Sleepless in Stamullen

Last Night

Last night I found myself lying awake.  Not good.  I was worrying about — you guessed it — finances.  There are bills to be paid. Winter is coming and I have yet to install the heating and hot water system needed in the monastery.  The guesthouse — one of our principal means of generating income — is still incomplete.  I want to trust in Divine Providence and in good Saint Joseph, God’s own minister of finance.  I do trust in Divine Providence but, at the same time, I fret, especially at night. Rather than lying sleepless (and praying) in the dark, I turned on the light and picked up the book that was on my night-table, opening it at random.  It was a life of Don Dolindo Ruotolo (1882–1970).  This is what I read (my own translation from the Italian):

The Providence of God

His spiritual daughters recall that when Don Dolindo went to the printery to order the first issues (of his immense commentary on the Bible), having given away the little money that he had scraped together, he said with his habitual candour, “The Providence of God will look after the rest, since I don’t have any money at all.”  Hearing this, the printer retorted, “Padre, what are you saying to me?  If you don’t have the money to publish, I’m doing nothing.  It’s all well and good to say that Providence is going to pay.”  Don Dolindo defied him.  “Do the printing, and you will be paid down to last penny!  I guarantee it in the name of God.”  The printer came back with, “But I don’t do jobs trusting in prophecies about the help of God!”  Don Dolindo replied, “Trusting in the help of God, I tell you that I will pay you for all the work and buy your printshop from you on top of it!”  Don Dolindo did not buy the printshop, but he was always punctual in paying for the printing.

Paid in Full

Many beautiful accounts of faith and of extraordinary assistance marked the printing of Don Dolindo’s commentary on the Bible.  One Saturday, for example, Don Dolindo had to pay the printer.  Opening his wallet, he saw that he was lacking several hundred lire to to make the payment.  He went to see Maria La Rovere, who kept the cash box for printing and asked her for what was needed.  Maria didn’t have a cent to give him; there was zero in the cash box!  And in her personal funds zero as well.  As usual, Don Dolindo didn’t let this bother him, saying, “God will look after it” and going his way.  He had a few pressing errands that, in the end, took up the whole morning.  At about 1:00 p.m. he remembered all of a sudden that he had to go to the printery to make his payment.  Strangely, he forgot that he didn’t have the amount necessary and, without thinking, went to the printery, asked to see the owner, and paid him the amount in full, discovering, moreover that he had in his wallet 250 lire left over.

Can You Figure This Out?

Having returned home, Don Dolindo reviewed what had happened; he remembered that he did not have the money to pay the printing bill, but pay it he did!  He had the receipt in front of him to prove it. Even stranger, he had money let over in his wallet.  In the afternoon he met Maria La Rovere and said to her, “Maria, can you figure this out for me?  I had to pay up . . . I didn’t have the money.  You gave me nothing because there was nothing in the cash box.  Here is the receipt marked paid.  And here are 250 lire given me in advance.  Can you explain this?”  It all ended in the praise of Christ.  Amen.

Unless the Lord Build the House

How many times has our work seemed, although it be serious and accurate, not to succeed in bearing fruit!  And prayer?  Where have we buried the supernatural aspect of our life?  We must remember well the divine word of the psalmist:  “Unless the Lord build the house, in vain do the builders labour” (Psalm 127:1).

And with that, I fell soundly asleep.