I'm working on clearing off a very large bookcase, have two boxes ready to go! While flipping through the books I found a slip of paper and it reads....
It was once announced that the devil was going out of business and would offer all tools for sale to whoever would pay his price.
On the night of the sale they were all attractively displayed, a bad looking lot. Malice, Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Sensuality, and Deceit, and all other implements of evil were spread out, each marked with it's price.
Apart from the rest lay a harmless looking wedge-shaped tool, much worn and priced higher than any of them. Someone asked the devil what it was.
"That's Discouragement," was the reply.
"Why do you have it priced so high?"
"Because," replied the devil, "it is more useful to me than any of the others. I can pry open and get inside a man's conscience with that when I could not get near him with any of the others, and when once inside I can use him in whatever way suits me best. It is so much worn because I use it with nearly everybody, as very few people yet know it belongs to me."
It hardly need be added that the devil's price for Discouragement was so high that it was never sold. He still owns it and is still using it.
- William V. Agnew S.J.
George Cardinal Mundelein Archbishop of Chicago
Free copies available from
Catholic Leaflet Apostolate
2740 West Central Ave
Toledo, Ohio 43606
No comments:
Post a Comment