A monk once asked God in fervent prayer if he would please show him the smallest joy of paradise. One day this monk went out of the monastery without any accompaniment. He made his way to a beautiful path and followed it for a time until he saw before him a beautifully blooming tree. The tree sent him sweet fragrances while above in the branches sang a small bird with such a lovely voice that he believed he had never heard anything like it.
The monk stayed in this delightful place a short while and then returned home. When he arrived at the monastery, he knocked. A brother came out and asked who he was. The monk told his name, but neither knew the other. A second and then a third brother came, but he knew neither of them and he was unknown to them as well.
He then asked them to call the abbot, who came — but neither knew the other. The abbot asked who he was. He told what had occurred and that he believed he was only away for an hour. In the monastery, an old man had been there a long time already. The old man told the brothers that he was told that a long time ago a monk had disappeared; since it was the custom to record the names of the brothers, they found the name of the returning monk and it was shown that since his departure three abbots had reigned in the monastery.
The monk appeared not to have aged and his habit had not become poorer. In such things are shown the almighty power of God and that it is impossible for people to know what God will grant his chosen ones on the other side, since this monk never knew what God granted him during his own life.