15/09/2026
THE HORSE THAT THOUGHT THEY WERE SALUTING HIM
There is an old story about a priest who was carrying the Blessed Sacrament on horseback.
As they passed through the streets, people knelt and genuflected in reverence to the Blessed Sacrament. The horse noticed that everywhere it went, people were bowing to it.
Naturally, the horse began to feel important.
“Ah!” it thought. “So this is what it means to be a great horse! Everywhere I pass, people bow before me.”
The horse became so convinced of its own importance that it started enjoying the attention.
One day, however, the priest got down from the horse and continued on foot with the Blessed Sacrament. The horse, now running by itself, passed the same people.
Nobody bowed.
The horse was confused.
It ran past another group.
Still nothing.
It became angry: “What has happened? Have these people suddenly lost their respect for me?”
Poor horse! It never understood that the honour was never for the horse. It was for what the horse was carrying.
There are people like that horse.
They become powerful because they are close to someone powerful. They become influential because they are backed by someone influential. They become rich because they are connected to someone rich. People respect them because of the person standing behind them.
Then one day, the person behind them disappears.
The backing is gone.
The influence is gone.
The money is gone.
The protection is gone.
Yet they continue behaving as though they are still the source of the power.
Never mistake borrowed glory for personal greatness.
The horse was not the Blessed Sacrament.
And sometimes, you are not as powerful as you think you are, you are simply carrying somebody's influence.
Know the source of your strength. And when the person who helped you rises, be humble enough to remember who was carrying whom.
Fr. Polycarp
