162- Niagara Falls and An Orange Peel

David went to his father confessor, being very depressed and said to him, "For many years, I didn’t commit a sin; but suddenly as I surrendered to my thoughts, I soon sinned.”

 The priest tried to calm David quoting from the words of St Paul,

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10.12).

Our victory over a specific sin, even for many years, does not guarantee absolute victory. Therefore, we ought to be always careful, trusting in the overwhelming grace of God.

 The priest told David the following well-known story:

Some years ago, the English champion Bobby Leach, in a daring act, was able to safely cross the Niagara Falls in Canada, in a barrel, without being harmed.

A short time later, while walking in the street, he slipped on an orange peel, and he was carried to the hospital with a serious broken foot. He who was not harmed from the Niagara Falls, even with a scratch, a small orange peel seriously broke his foot.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: شلالات نياجرا وقشرة البرتقال.

By You my Savior I can face the challenges that face me.

You have given me authority to trample on serpents,

Scorpions and all the powers of the enemy.

By You I challenge the devil and all his forces,

The world with all its evil and the flesh with its desires.

Without You, I am careless and I fall into the most trivial sin.

A bare idea might defeat me,

And a small fox might destroy me,

And spoil the vineyards of my heart.

Without You, I cannot stand against the simplest temptation.

Be my support and grant me the spirit of wakefulness and awareness.

With A Broken Arm

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

The Servant of Humanity