Friday, March 18, 2011

Desert Wisdom (11)

Some old men went to Abba Poemen and asked, "If we see brothers sleeping during the synaxis [common prayer], should we wake them?" Abba Poemen answered, "If I see my brother sleeping, I will put his head on my knees and let him rest." Then one old man spoke up, "And how do you explain yourself before God?" Abba Poemen replied, "I say to God: You have said, "First take the beam out of your own eye and then you will be able to remove the splinter from the eye of your brother."


3 comments:

Jessica M said...

An important message. Blessings.

artysquirrel78 said...

I fear I have many beams in my eyes.

Unknown said...

I'm with you Artysquirrel, I find the wisdom of the desert fathers so simple yet profound and personally emberassing. Thanx for the comments.