One day, a discouraged hermit said to his Superior, "Father, what is the use of my going to hear sermons? Because no matter how attentively I listen, I can never remember what was said!"

After a brief moment of thought, the Superior asked a completely different question.

"What are these things you are carrying in your hands?"

"Two baskets, Father," the hermit answered.

"Go, then, take one of these baskets, and bring me some water in it from the river down there."

The hermit was surprised. It is impossible to carry water in a basket! It would all leak out through the holes in the weaving.

But looking carefully into his Superior’s face, the hermit saw that he really did mean what he had just said. Strange as this order was, the good man obeyed. He went at once with the basket to the river.

He dipped it into the water, and quickly pulled it out again. Then he ran as fast as he could to his Superior. But long before he reached him the water had all leaked out.

The Superior told him to go again a second and a third time. The obedient man did so, but the result was the same: the basket was always quite empty before the hermit reached the place where his Superior stood.

When he came back the third time, his Superior told him to put the wet basket next to his other one. He asked the hermit if he saw any change in the appearance of the basket, or any difference between both baskets.

"No, I do not see much," he replied, "the only difference I can see is that the one I put into the water looks much cleaner than it did before, and much brighter than the other."

"Ah!" replied the Superior, "That is just the difference. And so it is with your soul."

The hermit listened eagerly as his Superior explained what he meant.

"The basket could not hold the water because of the many holes by which it spilled out. Yet it became cleaner and brighter every time it was dipped into the river. So also your soul. Although it seems it cannot retain the Word of God, yet it benefits much from hearing it. For when you hear it, it inspires you at that moment with a hatred of sin and a love of virtue - which in itself is a great grace."

The Superior could tell that this had made an impression. There are so many ways that we can expose ourselves to the Word of God - Catholic reading, the Holy Scriptures, Lives of the Saints - and so often we miss these opportunities because we feel that we are unable to benefit as we should.

He concluded his advice by saying,

"Continue, my child, to hear God’s Holy Word as often as you can. For you will always learn something about Him which perhaps you did not know before, or hear something about Him which you may have forgotten."