wisdom for wednesday
from the sayings of the Desert Mothers and Fathers (a paraphrase by Merton)…
The Desert Mothers and Fathers sayings have been gathered in numerous anthologies by the Orthodox and Roman church. These hermits of the Egyptian desert formed the basis for the formation of formal monasticism and give us a glimpse at a literal following of Jesus’ teaching. 
The sayings of our spiritual ancestors which I will share on Wednesdays for the for-seeable future are primarily taken from the hermits of Scete who fled the “worldly” habitation of the Roman Empire during the 3rd and 4th century.
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“Once two brothers were sitting with Abbot Poemen and one praised the other brother saying: ‘He is a good brother, he hates evil.’
The old man said, ‘What do you mean, he hates evil?’
And the brother did not know what to reply. So he said, ‘Tell me, Father, what it is to hate evil?’
The Father said, ‘That man hates evil who hates his own sins, and looks upon every brother as a saint, and loves him as a saint.’”
[from The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton p. 70-71]
i keep coming back to this…. good stuff doug. i’ve read it many times over the last week or so. it strikes me there is a lot to learn from this, which seems odd, with it being such a short passage.
i even quoted it somewhere today. i credited merton, but not you, or this blog. for that, you should thank me!
either way, i look forward to the next installment.
LL
That is really cool - glad it intrigues. It is this type of pithy “story” that fills the “Wisdom Sayings” and they do sort of work on you - they have both a simplicity and depth that makes one think and brew on the story.
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