In an ancient monastery, a new monk
arrived to dedicate his life and to join
the others copying ancient records.
The first thing he noticed was that they
were copying by hand, books that
had already been copied by hand. He had to speak up. "Forgive me,
Father Justinian, but copying other
copies by hand allows many chances
for error. How do we know we aren't
copying someone else's mistakes? Are
they ever checked against the originals?" Father Justinian was startled! No one
had ever suggested that before. "Well,
that is a good point, my son. I will take
one of these latest books down to the
vault and study it against its original
document." He went deep into the vault where no
one else was allowed to enter, and
started to study. The day passed, and
it was getting late in the evening. The monks were getting worried
about Father Justinian. Finally one
monk started making his way through
the old vault, and as he began to think
he might get lost, he heard sobbing.
"Father Justinian?" He called. The sobbing was louder as he came
near. He finally found the old priest
sitting at a table with both the new
copy and the original ancient book in
front of him. It was obvious that Father
Justinian had been crying for a long time. "Oh, my Lord," sobbed Father
Justinian, "the word is 'celebrate'!!"