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There was a monastery which had fallen upon hard times.
Once a very great order, it suffered a loss of spirit so that there were only
five monks left, all over the age of 70. Clearly it was a dying order.
In the deep woods surrounding the monastery, there was an old shack, to
which a Rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used to come for hermitage.
Through their many years of prayer and contemplation, the old monks had become
a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the Rabbi was in his hermitage.
"The Rabbi's in the woods, the Rabbi's in the woods again", they would whisper to each other.
Agonizing over the imminent death of his beloved monastery, it occurred to the
Abbott at one such time to visit the Rabbi, and ask if, by some chance, he could
offer any advice that might save the dying order. The Rabbi welcomed the Abbott in his
shack, but when the Abbott explained the purpose of his visit, the Rabbi could
only commiserate with him: "I know how it is", he explained, "The spirit has gone out of
the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore."
So the old Abbott and the old Rabbi wept together, then they read parts of the
Torah and quietly spoke of deep things.
The time came when the Abbott had to leave. "It has been a wonderful thing that we
should meet after all these years", the Abbott said, "but I have still failed in my
purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you
can give me, that would help me save my dying order?"
"No, I'm sorry", the Rabbi responded, "I have no advice."
"The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you." When the Abbott
returned, his fellow monks crowded around him...
"Well, what did the Rabbi say??" "He couldn't help", the Abbott answered. "We just wept and read
the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving, it was
something cryptic. It was that the Messiah is one of us." In the days and weeks and
months that followed, the old monks pondered this, and wondered whether there was
any possible significance to the Rabbi's parting words.... "The Messiah is one of us?"
"Could he possibly have meant one of us monks at the monastery?"
"If that's the case, which one? Do you suppose he meant the Abbott?!?"
"Yes if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbott. He's been our leader for more
than a generation, but then he might have meant brother Thomas. Certainly brother
Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he
couldn't have meant brother Elred. Elred gets crotchedy, but come to think of it,
Elred is virtually always right. Maybe the Rabbi did mean brother Elred. But surely not brother Phillip.
He's so passive, but then, Phillip is always there when you need him, he just
mysteriously appears at your side. Maybe Phillip was the Messiah. Of course, the Rabbi
didn't mean me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah?!
Oh, God not me! I couldn't be that much for You, could I?"
As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with
extraordinary respect, on the off chance that one among them might be the Messiah.
and on the off, off, chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began
to treat themselves with extraordinary respect. Because the forest in which was
located was so beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to
visit the monastery to picnic on its lawn, to wander along some of its paths,
even now and then to go into the chapel to meditate. As they did, they sensed this
aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and
seemed to permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something compelling
about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more
frequently, to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends. Then it happened
that some of the younger men who came started to talk more and more to the old
monks. After a while, one asked if he could join them, then another, and another...
So, within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and,
thanks to the Rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm...
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