350- Work as a Kind of Worship

 

St-Takla.org Image: Saint Mary Theotokos, Mother of God. صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: القديسة مريم والدة الإله الثيوتوكوس.

Father Gawargios Kolta told me the following true story:

“A wife of a rich merchant came complaining that her husband was very busy with his work, in a way that he did not leave any time for worship. He was kind to the poor, honest in his job but he ignored his spiritual life.

I visited him several times and he always had excuses for not coming to the church or taking communion. He used to tell me, “My conscious is comforted. I don’t hurt anyone. I fear God and work is a kind of worship. Not everyone who goes to church will go to heaven.”

I talked with him several times for several years of the importance of worshipping in the church. His pious wife never stopped praying for him and also asked me to pray for him at the altar.

Suddenly, when he was in his fifties he became sick with cancer of the blood. He lost his smile and he started asking everyone who visited him to pray for him. He came to the church and tasted the beauty of church life, feeling sorry about lost years. He felt as though his days were numbered. He asked St. Mary to be with him when his soul leaves his body. As I promised, I took communion home for him regularly.

One day, his wife came to me to tell me that her husband would be in church for communion. When I asked her what happened, she said that he had seen the Virgin St. Mary in a vision. He was not sure whether he was awake or asleep.

She informed him that the Lord Jesus had mercifully looked upon him and removed his sickness. Then, he was actively moving around in the house. He was completely cured; he was practicing his personal worship at home as well as his regular worship at the church. He assigned the business to his children. His talk with them was concentrated on their salvation and the enjoyment of everlasting life.

Two years later when one morning his wife went to wake him up, she found him smiling but he had gone to his God and Savior.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: العمل عبادة.

Grant me Lord to enjoy You in my work.

So I give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what belongs to God.

Your worship gives me pleasure even in my troubles.

Meeting You is satisfying to me and You are the Guide on my journey.

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