The Road Well Traveled

Once there was a land. It was an ordinary land with ordinary people who lived ordinary lives. This land had a lord who lived in a beautiful castle at the end of a long road. The road was so long that the people couldn't see the castle from where they lived.

Everyone in this land received an invitation from the lord to come to his castle. While not all responded immediately, they all did respond eventually. This invitation came with one condition. Everyone had to come to the castle wearing his best clothes. The clothes had to be impeccable. There could be no soil, no tears, no patches, no signs of wear. The clothes didn't have to be the best money could buy, but they had to be the best the person had.

It so happened that three men of certain wealth decided to accept the lord's invitation and travel up the road together. They went to the world's most famous tailor and had suits custom made out of the finest fabric they could get. When they had received their suits they set out on the road to the castle.

The road to the castle could only be walked. No one was allowed to ride, although those who could not walk could be carried by another traveler if one would agree to carry them. The road was not overly difficult to travel, but one did need to keep his eyes open and watch his step. There were puddles of mud along the way that one could stumble into and soil his good clothes. Fortunately, there were also cleaning establishments along the way where one could have his clothes cleaned and then continue his trip.

Two of the three men were very careful and kept their eyes open, avoiding the mud puddles along the way. However, the third man didn't think it was necessary to be so overly cautious. He liked to "live life to the fullest," as he put it. So he frequently stepped in the puddles and once in a while would fall in one soiling himself from head to toe. When that happened, he just went into the next cleaning establishment and had his clothes cleaned and pressed and made to look like new. Finally, the three men were nearing the end of the road. They knew it was near the end of the road for, although they still couldn't see the castle, they did come upon a cleaning establishment with a sign that read:

Last Cleaning Establishment Before the Castle

(Which is Just Ahead)

The three men stopped to consider what they should do. The third man, the one who was always stepping in the mud, said, "I've had my suit cleaned so many times, I guess it couldn't hurt to go have it cleaned one more time. Besides, I think I might have had some mud splashed on me when that fellow fell into the last mud puddle we passed." So, he said good-bye to his companions and went into the cleaning establishment.

The other two men stood there for a while. They looked each other over, but could find no blemish in each other's appearance. Their suits appeared impeccable. Their suit pants still held the crisp crease the tailor had pressed into them. After all, they had paid for the finest fabric money could buy. They had avoided all the mud puddles, never getting close enough for any mud to splash on them. Finally, one of them said, "You know, we've been on this road for quite a while now. I think I'll go in here and freshen up a bit." The other man said, "Suit yourself. I'm going to go on to the castle." And he strode off with an air of confidence.

When the man walked into the cleaning establishment he was greeted warmly by the proprietor. The man said, "I'm not sure my suit needs any cleaning, but I thought I would take advantage of this last opportunity to have it examined before I reach the castle." The proprietor looked at the suit and recognized immediately who the tailor was by the needlework he saw. "I'm so glad you decided to come in here," said the proprietor. "Come with me."

The man was taken into another room where he saw technicians in lab coats working at different stations with electronic equipment. The proprietor took him to a changing booth and told him to take off his suit. The man did and the proprietor took it to one of the technicians. Then he went back to the man. "You know," he said, "I operate this establishment under a special license granted by the lord. The technicians I use are trained the same way as the ones the lord uses.

The man was puzzled by this. "What's that all about?" he asked. The proprietor said, "I knew as soon as I saw the needlework on your suit who the tailor was. I see a lot of his work in here. He always uses the best fabric money can buy. His workmanship is unsurpassed. But I have yet to see a suit made by this tailor that hasn't had a flaw in it. The flaws are impossible to find without the right equipment. That's why we operate under license from the lord. We use the same equipment he uses, so we can detect these flaws."

"What's to become of me," cried the man, "if I don't have a suit to wear to the castle?" "Don't worry," said the proprietor. "We can repair the flaw in your suit. We can reweave the cloth if we need to. The man who came in just before you had a suit with the same flaw. His suit was also worn thin in spots from the frequent cleanings it had received. He'll be here for awhile while we repair his suit. But when we're done it will be better than new. I really feel sorry for those who try to go directly to the castle wearing a suit from the tailor you used. When they discover a flaw in the castle they throw you out naked into a very cold place from which you can never escape." The man swallowed hard, for he now knew what had befallen his companion who had not entered the cleaning establishment with him.

A short while later, a technician brought the man his suit. The man dressed and started towards the door he had entered. "Wait!" shouted the proprietor. "You don't have to go out that way. You can use the side door over there. It goes directly into the castle. You can't possibly soil your suit if you go out that way, and you don't have to be inspected again. After all, we are licensed."

The man passed through the door and into the castle where he lived out eternity among the cleanest people one could imagine.

The Moral of the Story

The mud puddles represent serious sin. Some serious sins are more deadly than other serious sins. Some sins make us all muddy. That is, everyone knows it is serious sin, or at least they did before it started being given names like "choice" or "lifestyle," and we know we have committed it. When we recognize the sin, we are more likely to seek forgiveness for it.

The cleaning establishments along the road to the castle represent the sacrament of reconciliation.

The last cleaning establishment represents both the sacrament of anointing of the sick and purgatory. The castle is heaven. The cold place is hell. The lord is the Lord.

The tailor is the devil, the prince of darkness, the master of deceit, the father of lies. The flaws he weaves into the fabric are the more deadly serious sins. These are serious sins that we may not see in ourselves, such as pride or presumption.

Postscript

I'm not sure when I wrote this story. It may have been twenty years ago or more. I found it in a box of "stuff" I need to throw out. I forgot I wrote it until I found it again. Sometimes I think we judge people because we see the obvious sins and think we are better than them. We sometimes are blind to our own serious sins because they are harder to see. Thankfully, we have sacraments available that can repair the damage we have done. We also have Purgatory which God has graced us with so we have a chance to heal after our death the damage we didn't heal while we lived.

March 2, 2024 - Re-discovered and posted

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