Equal Work

One of the great treasures within the Christian tradition are the sayings of the monks (male and female) who lived in the desert of Egypt during the 4th century. The teachings of these earliest of Christian monks come to us in short sayings. Here are two from collection edited by Thomas Merton called The Wisdom of the Desert.

Abbot Pastor said: if there are three monks living together, of whom one remains silent in prayer at all times, and another is ailing and gives thanks for it, and a third waits on them both with sincere good will, these three are equal, as if all were performing the same work.

He said, again: Malice will never drive out malice. But if someone does evil to you, you should do good to him, so that by your good work you may destroy his malice.