Come, I invite you to join in search of the Unicorn...

THE UNICORN

It was saintly Sister CONSORCIA who told me the story of THE UNICORN.

I loved the story. For it is MY story. And the story of EVERYMAN.

According to Sister Consorcia —

Once upon a time, the UNICORN was regarded as a symbol representing JESUS CHRIST — like the CROSS and the FISH. Why? Because the story of the UNICORN is very much like the story of JESUS CHRIST.

When all the world was young, there were horses and reindeer, lions and buffaloes, rabbits and goats. All animals had either two horns or no horn at all.

Then one bright morning, all the villagers were astounded to behold — there, in the fresh, green plain before them, a fantastically-beautiful creature — gracefully prancing and rearing and running, its wonderful muscles rippling in the sunlight — A UNICORN — A MAGNIFICENT UNICORN!!!

And every day the villagers would see this wonderful creature — the silent, strong, magnificent Unicorn. The Unicorn was just itself, innocently and beautifully grazing there in the sunlight, doing NO harm to anybody. Just simply being itself, as Nature and God had made it.

But soon the holy people and the leaders of village began to feel uneasy, and to think logically, and to interpret God, and to control and dominate and be afraid — so they solemnly decreed — that since all animals must have either two horns or no horn at all, therefore this thing, this Unicorn — which has only one horn — CANNOT possibly come FROM GOD.

And if it cannot come from God, then it MUST come FROM THE DEVIL. And if it comes from the devil, then IT MUST BE DESTROYED!

Yes, it must be destroyed. For God must be protected. And the people must be protected. From THE DEVIL. From what is NOT GOD . . . From all that is DIFFERENT and hence revolutionary and dangerous.

And so the holy elders and the enlightened priests and the champions of the law . . . one dark night gathered the villagers together and forced them to see the light and then they all condemned the poor Unicorn and they armed the mob with swords and spears and knives and stones — and they surrounded and trapped the poor Unicorn — the innocent, defenseless, beautiful Unicorn.

Yes, the leaders of the village, who were jealous of their position and power and who felt envious of the Unicorn’s beauty and freedom and its relaxed, natural unshackled closeness to God, pushed the poor Unicorn to the edge of the high, high cliff and then the mob, with their swords and spears and stones, forced it to fall down the sheer edge of the cliff. And thus the meek, sinless Unicorn fell, and was smashed among the cruel rocks below. The guiltless, God-sent Unicorn was smashed and killed and forever destroyed.

And — saintly Sister Consorcia continued — Our Lord Jesus Christ was like that. And our prophets and saints of yesterday and today are also like that. AND YOU AND I — WE ARE ALSO LIKE THAT.

Down through the ages, the elders and the priests and the guardians of revelation and tradition — jealous of their authority and their power, acting as the holy interpreters and inquisitors of the divine and perfect Doctrine . . . have always condemned whatever they cannot control, whatever is different. They have always excommunicated and tortured and destroyed the seemingly heretical and the seemingly unorthodox.

THE PHARISEES could NOT ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST. Because Jesus Christ, the humble Carpenter, the unschooled, untrained Galilean, was different, different from them and their absolute rubrics and their selfish, insensitive, man-made prejudices.

Because Jesus Christ preached love. Because He lived and taught forgiveness and freedom and equality and justice and healing and service and peace.
Because Jesus spoke of freedom, and of the innate dignity of every woman and man; of the joy and glory of being children of God, and of a wonderful, divine new world of forgiveness, sharing, and love. So different from the dogmatic, intolerant, enslaving torture chambers of the scribes and Pharisees of the earth.

Because Jesus said that Everyone is a Child of our Loving God, the churchmen condemned and tortured and crucified Him. They murdered God Himself!


* * *


Our world today has not really changed. It is still the same. . . as when the ancient villagers destroyed the Unicorn . . . as when the nation’s leaders crucified the Son of God.

YES, even today they STILL condemn and destroy the Unicorns of God.


* * *


And what about US, my dear friends? Are WE like the VILLAGERS who destroyed the Unicorn, and the deluded Pharisees who killed the Son of God? Or are WE like the UNICORN?

Sometimes — when we are intolerant and angry because truly holy people are different from us, when they have a different accent and wear different clothes, when their complexion is different from our complexion, and their manners and traditions are not like ours — when they act and behave differently from the dictates of our own intransigent, narrow morals and our unforgiving prejudices, then we cut them down and we crucify them, and we forever destroy them and everything that is divine and fresh and truly beautiful in our world.



AND sometimes we even fool ourselves into believing that, like the Holy Inquisition, we ARE DOING THE WILL OF GOD, when we destroy and annihilate the Unicorns and the Christs that God continuously and lovingly and mercifully sends into our lives.

BUT NOW AND THEN, WE OURSELVES, YES WE OURSELVES, ARE THE UNICORNS . . . when deep, deep in our hearts we listen to the whisper and the voice of God, then we become the victims, then we are crucified. For then the Pharisees and the villagers of our world perceive us to be UNACCEPTABLE because WE ARE TRUE and WE ARE FAITHFUL to how GOD made us, and how GOD speaks to us, and what OUR OWN GOD-GIVEN CONSCIENCES TELL US.

When, like the Unicorn, like Jesus Christ, we do not conform to the man-made Sabbaths and traditions and expectations of our community, then we are ostracized, then made to feel we are impure, and that we no longer belong, and we are we are isolated, and we are destroyed, like the UNICORN. Like JESUS CHRIST.

I wonder if Unicorns CRY. I WONDER IF UNICORNS CRY.

I wonder how Unicorns feel when they are ostracized and stifled and destroyed.

I wonder how they feel when they are forced to the brink and they fall, to be dashed and mutilated against the cruel rocks below.

I wonder if they almost give up in despair, for they suffer such unspeakable anguish, and they are in such great pain, and are so alone, and afraid and so abandoned, and so. . . crucified.

For in being true to themselves, and to the VOICE OF GOD, they lose everything, everything — except God — except God.

BUT GOD IS MORE THAN EVERYTHING. MORE THAN EVERYTHING.

My dear friends, you and I — we will be at peace, and we will be fulfilled, and we will be genuine heroes and healers and saviours and saints ONLY if we lovingly conform to the destiny and the will of God.

Not any other destiny. Not any other will. ONLY OF GOD. ONLY OF GOD. ONLY OF GOD.

LIKE JESUS — THE UNICORN.



arsenio c. jesena,s.j.