7th Sunday in Ordinary Time - on the Gospel - Luke 6:27-38

A certain monk was praying under a tree beside a river. As he prayed the tide was coming and the river was rising. Then he noticed a scorpion at the foot of the tree struggling for dear life as the surging waves tried to drown him. The monk stretched out his hand to pull the scorpion to safety but each time his hand came near the scorpion tried to sting him. A passerby saw what was going on and said to the monk: "What are you doing? Don't you know that it is in the nature of a scorpion to sting?" "Yes," replied the monk, "And it is in my nature to save. Must I change my nature because the scorpion refuses to change his?"