When the Homily is about Immunology

Some sayings of the Desert Fathers

It was said of Abba John the Dwarf, that one day he said to his elder brother,'I should like to be free of all care, like the angels, who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God.' So he took off hsi cloak and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door, he heard his brother say, before he opened it 'Who are you?' He said, 'I am John, your brother.' But he replied, 'John has become an angel, and henceforth he is no longer among men.' Then the other begged him saying. 'It is I.' However, his brother did not let him in, but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, 'You are a man and you must once agian work in order to eat.' Then John made a prostration before him, saying, 'Forgive me.'

And for the grumpy liturgi-nazi Babushkas out there:

Some old men went to Abbot Poemen and asked, "If we see brothers sleeping during the common prayer, should we wake them?" Abbot Poemen answered,"If I see my brother sleeping, I put his head on my knees and let him rest." Then one old man spoke up, "And how do you explain yourself before God?" Abbot Poemen replied, "I say to God: You have said, 'First take the beam out of your own eye and then you will be able to remove the splinter from the eye of your brother.' "