Maktub

The master says: "If your journey is difficult, listen to your heart. Try to be as honest as possible with yourself, and see whether you are really following your path and paying the price for your dreams. If you do this, and nevertheless your life is hard, the moment comes when it is right to complain. But do it with respect, as a child complains to a parent. But do not fail to ask for more attention and help. God is Father and Mother, and parents always want the best for their children. It may be that the learning process is being pushed too hard, and it costs nothing to request a pause, some affection. But never exaggerate. Job complained at the proper time, and his belongings were returned to him. Al Afid complained too much, and God stopped listening".

A pious man found himself suddenly deprived of all of his wealth. Knowing that God would help him no matter what, he began to pray: "Lord, please let me win the lottery," he asked. He prayed for years and years, but was still poor. One day he died, and -since he was a very pious man, he went straight to heaven. When he arrived there, he refused to enter. He said that he had lived his entire life according to his religious teachings, and that God had never allowed him to win the lottery. "Everything You promised me was a lie," the man said, disgusted. "I was always ready to help you win," the Lord responded. "But, no matter how much I wanted to do so, you never bought a lottery ticket."

An aged Chinese wise man was walking through a field of snow, when he came upon a woman weeping.

"Why are you crying?" he asked. "Because I'm thinking about my life, my youth, the beauty that I saw in the mirror and the men I loved. God is cruel to have given the ability to remember. He knew that I would remember the spring of my life, and cry." The wise man stood there in the field of snow, staring at a fixed point and contemplating. At a certain point, the woman stopped crying: "What do you see there?" she asked. "A field of roses," answered the wise man. "God was generous with me when he gave me the ability to remember. He knew that in winter, I could always remember spring -and smile."

The master says: "One's personal destiny is not as simple as it appears. Not at all. It may even call for some sort of dangerous action. When we want something, we put into motion some powerful energies, and we are no longer able to conceal from ourselves the true meaning of our life. When we want something, we make a choice and we pay a price. To follow one's dream carries a price. It may demand that we give up old habits, it may create problems for us, and it may bring disappointment. But, no matter how high the price, it is never so high as at we pay for not having lived out our personal destiny. Because one

day we will look back and see everything we have done, and hear our own heart say: 'I wasted my life. ' Believe me, that is the worst phrase you can ever hear."

A master had hundreds of disciples. All of them prayed at the appropriate time -except one, who was a drunkard. On the day that he was dying, the master called the drunken disciple to his side, and passed on to him all of his occult secrets. The other disciples were revolted: "What a shame! We sacrificed everything for a master who was unable to perceive our qualities," they said. The master said: "I had to pass on these secrets to a man I knew well. Those who appear to be virtuous generally conceal their vanity, their pride and their intolerance. So, I chose the only disciple whose defects I could see: the drinker."

The Cistercian father Marcos Garcia said: "Sometimes God takes back a certain blessing in order to help the person understand it better. God knows up to what point he can test a soul -and he never goes beyond that point. At such times, we never say: 'God has abandoned me. ' If the Lord imposes a demanding test upon us, he always provides us with a sufficient number of graces -probably more than sufficient -to meet the test. When we feel far from His presence, we should ask ourselves: 'Do we understand how to make use of what he has placed in our path?'"

Sometimes days or weeks pass without our having received a gesture of affection from anyone. Such periods are difficult; when human kindness seems to have disappeared, and life seems to be simply a matter of survival. The master says: "We must examine our own fireplace. We must place more kindling, and try to illuminate the dark room that our life has become. When we hear our fire crackling and the burning wood snapping, and when we read the stories the flames are telling, hope returns to us. If we are capable of loving, we will also be capable of being loved. It is only a matter of time."

At a luncheon, a person broke his glass. Another person said, "That's a sign of good luck." Everyone at the table knew of the belief. But a rabbi who was there asked: "Why is that a sign of good luck?" "I don't know," said the wanderer's wife. "Perhaps it's an ancient way of preventing the guest from feeling bad."

"No, that's not the explanation," the rabbi said. "Certain Jewish traditions have it that every man has a certain quota of luck, which he uses up over the course of his life. One can make that quota pay interest if he uses his luck only for things he really needs -or he can use his luck in a wasteful fashion. We Jews also say 'Good luck' when someone breaks a glass. But it means, 'It's good that you didn't use up any of your luck trying to keep the glass from breaking. Now, you can use it for more important things. '"

Padre Abraham knew that close to the monastery at Sceta lived a hermit reputed to be a wise man. He sought the man out and asked him: "If you were to find a beautiful woman in your bed today, would you be able to convince yourself that it was not a woman?" "No," answered the wise man. "But I would be able to control myself." The padre went on: "And if you found some gold coins in the desert, would you be able to regard the money as stones?" "No," said the wise man. "But I would be able to control myself and leave them there." The padre insisted: "And if you were consulted by two brothers, one of whom hates you and the other of whom loves you, would you be able to regard them as equals?" The hermit answered: "Even though I might suffer inside, I would treat the one who loved me in the same way as the one who hated me." "I will explain to you what a wise man is," the padre later told his disciples. "It is he who, rather than killing his passions, is able to control them."

W. Frasier, throughout his life, wrote about the American west, and was proud of having written the screenplay for a film that starred Gary Cooper. He said that there were very few times in his life when he became angry. "I learned many things from the pioneers," he said. "They fought the indians, crossed deserts, searched for food and water in remote places. And all that was written during that period shows that they demonstrated a curious trait: the pioneers wrote only about and talked about only good things. Instead of complaining, they composed songs and jokes about their difficulties. That way, they avoided discouragement and depression. And today, at age 88, I try to do the same thing."

The text is adapted from a poem by John Muir: "I want to free my soul so that it can enjoy all of the gifts that the spirits own. When this is possible, I will not try to know the craters of the moon, nor track the rays of the sun to their source. I will not try to understand the beauty of a star, nor the artificial desolation of a human being. "When I learn how to free my soul, I will follow the dawn, and to return with it through time. When I learn how to free my soul, I will plunge into the magnetic currents that drain into an ocean where all waters meet to form the Soul of the World. "When I learn how to free my soul, I will try to read the splendid page of Creation from the beginning."

One of the sacred symbols of Christianity is the figure of the pelican. The reason is simple: in the total absence of food to eat, the pelican plunges its beak into its own flesh to feed its young. The master says:

"We are often incapable of understanding the blessings we have received. Many times we do not perceive what He does to keep us spiritually nourished. There is a story about a pelican who -during a hard winter -sacrificed herself by providing her own flesh to her children. When she finally died of weakness, one of the nestlings said to another: 'Finally! I was getting tired of eating the same old thing every day. '"

If you are dissatisfied with something -even a good thing that you would like to do, but have not been able to -stop now. If things are not going well, there are only two explanations: either your perseverance is being tested, or you need to change direction. In order to discover which of those options is correct -since they are opposites -make use of silence and prayer. Little by little, things will become strangely clear, until you have sufficient strength to choose. Once you have made your decision, forget completely the other possibility. And go forward, because God is the God of the Valiant. Domingos Sabino said:

"Everything always turns out for the best. If things are not going well, it is because you have not yet reached the end."

The Brazilian composer, Nelson Motta, was inBahia , when he decided to pay a visit to Mother Menininha de Gantois. He caught a taxi, and on their way, the driver lost his brakes. The car spun around in the middle of the road, but other than being frightened, nothing serious occurred. When he met with Mother Menininha, the first thing Nelson told her about was the near accident in the middle of the road.

"There are certain things that are already written, but God finds us a way to get past them without any serious problem. That is, it was a part of your destiny to be in an automobile accident at this point in your life," she said. "But, as you see, everything happened -and nothing."

"There was something missing from your talk about the Road toSantiago ," said a pilgrim to the wanderer as they were leaving the conference together. "I have noticed that the majority of pilgrims," she said, "whether on the Road toSantiago or on their paths through life, always seek to follow the same pace as the others. At the beginning of my pilgrimage, I tried to walk at the same pace as my group. I got tired, I demanded more of my body than it could deliver, I was tense, and I wound up with problems in the tendons of my left foot. It was impossible for me to walk for two days, and I learned that I would be able to get toSantiago only if I went at my own pace. It took me longer than the others, and I walked alone for many stretches along the road. But it was only because I respected my own pace that I was able to walk the entire road. Since then, I have applied that lesson to everything I do in my life."

Croesus, the king ofLydia , had made the decision to attack the Persians, but nevertheless wanted to consult with a Greek oracle. "You are fated to destroy a great empire," the oracle said. Happily, Croesus declared war. After two days of battle,Lydia was invaded by the Persians, its capital was sacked, and Croesus was taken prisoner. Revolted, he asked his ambassador toGreece to go back to the oracle and tell him how wrong he had been. "No, it was you who were wrong," said the oracle to the ambassador.

"You destroyed a great empire:Lydia ." The master says: "The language of signs is there is before us, to teach us the best way to act. But many times we try to distort those signs so that they "agree" with what we wanted to do in the first place.

Buscaglia tells the story about the fourth of the Magi, who also saw the star shining overBethlehem . But he was always late in arriving at the place where Jesus might be, because along the way, the poor and needy stopped him to ask him for help. After thirty years of following in Jesus's footsteps, throughEgypt , Galilee andBethany , the magus reachedJerusalem , but was again too late. The child Jesus was now a man, and the magus had arrived on the day of the crucifixion. The king had brought pearls to give to Jesus, but had sold everything in order to help those whom he had met along the way. Only one pearl remained, but the Saviour was already dead. "I have failed in the mission of my life," the king thought.

And then he heard a voice: "Contrary to what you are thinking, you have been with me all your life. I was nude, and you dressed me. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was imprisoned, and you visited me. I was in every poor soul along the way. Thank you for so many presents of love."

A science fiction story tells of a society where almost everyone is born ready to perform a function: technicians, engineers or mechanics. Only a few are born without any skills: these are sent to an insane asylum, since only crazy people are unable to make a contribution to society. One of the insane rebels. The asylum has a library, where he attempts to learn everything there is to know about the arts and sciences. When he feels that he knows enough, he decides to escape, but he is captured and taken to a research center outside the city. "Welcome," says one of the people in charge of the center. "It is those who have been forced to make their own way that we admire most. From now on,

you may do as you please, since it is thanks to people like you that the world is able to progress."

Before leaving on a long trip, a businessman was saying good-bye to his wife. "You have never brought me a present that was worthy of me," she said. "You ungrateful woman, everything I have given you cost me years of work," the man answered. "What else can I give you?" "Something that is as beautiful as I am." For two years, the woman awaited her present. Finally, her husband returned. "I was able to find something that is as beautiful as you," he said. "I wept at your ingratitude, but I resolved that I would do as you asked. I thought all this time that there couldn't be a present as beautiful as you, but I found one." And he handed her a mirror.

The German philosopher, F. Nietzsche, once said: "It's not worthwhile to spend time discussing everything; it is a part of the human condition to err from time to time." The master says: "There are people who insist that they be right about even minor details. They often do not permit themselves to make a mistake. What they accomplish with that attitude is a fear of moving ahead. Fear of making a mistake is the door that locks us into the castle of mediocrity. If we are able to overcome that fear, we have taken an important step in the direction of our freedom."

A novice asked the Father Superior Nisteros at the monastery at Sceta: "What are the things I should do in order to please God?" Father Nisteros answered: "Abraham accepted strangers, and God was happy. Elijah did not like strangers, and God was happy. David was proud of what he did, and God was happy. The Roman publican, before the altar, was ashamed of what he did, and God was happy. John the Baptist went into the desert, and God was happy. Jonah went to the great city ofNinevah , and God was happy. Ask your soul what it wants to do. When your soul is in agreement with your dreams, it makes God happy."