SO GOOD QUOTES

Even at the Hour of Death! There was a very devout woman who was ill with cancer. She turned to God with prayers, and Communion and fasts were held for her. The cancer entered a very critical stage and when her final hour approached she called for me. At that time I was a bishop, and was able to visit people more than I can now, so I went to her and stood beside her bed listening to her complaints. She told me, “I am very sad because many doubts are going round in my thoughts about whether prayer, fasting and Communion are of any value, and where is God’s mercy and response?! So often I have prayed for these thoughts to leave me but they persist and I get anxious and say, ‘Shall I lose my life now, and lose my chance of eternal life too, because of these doubts?… So I said to her, “Do not be anxious, for they are not your thoughts. They are just doubts which the Devil casts into your mind. Your prayers prove that you do not accept them and that these thoughts are not from you. God will not allow a good woman like you to suffer here and in eternity as well. You are like Lazarus who received his full share of misfortunes on earth, but was deemed worthy to go to the arms of Abraham on his way to a happy eternity with God… If God wants to take you to Him, this is not against His mercy nor against prayer, for eternity is a delight which the Saints eagerly desire.” Then I read an absolution for her and she relaxed and departed, to the amazement of the devils who fight the Saints even at the hour of death!

—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life