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From the Associate…
MORE WISDOM FROM THE DESERT
Today we acclaim Christ the King with palms of victory. And such a King! He left the highest place to take the lowest place. Rich beyond all telling, he came among us poor and unassuming. All-powerful, he renounced power and gave himself into the hands of his enemies. Deserving of infinite honor, he allowed himself to be beaten, spit upon, laughed at, mocked and scorned. Perfectly innocent, he took upon himself the punishment of the guilty. Lord of life, he submitted to shameful death. How to imitate such a king? No wonder that St. Augustine often spoke of humility as the sum of the virtues, and pride as the great sin. Here are some more sayings of the Desert Fathers dealing with humility, that noble Christ-like virtue of true sight.
It was said of Abba Arsenius, that just as none in the palace had worn more splendid garments than he when he lived there, so no one in the Church wore such poor clothing.
Abba Poemen said, "As the breath which comes out of his nostrils, so does a man need humility and the fear of God."
A brother asked Abba Poemen, "How should I behave in the place where I live?" The old man said, "Have the mentality of an exile in the place where you live, do not desire to be listened to and you will have peace."
He also said, "To throw yourself before God, not to measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments for the work of the soul."
It was said of Abba John the Persian that when some evildoers came to him, he took a basin and wanted to wash their feet. But they were filled with confusion, and began to do penance.
Abba Isaiah said, "When God wishes to take pity on a soul and it rebels, not bearing anything and doing its own will, he then allows it to suffer that which it does not want, in order that it may seek him again."
Abba Mios of Belos said, "Obedience responds to obedience. When someone obeys God, God obeys his request.
They said of Abba Macarius the Great that if a brother came to see him with fear, like someone coming to see a great and holy old man, he did not say anything to him. But if one of the brethren said to him, as though to humiliate him, "Abba, when you were a camel-driver, and stole nitre and sold it again, did not the keepers beat you?" If someone talked to him like that he would talk to them with joy about whatever they asked him.
They also said of him that he became, as it is written, a god upon earth, because, just as God protects the world, so Abba Marcarius would cover the faults which he saw, as though he did not see them; and those which he heard, as though he did not hear them.
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