The father did not reply but that night he took the boy along with him to break into a house. Once inside, he opened a closet and asked his son to find out what was inside. No sooner had the lad stepped in tan the father slammed the door shut and bolted it, making such a noise in the process that the whole house was awakened. Then he himself slipped away quietly.

Inside the closet the boy was terrified, angry, and puzzled as to how he was going to make his escape. Then an idea came to him. He began to make a noise like a cat; whereupon a servant lit a candle and opened the closet to let the cat out. The boy jumped out assoon as the closet door opened and everyone gave chase. Observing a well beside the road, he threw a large stone into it and hid in the shadows; then he stole away while his pursuers peered into the depths, hoping to see the burglar drown.

Back home again the boy forgot his anger in his eagerness to tell his story. But his father said, Why tell me the tale? You are here. That is enough. You have learned the trade.

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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The Master looked straight through the man and said, “If I were you, from now on I would play on the ground floor.”

This startled the disciples. “Why didn't you tell him to stop gambling?” they demanded.

“Because I knew he wouldn't,” was the Master's simple and sagacious explanation.

This spiritual story is from the book One Minute Wisdom by Anthony de Mello.

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But when he saw them plunge headlong into activity, he laughed and said, That isn't action. That's motion.

This spiritual story is from the book One Minute Wisdom by Anthony de Mello.

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“Through prayer.”

“Then why have I not found it yet?”

“Because you haven't prayed in the right place.”

“Where is that?”

“In the heart of God.”

“And how do I get there?”

“Understand that anyone who sins does not know what he is doing and deserves to be forgiven.”

This is from The Song of The Bird, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello

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A wealthy farmer who was riding by, stopped to read the sign and said to himself, “Since our friend the Quaker is so ready to part with this plot, I might as well claim it before someone else does. I am a rich man and have all I need, so I certainly qualify.”

With that he went up to the door and explained what he was there for. “And art thou truly satisfied?” the Quaker asked.

“I am, indeed, for I have everything I need.”

“Friends,” said the Quaker, “if thou art satisfied, what dost thou want the land for?”

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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Pyrrhus replied, Sicily is next door and will be easy to take.

And what shall we do after Sicily is taken?

Then we will move over to Africa and sack Carthage.

And after Carthage, sir?

The turn of Greece will come.

And what, may I ask, will the fruit of all these conquests be?

Then, said Pyrrhus, we can sit down and enjoy ourselves.

Can we not, said Cyneas, enjoy ourselves now?

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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The following day the man prevailed upon his wife to let him go to the course alone. There was a horse with a fifty-to-one odds on it in the first race. He bet on the horse and it won. He put all the money he won on another long shot in the next race and again he won. He kept doing this all evening and his entire earnings came to fifty-seven thousand dollars.

On the way back home he passed by a gambling den. An inner voice, the same that seemed to have guided him in his choice of horses, said, “Stop here and go in.” So he stopped, went in, and found himself standing in front of a roulette wheel. The voice said, “Number thirteen.” The man put the entire fifty-seven thousand on number thirteen. The wheel spun, and the croupier announced, “Number fourteen.”

So the man walked back home with nothing in his pocket. His wife called out to him from the porch, “How did it go?”

The husband shrugged his shoulders. “I lost the two dollars,” he said.

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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“Imagine what would happen if someone placed an offering before you and you did not pick it up. Or someone sent you a letter that you refused to open; you would be unaffected by its contents, would you not? Do this each time you are abused and you will not lose your serenity.”

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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“Then be good enough to fulfill my dying wish,” said Buddha. “Cut off the branch of that tree.”

One slash of the sword, and it was done! “What now?” asked the bandit.

Put it back again,” said Buddha.

The bandit laughed. “You must be crazy to think anyone can do that.”

“On the contrary, it is you who are crazy to think that you are mighty because you can wound and destroy. That is the task of children. The mighty know how to create and heal.”

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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When it was the turn of the oldest member of the group to entertain the others, he served tea with the greatest ceremony, measuring out the leaves from a golden container. Everyone had the highest praise for the tea and demanded to know by what particular combination he had arrived at this exquisite blend.

The old man smiled and said, “Gentlemen, the tea that you find so delightful is the one that is drunk by the peasants on my farm. The finest things in life are neither costly nor hard to find.”

This is from The Heart of the Enlightened, a book of spiritual stories by Anthony de Mello.

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