Today's Sermon in a Nutshell (a story once told by St. Nikolaj Velimirovic - one of our American saints)

Once upon a time a priest is walking down a lonely road on a hot day when suddenly out of the bushes jumps a wild looking man with a gun. The man says to the priest, "I have killed 99 men, and you will be the 100th."

The priest says responds, "I am ready to die; but please before you shoot me, give me a little water to drink. I am so thirsty."

The murderer is confused for a moment, but then directs the priest at gun point to his campsite in the bushes where he gives the priest a cup of water to drink. As the priest is drinking the water, the murderer suddenly dies of a heart attack. At that moment angels from heaven come to escort the soul of this murderer to heaven, but the demons also arrive to contest for the man's soul.

"This man murdered 99 men and committed many other smaller sins. His soul belongs to us." However, as the demons begin to try to wrestle and take the man's soul away, the angels reply, "Yes, it is true that he is a murderer and a thief, but he also did two great deeds for the Gospel of Christ which outweighs all his sins. First he confessed his 99 murders to a priest, and second he gave water to the thirsty. No sin, no matter how many times repeated, is greater than the mercy of God."

Fr. John