We are often indifferent to our brethren who are distressed or upset, on the grounds that they are in this state through no fault of ours. The Doctor of souls, however, wishing to root out the soul's excuses from the heart, tells us to leave our gift and to be reconciled not only if we happen to be upset by our brother, but also if he is upset by us, whether justly or unjustly; only when we have healed the breach through our apology should we offer our gift.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility for our relationships and reconciling with others, regardless of who is at fault.
In this quote, John Cassian addresses the tendency of individuals to dismiss the emotional struggles of others, particularly when they believe those struggles are not their responsibility. He emphasizes the moral duty to acknowledge and mend relationships, even if the distress of another person seems unjustified. By advising us to prioritize reconciliation and personal accountability over our own grievances, Cassian highlights the virtue of empathy and communal harmony.
In practice
In a speech about fostering community support during difficult times.
If you wish to attain to true knowledge of the Scriptures, hasten to acquire first an unshakeable humility of heart. That alone will lead you, not to the knowledge that puffs up, but to that which enlightens, by the perfecting of love.
...we must first scrutinize thoroughly anything appearing in our hearts or any saying suggested to us. Has it come purified from the divine and heavenly fire of the Holy Spirit? Or does it lean toward Jewish superstition? Is its surface piety something which has come down from bloated worldly philosophy? We must examine this most carefully, doing as the apostle bids us: 'Do not believe in every spirit, but make sure to find out if spirits are from God'.
The Doctor of our souls has placed the remedy in the hidden regions of the soul.
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
Some make light of decisions, arguing that all possible decisions will occur. In such a world, how could one be responsible for his actions? Others hold that each decision must be considered and committed to, that without commitment there is chaos. Such people are content to live in contradictory worlds, so long as they know the reason for each.
One human life is deeper than the ocean. Strange fishes and sea-monsters and mighty plants live in the rock-bed of our spirits. The whole of human history is an undiscovered continent deep in our souls. There are dolphins, plants that dream, magic birds inside us. The sky is inside us. The earth is in us.
Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls. Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment of age.
Mad; adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech, and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual. It is noteworthy that persons are pronounced mad by officials destitute of evidence that they themselves are sane.
In essentials, unity; in differences, liberty; in all things, charity.
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