Being together

An elderly man used to attend church regularly, but for some reason, he suddenly stopped going. The priest noticed his absence and went to see him at his house. It was a cold wintry night, and as the man was sitting to warm himself next to his fireplace, the priest grabbed a chair and sat next to him. Nothing was said as the man was a quiet man. At one moment the priest grabbed the fork and pickup a smouldering charcoal from the heap in the fireplace. Then he placed it by itself in a tray, and from red hot, it gradually cooled down. He let it stay there for a while and said nothing. The man was wondering why he did that. After a while, the solitary charcoal had cooled enough that the priest picked it up with his fingers and once again placed it on the pile of burning charcoals. Right away, feeling the heat from the other charcoals, it turned orange again within a few seconds. The priest stood up and was ready to leave, when the elderly man spoke up, ‘thank you Padre for giving me a great lesson today. On Sunday you will see me again in church with my fellow parishioners.’ Sometimes you don’t have to say much to convince people of what’s in your heart. The priest wanted the elderly man to know that by coming back to church, he will re-ignite his faith, just as the cooled charcoal re-ignited itself when placed with the other red-hot ones. We are a stronger church when we are together, helping each other, supporting one another.