A Year with the Saints - 30 January

Place thyself under the discipline of a stern and austere man, who will treat thee harshly and with rigor; and then strive to drink in all his reproofs and ill treatment as one would drink milk and honey; and I assure thee that in a little time you wilt find thyself on the pinnacle of perfection. - Abbot Moses

It is related in the Lives of the Fathers that the Abbot John diligently and affectionately served one of the old Fathers, who was ill, for a period of twelve years. Though this Father saw what severe and long fatigue the Abbot was enduring, he never gave him one gentle or amiable word, but always treated him with harshness. But when he was dying, he called for the Abbot, and, taking him by the hand, said to him three times, "Abide in God!" and then he recommended him to the Fathers, saying, "This is not a man, but an Angel."

- text taken from A Year with the Saints, composed by an unknown Italian, translated by a member of the Order of Mercy; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, New York, 21 January 1891