it will be”
–Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974)

[Funny Times is a humor magazine with cartoons and columnists that make you laugh, moan, scream and cry. They are kind enough to allow me to reprint the occasional cartoon.  Of course, humor -- like beauty -- is often in the eye or ear of the beholder.  http://www.funnytimes.com]

One Minute Wisdom

First Things First

Gold and Silver by Bentzion Elisha

(Originally told by the Bobover Rebbe, Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, at a community gathering.)

A follower of the chassidic leader Reb Mottel of Chernobyl had a particular habit which came to light when he visited Reb Mottel to request a blessing. Reb Mottel asked the visitor to recount his typical daily schedule. The young man explained that he began each day by buying goods for his business from the local landowner. Following that, he would recite the morning prayers, after which he began to sell his wares.

He didn’t know where to hide his money bags“Why do you buy your merchandise before you pray in the morning?” asked Reb Mottel.

The young man explained, “Why, if I waited until after prayers, the only goods remaining would be of inferior quality, if not sold out entirely!”

Upon hearing that, Reb Mottel shared a story with his follower.

There was once a teacher of Jewish studies, whose livelihood entailed traveling far from his hometown to teach Jewish children in distant cities. He was often away from his home for a year or more at a time. Meanwhile his wife and children lived the year without him, borrowing and living on credit.

This teacher was paid for his services with coins. The wealthy gave him gold coins, the middle class paid with silver coins, and people of more modest means paid with copper or nickel coins.

The teacher had made a belt for himself where he would hang the various bags. Each bag carried a different type of coin. He had a bag for his gold coins, a bag for his silver coins, a bag for his nickel coins and a bag for his copper coins.

After the year of teaching was up, he headed back home. As the first Shabbat on his voyage approached, he knew he would have to remove his belt, as carrying money on Shabbat is forbidden. But he didn’t know where to hide his money bags.

He decided to bury his earnings in the ground, and retrieve them after Shabbat. But just as he was about to finish his digging, he heard some people in the distance. Paranoia set in, and he became alarmed by the possibility that if he could hear them, they could probably see him, and his money wasn’t safe.

Now pressed for time, he grabbed the belt with the bags of coins and ran to the local Jewish inn, where he handed the innkeeper the entire bundle in a furious hurry for safekeeping. Shabbat began, and the teacher was livid with himself. He had just given the innkeeper his entire year’s earnings without even a note or receipt mentioning the amount of money being held. It would be so easy for the innkeeper to deny safeguarding the coins, and his whole year’s pay would be lost.

Thoughts of his wife and children flooded his mind. What would they do? How would they face the creditors? His imagination took off, leaving him worried and on edge for the entire Shabbat.

The innkeeper sensed his guest’s troubled condition and, as soon as Shabbat departed, he recited the evening prayers very quickly, and placed the belt with the bags of coins in front of the teacher, who was still reciting the silent Amidah prayer.

To the amazement of the innkeeper, in the middle of his supplications the teacher opened the bag of gold coins and started counting them one by one. He saw that all the coins were still there. Nevertheless, he took out the bag with the silver coins and started counting them next. All the silver coins were also still there, yet his concern and worry did not dissipate. He then started counting the nickel coins, and then the copper coins, and finally returned to his prayers. The innkeeper, who had observed the entire process, was taken aback and perplexed.

When the teacher finished his prayers, the innkeeper confronted him. “After you saw I hadn’t taken any of your gold coins, why did you not trust that I hadn’t taken any of your silver coins, which are much less valuable? And after you counted the silver coins too, and saw I took nothing, why didn’t you trust me then? You continued to count the ridiculously less valuable nickel and copper coins.”

I want to ask you the same question the innkeeper asked the teacherReb Mottel of Chernobyl turned to the young man before him and said, “I want to ask you the same question the innkeeper asked the teacher. Every single morning, G‑d has given you back your soul, your body, your very life—the equivalent of gold and silver coins. What makes you think he won’t also give you your livelihood—your nickel and copper coins? You should increase your trust, and believe that G‑d will give you your physical sustenance too. There is no need to rush off to buy goods before morning prayers.”

– Bentzion Elisha

[SOURCE:http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1640911/jewish/Gold-and-Silver.htm Rabbi Bentzion Elisha is an award-winning chassidic photographer and writer, based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, where he resides with his family.The content on this page is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org, and is produced by Chabad.org. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with the copyright policy.]

Better Broken: 11! by Phil Ware

“The Eleven” to be exact (Luke 24:9;  Luke 24:33;  Acts 1:26).

That’s how the apostles were known the seven weeks after Jesus’ death.
It was not a title of respect. Instead, it was a reminder.
More than a scar, this title was a gaping wound,
hemorrhaging memories of betrayal, denial, and abandonment.
“The Eleven” was most of all a reminder of Judas.

Judas was one of them. Judas had shared in their ministry,
their table fellowship, and the work of Jesus (Acts 1:16-17).
Judas had betrayed Jesus with a kiss (Luke 22:47-48).

If we are honest,
most of us have had our own personal Judas
— someone close to us, who knew us well
and knew how to hurt us deeply.
And they did hurt us deeply, leaving us broken,
devastated, and not sure we even wanted to go on living.
Then every time we turned around, there was a song,
a scene in a movie, a joke on TV, the voice of someone
who reminded us of the betrayal, and the hurt came flooding back.

Yes, we know what eleven means.
It means less than whole.
It means life with a hole.
It means the pain of trying to trust
and not knowing whom we can trust
and even less how we can trust.
It is the suffocating reality that seems inescapable.

11!
It’s a powerful example of how we can move forward.
An old saying goes something like this:
“To live above with saints we love, now that will be glory.
But to live below with saints we know, ah, that’s another story.”
People are the most precious gifts in our lives, but
they can also break us in ways and in places that seem incurable.

That’s why it is so important that we see
what Jesus does with “The Eleven” before Pentecost happens.

He heals the wound.

And he does it with Peter: the one who also failed miserably
— the one who Jesus warned and then promised
would be used to help the others (Luke 22:31-32).
Yes, Jesus had confronted him on the beach after his resurrection
and called him back to ministry and restored him to leadership (John 21:1-17).

So Peter is the one whom the Lord uses
to lead his small band of followers
to do three things that are important
to help them overcome their “Judas hole” and restore “The Twelve”
so they can begin the work of building the unshakeable Kingdom.

First, they admit their hurt and tell their story,
not trying to avoid the truth that it was
one of them who had betrayed the Master (Acts 1:15-20).

Then, they open themselves up to others —
they invite another back into their number
to mend the hole left by Judas (Acts 1:21-23).

Most importantly,
they ask for God’s guidance and help to show them
how to move forward and who to include in their number (Acts 1:24-26).

Now this is not a formula, so let’s not reduce it to that.
However, it’s a powerful example of how
we can move forward in the face of deep, grievous,
and personal wounds and find our way to God’s powerfkul future.

Their example is also an important reminder that
we can be better after we’ve been broken if we allow God to do the mending.
God doesn’t want us to retreat from life or from church family
when we’ve been betrayed. Instead, he wants to heal us and remind us:
My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).

[SOURCE]

["Better Broken: 11!" by Phil Ware is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Phil Ware is minister of the Word at Southern Hills Church in Abilene, Texas. For the past 10+ years, he has also been co-editor of HEARTLIGHT Magazine. Heartlight provides positive resources for daily Christian Living   LINK TO HEARTLIGHT]