I Don't Want This

Catherine's life is work. And more work. And so every day—from early morning to dusk. But it's nothing really bad. Is it better to be lazy? Of course not. So, with work, the woman never had time to think about her health. And why should she? It didn't remind her of itself in any way, except through people.

"Katya, rest, take care of yourself," they would often tell her. "Horses die from work!"

"I'm not a horse—I won't die!" the woman would brush them off like a persistent fly.

"A relative built a new house, and a neighbor bought a car. And someone else bought something else... And why are we worse?" Catherine thought more than once, not letting herself or her husband rest.

So what about the soul? There was no time for it.

So, even now, in her years, it didn't seem to Catherine that she was approaching her seventh decade, because there was still so much to do.

Until today, if she had ever been in a hospital, it was only to visit someone. She gave birth to her children at home. And if she ever got sick, she doesn't remember when or what from. All sorts of ailments, if she had any, the woman endured "on her feet."

So Catherine never complained about her health. But something went wrong. Now she found herself in a hospital and is now wondering—where did the stroke come from? But what happened, happened—her left arm and leg became useless. And how to live without them? Helplessness is a heavy burden for the patient, and for loved ones—also a physical one.

People who have suffered a stroke always have it hard. You have to start everything from scratch: learning to dress, hold a spoon, eat, maintain personal hygiene. And for people who throughout their lives never had serious health problems, this became a heavy blow.

For Catherine it was a blow below the belt. All she wanted now was to become as she was before.

In hospitals for physical rehabilitation of stroke patients there are certain instructions. But in this situation the expression "the salvation of the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves" becomes perhaps the main factor in the recovery of such patients.

Catherine had it hard. The realization of what she was and what she became didn't fit in her head. The loss of mental balance knocked her completely out of her usual groove. The woman panicked greatly and couldn't overcome this psychological trauma.

That Saturday evening, her son-in-law Andrey visited his mother-in-law again.

"You need spiritual rehabilitation!" he advised her during their conversation. "The Lord is the best Doctor! Pray! And I will ask the Church to pray for your health."

The next day, returning from Church, the man visited the woman again.

"What's happening to me?" Catherine burst out. "I felt so much better."

"Because we prayed for you," Andrey explained.

"Is that so!" she answered surprised and was silent for a long time.

The Church continued to pray. The illness slowly retreated. After some time, the woman felt that her health had improved significantly. Now Catherine didn't ignore her son-in-law's conversations about God and eagerly listened when he read the Gospel to her. Her soul came alive, and with it—her body. The woman grew stronger.

It seemed everything would be fine now. But... but the world doesn't easily let go of those who serve it. One day dark doubts descended upon Catherine like a black cloud. She panicked again, fell into depression...

One day, visiting his mother-in-law, her son-in-law found her at the table, by the window, in deep sorrow. The woman's clouded gaze was searching for something there, beyond the glass, but could not find it: whether through the twilight outside or in her soul...

Andrey, greeting her, tried to cheer her up. But he noticed that his mother-in-law remained in a depressed state. And seemed not to notice or hear him.

"Let's read Holy Scripture!" he suggested quietly to her.

Catherine didn't react at all. She continued to sit silently and frowning.

Then the man took the Gospel. Placed it next to her on the table. He was about to open it when suddenly the woman stopped him. In a moment, without lifting her head, she slowly pushed the Book away:

"I don't want this!" as if from beyond, her voice sounded dully.

A chill of the grave blew over Andrey. He was frozen by those words. In that moment it seemed to him that with this gesture she had pushed away God Himself...

Deeply saddened, he returned home. This unacceptable gesture stood before his eyes all the time.

The next day relatives called him and reported that his mother-in-law had fallen into a coma. Her body stopped accepting food. She couldn't drink either—when they tried to drop even a little water for Catherine, she would start to choke.

After suffering for ten days, never coming to consciousness, she died...

Go and Sin No More!

Dmitry had recently arrived in this land. It was supposed to become his second homeland. Everything here is different. Everything here, starting with language and customs, is so hard to take in. Argentina is a wonderful country. But even communicating with fellow emigrants, he couldn't suppress his longing for Ukraine.

But there was one place where, behind its walls, Dmitry left both his longing for Ukraine and for those he left there. Here he forgot about the problems that this new, still unknown country had brought him. That place here, on Argentine soil, was a prayer house built in the traditional Ukrainian style by the first emigrants. For many years now it had served as a place for glorifying the Almighty God.

Entering this temple of God, Dmitry completely devoted himself to worship. Within its walls he felt as if in his beloved Ukraine. No, more—as if in heaven.

Each time, leaving the prayer house after the end of the service, Dmitry, looking at the bare walls, thought: "Why are there no inscriptions from the Word of God on them?" He had grown so accustomed to reading certain golden verses of Holy Scripture from the walls, which constantly reminded of important truths. One day he couldn't help himself and asked the brothers why. And it turned out that the reason was much simpler than he could have imagined—simply, there was no one who could write them beautifully.

Having heard what had already been done to implement the idea, Dmitry himself began to care about this matter. Long searches led him to one man—Evhen, who could solve the problem. He was from the Vinnytsia region.

Dmitry took on the task with great enthusiasm to provide the artist with the necessary materials. And so he and the brothers were already in the prayer house discussing where and how best to place the inscriptions.

After brief debates, all agreed that the inscriptions should be in Ukrainian and Spanish. One of the quotes was to be words from the Gospel of Matthew, which Jesus spoke during His Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

This inscription was decided to be placed on the side walls.

Another inscription was to be the words Jesus spoke more than once after healing people: "Go and sin no more..." This phrase was planned to be placed above the exit from the hall.

Listening to the passionate discussions and the verses that the brothers wanted to write, Evhen only smiled. But he took on the work. However, later, coming to the inscription above the exit, he, laughing, said: