똑같은 상황이라도

똑같은 상황이라도 

 

 

 

작은 시골 성당에서 있었던 일이다.

주일 미사에서 신부를 돕고 있던 한 소년이

성찬에 쓸 포도주 그릇을

실수로 떨어뜨렸다

신부는 즉시 소년을 나무라며 소리를 질렀다.

"어서 물러 가거라.

그리고 다시는 제단 앞에 오지마라라"

그 후 소년은 장성하여

공산주의의 지도자인 유고슬라비아의

티토 대통령(Yugoslavia President Tito)이 되었다.

또 다른 도시의 성당에서 미사를 돕던 한 소년이

역시 성찬용 포도주 그릇을

떨어뜨렸다.

그런데 이곳 신부는 이해와 사랑의 눈으로

소년을 바라보며

조용히 말했다.

"성찬준비를 열심히 하고 있는 네가 기특하구나."

이 소년은 자라 훗날 유명한

대주교 훌톤 쉰(Fulton J. Sheen)이 되었다.   

 

똑 같은 상황에서도

티토 소년은 신부의 명령대로 제단에서

영원히 물러가 하느님을 비웃는 공산주의자가 되었고,

쉰 소년은 훌륭한 종교 지도자가 되었다. 

 

 

 FOLDED ARMS OR OPEN HEARTS ?

 

 

Both involve altar boys at Roman Catholic congregations, in two different parts of the world, almost precisely at the same point in time.

The first altar boy was assisting the local priest in the distribution of Holy Communion one Sunday morning when he accidentally knocked over the wine and the bread, sending everything tumbling to the floor. The priest was furious, screaming at the boy, telling him that he never wanted to see him in that church again! The mortified altar boy ran away and never did darken the door of a church again.

The second altar boy was also assisting his parish priest with Holy Communion and like the first boy, spilled the bread and the wine onto the floor. The reaction of his priest was very different though. He smiled at the boy, understanding that he had had simply made a mistake. With a wink, he said, “I have the feeling, young man, that one day you will be a great priest.”

The first boy, Josip Broz, who came to be known to the world as Marshall Tito, grew up to be the fierce dictator of Communist Yugoslavia, a man who murdered thousands in order to impose his will on his country.

The second boy, who grew up at about the same time as Tito, but here in America, was Fulton J. Sheen. Some of you may not know that name. But he was one of the most popular and effective preachers of the twentieth century, a Roman Catholic priest whose network TV show won several Emmy Awards. 

  

 

One thing may be the markedly different ways in which their parish priests, at formative times in those young boys’ lives approached them. one boy was met with the folded arms of religion and disapproval, with a cold and implacable indictment for being imperfect. The other boy was met with the open heart of relationship with the God we know through Jesus Christ and he felt God’s love and approval in spite of his imperfections.