January 4, 1998
Prayer and Meditation
This week's selection is from an anonymous father of the
Egyptian desert:
BEGIN: A brother asked one of the Fathers, "What shall I do? My thoughts are always
turned to lust without allowing me an hour's respite, and my soul is tormented by
it." He said to him, "Every time the demons suggest these thoughts to you, do
not argue with them. For the activity of demons always is to suggest, and suggestions are
not sins, for they cannot compel; but it rests with you to welcome them, or not to welcome
them. Do you know what the Midianites did? They adorned their daughters and presented them
to the Israelites. They did not compel anyone, but those who consented, sinned with them,
while the others were enraged and put them to death. It is the same with thoughts."
The brother answered the old man, "What shall I do, then, for I am weak and passion
overcomes me?" He said to him, "Watch your thoughts, and every time they begin
to say something to you, do not answer them but rise and pray; kneel down, saying, 'Son of
God, have mercy on me.'"
Then the brother said to him, "Look, Abba, I meditate, and there is no compunction in
my heart because I do not understand the meaning of the words." The other said to
him, "Be content to meditate. Indeed, I have learned that Abba Poemen and many other
Fathers uttered the following saying, 'The magician does not understand the meaning of the
words which he pronounces, but the wild animal who hears it understands, submits, and bows
to it. So it is with us also; even if we do not understand the meaning of the words we are
saying, when the demons hear them, they take fright and go away.'" END
from "The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers," by Benedicta Ward, (Oxford:
SLG Press, 1986), pp. 16-17
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