Philip, a young innocent lad was passing by a sculptor’s yard. He was on his way to school. He noticed a small man standing by a huge block of marble in the middle of the yard chipping at it. He asked the man what it was he was making. The big burly man said it was a tiger in the making. For the following few months, as he passed by, the front doors were closed, but he could hear the sculptor chipping away inside.

After several months, Phil saw that the front doors open. He stood transfixed in amazement. Where the block of marble had been, stood a giant sculptured tiger. It was so life-like, with powerful muscles, and a massive sense of power. He stood looking at it for a while, and then he approached the sculptor.

He tugged the sculptor’s coat, looked up into his face with awe, and whispered:
‘Excuse me, sir, but how did you know there was a tiger in that block of marble?’

When God  looks at each of us, and he sees all our possibilities and flaws, openness and weaknesses and works on them until we are ready to emerge …

Jack Mc Ardle, And that’s the Gospel Truth, www.columba.ie