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One of the touching
legends
that sprang up around
the holy memory of
St. Francis of Assisi
tells how one day
the saint walked up to an almond tree
and said:
Sister, speak to me of God;
and the almond tree blossomed.
This story in its way
defines the best hopes
of every Christian,
for we have all heard
the world address
the same demand to us:
sometimes shamefacedly,
sometimes bluntly, sometimes subtly
but always insistently,
the world keeps saying:
speak to me of God,
do for me as Christ would.
This then should be
our deeply cherished
hope:
that we may respond
as beautifully, as dramatically,
as did the almond tree.
That is to say, we must
project our life
as a pursuit of excellence
so that the sheer strength and
beauty of our life and work,
our achievements,
our thought and speech
will speak loudly and clearly
to the world of God.
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