Once there was a king who offered a great prize to the artist who could capture perfect peace in a painting. Many artists tried, and the king carefully observed all the paintings. He selected two of them: “only these two really represent perfect peace” he said. However, he had to give the prize to just […]
Have you ever heard the expression “Face the music?” The expression means: to be confronted with the unpleasant consequences of one’s actions. Here’s how that phrase came about: Many years ago, a man wanted to play in the Imperial Orchestra, but he could not play a note. However, since he was a person of great
The 43rd Eucharist Congress was held in August 1985 in Nairobi. It was closed by JP II August 18th. One of the talks was given by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. In that talk she told this anecdote: “Until 1973 we had Adoration of the Holy Sacrament once a week after the retreat day. That year
It is not a well-known fact that Antoni Gaudí, the famous Catalan architect and designer, begged for money so that the construction of the Basilica of the Holy Family or “Sagrada Familia” in Barcelona, Spain would not be interrupted. Once, when he went to visit a very wealthy person to ask for money, this person,
The Greek philosopher Diogenes, also known as Diogenes the Cynic, whose house was a barrel on the beach, always had intelligent answers for those who challenged him and most of the time they were very accurate ones. One of these smart answers was related to adulation or flattery. He was eating some wild herbs when
One of the tribes of East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), the Kamba tribe, has a very interesting legend. It is said that many, many years ago the men who lived in those regions were desperate because everyone died, some when they were young, some when they were old, but either way death was present in
There was once an emperor who summoned all the young men of his kingdom because it was time to find a partner for his daughter. All the young men came and the king told them “I am going to give a different seed to each one of you, after 6 months you will bring me
Once the abbot of a monastery had this dream: there were many monks in a monastery, each one doing his own task. All of them were surrounded by demons who tried to tempt them in different ways, but in vain, for the monks were holy enough to reject those temptations. At a certain point a
Paul Claudel tells this story in his novel “The tidings brought to Mary”: Jacques Hury is working for his fiancée’s father Vercors when he sees someone stealing wood. Jacques is a righteous and very strict man. He wants to cut off this man’s ear because he believes that everyone deserves punishment for their wrongdoings. When
There is a parable in the Eastern tradition that speaks of a poet—poets in the oriental culture are considered moral leaders, those who guide the people with their wisdom. For that reason, they are considered as men who have an important or divine mission. The poet in this parable was sad about his situation, because
