Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Monday 2 June 2008

Motes and Planks

I think I have mentioned before how often the Office of Readings functions as the Almighty's smack upsides my head.... so here, I'm reading along
a colloquy of St Dorotheus,
and thinking, (well, first, "Who is St Dorotheus?", of course, but then,) "Ain't THAT the truth..." and wishing the saint's words of wisdom would be read by... and then of course, I realize that I have at best an imperfect view of the motes that came first to mind, because of, you know... the plank.

My brethren, let us consider how it can happen so often that someone hears something unpleasant and goes away untroubled...
If someone is engaged in prayer or contemplation, he can easily take a rebuke from his brother and be unmoved by it. Or again, his affection toward a brother may be a strong reason; love bears all things with the utmost patience. Yet another reason may be contempt: if a person despises the one who is trying to trouble him, and acts as if he is the vilest of all creatures and considers it beneath his dignity even to look at him, or to answer him, or to mention the affront and insults to anyone else, he will not be moved by his words.
.... But on the other hand, it is also possible for someone to be disturbed and troubled by his brother’s words...
Yet the reason for all disturbance, if we look to its roots, it that no one finds fault with himself. This is the reason why we become angry and upset, why we sometimes have no peace in our soul. We should not be surprised, since holy men have taught us that there is no other path to peace but this.
We see that this is true in so many other people; and yet we hope, in our laziness and desire for peace, we hope or even believe that we are on the right path even when we are irritated by everything and cannot bear to accept any blame ourselves.
This is the way things are.
However many virtues a man may have – they could be innumerable, they could be infinite – if he has left the path of self-accusation he will never have peace: he will be afflicted by others or he will be an affliction to them, and all his efforts will be wasted.

No comments: