Daily Reflection for July 17, 2023

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.