Princess Atlanta of
Greek mythology was the daughter of King Iasus (Iasius).Trained by hunters from
her early childhood, she became a strong, skilled and successful huntress. She
could beat anyone in running and hunting. She insisted that she would marry
only the man who could beat her in a foot race. Attracted by her beauty and
bravery, many princes competed with her, but could not beat her. Finally, the
young, clever and handsome prince Melanion (Hippomenes) came to try his chance.
He had concealed three golden apples in his pocket when he started the race.
As the race
progressed, Atlanta easily overtook Melanion. Then he tossed down one of the
golden apples to distract her. It fell near her feet and rolled to a side, away
from the track. She ran after the golden apple, returned with the retrieved
apple and resumed the race. Again, she gained speed and raced ahead of him. He
then tossed the second apple at her feet, causing her to deviate from the path
and lag behind him. But she resumed the race and soon overtook him. He then
threw the third and largest apple with full force. Overcome by the temptation
to gather the glistening golden apple, she ran after it, stopped and stooped to
pick it up and returned with it confidently to continue the race. But he could
reach the finishing point just before her. Thus Melanion won the race by his
tricks and married Atlanta.
With the powerful grace of God we can march
towards the higher levels of sanctity if we are determined to avoid all
tempting situations. We should not lead ourselves into temptations.
We have to be ready to leave our attachment to
worthless worldly pleasures and affinity to material objects to gain true
freedom and gather greater goals. Our desires impede our freedom. We should
detach ourselves from these tempting desires. Otherwise we become slaves of sin. When we clasp worldly interests we fail
to open our hands to receive the bliss of heavenly happiness.
St. Ignatius Loyola
used to repeat the following Biblical verse to St. Francis Xavier whenever they
met in the campus of the University of Paris: “Will a
person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life?” These
words transformed St. Francis Xavier completely, gave him a new vision and
mission and made him a great saint.
................................................................................................
© By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University
of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's
College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St. Antony's Public School,
Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath,
Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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