There was a believer who had an irreligious son. The father was upset but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring the young man to believe. When his death was near, he called his son:
“Can you do something for me?”
“What exactly, Father?”
“When I die, please stay in this room for fifteen minutes every day during the first forty days.”
“What should I be doing here?”
“You don’t need to do anything. Just sit here for at least fifteen minutes every day.”
When the old man died, his son buried him and did precisely what he had been told to do: he went to that room and sat there for fifteen minutes every day. Forty days later, the young man went to church for the first time and became a Christian.
Many years later, the man realized how wise his father’s last wish had been. The old man saw that young people lived too fast and didn’t have the time to think about the meaning of their lives, about their immortal souls, and about God. If they paused to sit still in silence, they would soon hear God knocking at their hearts.
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
