"William of Baskervilles, thank the Lord you are safe. Come in , my dear friend from the damn cold. My fireplace awaits your return for many nights." The man who offered me sanctuary in his humble home is the Abbot of Turns and a very old friend. We studied together in the great Library of Canterbury before we part for our humble postings to different parts of the island. I stepped in to the home of his alongside with my assistance; the novice Adso of Melk who was unloading our mounts of their weight of burden.
"My apologies as this is my good man, Adso of Melk who tags with me to learned more of the Franciscan works." I introduce my young novice as he brought in the bundles to the house. The abbot in turns pulled the heavy loads into his living area where the fire was stoked to give out its warmth to two weary travelers. Suddenly Adso lunged forth to pulled the bundles from being too near the fire. He grabbed them by the lashings which they were tied by and carried them to the far colder corner.
"I am so sorry, but this items are not be too near the fire." The novice bows his head and proceeded to unload the remaining bundles. He placed each one of them ever carefully to the flooring and stacked them by their size and weight.
"Are those the scrolls and books you saved from the fire?" The abbot turned to look at the visiting friends of his. William nodded his head and the abbot made a holy sign on his body. He mumbled a prayer not for the dead but the thanks of God for this recovery. Just as Adso had relief the mounts of these weights, the yard to the abbot's home was soon sounded by the arrival of a drawn carriage. As the carriage pulled to stop by the entrance of the abbot's home, a figure of a man was soon to seen to dismount from the carriage and he comes into the abbot's home without any greetings.
"Father Timothy, is this the man whom we spoke of earlier?" The newly arrived man was dressed in fine clothing and dashing headgear that befits a rich manor or maybe a squire from the countryside. He also carries a large bag with him which he deposited next to him as he removed his gloves. "Be haste, Father. I am a busy man and time is of precious to me as its means more gold would be deposited into my vault as I speak. Tell me, William of .... Baskervilles, how much for your books?"
"Pardon me, sire. We were not introduced nor am I privileged to hear of your name before." I was clearly taken aback by this man who came in barging in to seek his purchase of my carrying. Adso who was at the door to take the mounts to the stable now have returned with his chore undone. He choose to stand beside me and looked at the care of his since we left the Benedictine Monastery some weeks back.
"Waste not my time. Herewith is a thousand guineas for the restoration for the restoration of the Monastery in exchange for the books." The rich man took up his bag and dropped it in front of us to reveal the rich content. "If its not sufficient then I can give you double of that for the books. But you would need to take a promissory note of mine for tonight."
"I am afraid, my dear sir; the bundles are not for sale. I am taking them back to the Church to be presented as a gift by the Monastery. I cannot betray that trust bestow on me. Please do keep back your money as its not a bargaining tool here." I turned my back to the man and speak to Adso in whispers; "attend to the poor mounts as I would handle the situation here." Adso on my insistence made his way to complete his unfinished task.
"Your unworthy novice is not here now. Name me your price and I would consider." This man thinks I am called away my novice to cover for my dealings on the matter.
"I apologies, sire. The bundles are not sale. Please do not flaunt your wealth of money on this evening, as we seek not your exchange but only the warmth of this fire." I turned to the fire place and reached for a small log to keep it burning warm.
"William of Baskervilles, you stand before my fire and the log you burned comes from my forest. I am the rightful owner of this land, and the abbot lived here on my permission. Why do you shun my offer when all I am giving is money to do good for your monastery? Those are hard earned money of mine which I toil with my sweat and blood. All I asked for is the exchange of it for the bundle of old books. Is that too much of what I asked?" The squire has now looked enraged and tries to exert his influence of material wealth on my humble self.
"I begged your pardon, sire. No exchange of anything would be entertained. But before I am to explained; tell me why you need the books when you have the means to acquire more of others in similar contents from the willing trading parties?" I moved to stand between my bundles and the squire for I feared he would do hasty things in the emotions of his.
"Books I have aplenty, as much as the wealth of money. But I desire those you hold dears as they are not any books but coveted treasures of the Church. I want them to buy favors with the clergy perhaps but actaully to be seen to closer to the faith by having them in my possession. I meant no harm to them, but to enhance myself with it. As I am not privileged to the findings of such treasures, I am now offering to acquired them by the means of my other wealth. Forgive me, William of Baskervilles. These treasures has troubled my mind since the reports of your findings. I seek them so I can appease myself of that troubling thoughts. Please spare me your mercy to grant them to me." The squire was now openly declaring his wanton to me but I am annoyed.
"Sire, you are obviously a man of wealth which I salute you as you acquired them by hard work and pain, but you have fallen into its trap as it now uses you to drive your other desires. 1 Timothy 6.9 People who want to get rich fall into temptations and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." I quoted form the Bible of this man use of the wealth of material. "Remember this,sire; we come with nothing and we would return with nothing."
"Tell me then of what can I do with the wealth of materials which I hold now?" The man challenged me to his means to the end.
"Do as your heart and mind tells you but on noble causes. Look to your man sitting out there in the cold night; invite him in and sit down by this fire. He is a human like you and me, but your blindness to the riches of wealth has make him a servant in your eyes. There are no servants among all of us in the blood and flesh. We are only servant to HIM whom we have placed our faith. He gave us the freedom of choice to work on our journey here, and how we do it determined our understanding of this ongoing journey. If we are ahead in some ways, remember the ones before us who may need a hand in catching up. Offer it to them and let them come up with you. In life's journey, there is no winner but participants to complete it as altogether. You may have more of one of the wealth's of life, but he who is besides you holds the other parts of wealth. Share and both of you would be stepped into the end of the journey together."
Soon I find myself sitting with a company of five people in front of a fire place perusing some good books of old. The writers of these books left behind a wealth which money cannot buy but a love for it would open it pages to all. I am just sharing my wealth of knowledge to explain these words to the new readers.
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