Pro amore Christi

It is a gloomy day. The clouds are dark. The wind blows with fitful indecision. A few drops of water fall reluctantly, licking the glass. And above all there is the cold – a cold worthy of the season and the country.

The truth is that apart from the cold, which I can feel in my frozen feet and chilled hands, I see these things mostly in my imagination, since I have hardly glanced at the window. The afternoon is dark and everything appears sad to me…

I have a knife in my hands and in front of me is a basket with what appear to be huge white carrots, but are actually turnips. I have never seen such big, cold… What can I do? There is no choice but to peel them.

I pass the time with my thoughts, the turnips and the cold, when suddenly, swift as the wind, a powerful light penetrates into my soul… a divine light, in a single moment… Someone asks me what I am doing. What am I doing? ¡Virgen Santa! What a question! Peeling turnips! Peeling turnips? Why? And my heart gives a leap and answers without thinking: I am peeling turnips for love, for love of Jesus Christ.

~ St Rafael Arnáiz Barón Among the Vegetables; or the Trappist as a Conquistador, trans. Pater Edmund Walstein O.Cist.

https://sancrucensis.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/st-rafael-arnaiz-baron-among-the-vegetables-or-the-trappist-as-a-conquistador/

8 x 10”