Loving your Neighbour in Need
A brother asked an aged monk: ‘There are two brothers: one of them leads a life of solitude six days a week and does much penance, while the other is dedicated to the service of the sick. Which of the two is behaving in the way that is more acceptable to God?’
The old man answered him: ‘The brother who is always making a retreat would never attain the heights that the one who serves the sick has reached, not even if you hoisted him with a hook in his nose.’
A brother was looking after one of the Fathers who was sick. The Father’s body was covered in running sores and gave off a foul smell.
The brother therefore thought to himself: ‘I’m leaving; I can’t stand the stench.’ But he took a container and filled it with pus from the sores, telling himself: ‘Yes, I’ll leave, but first I want to drink this stuff.’
In that very moment he had another reaction: ‘I will neither run away nor drink this liquid.’ Thus the brother continued to serve the sick man.
Two monks were sitting having a heart-to-heart talk. One of them, who was ill, began to cough and to spit. His spittle, without his wanting it to, fell on the other.
The other immediately thought of protesting: ‘Stop spitting over me!’
But in struggling against this thought he took a wager with himself: ‘Only if you are ready to swallow his spittle yourself can you make such a protest.’ And the conclusion was: ‘I shall not swallow it and I shall say nothing.’
Desert Sayings of the Fathers nos. 224ff. (PG65)
Make your Love as Big as the World
Augustine said:
‘It is by running along the road of true love that we can reach our heavenly homeland.
‘Without love, everything we do is useless. We are wasting our energies if we do not have love, which is God.
‘Human beings only become perfect when they are overflowing with love.
‘One can believe in the right way, but without love one cannot attain eternal happiness.
‘Love is so strong that without it neither prophecy nor martyrdom avail.
‘Love is the sweet and saving food without which the rich are poor, thanks to which the poor become rich.
‘Enlarge your love to the size of the world if you want to love Christ, since the members of Christ are to be found all over the world.
‘Only those who have the perfection of Christ’s love are able to live together. Those who are without it continually upset one another and their anxiety is a misery to the others.’
Defensor Grammaticus
Book of Sparkling Sayings, r, 5ff. (SC77 pp.58ff.)
~ Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain, A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
