Desert Wanderings

Poemen said, “It is written, ‘Like as the hart longs for the waterbrooks, so longs my soul for you, O my God” (Ps 42:1). Indeed, the harts in the desert eat many snakes and when their venom makes them burn with thirst they come to the waters to assuage their burning thirst. Is it the same for monks: in the desert, they are burned by the poison of the demons and they long for Saturday and Sunday to come so that they can go to the springs of water, that is, to the Body and Blood of the Lord, to be purified from the poison of the evil ones.”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V