The Parable of the Teacher

Fr. Johnson Maria

Smiley face The Disciples sat around the Guru, eager to drink of the fountain of wisdom; the Guru began -
“One day a computer teacher in a certain school, set out to reward his students for their hard work and best performance. To decide the right recipient of the reward, he gave them a task, a project to be completed in a certain time.
All sat on their own respective computers; they were allowed to use internet for any required help.
Now, some of the students switched on their computer, but their operating system was corrupt, they couldn’t proceed and lost all hope of getting the reward. Others switched on their computer but they had no appropriate antivirus so when they had access to the internet, there were virus attacks; they got entangled in it and could not complete the project. While some others had antivirus and also used internet carefully but never gave a little time to scan their hard disk and it got corrupted and stopped responding. Whereas some facing all of the above problems, persevered till the end and even formatted their hard disk to start anew. They were given a new operating system, totally secure antivirus, safe access to the internet and a sure reminder to scan their hard disk regularly after each task. Those who completed their project were given the reward of their choice.
The Guru paused for a while and inquired –
“Do you understand the parable?”
Getting no answer, he continued –
“Now listen to its explanation -
The teacher is God and the students are the followers of Christ. The given project is the individual vocation which everyone has got. The computer is the whole personality of the person and the operating system is the soul of the person. Grace is the antivirus and internet access is the world in which we live. Virus attacks are the temptations to which a person is exposed and the virus affectedness is the sinful state of a person. Scanning the hard disk is the examination of conscience. Reformatting the hard disk is the repentance. Those who complete their project are the ones who live their vocation successfully and faithfully and deserve the eternal happiness in the presence of God as their reward.”
Now, read the above parable once again, slowly, keeping all the above meanings in mind.