Wise Words from a Saint's Father

I recently ran across this account by St. Siluoan, the 20th century Russian Athonite saint, of advice given him by his natural father. It seemed like particularly appropriate advice to post in this blog on Orthodoxy and Eco-Justice. I grow ever more convinced that we will not make any headway on the issue of how to repair the damage the technological civilization we have embraced has done to the environment, nor will we be able to dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to the aid and defense of the indigent of the world until we can adopt such an attitude towards what the saint calls "worldly goods" whose "losses are a small matter":

Let us not be distressed over the loss of worldly goods, such losses are a small matter. My own father taught me this early in life. When some misfortune happened at home, he would remain serene. When our house caught fire and the neighbors said, ‘Ivan Petrovich, your house is burnt down!’ he replied, ‘With God’s help I’ll build it up again.’ Once we were walking along the side of our field, and I said, ‘Look, they’re stealing our sheaves!’ ‘Aye, son,’ he answered me, ‘the Lord has given us corn and to spare, so if anyone steals it, it means he’s in want.’ Another day I said to him, ‘You give a lot away to charity, while some who are better off than we are give far less.’ To which he replied, ‘Aye, son, the Lord will provide.’ And the Lord did not confound his hope.

- From St. Silouan of Mount Athos