311- At the Cancer Hospital

The young man entered the cancer hospital, where he found pleasure in serving the e sick, seeking the salvation of their souls that they may enjoy fellowship in the eternal glory. He raised the patients’ heart to heaven, soaring with them above the cruel pain of cancer and unveiling to them the doors of heaven waiting to receive the souls of those who go with gladness and rejoicing.

This time, he stood before an old lady whose heart was totally attached to the world. She had not benefited from the pain of her illness or from any words. The young man felt that she had only a few moments to pass away so he urged her to seek joy in Christ the Savior but she passed away with a hardened heart.

Tears rushed to his eyes, not because she had died but because of her hardness and the cruelty of her heart. He raised his eyes to heaven saying, “I would have liked to go home rejoicing in the salvation of this soul. My soul is bitter. You died for her. How many times did I speak to her of You but she did not respond!”

Suddenly he noticed that a lady was calling him from her bed. When he went to her she asked him about death and the other life. She was a Christian in name not in her life. She had not practiced the new life in Jesus Christ and had not tasted the satisfying fruits of the spirit.

He spoke to her for a long time and her spirit rejoiced. She cried, ”I’m truly happy that my Savior has opened the door of hope before me in my final instants. I long to see my sweet Christ and to go to be with Him.”

As she proclaimed her wish to be released she gave up her soul. The young man’s heart was very joyful and he realized the boundless grace of God Who used him even in the final instants.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: في مستشفى السرطان.

+ May I cry with Saul of Tarsus:

Lord, what do you want me to do?

Use me not as I wish but as you wish.

+ I am in Your hands.

+ Light up the depth of my soul that it may carry You

 And bear witness to You through Your Holy Spirit.

Accept my whole life that I may cry,

“If I live, I live for the Lord.

If I die, I die for the Lord.

If I live, or die, I belong to the Lord.”

The Happiest Man on Earth

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

The First Fruits for the Lord