Extra Possessions

August 28, 2015 | A Word From the Desert

The Dessert Fathers had a horror of extra possessions:

A disciple saw a few peas lying on the road and he said to his father,
“Shall I pick them up?”
but the old man said in amazement,
“Why? Did you put them there?”
and he said,
“No.”
“Then why should you pick them up?”

Sayings of the Desert Fathers
Artwork: Phyllis Nicoll