“Good man,” said a young disciple to Abbot Pastor, “my heart is filled with love for the world, and my soul is pure from the temptations of the evil one. What is my next step?”
The abbot asked the disciple to accompany him to visit a sick person in need of final anointing.
After consoling the family, the abbot noticed a chest in one corner of the house.
“What is in that chest?” he asked.
“Clothes that my uncle never wore,” said the sick man’s nephew. “He always thought the right occasion would arise to wear them, but in the end, they rotted away inside.”
“Do not forget about that chest,” Abbot Pastor told his disciple as they left the house. “If you carry spiritual treasures in your heart, start using them right away. Otherwise, they will decay.”
Source: Maktub, Paulo Coelho
Selected by: Suzana Mateša
