Brethren, what is true of you is also true of me—we seek.I ask myself, ‘Who is it, or even what is it, I am seeking? Is it the Lord, or have I been talking to, listening to, following, preaching and promoting, living and loving only myself?’
Imaginary lines are what we make, but fine lines there are unmade by us but drawn by the finger of Christ God as He squats and scribes the sand walked by our accusing feet.
Whoever and whatever it is that we really seek, even in our blindness we are not deaf to His gentle, persistent words, ‘How blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be shown them!’
These words are for us who say we believe and hope we are saved, but also for those who do not believe, if they do them.
Again we see the Divine Nature at work in us, defying our religion and our irreligion, delivering us from our isolation, from ourselves, making room for us based not on what we do but on Whom we seek, whether we know Him or not.
As the desert father replied when asked who might be the sheep and who the goats, ‘Who the sheep be, God knows, but the goats are such as I.’
And yet He accepts even goats’ hair as an offering.
Once I had the honor to translate this saying of the Desert Fathers from the original Coptic into English as part of my academic training. It is delightful to find it in use. In the original, the pious father calls himself a goat to mislead the Devil to think that if, among Christians, the goats are so pious, how much more pious, and, therefore, resistant to temptation, must be the sheep? The ruse worked and the Devil disappeared.
ReplyDeleteDear Brother, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your worthy comment. I am honored. Yes, the sayings of the Desert Fathers are still alive and 'in use.' Where else can we find such wisdom among mankind?
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