The Monthly Note
September 2005
A simple ….but a very important story
by Fr. Émery Désilets, OP
A while ago, a friend sent me the following story by e-mail. A story that that he characterised as: a simple… but important story. And he was right.
It is the story of two friends who were walking in the desert. At one point, they started arguing and one slapped the other. The latter, sore and without a word, wrote the following in the sand:
«Today, my best friend slapped me».
Together, they continued walking and found an oasis in which they decided to bathe. But the one that was slapped almost drowned and was saved by his friend. When he pulled himself together, he engraved on a stone:
«Today, my best friend saved my life».
The one that had slapped and saved his friend’s life asked : « When I hurt you, you wrote on sand, and now you write on stone. Why? »
The other answered: « When someone hurts us, we must write in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it. But when someone does a good deed to us, we must write it in stone, where the winds can never erase it».
We are at the beginning of a new work year. Why not adopt this story as our own? It has great value. We must learn to write in the sand what hurts us and to engrave in stone, our joys.
Émery Désilets, o.p., Director.
«Then Peter approaching asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times». (Mt 18, 21-22)
