296- Mom’s Light

 At night, John panicked when a violent sea storm blew. He was looking bitterly in tears at the sea, as his father and his sister Janet took a fishing boat and was thus in danger. The fisherman’s wife lit a lamp and put it at the window of the upper room. John, who was standing at the shore, asked her, “What are you doing, Mum?”

“I put a lamp to lead your father to the shore.”

“The light is very dim; it’s useless. If the weather didn’t get better, my father and my sister would be in actual danger.”

“I won’t rest till they come safely.”

The mother fixed the lamp and knelt praying to God to preserve them and all those who are at sea.

In the middle of the storm, as the fisherman could not control the boat, Janet looked around asking God to rescue them. She saw a faint light and said to her father joyfully, “Direct the boat towards the light. It’s undoubtedly mum’s. She won’t rest till we arrive safely guided by her light.”

The fisherman did so till they arrived safely to the shore. As the mother saw them, she thanked God and said to them, “How were you saved?”

Janet replied, “Your light has directed us. If it weren’t for it, we would perish.”

John was affected by Janet’s words. As he was always mutinous, especially with his mother, he said to himself, “How far am I from my mother’s light!”

He did not sleep that night but knelt down offering repentance to his Savior, surrendering to God and asking Him to guide him in life with His Heavenly love.

Years later, John fell very sick. As he was dying, he said to his sister Janet, who sat beside him weeping, “Don’t be afraid, sister, as I don’t fear death. I am on my way to the shore of peace for I directed the boat of my life towards mum’s light.”

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: نور أمي.

I see in my mother the motherhood of Your church,

Which lights with knowledge before me,

So that I would not perish in the middle of the destructive storms.

Grant me the heart of the heavenly mother,

So that I would not rest until all people direct the boat of their life towards You.

They would see You, O the True Light; darkness would then fade;

We all would live with You in the eternal light.

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