Daily Reflection for April 17, 2023

The brethren used to tell how the brethren were sitting one day at an agape and one brother at table began to laugh. When he saw that, Abba John began to weep, saying, “What does this brother have in his heart that he should laugh, when he ought to weep, because he is eating at an agape?”

John weeps for the offenses of another and therefore offers the penance that the brother himself should render. John”s correction is an expression of the agape meal (Eucharist) they are celebrating.