photo #174177

A young monk came one day to his father superior and asked, "Father, what is it to be dead to self?" The father replied, "I cannot explain it now, but I have a duty for you to perform. Brother Martin died last week and is buried in the churchyard of our order. Go to his grave, standing close beside it, repeat in a loud voice all the good things you ever heard of him. After this, say all the flattering things you can invent; and attribute to him every saintly grace and virtue, without regard to truth; and report the result to me.The young monk went to do his bidding, wondering what all this could mean. Soon he returned and the father asked him what had transpired. "Why, nothing," replied the young man. "I did as you told me and that was all." "Did Brother Martin make no reply?" asked the superior. "Of course he did not, for he was dead," said the monk. The elder shook his head thoughtfully, saying, "That is very strange. Go again tomorrow at the same hour, and repeat at the graveside all the evil you ever heard concerning Brother Martin. Add to that the worst slander and calumny your mind can imagine, and report the result to me."Again the young man obeyed, and brought back the same report. He had heaped unlimited abuse on the head of Brother Martin and yet had received no reply. "From Brother Martin you may learn," said the father, "what it is to be dead to self. Neither flattery nor abuse has moved him, for he is dead. So the disciple who is dead to self will be insensible to those things, hearing neither voice of praise nor retaliation but all personal feeling will be lost in the service of Christ."