Telephone Tap
I think this story is from Spike Milligan:
The crusty, ill tempered old Colonel was enjoying his evening scrub in the bath when there was a gentle tap-tap on the door. It was his long-suffering manservant, Chivers.
“I am most sorry to bother you Colonel, especially during your ablutions, but I have a most urgent message for you from the General”, he said, nervously.
“Well slip it under the door, and I will be able to deal with it directly, and make it quick, my man”, said the Colonel.
There was a pause, and then the sound of much heaving and straining. Chivers spoke again, “I am sorry Colonel but I am having difficulty getting the message under the door”.
The short fused Colonel, annoyed at having his bathtime interrupted, replied, “Well blazes man, try a bit harder. You really are a most useless servant!”
There was more heaving and straining, and the bathroom door began to bulge and creak. Chivers spoke again, “I am sorry Sir, but I am encountering the greatest difficulty with this task”.
At this, the Colonel blew his top completely, leapt out of the bath, towelled up, and in a rage tore the bathroom door open.
There, just outside, was Chivers on his hands and knees. “Good grief man! What in Heaven’s name is going on? If you cannot even pass a simple message to me under the bathroom door, then I shall fire you first thing in the morning!”
At this, Chivers stood up, and looking very sheepish, said, “My profoundest apologies, Sir. I could not pass the message to you under the door because,
the message is in my head“.
****************************************
There is a common misconception that you can pass on the message of Christ by words spoken or written or tapped out on a keyboard.
Christians have a much tougher problem than Chivers’ to solve.
Their important message to the world, is in their hearts.
Brother Burrito
Catholicism Pure & Simple
Gertrude
kathleen
mmvc
teresa
The Raven
Excellent !!!
I second JabbaPapa’s remark!
This really gets to the “heart of the matter”!
On 4th July, in an article on St. John Vianney on our blog, comes this wise advice from the holy Cure d’Ars:
“He would tell parents: “Your children remember much more about what they see you do than what you have told them to do.” He would add: “Virtue passes from the mother’s heart into the heart of the children who willingly do what they see is being done”.”
All the same, words, when uttered or written by those who first of all live their Faith, are also very important. Just look at the impact through the centuries many great saints and evangelists had, who preached to the masses. They used words to convert hearts, but first of all they were living testimony to what they preached. In our times, with the more recent invention of the TV, we have Ven. Bishop Fulton Sheen whose powerful sermons reached (and changed) the lives of millions of people,
EWTN Radio and TV (and other Catholic Radio stations) do a fantastic amount of good, have brought many conversions of lapsed Catholics, Protestants and non-believers to the Catholic Church, and are examples of what Bl. John Paul II said are the modern tools of the media being used to spread the Truth of Christ throughout the world….. i.e. through their words.
Where would we be without books on the spiritual life, or lives of the saints, or the history of the Catholic Church etc.? They have an important place in man’s journey of Faith. Many have been converted through what they have read rather than how they have seen other Christians live. St. Ignatius of Loyola for example, when recovering from a leg wound received in battle, passed the time in reading the Fathers of the Church and the lives of the saints, which then changed his life.
So I do love the message of this article above…….. but I don’t fully agree that passing on the message of Christ through “words spoken or written or tapped out on a keyboard” is a “misconception” either.
I too love the story, Burro, but agree with Kathleen. St Francis is believed to have said (or written?
) “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”. Here too the message is surely that the Christian calling is above all one of spreading the Gospel truths by living them out in everyday life, for only then can our words be blessed with the power to convert hearts.
mmvc, my own calling is to use words and the thoughts, concepts, doctrines, and revelations that they represent. Can’t help it, that’s the reality.
I am a little envious, I confess, of those whose calling is to speak with hearts and actions — but that does not mean that I will deny my own vocation to speak to the mind.
God bless you, that was in any case a very pertinent and à propos remark concerning hearts and lives that you have made, and may the blessings that you describe descend upon you in droves !!!
Thank you for your kindness, Jabba.
Even if your charisms differ from mine, underlying all our endeavours to evangelise must be our desire and efforts – however feeble – to put those teachings into practice. Therein, I believe, lies also the power of your verbal appeal to minds (and through minds to hearts).
What we seem to be asking here is: Do actions really speak louder than words?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, thinks Toad. Like almost everything.
Writing is action though.
Viz: Kapital and The New Testament.