There was a monk who was not a very talented person: he was not too intelligent, he was not physically strong, he did not have sports or artistic skill, etc. However, he was a good monk and always tried to fulfill his task in the best possible way. He always thought that God did not love him very much since God gave him few or even no talents.
Neither did he have very good health, since he frequently became sick and that also saddened him because he was not able to be with the community, or to serve the community as he wanted to serve it. Above all it saddened him because his health did not allow him to be a normal monk. He thought that God sent him those sicknesses as a punishment because he was not a good monk and because he was not helpful at all at the monastery. However, as his spiritual director counseled him, he daily offered those sufferings in reparation for his sins and for the salvation of souls.
His superior never gave him a big responsibility because of his health issues and lack of ability to fulfill responsibilities. This also reinforced the idea he had: “God does not love me and this is the reason that my superiors treat me in this way.” He never complained about this, he took this as part of the cross he had to carry because God did not love him.
One day, God took pity on this monk and decided to send an angel to him. “Why are you sad?” the angel asked him. “Because God does not love me” the monk immediately answered. “Why do you think that God does not love you?” asked the angel. “Because God gave me no talents, sent me illnesses, and because I want to be a monk but I cannot be a good monk…” While he was saying all these things, the angel stopped him and asked: “God gave you His grace, didn’t He?” “I think so,” said the monk. “That grace helped you to obey your superiors although they never asked you big things, didn’t it?” asked the angel. “Yes” said the monk. “Now” continued the angel “tell me, what is more important: to do big things following your own will or to fulfill God’s Will in small things because those are the things that God, through your superiors, asked you to do? Which sanctifies more?”
The angel left and the monk understood the lesson: it is not important if we are successful or not, if we have problems or disgrace in our lives, but what is important is bearing fruit where God has planted us, in the vocation he gave to us. What is important is that we do what he wants us to do, instead of doing our will and being sterile (even though our will can make us do great things or having success in this life).
Both disgrace and success should be accepted as part of God’s plan to sanctify us. This means that we should not be proud of the success in our lives, and not be sad because of bad things that happen in our lives. Success or disgrace are part of God’s plan for us, if we live them as we should live them, that is, without sinning. It is not important what happens, but rather how we handle the things that happen in our lives, and if we use them, both good and bad, in order to grow in holiness.
