5
Once, a young monk went to an elder of Sinai and said:
“Father, I want to speak about God to everyone.”
The elder looked at him and gave no reply.
The next day, he sent him to carry water from a distant well using a vessel full of holes. The young man grew tired, and all the water spilled along the way.
When he returned, discouraged, the elder said to him:
“So it is with words without humility; they are poured out and retain nothing.”
And from that moment on, the young monk learned first to be silent, and then to speak.
