{"id":6098,"date":"2020-04-06T16:26:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T06:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6098"},"modified":"2020-04-06T16:26:45","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T06:26:45","slug":"flip-it-on-its-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/flip-it-on-its-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Flip It on Its Head"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Flip It on<\/strong> Its Head <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by\u00a0Fr Antony Paul<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

On the first day of my\nfirst long retreat at the monastery, I saw what could\u2019ve changed the course of\nmy life completely. Prior to this stay, I had only been allowed to stay for a\nfew days at a time. This time was different because they gave me my own room to\nstay for a few months. It reminds me of our current global climate and how we\ncan all work together to make this pandemic of coronavirus a blessed experience\nfor all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the monks took\nme to my room and gave me a key. He told me that this was the only key in\nexistence for this particular room. I could not lose it. This didn\u2019t bother me\ntoo much as I was not a careless person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day or two later I wanted\nto go trekking in the mountains. The canteen was about 20 metres from my room\nand you only needed to walk in a straight line to get there. I had been assigned\nregular hours to work in the canteen so it was natural for me to stop there on\nmy way to inform someone of where I was going to be for the rest of the day,\nespecially because there were no phones around and they may have been worried\nif they noticed my prolonged absence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon telling the\ncanteen workers I would be leaving, I realised I had forgotten my Bible and\nwriting tools. I put my hand in my pocket to feel for where the key to my room\nshould be. I couldn\u2019t find the key in my pocket. I searched up and down from\nthe canteen to my room to find the key but could not find it. It was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All I could think was,\n\u201cI\u2019m going to get wrecked.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut monks are nice,\u201d<\/em> I thought to myself, \u201cso nice! He won\u2019t be upset that I did the one thing I was not supposed\nto. He will be so nice about it and this will be just fine.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after, the Abouna\nthat gave me the key came to the canteen because he had arranged with the head\ncanteen worker, Arsany, that he would teach him to drive that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He walks in smiling,\nwhat a great time to tell him. As soon as I tell him, he stops smiling. I grin\nawkwardly. He frowns. I know I am in trouble now. He becomes visibly upset and\nI become internally upset that I made him upset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It gets worse. The\nother Abouna that oversaw running the canteen did not want Arsany to learn how\nto drive that day. He gets angry at the Abouna that I had just upset and the\npeace that I had associated with the monastery was gone. The first Abouna does\nnot care what the other Abouna thinks and takes Arsany in the car for his\ndriving lesson, and he takes me with them as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we drive, Abouna\nsays to me, \u201cListen, I am not here to\nbaby sit you. If you want something, just ask, but I am not going to run around\ntrying to figure out what you need.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I internally cried a\nlittle as he spoke, that wasn\u2019t what I wanted at all. The tension remains high\nthroughout the entire drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get back from\nArsany\u2019s driving lesson and there is someone with a huge smirk waiting for him.\nArsany treated the monastery as his own home and the canteen as his biggest\nhonour. Every penny accounted for and his faithfulness was beyond reproach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He asks Arsany, \u201chow much money did you make in the canteen\ntoday?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsany looks confused,\nhe hasn\u2019t been there all day so he\u2019s unsure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continues, \u201cHow about 2500 EGP? Maybe you should take a\nbit more care of the monastery\u2019s money.\u201d<\/em> He pulls out a huge stack of money\nand hands it to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsany turned red and runs\nto his room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two Abounas\nexchange angry looks and the second Abouna leaves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Abouna that gave\nme the key is quiet for a minute and then bursts out in laughter. He looked at\nme and says, \u201cThis is shoo shoo.<\/em>\u201d I\nlater found out that shoo shoo was a nickname they used in the monastery for\nthe \u201cshaytan\u201d (devil) so that he is a joke compared to God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh<\/em>,\u201d I reply, I wasn\u2019t sure what else I was supposed to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you see? If it is him then we have been\nplaying his game all day long. We need\nto flip it on his head<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/em> I reply, still unsure how this related to\nanything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must do the opposite of what he wants. Follow\nme.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went to my room\nwhere he had asked for a carpenter to come and see if he could open the room.\nThey failed. So Abouna picks up his galabeya and kicks the door down with his\nfeet. We laughed hysterically and he says to me, \u201csee you have your room now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he turns to me\nand says, \u201cListen you are upset, stop, I\ndidn\u2019t mean to offend or hurt you. What I was meant to say was the monastery is\nnow your home so don\u2019t be shy. I am so glad you\u2019re here but I don\u2019t want you to\nfeel tied to me or anyone else.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This lifted my mood\ncompletely, that\u2019s exactly what I wanted and I felt much better knowing that he\ndidn\u2019t hate me. I was being sensitive and he was being well, less sensitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second Abouna\nreturned to the canteen. The first Abouna takes me with him back to the canteen\nand boldly storms in and makes a matanya before the second Abouna and says, \u201cAkhtet (I have sinned)! You asked me not to\ntake him for his driving lesson and I took him anyway, forgive me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second Abouna\npanics and start prostrating as well, \u201cno!\nI have sinned. It was me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They started crying\nand hugging each other and immediately realise there was still an upset Arsany\nthat they needed to console. We went to Arsany\u2019s room and knocked. He was not\nwilling to answer. He ignored us completely. They forced the door open and sat\non either side of him. They tried to engage him in conversation but it was not\nworking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still don\u2019t know why\nthe second Abouna thought this was a good idea but he starts using his baby\nvoice saying, \u201care you upset? Don\u2019t be\nsad, Arsany\u201d<\/em> and pours an entire bottle of water on his head. No one could\ncontain their laughter, even Arsany. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went back to the\ncanteen and ate a meal together in thanksgiving. We rejoiced in the Lord and in\none another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWelcome to the monastery.\u201d<\/em> The first Abouna says to me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real warfare doesn\u2019t\nlook how you think it looks. Don\u2019t let the devil get to you during these hard\ntimes. The devil wants us to flip out, fight and go against each other. When we\npontificate about why we are right or yell about how hurt we are, we do exactly\nwhat he wants. Everyone has opinions on what is right and wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By using this time to\nbe more divisive, we lose the blessing of having a different kind of Eucharist.\nIf we had not reconciled that night, my entire life would be different. I\nwould\u2019ve left the monastery at this one issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This room key could\nhave completely changed the course of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us look at this\nsituation and flip it on its head. Let us love one another and share the bread\n(and toilet paper). God is good. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flip It on Its Head Adapted from a sermon by\u00a0Fr Antony Paul On the first day of my first long retreat at the monastery, I saw what could\u2019ve changed the course of my life completely. Prior to this stay, I had only been allowed to stay for a few days at a time. This time … Continue reading “Flip It on Its Head”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[204,10,6],"class_list":["post-6098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-coronavirus","tag-god","tag-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6100,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6098\/revisions\/6100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}