Fish Out Of Water

A holy one said to a merchant, “As the fish perishes on dry land, so you perish when entangled in the world.  The fish must return to the water, and you must return to the spiritual.” The merchant was aghast. “Are you saying I must give up my business and go into a monastery?”  And the holy one said, “Oh, no, no, never.  I am saying, hold onto your business but go into your heart.”

Sister Joan Chittister has said: “We are each given only one life. The spirit we bring to it, the heart we put into it, is the measure of its value, whatever else we do with it to make a living.  It isn’t difficult to be good at what we do.  What is difficult is to be great about the way we do it…How I am, the environment around me will be: full of arsenic or full of the warmth of the Spirit.”

We “fishes” must return to the water this Advent.  Our fisher of men and women understands we will perish in worldly entanglements unless we do so.  We must go into our hearts where we will be full of the warmth of the Spirit.

Deacon David Pierce