5- They Are All Impure, They are All Pure

 

St-Takla.org Image: Jesus with some youth - Chastity, purity - Our Father - We are the sons of God - "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Mathew 18:20). صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: شباب مع المسيح - البتولية، الطهارة، مسيح الشباب - الله أبونا، بنوتنا لله - "حيثما اجتمع اثنان أو ثلاثة باسمي فهناك أكون في وسطهم" (متى 18: 20).

At the end of a Youth meeting at St. George’s Church (Sporting, Alexandria), a young man who came to the meeting for the first time came and said to me seriously, “This is the first time in my life that I long for a confession.”

As I welcomed him, he said to me, “I want to lead a pure life, but I am unable.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s impossible to find a young man without a sinful relationship with the other sex.” the young man said.

“How come? Many are pure.”

“If you weren’t wearing that black robe, you would find out that all of these young people are at night clubs doing evil. All of them are unclean.”

“All of them?”

“I say all of them because there’s no man who can live without a sexual relationship.”

Then I started talking to him about God’s power in man’s life. Concerning pure living, I gave him practical examples from the Holy Bible, the history of the church, and examples of contemporary youths.

“Do you think that I can lead a pure life?” he asked.

“This is the work of Jesus Christ within you by His Holy Spirit.”

“What can I do? I love sin. Every morning and every night I ask Jesus Christ, “Is life with You better than sin? I want to live in purity with You.””

A few weeks later the young man came back with the same seriousness saying, “Do you remember me?”

“Yes,” I said, “I remember you.”

“I want to tell you,” he said, “that all these young people are pure, I don’t think that there’s one among them who is not.”

“How come? Didn’t you say a few weeks ago that all of them are impure?”

“When my heart was impure, I thought that it was impossible that a young man could live purely. But, now after my experience of purity in Jesus Christ, I don’t think that any person can live in the mud of impurity. I see all of them enjoying purity and chastity and how they hate corruption.”

 This is a real story that I present to each believer, so that he may experience for himself the richness of our Christ’s grace who gives us His righteousness and who fills our heart with love.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: كلهم دنسون! كلهم أطهار!

O You who saves me from this body of death

My depth is complaining to You about myself.

My body suffers, and all of my senses and feelings are shouting.

The corruption gets to me. Can I be pure again?

The sin is sweet, but with its deadly sweetness,

It carries the poison of death.

O God, make it taste bitter in my mouth.

Here is my body in Your hands, make it holy.

Make my eyes, ears, and all my senses and feelings holy.

In You I can see everything around me holy,

So I may live in the promise of Heaven, even during the battle against sin.

Your Father is Sick, Come after the Exam

Short Stories (Stories for the Youth) Books by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

A Friend for Eternity