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Don bosco march 2009
2
STORIES FOR RADIANT LIVING
vA l u E s
ScaRS oF Love
O
nce a little boy went to swim in a pond. He jumped into thewater and as he swam towards the middle of the pond, acrocodile came towards him. His mother seeing the danger rantowards the water, yelling to her son as loudly as shecould. Hearing her voice, the little boybecame alarmed and made a U-turnto swim to his mother. It was too late.Just as he was about to reachedher, the crocodile snatched hislegs. From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the armsand started pulling her son to the shore. Thecrocodile was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go. A hunter who happened topass by heard the screams of the desperate mother came to her rescue. He took his gun and shot the crocodile.Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boysurvived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attackof the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his
mother’s ngernails dug into his esh in her effort to hang on to
the son she loved.The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after thetrauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted hispant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter,“But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I havethem because my Mom wouldn’t let go.”
 You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars too;scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unpleasantand have caused us deep regret. But, some scars my friend,are because God has refused to let go. He’s been thereholding on to you in the midst of all your struggles.
The cLeveR aSTRoLoGeR
 A
n astrologer predicted that the daughter of the king would diewithin a week. When the prediction happened to come true,the king ordered the astrologer to be brought to him, intending tohang him that very day. As soon as the man came, the king said:“Since you are so perfect, howabout predicting when you willdie.” “Sir” replied the astrologer,divining the king’s intention, “itis written in the stars that I shalldie three days before you die.”The king was so taken abackat these words that he not onlyspared his life, but ordered that he beprotected to prolong his life as much as possible.
The STaR in The WinDoW
D
uring World War I, families with a son in the war would placea star in the window. A man was walking along with hisgrandson when his grandson asked “Why do all thesehomes have stars in the windows?” The grandfather explained to the grandson what the star symbolized.They walked along and every time theypassed a home with a star in the window the boywould smile and clap his hands together. Thenthe boy pointed up to the sky and pointed to astar. “Look,” he said. “God must have given his son too!”Many gave their lives for their country, but God gave his son for the world.
ThRee FiSheS
T
hree shes lived in a pond. One was named
Plan Ahead
,another was
Think Fast
, and the third was named
Wait andSee
. One day they heard a sherman say that he was going to
cast his net in their pond the next day.Plan Ahead said, “I’m swimming down the river tonight!Think Fast said, “I’m sure I’ll come up with a plan.Wait and See lazily said, “I just can’t think about it now!”
When the sherman cast his nets, Plan Ahead was long gone.
But Think Fast and Wait and See were caught!Think Fast quickly rolled his belly up and pretended to be dead.
“Oh, this sh is no good!” said the sherman, and threw him
safely back into the water. But, Wait and See ended up in the
sh market.
That is why they say, “In times of danger, when the net is cast,plan ahead or plan to think fast!”
 
Don bosco march 2009

A.J. Frank sdb
ajfrankie@gmail.com
vA l u E s
DouBLe TRouBLe
 A
man of middle age, whose hair was turning grey, had twowives, an old woman and a young one. The elder of the twodidn’t like having a husband who looked so much younger thanherself; so, whenever he came to see her, she used to pull thedark hairs out of his head to make him look old. The younger,on the other hand, didn’t like him tolook so much older than her, andtook every opportunity of pullingout the grey hairs, to make himlook young. Between them,they left not a hair in his head,and he became perfectlybald.
The hoRSe
 A
cosmic god had a horse. The horse was beautiful and alsoit had many good qualities. But it wanted to be more perfectin every way. It especially wanted to become the most beautifulbeast in the worldOne day the horse said to the cosmic god, “0 Lord, you havegiven me beauty. You have given me other good qualities. I amso grateful to you. But how I wish you could make me morebeautiful. I would be extremely, extremely grateful if you couldmake me more beautiful.”The cosmic god said, “I am ready to make you more beautiful.Tell me in what way you want to be changed.”The horse said, “It seems to me that I am not well proportioned.My neck is too short. If you can make my neck a little longer, my
SympaTheTic oneneSS
 A
father and son were walking together, enjoying the earlymorning breeze. They had covered a good distance whenthe father stopped suddenly and said, “Son, stop!”The son said, “What’s wrong?”The father said, “Nothing in particular, but let’s not walk anyfarther on this road.”“Why not?” asked the son.“Do you see that elderly man coming toward us?” the father asked, pointing down the road.“Yes, I see him,” replied the son.“He’s a friend of mine,” said the father. “He borrowed moneyfrom me and can’t pay it back. Each time he sees me he tellsme he’ll borrow the money from someone else and give it tome. This has been going on for a long time, and I don’t want toembarrass him anymore.”The son said, “Father, if you don’t want to embarrass him, whydon’t you tell him that the money is a gift and you don’t wantit back?”“I’ve already told him that,” said the father. “When I said, ‘I don’twant it back; it’s a gift,’ he got mad. He said, ‘I’m not a beggar. I’myour friend. When I was in need, you gave me money, and whenI can, I’ll give it back. I want to remain your friend, not become abeggar.’ Now I don’t want to embarrass him, and I don’t want tobe embarrassed myself. So let’s take another road.”The son said, “Father, you are truly good. I’m very proud of you,it’s usually the borrower who tries to avoid the lender. It’s usuallythe receiver who is embarrassed, not the giver. But you want tospare his embarrassment. What I have learned from you is asympathetic oneness.”
upper body will be innitely more beautiful. And if you can makemy legs much longer and thinner, then I will look innitely more
beautiful in my lower body.”The cosmic god said, “Ok!” Then immediately he made a camelappear in place of the horse. The horse was so disheartenedthat it started to cry, “0 Lord, I wanted to become more beautiful.In what way is this kind of outer form more beautiful?”The cosmic god said, “This is exactly what you asked for. Youhave become a camel.”The horse cried, “Oh no, I do not want to become a camel I wishto remain a horse. As a horse, everybody appreciated my goodqualities. Nobody will appreciate me as a camel.”The cosmic god said, “Never try to achieve or receive more than Ihave given you. If you want to lead a life of desires, then at everymoment you will want more and more. But you have no idea whatthe outcome will be. If you cry for a longer neck and legs, thisis what will happen. Each thing in my creation has its own goodqualities. The camel is not as beautiful as you are, but it carriesheavy loads and has a tremendous sense of responsibility.
 
Don bosco june 2008
FROM THE GOSPELS AT A TANGENT - 19
The folded towel
VA l u E S
W 
hen Mary finished her ecstaticnarration of how she had seenJesus alive, she met with elevenpairs of skeptic eyes staring at her.“Feminine hallucinations,” grumbled Thomas atthe far end of the upper room, where thefrightened and discouraged apostles were hiding.“She must have been dreaming,” suggestedBartholomew. The disciples were convincedthat their adventure with Jesus of Nazareth hadcome to a tragic end and that there was nothingmore to it.Mary was aghast at their disdain for her news.She knew that women were not accepted ascredible witnesses in the tradition of Israel. Ithurt her badly. Here she was with the mostmomentous news of their lives and they deride her and doubt her veracity.John was always different from the rest.“Peter,” he nudged the leader of the groupsitting next to him. “Let us go and see. Theremay be something in what she is saying.”Peter got up and ran, with John at his heels.Being younger the latter outran Peter andreached the tomb, which was, to his surpriseand dismay, open. The stone had been rolledaway. But he did not go in. He waited forPeter to arrive.When Peter came puffing and panting, hewent in immediately. John too entered. Therewere the clothes, which were wrapped aroundthe body of the Master lying on the floor. Andthe towel that covered his head was foldedneatly and kept where the head was! Seeing thescene, Peter was totally confused. He did notknow what to make of it. But John, yes, he wasdifferent! He saw and believed! As they came out of the tomb Peter said:“John, they have stolen the body.It is clear.”“Wait a minute. Who could have stolen thebody? Who would have been interested intaking away a dead body? What would bethe benefit, or at least what would be theirmotivation?” John was speaking rapidly, asthey were walking back to theirhiding place.“I do not know all that,” said Peter. “I justknow that the body is missing and that itcould not have walked out by itself.”“Peter,” called out John in a rather solemnand reflective voice. Peter stopped andlooked back at his younger companion, thedisciple whom Jesus loved. Peter too lovedthis young man, not only because the Masterwas very fond of him, but also because hehad a keen intellect and often said thingsthat were quite wise! Even though he wasthe leader, Peter was a humble man, and valued John for his rare gifts.“I saw, and I believe,” said John very slowly and steadily. The solemnity and the“It was. It was foldedneatly and kept where thehead of Jesus had been.Does that not tell youanything?” After squinting his eyes fora moment, he said:“Nothing. I find it only a bit odd, that thethief should take the trouble to fold it andkeep it there. I wonder why anyone woulddo that?”“Peter, do a bit of reasoning. The truth isstarring at you in the face.”No truth was starring at Peter. Only Peterwas starring at John now.“OK. I think that the Master Himself foldedand kept the towel there!”Peter burst out laughing. “John, don’t bestupid. You have been talking too much withthat girl from Magdala. You are catching upwith her dreams. According to you the deadbody got up, folded the head towel neatly and kept it there, pushed the stone away andwalked out! Is that what you are saying?”“Just think. No one else would have donethat, I mean fold that towel. He himself didconviction in his voice were unmistakable.“You saw? What did you see? I did not seeanything but the empty dark tomb,” repliedPeter, rather bewildered and to some extentannoyed.“The clothes, Peter, the clothes.”“Oh, yeah, the clothes. I saw them lyingaround on the floor.”“The cloth that wrapped the body, yes. Butwhat about the head towel?”“Well, I think that napkin was folded andkept on the head side.”
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