A Spiritual Narrative
In a remote part of the desert
where it never rained lived two men. They never had enough water to bathe yet
only to drink, and thus every month they would journey to a guardian of the
cistern where they could wash and refresh themselves. After a month of not
having bathed a sojourner exclaimed to the two men: “You two both smell horrific!”
It was thus that one of the men said to his companion: “He is right, we are in
desperate need of a good wash.” “I have been thinking the same thing” replied
the other man, “we should make a journey to the guardian of the cistern, for
there we will be able to wash and bathe.” “I agree” replied the first man, “yet
I do not want to go to the guardian nearest to us, because I prefer going to
the guardian who resides in the town; for even though he is a day’s journey
away, it is much better to go to him.” Both men were in agreement on this point
for they both preferred going to the guardian in the town, rather than to the guardian
who lived but ten minutes away from where they resided. The reason they preferred
going to the guardian who was further away, was because he gave them water in a
vessel of gold, and had baths that were furnished with rubies, sapphires and
pearls. The guardian nearest to them however, was poorer and less polite than
the other guardian; and he would serve them water in a wooden vessel, having
baths that were fashioned from undecorated clay. This is the reason why they preferred
to go to the guardian who lived in town.
As the next morning came the
two men said to each other: “Ah we have woken too late to be able to make it by
evening to the guardian who lives in town; let’s delay our journey until
tomorrow.” Then the next day came, and one of the men said to the other: “I
feel too tired to be able to make the journey today, let’s delay our journey until
tomorrow.” “Yes, good idea” replied the other man, “I’m feeling quite tired
myself.” With varying excuses and countless justifications, this continued for
an entire month. Meanwhile the men were passing the house of the guardian who
lived nearest to them almost every day, for throughout the week they would journey
to the mountain to gather honey –which they rarely would find; berries –which
they always would find, yet would often mostly let drop upon their return, or
would crush in their recklessness; and also in order to hunt wild animals with
their bow and arrows, animals that roamed only within that region.
One morning, after forty days
had elapsed, one of the men woke up terribly ill and with a tremendously high
fever. “I think I am dying” said the man who was ill, “and I suspect it is from
my infected wound which I have not washed for quite some time.” “You have a
wound?” exclaimed the other man with surprise, “you should have told me! For
then I would have insisted that you go to the guardian whom we do not prefer,
for after all, he lives so close to us and we pass by him nearly every day.” “I
am so foolish” responded the ill man with shame, “I let my pride blind me, for
even though the guardian who lives in town is a much better man and his service
is sublime, both he and the guardian who lives near us have the same very water
which I am in need. Ah! I renounce my foolishness!” Having said this the ill
man breathed his last. At once the other man fled to the house of the nearest guardian
and bathed himself clean. He then buried the body of his companion and from
that day onwards he would stop by at the cistern of the nearest guardian every
time he would venture towards the mountain. Occasionally he would make a day’s journey
to bathe at the residence of the preferable guardian, yet despite this,
henceforth he never forwent the opportunity to bathe whenever it was offered.
Indeed from that time onwards every sojourner would comment to him saying: “You
must be the cleanest man in the desert! For we smell not the slightest odour upon
you, save only the sweet fragrance of aloes, myrrh and the trace of rosewater
and spikenard.”
Narrative Commentary
1. This story is open to
countless interpretations and it teaches various moral, spiritual and practical
lessons. The following is one layer of interpretation intended for this particular
tale.
2. The two guardians are analogous
of two different types of priests. The unfavourable guardian who lived nearer
to the men represents the priest who may become irritated when one asks him to
hear one’s confession, or the kind of priest who offers no advice, word of
wisdom, encouragement or sound direction (i.e. undecorated clay bath); or the
type of priest who is overly harsh or judgemental with those who come to
confess to him. The preferable guardian who lived in town is representative of
a kind and caring priest who offers simple advice, a word of wisdom or
encouragement, or sound spiritual direction (the bath embedded with sapphires,
rubies and pearls); or the kind of priest who is perhaps firm at times, but
always loving and gentle with those who come to confess to him; and who is
always willing and glad to hear one’s confession no matter when or where.
3. The
mountain is symbolic of the Holy Mass and Eucharistic Adoration because the
Eucharist is the ‘source and summit of the Christian life’. The honey
symbolises the delight of Divine Intimacy received through one’s reception of
Holy Communion, a grace received by all yet a grace tasted and made fruitful only
in those who approach this Sacrament with the disposition of Mary Herself: the
disposition of pure trust, confident faith, ardent love, and humble Adoration. The berries symbolise the efficacious graces received
from the reception and Adoration of the Eucharist, yet the dropping of these
berries symbolises the casting-away or loosing of the efficacious graces received
because of a poor disposition (i.e. imperfect preparation for the Sacrament) and
the crushing of these berries the squandering of the graces received through a lack
of thanksgiving. It reads in the Catechism:
“The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and
entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible
rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the
graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with
the required dispositions.” (CCC 1131). The wild animals that roam only in
the region of the mountain, which the men would hunt for, represent the Beloved
who dwells in the Eucharist and comes to us through the Eucharist, and who ‘wears
the various hides’, as it were, of the countless Attributes of God. The hunting
undertaken by the men represents the search of the soul for God through
meditation and/or contemplation in and of the Attributes of God. The bow represents
the faculty of the will and the arrows the loving affections of the will with
which the soul seeks to pierce and ‘capture’ her Beloved. Wherefore the above
gleans insight into the Song of Songs wherein it is written: “My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young
stag.” (2:9a); “turn, my beloved, be
like a gazelle, or a young stag upon rugged mountains.” (2:17b); and “Make haste, my beloved, and be like a
gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices.” (8:14). And furthermore
in Genesis when Isaac said to Esau: “Now
then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and
hunt game for me, and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it
to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die.” (27:3-4).
4. The cisterns symbolise the
sacramental graces that instrumentally flow forth through the ordained priest.
Whilst the baths symbolise the sacrament of confession, and the vessel and baths
themselves symbolic of the manner in which this sacrament is given.
5. The bad smell and
uncleanliness is symbolic of the uncleanliness of sin and the stench of apathy
towards offending God and neighbour.
6. The two men signify a type
of attitude that is often held in regards to the Sacrament of Confession and in
regards to certain priests, by regular Mass attending Catholics. This type of
attitude is one whereby the individual holds the intention to go to Confession,
and yet this intention is motivated not by a true contrition, love for God or
desire to receive healing and forgiveness, but rather by a motive kindled by a subconscious
fear of God and a desire to fulfil what one feels is a duty. Now because such a
motive is not primarily from love, but primarily from self-love, the evils of
sloth, apathy and rationalisation wage war against such a soul. Thus although
one may have plenty of time available, and may have not been to confession for
a few weeks, they will repress and squash the Holy Spirit’s promptings to receive
this Sacrament by various justifications. It is thus that although one may go
to Mass every day, or almost every day, they will refuse to go to Confession or
ask for it from the priest, simply because he is a bit too this, or a bit too
that; or not enough of this, or not enough of that. They will forgo the opportunities
to receive this Sacrament, even when there are no other opportunities, or if
there are other opportunities they will not bother to go or will say “tomorrow
I will go” yet tomorrow comes and goes. Just as the two men kept putting off
their journeying to the guardian who lived far away. Indeed this type of
procrastination is of the devil, because by it someone forgoes an opportunity
of grace because of petty excuses.
7. The moral of this story is not to say that every time the opportunity
to go to Confession comes you must take it, but rather, that when you feel the
promoting to go you should go, regardless of who the priest is. This is
especially true whether you have the inclination or not when one is bound by
the rules of one’s community to go to confession every month or two.
8. If we repress the inspiration
to receive this Sacrament because we fear being judged or embarrassed by having
a particular priest hear our confession; it is a sign that we are filled with
self-love which is vanity. We can be sure that if we let fear of judgement or embarrassment
prevent our confessing when we feel the inclination to, that self-love rules
our soul more than the love of God. If we have fears of being judged
or of being humiliated by confessing to a particular priest (i.e. one whom we
know well and who thinks well of us), yet do not let these feelings prevent our
confessing, then love of God outweighs the presence of self-love within our
souls. However to the degree to which we fear being judged or embarrassed is
the degree to which we are filled with self-love. If we do not fear being
judged or embarrassed, even when confessing to the priest we would least
prefer, then indeed God’s love has conquered and cast out the swine of
self-love.
9. The man who died from an
infected wound can be representative of the soul who commits voluntary venial
sins and is negligent in repenting of her faults, to the point that her flesh
is wounded (by many unchecked venial sins) and eventually infected (mortal
sin). The infection can also represent the
build-up of many or a few venial sins without proper measures of repentance,
prayers, alms giving and penance, so that eventually the soul dies –not
literally as it does from mortal sin, but in a different spiritual sense, in
that the soul dies to the possibility of reaching its full stature of
perfection on this earth. This kind of death is due to pride and spiritual
sloth and apathy, and can also be caused by false-piety –the kind of piety that
fans the flames of self-love rather than love of God; and false-discernment –the
kind that is void of faith, trusting surrender, prayer and action, and is but a
veil to hide ones cowardice, faithlessness and false-judgement. May we be
delivered from such a death as this, for indeed if we are persistent enough in
being negligent with grace, we shall die to the full stature we have been
called to attain. Concerning such a death it is written: “Weep for the dead, for he lacks the light; and weep for the fool, for
he lacks intelligence; weep less bitterly for the dead, for he has attained
rest; but the life of the fool is worse than death.” (Sirach/Ecc 22:11).
The simple remedy for this most common illness that overtakes many a spiritual
person, is firstly to pray to God to remain faithful and docile to His Will,
and then secondly to take the very trust of Mary Herself that God will fulfill
your request; and thirdly by continually saying ‘yes’ in surrender of your will
to God’s Will. Fortified in this manner, this spiritual-death which is a most common
and often easy victory for the devil is made impossible for that foul beast.
10. When the man fled to the
nearest guardian to bathe as soon as his friend had died, and only buried the
body after he had cleaned; this can be said to symbolise the first priority that
must be given to doing, seeking, and fulfilling God’s Will which is the Kingdom
of Heaven. This kind of haste is indicative of perfect and true repentance, for
as soon as the man realised the gravity of his negligence and foolishness –his
own ugliness of which he beheld in the mirror of his neighbour- he fled immediately
to bathe, despite his preference for the other guardian. This kind of haste is
the haste of love, one which sees all else as peripheral when compared to the importance
of pleasing God and of being in perfect union with Him. This is the kind of
haste that is natural to the perfect soul. Concerning this priority of haste we
read in the Scriptures: “But he said to
another: ‘Follow me.’ And he said: ‘Lord, suffer me first to go and to bury my
father.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and
preach the kingdom of God.’” (Lk 9:59-60).
11. The presence of no foul
odour upon the man can be symbolic of the absence of apathy of offending God
and neighbour for the sake of God, thus such a soul always intends to please
God and serve their neighbour. The sweet fragrance in general is the exuding
presence of the Holy Spirit, which seeps forth through the pores of such a soul
because of their docility to God’s Will. The aloes specifically refer to the
presence of Divine Love; the myrrh the presence of the glory of the Cross; the
rosewater the presence of Divine Mercy; and the spikenard the presence of the
Light of the Divine Will which permeates such a soul’s every word, thought and
deed. Concerning this commingled fragrance St. Paul writes: "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph,
and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere."
(2 Cor 2:14).
12. It is important to keep in
mind that this story is not emphasising that which must be done in order to
secure one’s salvation, but rather that which the soul must do –by obeying the
voice of the Spirit within- to attain one’s full statute in the perfection of
sanctity. And assuredly growing to such a stature involves more than simply going to confession when one feels promoted, it requires total submission and obedience to the Holy Spirit who is Love Himself, wherefore He shall be able to transform us into perfect images of God the Son for the glory of God the Father.
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