“Once some bandits came to the hermitage of an old man and said:
We have come to take away everything in your cell. He said:
Whatever you see, my sons. Then they took whatever they found in
the cell and went away. But they left behind a little bag that
was out of sight. But the old man picked it up and ran after them,
shouting: My sons, take this! You forgot it! They were amazed by
the endurance of the old man and brought everything back into the
cell. They repented and said: He really is a man of God.”
In Lent we fast, we pray, we give alms. Why? To be sanctified,
to ‘recuperate’ what we have lost, which is the Holy Spirit, a
living relationship with God which makes us “of God”, like Him.
There is no Lent without alms-giving. True, but… be on the
watch. In giving your left hand should not know what your right
is doing. Our two hands should not speak with each other. If
they do, one hand may say ‘I have already given today’ and the
other may add ‘I counted, me too I have given a lot this week’.
“One day when Abba Agathon was on his way to town to sell small
utensils, he saw a leper sitting on the roadside, who asked: Where
are you going? Agathon replied: To town to sell these things. He
said: Do me a favour, take me there. So, he carried him to town.
Then he said: Put me down wherever you sell those things. He did.
When he sold one item, the leper asked: How much did you sell it
for? Agathon told him how much it was. The leper said: Buy me
something nice. So, he bought it. He sold another item. Then the
leper asked: And how much was it? So, he told him the price. Then
he said: Buy me this. So, he bought it. After selling everything,
he wanted to go. The leper asked: Are you going back? He replied:
Sure. Then he said: Do me a favour again and take me back to the
place where you found me. So, he carried him back to the place
where he was. Then he said: You are blessed, Agathon, by the Lord,
in heaven and on earth! As the Abba lifted his eyes, he saw nobody,
for it was an angel of the Lord who had come to test him.”
If you want Lent to do its work of sanctification in you, keep
your right and left hand separate so to give-alms with them both!
Fr Ivano
