Parable of the Day: A Sermon by the Fire

 
There was a parishioner who stopped going to church, which he had been doing every weekend. After a while the priest decided to visit that man. He came to his house. The door was open, and the priest came in. The ex-parishioner was sitting in front of a fireplace alone. When he saw the priest, he greeted him with a nod and invited the priest to sit by his side. The priest accepted the invitation. Now both men were sitting in silence looking at the dance of fire. Several minutes later, the priest suddenly rose to his feet, took a tong, and grabbed one piece of burning wood from the fireplace. He put it aside, far from the fire, and sat back. Both men kept silent. Little by little, the wood stopped burning until it finally became cold and black. The priest got up again, took the tong, and put the dead wood back into the fire. Just a moment later, it was ablaze like the rest. The priest put the tong aside and headed for the door. When he was about to leave, the man broke the silence:
 
“Thank you for your visit and for your sermon by the fire. I promise to come to church this Sunday.”
 
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
 
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