With this bright sunshine, I was struck by a little story that I heard today on early morning Vatican Radio. The story, the announcer said, comes from Germany…
Once there was a young man who became very irritated by his shadow. Everywhere he went, his shadow followed him. Finally, he became so agitated that he decided he was going to run away from his shadow. Without warning, then, he took off at a sprint! but his shadow followed him. In fact, the faster he ran, the faster his shadow followed! He became obsessed: he stopped eating; he stopped talking; he stopped drinking… he only ran and ran and ran, but his shadowed followed and followed and followed. Finally, exhausted by so much running, the young man collapsed and died.
Poor boy! If only he had just gone and sat in the shade of the huge tree that grew in his garden, he would have lost his shadow, but he never thought of it.
Work and activity do not let us lose our shadows: they follow us everywhere we go, the announcer on Vatican Radio explained this morning. The only way to deal with our shadows is through a contemplative life.
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