A softened heart

My parish has been going through quite a bit of change recently, most of the change centered around our new church building construction project. We have a new building under way, a completely redesigned website (www.stgregoriosphila.org) which is still under construction as of this writing, our vicar has retired from his profession and is taking even more responsibility and action within the parish, the youth are getting opportunities to become vibrant again.

Among all this change, I feel, especially after today, that I have been missing something important. Today a man called our church and I answered the phone. His intention was to talk to the priest for some guidance. I explained the current situation, that our church building is currently under construction and so the number he called isn't the number to reach him at. I continued on by asking how I can help him.

I came to know that he is an elderly man who belongs to the Greek Orthodox church. He explained to me how 2 and a half years ago, his son had passed away. I wanted to immediately offer my condolences, but he cut me off and continued on. 25 days after his son had passed away, he was sitting at home in a chair with his head on the desk mourning the death of his son. A small while later, he heard a couple footsteps approaching, and he raised his head to look for who was coming. At that moment, he saw his departed son standing before him, and there was a great light coming from behind him.

I started to get a bit skeptical with this man's story, but he continued on as if he had read my thoughts. He said he wouldn't play around with the name of his departed son and that he wasn't making the story up. I had no reason not to believe the man; he was convinced of his personal experience and therefore wasn't making anything up. I'm sure the Apostle Thomas felt the same way when hearing of the resurrection of Christ from the others, at first feeling a bit of skepticism and yet at the same time believing because the Apostles had no reason to lie.

Anyway, the gentleman who called continued on. He was reading the Bible recently and read about Satan being a deceiver, how he approaches us at times in sheep's clothing. He began thinking to himself, perhaps his experience with his son was something the devil conjured up, something to misguide him. He wanted to speak to the priest to know if this really was of God or of the Devil. The man was yearning to know not only WHY but WHO?

I had given him our priest's cell phone number and he thanked me. Before hanging up however, he asked me for my personal opinion. He told me that the experience had brought him closer to God and so I answered that the devil would have had no gain in such an experience. The man became more dependent on Christ, more devout, and more prayerful, so I said it was from God. The man was elated, saying that I've made his day. Obviously the man was desperate to hear those words... even from someone like me, who is not a professional, not a part of the clergy... never been trained in any sort of counseling, just a sinful layman who is unfit to be a child of God.

The man was very happy. He just wanted to ask one more question. Why? I simply answered "because God loves you". The man suddenly broke into tears and couldn't even piece words together. He had a heavy Greek accent and was already having issues in forming sentences in English... now even his thoughts were lost, or so I thought. He said over and over "Yes, that's right... God loves me... God loves me."

In asking his own priest, the priest honestly answered "I don't know". I guess I could have answered the same thing, but it just seemed right to say those words. He again repeated that it's been 2 and a half years. I offered my condolences and he immediately told me not to do so. He reminded me that we are Orthodox, our faith is that he is alive... that once again they will be united. Although the temporary departure is painful, the man had hope and truly is waiting for the day he gets to see his son again.

At that moment, I realized his thoughts were very coherent indeed. He truly believes his faith, not just by word but by thought and deed. He truly is waiting to be united with the Son and his son. He once again thanked me, crying tears of painful joy, and we said our goodbyes. The conversation stayed in my mind for a while... and I began thinking to myself... this is what church is about.