Today March 16

Today is the feast of St. Abraham, not the patriarch upon whom our faith grew, as well as that of the Jews and even the Muslims, but yet another one of the Desert Fathers. It was said of an old man that for 50 years he had neither eaten bread nor drunk wine readily. He even said, "I have destroyed fornication, avarice and vain-glory in myself." Learning that he had said this, Abba Abraham came and said to him, "Did you really say that?" He answered, "Yes." Then Abba Abraham said to him, "If you were to find a woman lying on your mat when you entered your cell would you think that it is not a woman?" "No," he replied, "But I should struggle against my thoughts so as not to touch her." Then Abba Abraham said, "Then you have not destroyed the passion, but it still lives in you although it is controlled. Again, if you are walking along and you see some gold amongst the stones and shells, can your spirit regard them all as of equal value?" "No," he replied, "But I would struggle against my thoughts, so as not to take the gold." The old man said to him, "See avarice still lives in you, though it is controlled." Abba Abraham continued, "Suppose you learn that of two brothers one loves you while the other hates you, and speaks evil of you; if they come to see you, will you receive them both with the same love?" "No," he replied, "But I should struggle against my thoughts so as to be as kind towards the one who hates me as towards the one who loves me." Abba Abraham said to him, "So then, the passions continue to live; it is simply that they are controlled by the saints."
Didn't you think of the old story of the two monks who came upon a woman who was standing by the river, wanting to get to the other side? Now, monks were not allowed to talk to women, much less touch them. But one of the monks took her up upon her shoulders and carried her across. The other walked along beside him in troubled silence. Finally he spoke up and said, "Father, why did you carry that woman across the river?" The old man said, "Son, I left her on the bank back there. Why are you still carrying her?"
I've always liked that story; it kind of shows how our attitudes can be controlled so that the Lord's words will truly be fulfilled: "It is not what goes into a man that defiles him; it is what comes out of him." And Abba Abraham cautions us against pride, even (maybe especially) spiritual pride. Even in the most advanced souls concupiscence lives. We never completely destroy it. We never completely destroy temptations. We just control them.