It is said that the most blessed evangelist John, when he
was gently stroking a partridge with his hands, suddenly saw one in the habit
of a hunter coming to him. He wondered that a man of such repute and fame should demean himself to such small and humble amusements, and said, “Are you that John whose eminent and widespread fame enticed me also with great desire to know you? Why then are you taken up with such mean
amusements?” The blessed John said to him, “What is that which you carry in your hands?” “A bow,” says he. “And why,”said John, “do you not bear it about always stretched?” The hunter answered him, “I must not, lest by constant bending the strength of its vigor be wrung and grow soft and perish, and when there is need that the arrows be shot with much strength at some beast, the strength being lost by excess of continual tension, a forcible blow cannot be dealt.” “Just so,” said the blessed John, “let not this little and brief relaxation of my mind offend you, young man, for unless it sometimes ease and relax by some remission the force of its tension, it will grow slack through unbroken rigor and will not be able to obey the power of the
Spirit.”
John Cassian (c. 360-c. 435)
Beautiful wisdom. thanks for this.
Comment by Keri Wyatt Kent — July 9, 2009 @ 3:48 am