I often don’t read when I preach at TV Mass, but this is such a wonderful story, and I want to make sure that I get every word correct and right. So stay with me through this little story, and then we’ll fill it out. It’s called the story of two monks and a woman. It’s called a Zen story.

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and a beautiful woman who was attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side. The two monks glanced at one another because they had taken a vow never to touch a woman. Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and carried on with his journey.

The younger monk couldn’t believe what had just happened, and after rejoining his companion, he was speechless. An hour passed without a word between them. Two hours passed, then three. Finally, the young monk could not contain himself any longer, and he blurted out, “As monks, we are not permitted to touch a woman. How could you have carried that woman on your shoulder?”

The older monk looked at him and replied, “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river. Why are you still carrying her?”

What a great life lesson! What we carry in life and what we carry in our hearts. You know, don’t remember if you recall, during the Lenten season — I love the Lenten season — but one of the great themes of the Lenten season: I’m going to take away your stony heart, and I’m going to give you a heart of flesh again. A living, loving, forgiving heart. That’s what we’re called to do: to be people of understanding and compassion and of forgiveness.

When we hold on to grudges, when we hold on to anger, those things cause our hearts to turn to stone, and nothing good comes from a stony heart. Love and compassion, understanding and forgiveness, is at the very heart of the Gospel. A heart of flesh, a living heart of flesh, that we bring to others as we live our lives, as we preach the Gospel by our lives, by the ways in which we show forgiveness and compassion and love.