Love that story! Here is one in return:
A young and spiritually immature monk went to live in a certain monastery. He thought that there he would find paradisiacal manners and that everyone would love and respect him as a most dear brother. What was his disappointment when after a while he noticed that eight of the brothers loved him and two did not! He could not put up with the dislike of these two, so he left that monastery and went to search for another where everyone would like him. In the second monastery, all brothers welcomed him kindly and treated him very well in the beginning. However, that did not last very long. Soon the likes and dislikes toward the newcomer surfaced, and, unfortunately, this time only four loved him and four others hated him and were worse than those in the first monastery: they annoyed him, judged him, sneered at him, and did not miss an occasion to hurt him. The unhappy monk could not put up with that, so he left this monastery too. In the third monastery where he settled, he quickly found out that almost nobody liked him. His reputation for being quarrelsome and lacking perseverance preceded him to this monastery, and the brothers there met him with distrust. The young monk, realizing that he had come from bad to worse, began wondering if it was not his fault that he could not win the love of the others and decided to remain in this last monastery amid the cold and hostile attitudes of the brothers until he could win their love with God's help. When he appraised his own behavior, he found that he was to blame for his quarrels with the brothers because he did not endure their teasing with patience. A fortunate thought occured to him, and he wrote on a piece of paper: "I will endure everything for Jesus Christ's sake" and put it in his belt. Every time when someone insulted him or sneered at him, he took the piece of paper out of his belt, read it, remembered the promise of endurance which he had made to God, and calmed down. Some of the brothers wondered at his patience and began to love him. Others, in their malice, said: "He is doing some kind of magic to calm himself. Whenever we annoy him, he takes a piece of paper out of his belt, and when he looks at it, his anger passes away. This business is not good. He must be a magician..." With such suspicions in their hearts the spiteful monks went to the abbot and slandered the young brother before him. The abbot investigated the matter, found out the innocence of the brother, and for his justification and as a lesson to all, he summoned all monks to himself. When the accusations against the young brother were repeated, the abbot ordered him to show the piece of paper before everyone. The young monk obeyed, took out the paper, and read the writing: "I will endure everything for Jesus Christ's sake." Then the accusers were ashamed and silenced, and the brother, acquitted and praised, lived peacefully with the respect and love of the monks.
That's from a book [two, really] on my nightstand entitled "The Meaning of Suffering and Strife & Reconciliation" by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev. Highly recommended.
Wonderful and moving story.
Thanks for recommending the book. I don't know what went wrong with my post, I had a nice Icon of St. Moses, that previewed fine and then once it went to print, nothing.
Unrelated, but when I think I'm just not made of the substance it takes to be a Christian and I'm ready to give up, I recall St. John Chrysostom's Banquet invitation to the 11th hour penitent, and I feel comforted and invigorated.
Excerpt fromThe Blood and Water from His Side
St. John Chrysostom, Early Church Father and Doctor of the Church
“There flowed from his side water and blood”. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit”, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.