A brother succumbed to temptation and on account of what was afflicting him quit keeping the monastic rule; wanting to start all over again, he was thwarted by his affliction and said to himself, `When will I find myself like I once was?’ Despondent, he was unable to begin his monastic work so he went to an old man and reported to him what was going on with himself. When the old man heard what had happened because of his affliction, he offered him the following story by way of illustration:
`A person had some land and through his carelessness it became overgrown and filled with thorn-apples and thistles. It finally occurred to him to cultivate the land and he said to his son,”Go one clear the land”.When his son went to clear the land and saw that it was filled with thorn-apples and thistles, he got discouraged and said to himself,”How long will it take me to pull up all this stuff and clear everything here?” Giving up, he lay down and went to sleep. He did this for many days. Later, his father came to see what he had done; when he found that his son hadn’t done any work, he said to him,”Why haven’t you done any work yet?” and the young man said to his father, “I really was going to start work, father, but when I saw that the field was full of thorn-apples and thistles, I got overwhelmed by the task and so I laid myself down on the ground and went to sleep”. Then his father said to him, “Son, if you had cleared each day an area equal to the bed you made for yourself. you would have made progress in your work and would not have got discouraged.” When the young man heard this, he did as his father had advised and in a short time the land was cleared. `So, brother, it’s the same with you: do your work little by little and you won’t get discouraged and God, through his grace, will restore you to your former condition.’
The brother left and with patient endurance sat in his cell and did what he had been instructed by the old man and in this way he found peace and made progress through Christ.
Source: Becoming Fire, Through the Years with the Desert Father and Mothers. Tim Vivian, ed. Cistercian Publications, 2008. p. 80-81.
