There was once a young man who had committed a great sin. He was very sorry for the evil that he had done, so he went to the village priest to ask for how he might atone and make things right.
The priest told him, “I’ve spoken with God about your problem, but he does not answer me as usual. You have no choice. You must ask God on your own. There is a small temple on the other side of the hills toward the west. Go there, and accept whatever blessing the Lord gives you.”
“And by the way,” added the priest, “take my cat with you. Maybe I’m just a silly old man, but I feel as if she will be of some help.”
The young man didn’t question the priest’s advice. His mind was already over the hills. He didn’t even think to pack any extra food or clothing. He started walking, and the cat followed as if she were a puppy dog.
After two days, they arrived at the temple. It looked as if nobody had been there for a hundred years. The walls inside were covered in cobwebs. Thieves had long ago removed the jewels and adornments of the wooden image of the deity within.
The young man and the cat went inside and bowed before the image. “I feel a great kinship with you at this moment,” the man said to the deity. “I feel as if I’ve been here before. As if I have always been here. You are God, yet even you are not immune to loss and decay so long as you dwell in this world.”
The man was lost in contemplation of the world, especially his condition within the world. But the cat’s eyes were looking upward, as if gazing at an invisible crown upon the deity’s head. The cat jumped up to the platform and started climbing the wooden statue. As she sat on top of the head, she reached down and scratched at the mouth of the deity.
At first, the man looked up and saw the cat’s furry paw moving. But it only took another moment to notice what he had been missing all along: the deity was smiling.
“Thank you, kitty,” the young man said. “I understand now. It’s time to go home.”
The journey home was slow and easy. The man was not in a hurry this time. The hills were lovely, and every turn offered a new world to experience. “Maybe I never allowed myself to see what’s always been in front of my face,” said the man.
As he neared the village, he could see the priest waiting for him at the outskirts. The priest said, “You look as if God has answered you. I’m eager to know how things went.”
“The Lord is smiling,” said the young man.
“But who is the Lord?” the priest asked with half a smile.
The young man replied, “I don’t know. I only know that I’m sitting before his image wherever I go.”
“And where is God’s temple?”
“Within my heart. Or everywhere. Same thing.”
“And who will renovate this temple?”
“Not I, but the one who dwells there,” replied the young man.
The two men and the cat began walking home. The priest went back to his house. And the young man turned the other way to his own home…followed by the cat.