– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
(bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)
One of William Barclay’s friends tells this story.
In the Church where he worshiped, there was a lonely old man, old Thomas. As he had outlived all his friends, hardly anyone knew him. When Thomas died, his only old friend had the feeling that there would be no one else to go to the funeral. So, he decided to go, so that there might be someone to follow the old man to his last resting-place. There was no one else, and it was a miserable wet day.
The funeral reached the cemetery, and at the gate there was a soldier waiting, an officer, but on his raincoat there were no rank badges. He came to the graveside for the religious ceremony. When the pastor finished his prayers, the officer stepped forward and gave a solemn military salute to Thomas in the closed coffin as if to a dead king. The friend walked away with this soldier, and as they walked, the wind blew the soldier’s raincoat open to reveal the shoulder badges of a brigadier general.
The general said,
“You will perhaps be wondering what I am doing here. Years ago Thomas was my Sunday school teacher. I was a wild lad and a sore trial to him. He never knew what he did for me, but I owe everything I am or will be to old Thomas, and today I had to come to salute him at the end.”
Thomas did not know what he was doing. No preacher or teacher ever does. Keep sowing the high-yielding seeds of the word of God.
My Rector during my time of Seminary used to say: «Nobody knows the good he does when he does good. Nobody knows the evil he does when he does evil».
Love and Peace
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
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