In the Eyes of the Beholder...

A Snake by Any Other Name....

   On my walk to the statues on the grounds of the Abbey of Gethsemani, I was thinking of nothing else but the beauty of the woodlands, the warm Spring day and the great joy I felt just being there.  As I approached the statue of Jesus which depicts the scene in the garden of Gethsemani on the night before his arrest, I notice two women in animated conversation.  They motioned to me to approach them.  They couldn't wait to tell me of the miraculous occurrence that they had just witnessed.  At the base of the sculpture a snake had emerged! At the feet of Jesus there was a symbol of the devil!  They were in positive awe and advised me to sit quietly there and wait to see if it would manifest itself to me as well.

   After they left, I did sit and contemplate the statue but I wasn't thinking of their vision.  I was puzzling about how simple, perfectly natural things can become such symbols of hatred and fear?  As if responding to my question, the little snake peered out of his hole, most likely seeking the warm stones, and smelled the air with his flicking tongue.

   I didn't see the devil incarnate...I saw a simple little green and white snake living his peaceful life at the feet of the Christian symbol of peace on earth.  It all seemed perfectly right, perfectly natural, to me. Truly, everything is in the eye of the beholder.  It reminded me also of a William Blake (Thomas Merton's favorite poet) quote, Everything that Is, Is Holy.