Wisdom Distilled from the Daily by Joan Chittister

Author:Joan Chittister [Chittister, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062284501
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Once when Abba Arsenius was ill he was taken by the brothers to a church and put on a bed with a small pillow under his head, an unheard of comfort for monks of that time. Now, behold, a monk who was coming to see him for spiritual guidance, saw him lying on a bed with a little pillow under his head and he was shocked. “Is this really Abba Arsenius, this man lying down like this?”

Then, one of the monastics took the visiting monk aside and said to him, “In the village where you lived, what was your trade?” he asked.

“I was a shepherd,” the visitor replied.

“And how did you live then?” the monk continued.

“I had a very hard life,” the visitor answered.

Then the monk said, “And how do you live in your cell now?”

And the visitor said, “Oh, now I am very comfortable.”

Then the monk said to him, “Do you see Abba Arsenius? Before he became a monk he was the father of the emperor While you were in the world as a shepherd you did not enjoy even the comforts you have now but he no longer leads the delicate life he lived in the world. So you are comforted always, while he is afflicted always.”

The visitor prostrated himself saying, “Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. Truly the way this man follows is the way of truth, for it leads to humility while mine leads to comfort.” And the monk withdrew, edified.

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