CHAPTER 22 - CHINA
Mei Li asked her next-door neighbor to keep an eye on her children who were playing peacefully. The neighbor dropped everything and said that she would be happy to get the children something to eat and stay there until Mei Li returned. "We won't be long; I'm just taking my cousin and new friend here over to my father-in-law's place."
The neighbor looked at Mei Li quizzically but, in true Asian fashion, reserved her thoughts and feelings behind a neutral face.
Mei Li led her cousin Theresa and Brother Francis through a small stand of knarled trees. Centuries of blowing wind had sculpted them into grotesque yet beautiful forms. The sound of flowing water added to the lush surreal experience. They seemed to have been transported in time. The pensive trio clambered over an ancient but sturdy footbridge, and as they looked up, they could see a short balding man in his sixties standing on his porch regarding them quietly. He emanated an energy that felt cautious.
"Good afternoon my friend," offered Brother Francis in his English-accented Mandarin. "My friend Theresa has been kind enough to take me to her cousin Mei Li who lives next door to you and is your daughter-in- law. I have great interest in learning more about the parchments from Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal which you passed on to your son and Mei Li on their wedding day. I am so sorry for the loss of your son. Would you be willing to speak with me about the parchments?"
The man's persona was stoic. "That depends."
The three relatively newly acquainted friends had made it to the bottom step of the porch by now. "May we come up on your porch and speak with you?"
"That depends."
Brother Francis was usually a pretty peaceful person but he could feel his blood beginning to boil. He had traveled halfway around the world to solve this mystery and wanted to do so. He also found it rather unfriendly to speak, not only to him, but also to the ladies, in such an abrupt fashion. "That depends on what, sir?"
"I will speak to you alone, but not in the presence of the women."
The ladies nodded at Brother Francis and whispered that they would return to Mei Li's home and that he could meet them there. Brother Francis nodded back, believing that the fewer words that were spoken, the better.
When the two men were seated in the humble dwelling on hard wooden chairs, the Asian gentleman said, "What do you want to know?"
"Can you tell me, sir, how the ancient parchments came into your possession?"
"I can, but I'm not sure that I want to. Why are you interested in those musty and moldy old letters? Why they are even written in some European language, French I think."
"I respect all religions, including Buddhism and Daoism, but I myself am a Catholic Christian--actually I am a vowed monk."
The man of the house shrugged his shoulders. "I have little time for religion of any sort. It has done as much harm as it has good. My ancestors came to China along what is known as “the Silk Road,” and created the first Christian community in China somewhere around the nine hundreds. The Jesuit order thinks that they brought Christianity to us in the fifteen hundreds through a Jesuit named ‘Matthew Ricci’ but my ancestors did so long before that."
Mr. Chen, as Brother Francis was instructed to call him, stood up and walked over to a small rickety table and opened a drawer. He took out a piece of dark wood and handed it to Brother Francis. When the monk looked at the wood he saw that it was carved in the form of a lotus blossom, and rising out of the center of the blossom was a cross about twelve inches high and four inches wide. He put the religious artifact down on the table and it stood upright--the symbol of the Asian culture giving rise to Christian culture. "This is quite beautiful Mr. Chen. I have seen pictures of artifacts like this and have been to the place you mention. There is an old tower there where some of these artifacts have been found by scholars."
The man was becoming increasingly suspicious. "Why are you being so kind? My bearing is usually rather abrasive and I think I'm doing a pretty good job of being that right now. I have a gift, one might say, for driving people away."
"Sometimes we use our gifts in ways that are not life giving. If that energy you have could be directed toward the right tasks, I'll bet you could move mountains."
Mr. Chen was quiet for a moment. "We each have our lineage. My lineage came across the Silk Road and I think yours is more of a spiritual nature--not that I believe much in any of that anymore."
"I'm pretty much a mutt." Brother Francis had to explain the meaning of that word for his host, and then continued speaking. "My earthly lineage is Hungarian and Irish and I am blessed with a wonderful family. We've had our share of sickness and death from early on. I believe that this has somehow shaped my life. My spiritual family comes from France and stretches back to the fifteen hundreds."
The cautious little man tried not to show it, but he was startled.
"I am a member of the Salesian family. We have men and women dedicated to Christ's mission as lay people, married and single folks, clergy, and vowed monastics. St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal lived the Gospel in a simple and practical way and we are the recipients of their wisdom. The letters you passed on to Mei Li are indeed written in French and date back to our co-founders. As far as I can tell, they have never been seen by any of our Salesian historians. When I read them I am transported back in time and feel as if St. Jane de Chantal and St. Francis de Sales are right there with me. It's a mystical kind of experience."
"Those parchments have always filled me both with awe and guilt--awe because I knew intuitively that they were somehow sacred, and guilt because they seemed to call me to a change of heart--and I was not ready for that."
"Mr. Chen, can you please tell me how they came into your possession?"
"That depends."