The Beggar

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the aflicted. then shall your light rise in the darkness.”Isaiah 58:10There is a story of a monk who had given himself to prayer. All his life, he longed that just once, Christ would appear to him. He had prayed this for years, and then one day it happened.The monk was praying, and as he looked up, there he was: the Lord Jesus Christ standing right there in his cell. The monk was completely overwhelmed. This was the moment he had longed for all his life—a personal audience with Jesus Christ. His mind was filled with a thousand questions he wanted to ask.At that moment, the bell over the door of the monastery rang. The monk knew what that meant. From time to time, a beggar would climb the hill to the monastery to ask for bread. That day, the monk was on duty, which meant that it was his responsibility to answer the door.So now, the monk faced an agonising choice: Would he leave the Saviour and feed the beggar, or would he stay with the Saviour and ignore the beggar?The monk made his decision. Slowly, he rose from his knees, left his light-filled cell, went to the kitchen, and gave the beggar the bread. Then, with great sadness the monk walked back to his room, distraught that serving the beggar had caused him to miss the moment of a lifetime.When he got to his cell, to his absolute astonishment, he saw that the Saviour was still there, waiting for him. He fell to his knees in wonder. And then the Saviour said to him: “If you had not gone, I would not have stayed.”Is there someone in need with whom you can share the presence of Christ?