Daily Meditation: Sunday, October 15, 2006

One day, a young boy came to the cave of an old hermit and …

10/15/2006

One day, a young boy came to the cave of an old hermit and asked if he would teach him how to find God. The hermit agreed, but in response to all the boy’s questions, he gave only a few brief answers and some very simple exercises, which did not satisfy the boy. One hot afternoon when they were walking along the bank of a river, the hermit said: ‘Let us stop here to drink,’ and when they had stretched out on the ground to take the water in their hands, he suddenly seized the boy’s head, plunged it into the water, held it there for a few seconds and then let go. Gasping for breath, the boy, stupefied, looked at the hermit who asked him: ‘What were you thinking about while your head was under water?’ ‘Air’, responded the boy, ‘I wanted to breathe.’ ‘Very good, said the hermit. ‘Understand that if you want to find God, this is how you must think of him.’ I say the same thing to you: just as someone whose head is under water thinks of nothing but air, when you pray, think of God with all your heart and soul, and of nothing else.