Loving Neighbour

A brother asked Pambo, “Why does the enemy prevent me doing good to my neighbour?”

He said, “Do not talk like that, or you will make God a liar. Say, ‘It is I myself do not want to be kind to others.’ For God came down to us and said, ‘I have given you the power of treading upon scorpions and snakes’ (Luke 10:19), and so you are beyond the power of the enemy. Why then do you not tread down these evil spirits?”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V