There was an Abbot of a monastery who was celebrating his 25th anniversary. So all the monks threw him a celebration. As usual there was the many testimonies of what a wonderful person the Abbot was, and all the great things that he had done.
When the time came for the Abbot to cut his anniversary cake, he made a wish before blowing out the candles. The monks asked him what he had wished for. He replied "I wish that I would be forgotten". This surprised everyone, and there were many who voiced out that they would never forget the Abbot because of the holy life that he lived and the many people he touched.
The Abbot said to them, "In all humilty I acknowledge that I have done all these things that you have mentioned. And you remember me because these things are "great" or "holy". But all I have done was to try and live my life like Christ. And that is my wish for all of you too. If everyone were to live their lives like Christ, all of you would do the "great and holy" things that I have done, and then what I had done would be nothing out of the ordinary, and thus I would be forgotten.
In the scripture passage from Eph 4:32-5:2 St Paul exhorts us to "Be kind and tender to one another, each of you generous to all as God in Christ has been generous to you. As God's favoured children, you must be like him. Order your lives in charity, upon the model of that charity which Christ showed to us when he gave himself up on our behalf, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as he offered it to God."
We too should model our lives around Christ's example and teaching. Sometimes we are afraid to be "holy", because it makes us stand out from the rest. Imagine if everyone loved and lived like Christ did, then being "holy" would be nothing out of the ordinary, we would be living our lives exactly as God intended us to live.
Let us pray then, that the "holy" and "great" people may be forgotten when being good and loving becomes the norm.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Cornelius Ching on 9th Apr 2010.
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