The Desert Fathers were weird in many ways. Especially to our modern, materialistic minds. Most of us have never met a recluse seeking spiritual insight.
So many of us are partially university trained into an excess of criticality.
I picked up this thought in my reading this week:
“If we wish to understand the sayings of the Fathers, let us approach them with veneration, silencing our judgments and our own thoughts in order to meet them on their own ground and perhaps to partake ultimately—if we prove able to emulate their earnestness in the search, their ruthless determination, their infinite compassion—in their own silent communion with God.”
Yes, we can rush so quickly to judgement without first checking our attitudes at the door. We pick up the books with open hands and open hearts to let some drop of wisdom touch the tongue of our mind.
An understanding of the thoughts can come later.
Faith Venture 
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