We’re just over three months into the “Desert Fathers in a Year” series.  So far, my favorite saying comes from the section on hesychia, which relates to the idea of deep peace.  The saying comes from Abba Arsenius:

Abba Mark said to Abba Arsenius, ‘Why do you run away from us?’ The elder said to him, ‘God knows that I love you, but I cannot be with God and with people. The thousands and ten thousands above have one will, but people have many wills, so I cannot forsake God and come among people.’ (from Wortley’s systematic collection)

I imagine this is the kind of quote that most of us can relate to.  You step out of the door and suddenly find yourself on the receiving end of the demands of many (neighbors, students, co-workers, church leaders, you name it).  And that is not an easy place to be, definitely a difficult place to nurture the “purity of heart that wills one thing.”

I love the wording of the initial question: running away.  We can all likely imagine ourselves doing the same.  And I love Arsenius’s heartfelt response: you know that I love you.

It does make me wonder if there is a way to be with others and still be with God.  I suppose worship is a key way to nurture that reality.  But even then we may find ourselves demanding something from others (or having a demand placed on us).  I still think there’s something significant about the placement of Jesus’ pronouncement in Matthew 18 that when two or three agree in his name that he will be there being right after difficult words about sin and stumbling in the church . . . that such an agreement is hard won and precious.  It’s not easy to know what to ask for when others are involved in the asking, too.  Everyone, it turns out, brings their own will to the table.