Our Own Faults

Manifestissime comprobatur, non semper nobis aliorum vitio commotionum stimulos excitari; sed potius nostro, qui reconditas in nobismetipsis habemus offensionum causas ac seminaria vitiorum; quae, cum mentem nostram tentationum imber alluerit, in germina confestim fructusque prorumpunt. Numquam enim quis alterius vitio lacessitus peccare compellitur, si repositam materiem delictorum in suo corde non habeat. Nec tunc subito quispiam deceptus esse credendus est, cum conspecta mulieris forma in barathrum concupiscentiae turpis inciderit, sed potius occultos ac latentes medullitus morbos occasione visus in superficiem tunc fuisse productos. Ideoque creator omnium Deus opificii sui curationem prae omnibus noscens, et quia non in aliis, sed in nobismetipsis offensionum radices causaeque consisterent, non deserenda praecepit fratrum consortia, nec vitari eos quos laesos a nobis, vel a quibus nos arbitramur offensos, sed deliniri jubet, sciens perfectionem cordis non tam separatione hominum quam patientiae virtute conquiri. Quae firme possessa, sicut potest nos etiam cum his qui oderunt pacem, pacificos conservare; ita si parata non fuerit, ab his quoque qui perfecti ac meliores nobis sunt, facit jugiter dissidere; occasiones enim commotionum, ob quas eos quibus jungimur deserere festinamus, in conversatione humana deesse non poterunt, et idcirco tristitiae causas. Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, De Coenobiorum Institutis, Liber IX, De Spiritu Tristitiae Source: Migne PL 49.355c-356c

It is quite clearly proved that the pains of disturbances are not always caused in us by the faults of other people, but rather by our own fault, as much as in ourselves we have stored up the causes of offense and the seeds of vices, which at once burst forth into shoots and fruits when a shower of temptation waters our soul. For no one is ever driven to sin by being provoked through another's fault unless he has the fuel of wickedness heaped up in his own heart. Nor should we believe that a man has been suddenly struck when he has looked on a woman and fallen into the abyss of vile lust, but rather that because of the opportunity of looking at her the hidden and lurking sickness has been brought to the surface. And so God, the creator of all things, having care above everything for His own, and because the roots and causes of our falls are found in ourselves and not in others, commands us not to forsake association with our brethren, nor avoid those who we think have been hurt by us, or by whom we have been offended, but He exhorts us to placate them, knowing that perfection of heart is not so much gained by separation from men as by the virtue of patience. With this firmly possessed it can keep us at peace even with those who hate peace, so that if it has not been acquired, it makes us quite different from those who are perfect and better than we are, and brings forth occasions for disturbance, because of which we hurry away from those with whom we are connected, which is not always possible in human life and therefore shall be a cause of dejection. Saint John Cassian, The Institutes of the Coenobia, Book 9, Chapters 5-7, On the Spirit of Dejection