One day the abbot decided he needed to do something about the crisis his monastery was facing. Some of the monks had left, they weren’t getting any new candidates, and the people were no longer coming for prayer and consultation as they used to.
The 7 monks that remained were getting older, more depressed about the lack of vocations, and even increasingly bitter in their relationships with one another.
The abbot had heard about a holy man, a hermit, living alone in the woods, and he decided to talk with him about the problems the abbey was having. He told the hermit how the monastery had dwindled and diminished, and was only a skeleton of its former self.
The hermit told the abbot that he had a secret to share with him: One of the monks now living in his monastery was actually the Christ, but he was living in such a way that no one could recognize him.
Utterly amazed himself, the abbot went back to the monastery and share with the other monks what the hermit had told him. You can imagine the consternation of those aging monks. They looked around at each other in unbelief, each trying to figure out who could be the Christ. Could it be brother Mark, who prays all the time? Possible, but doubtful. He has such a holier than thou attitude. Maybe brother Joseph who is always read to help. But he’s always eating and drinking. He never fasts. It probably wasn’t him.
The more they tried to figure out which one of them was the Christ, the more confused they became. The only thing each of them could figure out for sure, was that any one of them, excepting himself, of course, could be the Christ. And because they never really were sure who the Christ was, from that day on they began to treat one another with greater respect and humility, knowing that the person they are speaking to could be the very person they were trying to identify.
They began to show more respect for one another, their common life became more brotherly, their common prayer more fervent.
Slowly people began to take notice of the new spirit in the monastery and began coming back for retreats and spiritual direction. The word spread, and candidates began to show up and the monastery began to grow, not only in numbers,
but in zeal and holiness as well. And all of this because a holy man of God had drawn their attention to the truth that Christ was living in their midst as one of them.
In today’s gospel John the Baptist tried to announce that same powerful message to those who were so anxiously waiting for the coming of the Messiah: “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”
Their certainty about how the Messiah was to come, and what he was going to do, made it impossible for them to recognize him. They were sure he would suddenly descend from heaven in his divine power and majesty, and he would establish his reign by destroying the enemies of Israel. So, when finally Jesus came, born of a woman like every other person, they just couldn’t recognize him. He was too ordinary; too unimpressive, just like Juan Diego, when he went to the Bishop in Mexico City, to tell him the Virgin wanted a Church built on a rocky hill called Tepeyac ,near a poor village
of conquered Indians, a place without power or wealth. He just couldn’t take that poor, disenfranchised, despised Indian seriously. It was a joke to believe the Mother of God would appear to him!
Are we any different? It’s easy for to listen to and imagine the Virgin Mary appearing to those we deem to be important.
How about the people who fry our burgers, pick up our garbage, empty our septic tanks or cross our borders. Do we listen to them? Do we recognize Christ in them? Do we recognize Christ in each other?
After 2000 years we’re not much better at recognizing Christ in the ordinary men and women around us. Things like their unimpressive attitudes, habits, appearances, lack of education, and legal documents make it difficult in not impossible.
Advent is a time for us to hear and respond to John’s message of repentance. And we need to listen and respond. It’s the only way we will recognize the Christ in our midst today, now, at this very minute, and, that awareness will make an enormous difference in our lives both as individuals, and in the various communitiesin which we live and pray and work and play.
The truth John proclaimed to his own people he also proclaims to us: “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me;
The 7 monks that remained were getting older, more depressed about the lack of vocations, and even increasingly bitter in their relationships with one another.
The abbot had heard about a holy man, a hermit, living alone in the woods, and he decided to talk with him about the problems the abbey was having. He told the hermit how the monastery had dwindled and diminished, and was only a skeleton of its former self.
The hermit told the abbot that he had a secret to share with him: One of the monks now living in his monastery was actually the Christ, but he was living in such a way that no one could recognize him.
Utterly amazed himself, the abbot went back to the monastery and share with the other monks what the hermit had told him. You can imagine the consternation of those aging monks. They looked around at each other in unbelief, each trying to figure out who could be the Christ. Could it be brother Mark, who prays all the time? Possible, but doubtful. He has such a holier than thou attitude. Maybe brother Joseph who is always read to help. But he’s always eating and drinking. He never fasts. It probably wasn’t him.
The more they tried to figure out which one of them was the Christ, the more confused they became. The only thing each of them could figure out for sure, was that any one of them, excepting himself, of course, could be the Christ. And because they never really were sure who the Christ was, from that day on they began to treat one another with greater respect and humility, knowing that the person they are speaking to could be the very person they were trying to identify.
They began to show more respect for one another, their common life became more brotherly, their common prayer more fervent.
Slowly people began to take notice of the new spirit in the monastery and began coming back for retreats and spiritual direction. The word spread, and candidates began to show up and the monastery began to grow, not only in numbers,
but in zeal and holiness as well. And all of this because a holy man of God had drawn their attention to the truth that Christ was living in their midst as one of them.
In today’s gospel John the Baptist tried to announce that same powerful message to those who were so anxiously waiting for the coming of the Messiah: “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”
Their certainty about how the Messiah was to come, and what he was going to do, made it impossible for them to recognize him. They were sure he would suddenly descend from heaven in his divine power and majesty, and he would establish his reign by destroying the enemies of Israel. So, when finally Jesus came, born of a woman like every other person, they just couldn’t recognize him. He was too ordinary; too unimpressive, just like Juan Diego, when he went to the Bishop in Mexico City, to tell him the Virgin wanted a Church built on a rocky hill called Tepeyac ,near a poor village
of conquered Indians, a place without power or wealth. He just couldn’t take that poor, disenfranchised, despised Indian seriously. It was a joke to believe the Mother of God would appear to him!
Are we any different? It’s easy for to listen to and imagine the Virgin Mary appearing to those we deem to be important.
How about the people who fry our burgers, pick up our garbage, empty our septic tanks or cross our borders. Do we listen to them? Do we recognize Christ in them? Do we recognize Christ in each other?
After 2000 years we’re not much better at recognizing Christ in the ordinary men and women around us. Things like their unimpressive attitudes, habits, appearances, lack of education, and legal documents make it difficult in not impossible.
Advent is a time for us to hear and respond to John’s message of repentance. And we need to listen and respond. It’s the only way we will recognize the Christ in our midst today, now, at this very minute, and, that awareness will make an enormous difference in our lives both as individuals, and in the various communitiesin which we live and pray and work and play.
The truth John proclaimed to his own people he also proclaims to us: “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me;
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