Our Own Greed for Possessions

What shall we wretched creatures say to this? We live in coenobia, placed under the government and care of an abbot, and yet we carry our own keys. Trampling underfoot all the shame and disgrace that our calling ought to make us feel, we are not ashamed even to wear rings openly on our fingers with which to seal up what we have stored away. For us not merely boxes and baskets, but not even chests and cupboards are enough for the things we collect, or kept back when we left the world. And sometimes we get so angry over trifles and mere nothings, which we nonetheless claim as if they were our own, that if anyone dares to lay a finger on any of them, we are so filled with rage against him that we cannot keep the anger of our heart from bursting out on our lips and in the agitation of our body. [a]

But let us pass by our own faults and keep silent about things it is shameful even to speak of, according to the saying, “My mouth will not speak the deeds of men.” Following the plan of the account we have begun, let us go on to the virtues practiced among them, which we ought to aim at with all earnestness. Let us set down briefly and quickly the actual rules and practices. Afterward we will come to some of the deeds and acts of the elders, which we intend to preserve carefully for remembrance. In that way we may support what we have set out in our treatise with the strongest testimony, and confirm still further everything we have said with examples and instances from life.