137- Turn the pages of the Holy Bible

In the sixties, cancer cases were very rare, perhaps because they were not easily diagnosed. I visited a patient who suffered from blood cancer at the institute of medical research. He was in his seventies and his cancer was in a late development stage. I asked him, “What do you think of the seventy years you spent in this world?”

The patient replied, “Please turn the page of the Bible that is open in front of you.”

As I turned the page, he asked me, “How long did it take you to turn the page?”

I replied, “just a few seconds.”

Then the patient said, “The seventy years have passed and ended as quickly as it took to turn the page of that opened Bible. Many sorrows passed by me and also many joys, many opportunities for success, and also many for disappointments. I hoped for many things and received, and many times I hoped for things that I did not receive. I loved and served. Thoughts of condemnations and hatred passed through my mind. Many things passed as if in a twinkle of an eye. This is my life. It is ending as if it was a passing moment.”

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: اقلب صفحة الكتاب المقدس.

Like a shadow, man walks.

My life is passing but it does not end.

I shall live here for just few moments,

But I shall stay with You forever Lord, O the mystery of my eternity.

We ought not fear this death, but fear the destruction of the soul, which is the lack of knowledge of God. This indeed is what should horrify us.

(St. Anthony

).

This is my hope and desire of God: to be at that hour without help from a human, with no one to close my eyes except for God. Then I’ll be lying on my face contemplating on God.

This is dear to my heart more than anything else is.

(St. John Saba).

Because God took him

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

The Electric Blanket