Period March – May 2007

MEETING PLACE

Chapter meetings are held at St. Joseph's Convent, 16 York Street, South Perth. Meetings are held each 3rd. Sunday,commencing at 2.00pm sharp.

March - Chapter meeting to be held on Sunday, 18 March. Discussion on RB 59 & the Gospel of the day – Lk.15:1-3.

April - Chapter meeting to be held on Sunday, 15 April. Discussion on RB 60 & the Gospel of the day – Jn. 20:19-31

May - Chapter meeting to be held on Sunday, 20 May. Discussion on RB 61 & the Gospel of the day – Lk.24:46-53.

PRAYER LIST

Please remember all our sick oblates – in particular Pat Cockett & Michael Kent.

Prayers requested for Rhod’s mother and Mike McGovern's mother.

Also and always, continue to pray for our parent community in New Norcia.

Would you please remember all our deceased oblates.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

This year's annual oblate retreat at New Norcia will again be held on Holy Trinity weekend, Friday to Monday, 1,2,3&4 June 2007. Please contact our Secretary, Adrienne Byrne on tel.9388 3026 to ensure your accommodation is reserved.

Our thanks to Mike and Maureen McGovern for hosting the annual Christmas BBQ at their house. As usual the gathering was well supported by oblates, with some eighteen turning up and we understand the neighbours were entertained with some rousing carol singing.

The February Oblate Chapter meeting included our AGM and members elected the President and Committee for the next twelve months. Those appointed:

President ……………..Brian Low

Secretary …………….Adrienne Byrne

Assistant Secretary…..Doris Walton

Treasurer……………. Mike McGovern

Spiritual Director ……Fr. Anthony Lovis OSB

Committee Members - Eleanor Sgherza, Mike Schilling & Don Morris.

Oblates would like to thank Brian Low for his contribution as President of the Chapter over the past year and his decision to re-nominate. Many thanks also to Fr. Anthony and his continuing dedication in travelling each month from New Norcia, his homilies and spiritual oversight of our group.

Due to rising costs, the Committee has regretfully decided to increase the newsletter subscription cost to $15.00 per annum from 2007, this being the first rise for twelve years.

THE GOOD ZEAL

The Rule of St. Benedict Chapter 72

by Father Simeon Daly, OSB

Has there ever been a period of history when so many people have had so much of what this world has to offer? Yet one need only glimpse at the lives of the rich and the famous to learn that wealth and fame are not the source of happiness. Western mores have so responded to the personal comfort of the individual that all too often the spiritual needs are neglected or ignored. Too few take the time to smell the flowers or to enjoy the simple beauties of the world around them. Little thought is given to values beyond personal needs. Too few are aware of the insight expressed by Augustine – ‘Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.’ But they experience it in the depth of their being.

Those of us who have sensed this void in our lives do well to look to the masters of the spiritual life for guidance and direction. The Gospel dictum, loosely expressed, ‘to lose one-self is to find oneself,’ is spelled out in various ways in their writings. A shift in one's priorities from personal gain, to concern for the common good, though difficult to accomplish, is an almost sure path to inner peace. Many spiritual directors have pointed this out, few better than St. Benedict in his Rule. In the Rule, St. Benedict has outlined the dispositions necessary for the ‘school of the Lord's service’ where God is sought in the details and God's will is the focus of life's expectation.

In Chapter 72 of the Holy Rule, St. Benedict summarises the whole Christian impulse that is the key to personal happiness and to community peace. So simple, yet so profound, so easy to understand, so hard to live out. It is a secret we should master and share with our brothers and sisters who are thirsting for just such a clarifying doctrine.

‘Just as there is a wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates from evil and leads to God and everlasting life.’ (RB 72:1-2)
The exact meaning of zeal is not as clear as defining something by genus or species. The Greek verb zeloo means to love ardently. The noun zeloten means one who loves, one who loves jealously. Another noun with the same root zelos means emulation or jealousy.

St. Benedict speaks of a good zeal and a bad zeal. The two ways, evil or good are expressions as old as Christianity. The opening words of the Didache, a very early document of Christian life and practice, are – ‘Two ways there are, one of life and one of death and there is a great difference between these two ways.’ In the New Testament, the ethos of which St. Benedict is distilling, good zeal means generous rivalry, noble aspiration, ardent affection - ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’ John 2:17. ‘I can testify that they have a zeal for God...’ Romans 10:2.

But there are also references to the bad sense of zeal - envy, jealousy, or malice - ‘But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy,..’ Acts 13:45. ‘Let us live honourable in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy’ Romans 13:13. ‘The high priest took action, he and all with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees) being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles...’ Acts 5:17. See also 2 Corinthians 12:20 and James 3:14, l6.

St. Benedict is clear that he wants no part of evil zeal, but does seek the good zeal that leads to God. Over the years, others have reflected upon what St. Benedict meant by good zeal. While no single commentary or definition nails down the meaning, taken together they give us a good sense of the goal.

Bernard Sause O.S.B. in his meditations says – ‘The virtue of zeal is more a question of an all embracing generosity with God than some specific talent... It is always established by years of faithfulness that are recorded before God.... It is invariably identified with the workings of monastic stability.’

Zeal is defined by Dom Marmion as – ‘An ardour that burns and is communicated, that consumes and is spread abroad, it is the flame of love, or of hatred, manifested by action.’

G.A. Simon in his commentary says – ‘Zeal is a certain interior warmth of soul, tending toward an end, good or bad

Delatte speaks of zeal as – ‘...a secret ardour, a fermentation of the soul. A good zeal frees the soul from evil passions and leads themto God.’

Van Zeilar says that this good zeal is far more enduring than mere enthusiasm for observance, which even a novice may show for a while, or a fanatic may follow to a fault. The good zeal is a response to grace and resides in the will and not in the emotions.

Having established a sense of what zeal is and the kind of zeal a monk should have, St. Benedict now spells out how that zeal should be lived in community. Much of the rest of the short Chapter 72 is a patchwork of texts from St. Paul skilfully pulled together, which spells out the Gospel's basic command to love our neighbour. According to Delatte, these few sentences condense the science of monastic perfection. In a way, similar to saying that the Gospel ethic can be expressed as love of God and love of neighbour. The few sentences of this Chapter can be taken as a synthesis of the entire Rule - ‘...condenses the science of monastic perfection into a few short and pithy sentences which have the brightness and solidity of the diamond. The points of doctrine and even the forms of expression are already partly known to us. Their selection and grouping give them a new value.’

‘ This then, is the good zeal which monks must foster with fervent love - They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other, supporting with the greatest patience one another's weaknesses of body or behaviour and earnestly competing in obedience with one another. No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better for someone else.’ (RB 72:3-7)
Here is a call for us, that full fraternal charity evoked by the words of Jesus in John 15:35 – ‘By this shall all know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for the other.’ St. Benedict goes on to spell out specifically what this love entails. We are to have an exuberant love that even anticipates the needs of another. This basic principle of Christian life can be found in a number of New Testament passages, such as 1 Corinthians 10:24, 33; 13:5, Philippians 2:4 and Romans 12:10.

These ways of showing love can be as many and as varied as the imagination of each individual. These are the small courtesies that take the edge off a confined intimacy. It may be as small as a word, a gesture, or a smile, a note written, thanks given, a task performed, a meal carried, a dish washed, or a caring surprise. These are positive outgoing things, but this love calls also for more passive but equally challenging dispositions that bear patiently the weaknesses of oneself and others. One may be forgetful, another mean spirited, one thoughtless, another overbearing. It takes little imagination to realise the countless opportunities for patient, loving endurance that arise in daily life, a bad throat, a noisy nose, a heavy foot, a slamming door. The list could go on. St. Benedict covers them all by teaching us to endure patiently one another's weaknesses of body or behaviour.

Obedience to one another is a very creative concept. It reflects the deep appreciation for each individual person. Obedience is a concept that encompasses a relationship of power or control. St. Benedict shifts the concept to fraternal charity, to mutual concern, to a common good that is outside the range of the exercise of control.

Monks do not have a corner on this kind of love. Certainly the family and other non-monastic communities have countless opportunities to exercise this way of relating to one another. These principles laid down for monastics are equally valid in other social settings that an Oblate experiences. How sweet it would be if we could all have grown up in homes where these ideals were lived out. Yet that is precisely the challenge the Rule makes to those who wish to live the Gospel teachings more fully after the manner of the Benedictine way of life. Each Oblate in reflective prayer, asking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can find ways to be more loving in his or her own family or other community environment.

They too, can serve others, anticipating their needs and bearing with grace, without resentment, the little hurts that come by way of forgetfulness, inconsiderateness, or even the selfishness that occasionally creeps into the actions of all of us. The balm of forgiveness, even in hidden moments and single instances, eases the pain of a troubled world, one drop at a time. In so far as we are able to let the life of Christ model our actions, the more we will bring Christ's healing redemption into our world. Loving actions and patient endurance help us to enter more fully into the mystery of the life and death of Christ, loving as He loved, bearing the hurts as He bore His passion and death.

To their fellow monks they show the pure love of brothers; to God, loving fear; to their abbot unfeigned and humble love. Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ and may He bring us all together to everlasting life. (RB 8:12)The Latin word for pure, here, is caste. It is an adverb and would normally mean ‘chastely’ speaking of the love of brothers. A word study of patristic writings made by E. Dekkers shows that in this instance, caste has no sexual connotations, but means disinterested, generous, or unselfish.

That is the kind of love St. Benedict calls for - an unselfish love, accepting people where they are, not trying to ‘move around their internal furniture,’ as one writer used to say. It is a welcoming love marked by hospitality in its broadest sense. It is non-judgemental. It may prompt a word, or withhold a word, as dictated by the circumstances. This love moves us to be supportive of one another.
Fundamental to everything about this way of life, is a reverence for God. Recognition of our dependence upon God is basic to the whole spiritual enterprise. It is prior to the love of the brethren and is echoed in the unfeigned and humble love proffered to one’s abbot. The oblate is more remotely related to the abbot than the monk, but he or she is equally challenged to piety towards God and a reverence for those who hold a place of spiritual guidance in their lives. How basic to a Christian life, to have constantly before one's eyes the principle – ‘Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ.’ What more beautiful a way could this purple passage conclude, than ‘may He bring us all together to everlasting life.’

We have joined 'the school of the Lord's service', to respond to a divine call initiated in this life, to be fulfilled finally in the next. The endeavour is no passing fancy. We are engaged in a way of life that calls for perseverance till death. The way itself has a proven formula for personal peace, community harmony and happiness in the world to come - good zeal that expresses itself in love of God and neighbour. Do not think for a moment that this way is not counter cultural. It is! We do well to ponder these words carefully and follow their lead every moment of our lives. We call it a Benedictine Way. It is a Christian Way. It leads to peace.

I would like to conclude with a brief summary of the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict that appeared in the 1969 edition of the ‘Covenant of Peace, a Declaration on Benedictine Monastic Life.’ It captures for me, all that we have spoken of in Chapter 72. It is equally applicable to life in the monastery, in the family, or in any other faith community -

‘Let us together daily walk in the paths of God's commands, encouraging one another in a never ending conversion, inspiring one another into a deeper conformation into the image of Jesus Christ. With hearts expanded by a love we cannot find words to express, let us support one another until our deaths here in the monastery. So that together by patient perseverance, we may all learn to participate in the passion of Christ and thus together, be made sharers of His eternal reign of Glory.’

WHY FOLLOW A MONASTIC RULE?

By Tom Gollop, taken from 'The Chapter' newsletter of Ealing Abbey – 1995

We thought oblates would be interested in reading this article penned by our recently departed friend and oblate Tom, written some twelve years ago.

Why would some laypeople in the 1990's attempt to follow the Rule of St. Benedict which was written for monks - and monks of the early 6th century at that? It all seems extremely odd, even the word 'Rule' sounds off-putting, suggesting rules and regulations. Perhaps this attraction of the Rule may be explored a little by considering where contemporary Benedictine monks and nuns come from.
They enter a monastery as adults, inevitably conditioned by the society around them. Thus, today's postulants would have been influenced by television, tomorrow's will be computer literate.
In every age, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit to produce new organisations to meet the needs of the times. The 19th century, for example, produced teaching and missionary orders by the dozen. Today they are in decline, some even regarded as old-fashioned. But always alongside the new, usually doing the same kind of work, there are the Benedictines - sometimes ardent and growing, sometimes slack and shrinking - but always there.

Historically, changes in society have been so drastic, that the further we go back, everyday life becomes more and more incomprehensible. We would not be able to understand our ancestors' speech and even less, their mode of thought. Yet their basic human nature was the same.

These two points can be illustrated from Shakespeare. A performance of Macbeth can grab us by the throat because it deals with basic human nature and the appalling way that power can de-humanise us. We all know examples of what has happened to some contemporary politicians and businessmen. On the other hand, we can't fully grasp Shakespeare's comedies without long scholarly footnotes. We are so far from Elizabethan modes of thought that most of us couldn't even name the four basic 'humours' which were the Elizabethan explanation of how our minds and bodies work.

Returning to the Rule, I shall consider three monasteries all very remote in time. These communities differed from each other quite radically in social background, yet each successfully applied the Rule.
Beginning with St Benedict's Cassino, that was surrounded by a world in chaotic collapse, looking back nostalgically to imperial Rome. Its monks were almost all laymen, their prayer closely linked to labouring in the fields.

Two hundred years later, St Bede was in a completely different society, a springtime of hope. His monastery was full of missionary priests aglow with the glory of founding a new Christian civilisation, while other monks were laboriously copying out the Christian and pagan writings of the lost antique world, thus handing down civilisation to posterity.

Another four hundred years brought the Benedictine high summer, with huge abbeys greatly influencing society, playing the roles covered in the modern world, by schools, universities, hospitals, social security and even hotels. But society also was influencing them, abbots were powerful feudal lords who had to provide knights for feudal armies. It would be difficult to think of anything further away from St Benedict's first little community, yet medieval monasteries produced hundreds of wonderful saints.

So, why does the Rule work so well in every different age? It must have some universal teaching that applies to all kinds of people at all times. The answer, of course, is to be found in the Prologue and it is not limited to monasticism as such. It addresses every person's alienation from God by sin. That is, disobedience and the only possible path to true happiness, i.e. a return to God by obedience. This is a universal call, a vocation for all Christians. Only at the end of the Prologue is the monastery mentioned as the 'school of the Lord's service'. The Rule proper is devoted to applying that call in detail, so that, to each monk, the closeness of Jesus is focused by prayer. Scripture and work in every minute of the day and night.

Thus, the Rule is much more than rules and regulations. It is more like a window to God, or better, a lens which focuses the light of Christ on everyday life, even more. It acts as a burning glass, focusing His love into our innermost being, so that, if we let Him, we can burst into flame. That is the reason lay people are attracted to The Rule.

However, turning to the way in which modern laypeople use the Rule to get close to Jesus in the same way as monastics, we enter a misty area which sometimes is a dense fog. Even oblates who make a public promise to reform their lives by following the Rule, lack a sharply defined identity. Part of the reason for this, is that every lay Benedictine's 'school in the Lord's service,' is not a monastery, but their own individual situation tailor-made by God for them to grow in holiness.

That situation is unique, but the principle applies to every baptised Christian. So oblates are 'not special' and 'special' all at the same time. Not special in being the same as all Christians, but special in having access to centuries of Benedictine wisdom, beginning with the Rule, which itself reaches back to Scripture. All of that focuses on Christ in a particular way which we feel is in harmony with our spiritual needs.
Our unique situation, our 'school in the Lord's service', means that every oblate has to work out for himself how to follow Christ bv applying the Rule to his or her own life - oblate obedience, for example, will differ from monastic obedience.

It is tempting to think of writing a 'Lay Rule' that would apply to all oblates, omitting all the parts of the Rule which specifically apply to monastic life. That has been tried but didn't work, primarily because it tended to establish a corporate oblate identity which had the potential of cutting the lifeline to the monastery of affiliation. This intimate link with the local monastery is an important element in an oblates spiritual life and can grow to be part of the oblate equivalent of monastic stability.

The concept of a local monastery as an extended family, which is largely autonomous, is one of Benedictinism's greatest strengths, because it answers the need for 'roots' denied to moderns by many aspects of contemporary society. The history of every Benedictine house shows an outreaching of influence into the outside community, encouraging people to be better followers of Christ. This applies particularly to spiritual direction of oblates who are, or should be, a spiritual arm of the monastery reaching out into the world.

What does this term 'spiritual arm' mean? That depends on how each local oblate spiritual director views the oblate vocation and how far each oblate tries to live that vocation, always bearing in mind that the old-fashioned but still true - 'duties of an oblates state of life' - are of paramount importance. Despite any rulings of Canon Law, it is impossible to tie a label on oblate identity - who can assess how closely to Jesus anyone lives? Obviously individual oblates will vary in their interpretation of their oblate vocation. If we really want to tie a label on ourselves, it might be suggested with fear and trembling, that there are roughly three levels - 'friend of the monastery', 'imitation monk' and 'contemplative in the world' - many experienced oblates could find better definitions.

Returning to the attempt to write a lay Rule, it was the wrong approach because principles and practice in the Rule are so closely interwoven that it is almost impossible to delete a monastic practice without rejecting the principle underlying it. Take a very minor section of the Rule, for example, the detail of clothing in Chapter 55. This teaches us not to wear outdated 6th century clothing but to he moderate in our use of the gifts of God. Our outward appearance to others is not of world-shattering importance but it plays a part in our lives which may vary a lot according to our circumstances. With typical common sense, St Benedict teaches us neither to be dress-mad nor slovenly.

Chapter 55 also reminds us of another great aspect of the Rule - its flexibility. St Benedict's ruling on clothing was framed for 6th century Italy but the practical details have been changed by monks from time to time while preserving the fundamental principles. It is this flexibility which makes the RB so valuable an aid for contemporary Christian living by lay-people. It not only lays down a foundation of seeking God in prayer, but uses that to develop wonderful relationships with other people.

This emerges particularly in the 'penal' chapters, a section which laypeople tend to ignore completely as being out of date and applying only to monks of a cruder and more barbarous age. But what are the crimes of these delinquents? Murder? Theft? Mugging? No, the criminals are grumblers, detractors and above all, those awkward so-and-so's that we all find nowadays in our acquaintance. Our natural reaction is to ignore them, to walk away and hope that they will disappear. Not so St Benedict - we are responsible to God for them and we have to do something! Study Chapter 27.

The Rule is not an easy document. It is necessary not just to read the Rule, but to study a good commentary on it. Commentaries exist by the dozen, but most are written by monastics for monastics. These are fine for laypeople as far as the Prologue and Chapters 4 to 7 are concerned - they are not so useful in helping laypeople to apply the rest of the Rule to their own lives. But there are commentaries specifically written for lay Benedictines, such as Dom Columba Cary-Elwes' Work and Prayer, which are invaluable.

All the above might suggest that the Rule is an end to itself. St Benedict himself contradicts this notion, saying in the final chapter, that it is just a beginning. Its purpose is to help us seek God and apply the revelation of Jesus to our own lives, above all by prayer through the Eucharist and Scripture.

ST. BEDE THE VENERABLE

by Paula Morin

The 7th and 8th centuries of Anglo-Saxon England were periods of great danger and unrest. In the north-eastern corner of England, the region called Northumbria, was the home of many holy men and women, who helped spread the Gospel of Christ in thought, word and deed. Known as the Northern Saints of the British Isles, these courageous and spirited holy men and women established monasteries, instituted great libraries, converted royalty and peasants, inspired the arts, healed and counselled the afflicted and settled political and theological disputes throughout the land. Among these was an unassuming monk and priest who became the visionary scholar and brilliant teacher - St. Bede the Venerable. St. Bede was born in Northumbria near the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in 673 and died there in 735. During his lifetime, he barely ventured beyond the geographical limits of his home region. Now, almost 1500 years later, St. Bede remains the only Englishman ever to be named a Doctor of the Universal Church. It is not too far-fetched to say, that the entire fabric of ecclesiastical experience as we know it, has been shaped and inspired by St. Bede’s thoughtful scholarship, his mighty intellectual vision and his prayerful devotion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

St. Bede’s great delight was the joy of study, learning and teaching. As a young monk, he was tutored by another prominent monastic figure of Northumbria, St. Benedict Biscop. Of noble lineage, Benedict Biscop established the monastery of St. Peter at the mouth of the River Wear, on the north-eastern coastline of England. The abbey church that he designed and erected was constructed by stonemasons and other craftsmen invited to Britain from France. These artisans arrayed the monastery with sacred vessels, lamps and other creative works, including the newest art form – windows filled with glass. Benedict’s next building project was the monastery at Jarrow on the bank of the River Tyne, just south of Wearmouth. Here the abbot began to compile a vast library of secular and religious volumes from Rome and other parts of Europe. This was the nurturing atmosphere of art, architecture, spirituality and learning, that surrounded the fertile mind and spirit of the young monk Bede and provided him a haven to worship, grow, reflect and flourish.

As a young monk, St. Bede studied Latin and later Greek. His later writings indicate his advanced training and knowledge in sacred as well as secular literature. It is clear from these that he knew the Rule of St. Benedict, although RB was one of seventeen rules which the abbot drew upon to shape the life of his monks. The Rule of St. Benedict may likely have represented for St. Bede what it symbolizes for contemporary oblates today– a source of wisdom and inspiration that points the way to a prayerful and balanced life.

St. Bede is revered today for his epic work - The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which in five books, traces the development of the church in Britain and celebrates its holy men and women. Today, this monumental effort is studied and admired for the accuracy of its historical method as well as for its hagiography and remains the greatest source of information available, about the early history of the English overall. Several of the northern saints whose lives are recorded there, are shining examples of early Celtic Christianity - St. Cuthbert, St. Hilda, St. Aidan of Iona and the mystic cowherd turned poet, Caedmon, who transposed scripture into moving works of music, song and rhyme.

Although The Ecclesiastical History was the final and primary opus of St. Bede’s life, this monastic educator contributed many other learned works. Less well known are his biblical commentaries, thoughtful treatises addressed primarily to his fellow monks and intended for prayerful reflection in the tradition of Lectio Divina. The scholarly monk also penned independent accounts of the lives of St. Cuthbert, St. Anastasius and St. Felix

In his theological, historical, and hagiographical studies, Bede was gifted by great freedom of mind and accomplished intellectual insight. He also applied his mental acuity to questions of mathematics, which thereby enabled the early church to compile an accurate ecclesiastical calendar for Easter. Bede calculated the system of dating that placed Christ at the centre of time’s reference point in the notations known as A.D. and B.C. This illuminating concept was visionary for his day and remains equally remarkable when considered in relation to our modern worldview. In the physical sciences, Bede also actively speculated on the notion of the earth as a global sphere. In traditional monastic fashion, St. Bede always considered the Word of God to be a vehicle of prayer and inner life conversion. Those who knew him, characterised him as a man of simplicity, peacefulness and thankfulness. His lifelong desire to draw ever closer to God, was an incentive that propelled his love of learning, writing and teaching. He studied to learn, learned to absorb and then directed his mind to share the insights of his intellect and devotion with others. In both a religious and wider sense, St. Bede became an enduring source of inspiration, because his life work remains always an outer expression of this inner faith. The example of the Venerable Bede, reaches out and touches us today. His was the life of a true monk who longed for heaven, a gifted scholar who used the implements of his talent to serve the Gospel and above all, a holy person whose life reflected the loving presence of God here on earth.

DOES GOD EXIST?

From the Salesian Bulletin December 2006

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said, 'I don't believe that God exists.' 'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realise that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.'The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber, 'You know what? Barbers do not exist.' 'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!' 'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.' 'Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me.' 'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, does exist! What happens is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'

*****************************************