"blood draws you"

"A brother asked an elder:  'My sister is poor; if I give her alms, is it not like giving to the poor?'  'No', says the elder.  'Why not, abba?' the brother said.  'Because blood draws you a little [(ἕλκει σε μικρόν)]', the elder said."

     Anonymous saying of the Desert Fathers no. 233/10.156.  The anonymous sayings of the Desert Fathers:  a select edition and complete English translation, ed. & trans. John Wortley (Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 2013), 165.