Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings in Christ,

A pilgrim walks along the mountain trails of the Apennine Chain in Italy. If their faith is true, legend has it, in the region south of Rome they need fear no bandit or beast for help is available with the simplest bidding to the Blessed Mother.

Petition her for aid near Montevergine and a great wolf shall come to protect the pilgrim pure of heart and devotion to the Lord. This wolf is not there by coincidence but out of obligation.

Centuries ago, the story says, a hermit began laying the foundation for a church.

He worked alone with only a faithful donkey as his companion. Then one day a wolf, separated from his pack and starving, came across the donkey and in his hunger killed and ate the hermit’s beast.

The monk, upon seeing the wolf over the remains of his long faithful helper, admonished the savage creature. He commanded it to take up the donkey’s work and abandon his vicious ways. Miraculously the wolf complied—first assisting the monk in building the church and then protecting all pilgrims in the community from those who took up similar savagery.

The wolf of William of Montevergine is a legend of the faithful.

A call that we are to look at moments of savagery, be they our own or that of others, as opportunities not for retaliation but restoration.

How can we transform a moment of savagery into a moment when we turn ourselves back to the Love of God?

We cannot undo what happens in our moments of failure. We can, however, make them the foundation of a story that will give hope to future pilgrims, like the story of the wolf who now protects the pilgrims on their way.

Pax,

—Ben