597- The Efficient Generator of the Church

On my visit to an old man in Los Angeles, I found him suffering from loneliness. His wife died and his children live in distant places. He is an old man unable to drive. No one visits him save his friend who drives him sometimes to the church.

I asked him, “How do you spend your time?”

“I do nothing. I hardly go to the shop to buy food and prepare it.”

“Don’t you serve in the church?”

“How when I can’t drive to the church?”

“You can transfer this house to a monastery or a generator to move the church.”

“How?”

“Consider yourself as if in a monastery. Take time to pray for our father the patriarch, our fathers the bishops, our fathers the priests, the ministers and the whole congregation. Prayers move heaven for the benefit of the church and the salvation of the whole world. Many people serve and this is a holy work but the church is in need of men of prayers. Don’t belittle your role, as you’re a vital effective member through your prayers and sighs for the salvation of the world.”

His heart rejoiced and he realized his vital role in the edification of the church of God.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: دينامو الكنيسة الفعال!

No one of Your sons is barren or paralyzed.

They are strong as an army with banners.

They fight and work with Your Fiery Spirit.

Neither sickness, senility nor death can destroy Your sons.

Grant us to work without stopping in this world

So that we become even after death like angels praying for our brethren.

I Didn’t Buy the Pearl

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

The Naughty Boy and the Encouraging Words