Today October 17

Okay, we could go with the (old) feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, she of the great devotion to the Sacred Heart, or the great -- and famous -- St. Ignatius of Antioch, but when we have the rare chance to do a Desert Father, and when we have the even rarer chance to do a dwarf, well, how can we refuse? Today is the feast of St. John the Dwarf (Fifth Century). We've covered him before because there was another St. John and I used stories from the venerable dwarf. These all truly belong to our guy today, though.

It was said of Abba John the Dwarf that he withdrew and lived in the desert at Scetis with an old man of Thebes. His abba, taking a stick, stuck it in the sand and said to him, "Water it every day with a bottle of water, until it bears fruit." Now the water was so far away that he had to leave in the evening and return the following morning. At the end of three years (THREE YEARS!) the wood came to life and bore fruit. Then the old man took some of the fruit and carried it to the church saying to the brethren, "Take and eat the fruit of obedience."

It was said of Abba John the Dwarf, that one day he said to his elder brother, "I should like to be free of all care, like the angels, who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God." So he took off his cloak and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door, he heard his brother say, before he opened it, "Who are you?" He said, "I am John, your brother." He replied, "But John has become an angel, and he is no longer among men." Then the other begged him saying, "It is I." However, his brother did not let him in, but left him there until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, "You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat." Then John made a prostration before him, saying, "Forgive me."

Some old men were entertaining themselves at Scetis by having a meal together; amongst them was Abba John. A venerable priest got up to offer drink, but nobody accepted any from him, except John the Dwarf. They were surprised and said to him, "How is it that you, the youngest, dared to let yourself be served by the priest?" Then he said to them, "When I get up to offer a drink, I am glad when someone accepts it, that is the reason, then, that I accepted it, so that he also might be glad by seeing that someone would accept something from him." When they heard this, they were all filled with wonder and edification at his discretion.

He was so absent-minded in the love of God, that it was said of him that one day he was weaving rope for two baskets, but he made it into one without noticing, until it had reached the wall.

Abba John said, "I am like a man sitting under a great tree, who sees wild beasts and snakes coming against him in great numbers. When he cannot withstand them any longer, he runs to climb the tree and is saved. it is just the same with me; I sit in my cell and I am aware of evil thoughts coming against me, and when I have no more strength against them, I take refuge in God by prayer and I am saved from the enemy."

One day when Abba John was going up to Scetis with some other brothers, their guide lost his way for it was nighttime. So the brothers said to Abba John, "What shall we do, abba, in order not to die wandering about, for the brother has lost the way?" The old man said to them, "If we speak to him, he will be filled with grief and shame. But look here, I will pretend to be ill and say I cannot walk any more; then we can stay here till the dawn." This he did. The others said, "We will not go on either, but we will stay with you." They sat there until the dawn, and in this way they did not upset the brother.

One day Abba John was sitting down in Scetis, and the brethren came to him to ask him about their thoughts. One of the elders said, "John, you are like a courtesan who shows her beauty to increase the number of her lovers." Abba John kissed him and said, "You are quite right, Father." One of his disciples said to him, "Do you not mind that in your heart?" But he said, "No, I am the same inside as I am outside."

A fitting tribute to the man: the same inside as outside. St. John, pray for us.