Anthony de Mdlo – Rediscovering Life

ANTHONY DE MELLO was a Jesuit priest known throughout the world for his writings and spiritual conferences. A native and lifelong resident of India, he died suddenly in 1987. His many including Awareness, Song of the Bird, Sadhana, The Way to Love, Wellsprings and Awakenings have been translated into more than 35 languages.

Let me begin by telling you what I plan to do. The theme is the rediscovery of life.

I discovered something about ten years ago, and it turned my life upside down. It revolutionized my life. I became a new man. This is what I’m going to share with you. I am happy to share it with you, in a special kind of way, though you might say to me, “How come you heard this just ten years ago? Hadn’t you read the Gospels?” Of course I’d read the Gospels, but I hadn’t seen it. It was right there, but I hadn’t seen it.

Later, having discovered it, I found it in all the major religious writings, and I was amazed. I mean, I was reading it, but I hadn’t recognized it. I wished to God I’d found this when I was younger. Oh, what a difference it would have made.

So, how long will it take to give it to you? A whole day? I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think it will take more than two minutes. Grasping it or get­ting it might take you twenty years, fi fteen years, ten years, ten minutes, or one day, three days—who knows. That depends on you.

Various people have told me over the years, since my initial discovery, that their lives were pretty much revolutionized, too. But not too many people—I’m sorry to say, very few have. I tend to think that if out of the one thousand people who are listening to me, if one person hears it, that’s a pretty good average. Is it difficult to hear? Is it dif­ficult to understand?