Monday January 29
When do words have authority? Not when they only reflect or repeat other words, not when they are merely clever and evasive, not when they only serve to parry the true realities of our life. They have authority only when they well up from the truth. A man bought a parrot and became very attached to it. So attached did he become that he was deeply worried day and night that the cat might kill it. Therefore he set out to teach the parrot what to do. He taught him to say, “Fly away when the cat comes!” Day and night the parrot would repeat the phrase, “Fly away when the cat comes!” The man was greatly reassured. Then one day that cat came. The parrot, tightly gripping his perch, repeated (more loudly this time), “Fly away when the cat comes!” The cat approached and killed the parrot, and ate it. “It is not those who say, ‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”