Columba helps a soul be healed of the sin of avarice

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“At the same time, Conall, bishop of Coleraine, collected almost innumerable offerings from the people of Mag nEilni and prepared a lodging for St Columba on his way home from the meeting of the kings with a great crowd of people around him. When the saint arrived, the many offerings of the people were set out in the open area of the monastery for him to bless them. Looking at them as he blessed them, he pointed to a particular gift of a rich man:

‘The man,’ he said, ‘who gave this enjoys the mercy of God on account of his generosity and his mercies to the poor.’

Picking out another item among the many offerings he said:

‘Of this offering the gift of a man both wise and greedy, I cannot so much as taste, unless he first truly does penance for his sin of avarice.’

This word was at once circulated among the crowd, and Colum man Aedo, hearing it, recognized his guilt and came forward, to kneel before the saint and do penance. He promised too that henceforth he would renounce avarice, mend his way of life and practice generosity. The saint told him to stand and from that hour his sin was healed and he was no longer grasping.”

St. Adamnan of Iona and Richard Sharpe in the Life of St. Columba (London: Penguin Books, 1991) 152.