Today March 10

Today is the glorious feast of St. Macarius the Great. I think it's kind of ironic that I am celebrating the feast of one of the greatest of the Desert Fathers in rain-soaked Seattle! :) In all the many years I lived here, I never once, never ONCE had to water my lawn. At the time I thought nothing of it . . . and then I moved to Texas! This great saint was, as John Cassian said of him "the first who found a way to inhabit the desert of Scetis." And WHY did he retreat to this terrible desert? Well, wouldn't you, after you were falsely accused of fathering a child, exonerated, and disgusted with the whole thing? He is a great Lenten figure, and there's no way I can relate all the wonderful stories of him. Let these few suffice and ask for his intercession for whatever it is you need and wish today.

Oh my gosh, there's more to the "accusation of fathering a child" story. He was already a monk, just not in the desert yet. He was drug out of his cell, hung with pots blackened with soot all around his neck, beaten and then approached by the distraught parents of the girl. "I gave them all the baskets I had, saying 'Sell them, and give my wife something to eat.' Then I said to myself, 'Macarius, you have found yourself a wife; you must work a little more in order to keep her.' So I worked night and day and sent my work to her." (Talk about patron saints for [ex]-husbands!) He was impoverished by [her] honor. And his exoneration came about in an unusual (and I think miraculous) way. The woman was in labor for so long she feared death. She bethought herself of her lie and said, "I know what it is, it is because I slandered the anchorite, and accused him unjustly; it is not he who is to blame, but such and such a young man." And she was safely delivered. Macarius' servant ran to tell him the good news, but he just rose and retreated into the desert. "That is the original reason why I came here," said he.

This one is my favorite:
When Abba Macarius was returning form the marsh to his cell one day carrying some palm-leaves, he met the devil on the road with a scythe. The latter struck at him as much as he pleased, but in vain, and he said to him, "What is your power, Macarius, that makes me powerless against you? All that you do, I do, too; you fast, so do I; you keep vigil, and I do not sleep at all; in one thing only do you beat me." Abba Macarius asked what that was. He said, "Your humility. Because of that I can do nothing against you."

What does this make you think of?
The same Abba Macarius while he was in Egypt discovered a man who owned a beast of burden engaged in plundering Macarius' goods. So he came up to the thief as if he were a stranger and he helped him to load the animal. He saw him off in great peace of soul, saying, "We have brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the world." (1 Tim 6:7)

Abba Theodore of Pherme had three fine codices. And he came to the Abba Macarius and said to him, "I have three codices, and I profit by the reading of them. And the brethren also come seeking to read them, and they themselves profit. Tell me, therefore, what I ought to do?" And Macarius answering said, "These are good deeds: but better than all is to possess nothing." And hearing this, he went away and sold the aforenamed codices, and gave the price of them to the needy.

A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian, and said to him, "Abba, give me a word, that I may be saved." So the old man said, "Go to the cemetery and abuse the dead." The brother went there, abused them and threw stones at them; then he returned and told the old man about it. The latter said to him, "Didn't they say anything to you?" He replied, "No." The old man said, "Go back tomorrow and praise them." So the brother went away and praised them, calling them, "Apostles, saints and righteous men." He returned to the old man and said to him, "I have complimented them," And the old man said to him, "Did they not answer you?" The brother said no. The old man said to him, "You know how you insulted them and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you too if you wish to be saved must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved."

They said of Abba Macarius the Great that he became, as it is written, a god upon earth, because, just as God protects the world, so Abba Macarius would cover the faults which he saw, as though he did not see them; and those which he heard, as though he did not hear them.

Abba Macarius was asked, "How should one pray?" The old man said, "There is no need at all to make long discourses; it is enough to stretch out one's hands and say, "Lord, as you will, and as you know, have mercy." And if the conflict grows fiercer say, "Lord, help!" He knows very well what we need and he shows us his mercy."

Can you see why I like him so much?