Narrator:  The Little Prince gazed at them.  They all looked like his flower.  And he was overcome with sadness.  His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in the universe.  And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in one single garden!
 
Little Prince:  “She would be very much annoyed if she should see that…She would cough most dreadfully, and she would pretend that she was dying, to avoid being laughed at.  And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life – for if I did not do that, to humble myself also, she would really allow herself to die…
 
I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose.   A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees  -  and one of them perhaps extinct forever.  That doesn't make me a very great prince” .
 
Narrator:  “And he lay down in the grass and cried.  It was then that the fox appeared. .

Fox:  "Good morning."
Little Prince:   "Good morning,"

 
Narrator: (the Little Prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing).
 
Fox:  "I am right here under the apple tree.”  
Little Prince:   "Who are you?" …“You are very pretty to look at”.  
Fox:  "I am a fox. 
Little Prince:   "Come and play with me.  I am so unhappy”. 
Fox:  "I cannot play with you.  I am not tamed.”

Little Prince:  "AH!  Please excuse me,"  (Very politely)

 

Narrator:  (But, after some thought, he added)

 

Little Prince: "What does that mean-'tame'?" 
Fox:  "You do not live here.  What is it that you are looking for ?” 
Little Prince:   “I am looking for men.

What does that mean-‘tame’? 
Fox:  "Men!  They have guns, and they hunt.  It is very disturbing..
They also raise chickens.  These are their only interests.  Are you looking for chickens ? " 
Little Prince:  "No.  "I am looking for friends.  What does that mean -'tame'?" 
Fox::  "It is an act too often neglected.  It means to establish ties." 
Little Prince:  " 'To establish ties' ?"
Fox:  "Just that.  To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys.  And I have no need of you.  And you, on your part, have no need of me.  To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.  But if you tame me, then we shall need each other.  To me, you will be unique in all the world.  To you, I shall be unique in all the world"
Little Prince:  "I am beginning to understand.  There is a flower …….. I think that she has tamed me.”
Fox:  "It is Possible….On the Earth one sees all sorts of things." 

Little Prince: "Oh, but this is not on the Earth!"

Narrator:  “The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious”

Fox:  "On another planet?” 
Little Prince:  "Yes." 
Fox:   "Are there hunters on that planet?” 
Little Prince:  "No." 
Fox:   "Ah, that is interesting!  Are there chickens?" 
Little Prince: : "No." 
Fox:   "Nothing is perfect…"  
 
Narrator:  (He said with a sigh.  He ponders for a moment and then he comes back to his idea).
 
Fox:  "My life is very monotonous.   I hunt chickens; men hunt me.  All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike.  And, in consequence, I am a little bored……But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life.    I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others.  Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground.  Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow.  And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder?  I do not eat bread.  Wheat is of no use to me.  The wheat fields have nothing to say to me.  And that is sad.  But you have hair that is the color of gold.  Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me!    The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you.    And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…..” 
 
Narrator:   “The fox gazed at the Little Prince, for a long time.
 
Fox:  "Please-tame me!" 
Little Prince:  "I want to, very much.. But I have not much time.  I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand." 
Fox:  "One only understands the things that one tames.  Men have no more time to understand anything.  They buy things all ready made at the shops.  But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more.  If you want a friend, tame me!” 
Little Prince:   “What must I do, to tame you?" 
Fox:  "You must be very patient.   First you will sit down at a little distance from me like that…..in the grass.  I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing.  Words are the source of misunderstandings.  But you will sit a little closer to me, every day”.
 
Narrator:   “The next day the Little Prince came back”.
 
Fox:  "It would have been better to come back at the same hour.  If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock, I shall begin to be happy.  I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances.  At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about.  I shall show you how happy I am!  But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you. One must observe the proper rites." 
Little Prince:  "What is a rite?" 
Fox:  “Those also are actions too often neglected.  They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours.  There is a rite, for example, among my hunters.  Every Thursday they dance with the village girls.  So Thursday is a wonderful day for me!  I can take a walk as far as the vineyards.  But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
 
Narrator:   “So the Little Prince tamed the fox.  And when the hour of his departure drew near the Fox said…”
 
Fox:  "Ah,   I shall cry." 
Little Prince:   "It is your own fault. … I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you."

Fox:  "Yes, that is so." 
Little Prince:  "But now you are going to cry!" 
Fox:  "Yes, that is so." 
Little Prince:   "Then it has done you no good at all!" 
Fox: "It has done me good because of the color of the wheat fields."     ( Pause and then he adds) 
"Go and look again at the roses.  You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world.  Then come back to say goodbye, and I will make you a present of a secret.”
 
Narrator:  “The Little Prince went away, to look again at the roses.  And when he saw them he said…”
 
Little Prince:  “You are not at all like my rose!….As yet you are nothing.  No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one.  You are like my fox when I first knew him.  He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes…….But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world.”   

 
Narrator:  “And the roses were very much embarrassed.”
 
Little Prince: “You are beautiful, but you are empty.  One could not die for you.  To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you…-…the rose that belongs to me.  But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses…..Because it is she that I have watered….because it is she that I have put under the glass globe….because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen…because it is for her that I have killed caterpillars  (except the 2 or 3 that we saved to become butterflies)…because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing…because she is my rose!”
 
Narrator:  “And he went back to meet the fox, and he said…”
 
Little Prince:   “Goodbye”. 
Fox:  "Goodbye.   And now here is my secret, a very simple secret… 
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly…What is essential is invisible to the eye”.
 
Narrator:  “And the Little Prince repeated this so that he would be sure to remember it…”
 
Little Prince:  “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly…What is essential is invisible to the eye”. 
Fox:  “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important….Men have forgotten this truth…but you must not forget it.   You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed…You are responsible for your rose…” 
Little Prince:  “I am responsible for my rose…” 
 
Narrator: "Question:  What do we see with the heart?"
Fox:  "Answer:     The Kingdom of God."

Narrator:     So, what is essential?
Response:   To love one another.
Narrator:    And what is it that we see with our hearts?
Response:  The Kingdom of God.
Narrator:    Thank you both.  (play ends sermon continues below)

 

hroughout Eastertide, we continue to explore the mystery of death and resurrection.  We are called into resurrection not only for the salvation of our individual souls but to participate with Christ in the salvation of the world.  We are called to resurrection In Christ to become larger than our own selves.  We are called to resurrection Through Christ to help create the Kingdom of God on Earth and to take up residence in it – to become rooted in it.  We do that by being in relationship or more specifically by consciously creating relationship with “the other” just as the Little Prince created a relationship unique in all the world when he tamed the fox and distinguished her from a hundred thousand other foxes.

 

From the Torah, the earliest part of the Old Testament, we heard the command in Leviticus “Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord”.  Then in John’s Gospel we hear Jesus repeat that command.  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. Hhhmmm.  How can it be a new commandment if Jesus is repeating a fundamental commandment from the Old Testament? 

 

Well, I suggest to you that Jesus has redefined the concept.  “Your neighbor” no longer means just other members of the “We are the Chosen” club.  “You neighbor” becomes all those who Jesus himself sought to draw into relationship.  The focus of Jesus’ ministry was the poor, the hungry, the sick, the outcast, the marginalized, and the sinner creating separation rather than relation. It is those very same people to whom the Millennium Development Goals are addressed; the sick, the starving, the outcasts from the bounty enjoyed by western industrialized nations, the victims of injustice oppressed by the machinations of faceless economic and political systems that create separation and fuel exploitation.  It is these as yet faceless, nameless foxes and roses that we are called to draw into relationship.  We are invited by the Gospel to tame and be tamed by the Other.  Drawing “the other” into relationship is inherent in the call to resurrection through Christ.  We are all neighbors on starship Earth as we rocket through space to an unknown but shared destiny.  These are the MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS:

• Achieve universal primary education;

• Promote gender equality and empower women;

• Reduce child mortality;

• Improve maternal health;

• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;

• Ensure environmental stability;

• Develop a global partnership for development.

Yes, the task is staggering, but if we all participate, it is achievable.  This is the cross that Jesus beckons us to take up when we follow Him– to love all those whom He loves with the same fervor that He loves them.  Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  
All God’s children are The Chosen Ones.

If we all take up this same Cross, many hands will in fact make light the work.  If each Diocese and each parish and each congregant gives just ¾ of 1% of their income, we can eradicate extreme poverty throughout the world, create opportunities for universal primary education and wipe out malaria.  Possibly more important, our actions will shame governments into keeping their promise to give .07% of their national budgets to implement the MDGs and will put pressure on multi-national corporations – sometimes the greatest sinners – to amend their ways and join in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals.
These are clear and concrete steps that will bring the entire planet a quantum leap closer to experiencing the Kingdom of God.  Again, drawing “the other” into relationship is inherent in the call to resurrection through Christ.
In the name of God, the source of our bounty.  Amen

 

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