Speaker 1: John Moschus wrote the famous “Spiritual Meadow” a collection of stories of early ascetics. For the first time these men and women were presented as flowers in the spiritual garden, a garden of the Church in desert. St. John the Compassionate mission has collected a series of flowers at the very edge of the spiritual meadow. The flowers that Jesus in Luke 14:20-23 speaks about when he says “go out into high ways and hedges and compel people to come in that my house may filled”. The city in this new desert inhospitable and formidable we find people living on the hedge who don’t fit into any system category. Wild men and women, yet walking humbly, the way of holiness, at times unaware it in themselves. The Church gathers such flowers from the hedges and gives glory to God. Today we hear about two more flowers in the hedge.

Speaker 2: William and Jane. People usually come to the mission alone and we meet here, William and Jane came together and they are in their 6o’s and married. Jane was married before and she had children. She was born in a Jewish family, but she chose later on to become a Christian. William never laid an eye on anybody, he was alone all his life before meeting Jane, so lonely he would speak only with God he says, nobody else. William is tall and looks strong, but he has a lot of kindness in his eyes and he cares deeply for those who are vulnerable. Both of them lead a simple life, looking to do the will of God in everything. They were coming to the mission for meals and then stayed for prayer. Jane also became a hearer. They mostly stopped coming when William became really sick, he got cancer of the throat. They did come to the mission a few times after that and I saw how transfigured his face was. They asked us to pray for them, and especially for John (William?). I believe it is also our fault we don’t know how to care for people in moments like that. I met Jane and William again after more than a year, they came back and told us John (William?) was doing well, he had gone through surgery and the doctors had been sure he was going to die, but then he recovered. William thought the same, “I saw death with my own eyes, but I was not afraid. I kept praying, if that’s what God wants!” They believe it was miracle that this happened because of all the people that prayed for them. The doctors couldn’t believe his recovery and Jane says they use his case a study in their medical books, but William and Jane know that it was God answering prayers. I saw William and Jane at the mission a few weeks ago, they came for lunch and asked me to pray for William and continued health, and the last test showed he was perfectly healthy. They are happy. We prayed in the chapel together. After that Jane said she really loves the mission and Church here. She thinks that God visits many Churches, but He lives here. William told me when I pray I have to use words not like they would come from a man, but from God. “You have to stop seeing God through the eyes of people and start see people through the eyes of God” he said. As we were talking William noticed the icon of St. Herman of Alaska and asked me about him, who he was, what life he had. I left the chapel and printed a description of the life of the saint. He received the pages and promised to come back and tell me what he thinks about the saint’s life. I’m still waiting for them to come back. We might or might not see them again in 6 months.