There was
a parishioner who stopped going to church, which he had been doing every
weekend. After a while the priest decided to visit that man. He came to his
house. The door was open, and the priest came in. The ex-parishioner was
sitting in front of a fireplace alone. When he saw the priest, he greeted him
with a nod and invited the priest to sit by his side. The priest accepted the
invitation. Now both men were sitting in silence looking at the dance of fire.
Several minutes later, the priest suddenly rose to his feet, took a tong, and
grabbed one piece of burning wood from the fireplace. He put it aside, far from
the fire, and sat back. Both men kept silent. Little by little, the wood
stopped burning until it finally became cold and black. The priest got up
again, took the tong, and put the dead wood back into the fire. Just a moment
later, it was ablaze like the rest. The priest put the tong aside and headed
for the door. When he was about to leave, the man broke the silence:
“Thank you for your visit and for your sermon by the fire. I promise to come to church
this Sunday.”
Translated
by The Catalog of Good Deeds
CONVERSATION