Parable

by Ernesto Manalo

And I wanted them all around me and I

gathered them:

My brother (my keeper), my wife, my mother

and my father.

My father said: I will stand by and watch over

you.

My wife slept beside me.

My brother watched over me.

And my mother was my spiritual keeper.

And I said: You who thus watch over me will get no reward

But that I shall sleep peacefully.

And they said: We shall watch over you and

get no reward

But that you shall sleep peacefully.