Constanța: “This book has remained in my heart as the most beautiful lesson in religion…”
We were in our final year of secondary school in 1996 when our Romanian language teacher, Elena Corbu, recommended that we read The Diary of Happiness by Nicolae Steinhardt. “You will have to read it with the dictionary beside you, and it won’t be easy for you to finish it, but you have to!” – said the teacher. I was one of those who followed her advice and have since recommended this book to anyone who asks me what else is worth reading, and continue to do so. Of the many spiritual riches I took away from The Diary of Happiness, the most precious seemed to me to be that God “stands at the door and knocks; he is discrete. Then that He trusts people, He is not suspicious. [The Lord is the one who, until proven otherwise, trusts everyone and is not in a hurry to give credence to the slanders of a friend”.
Recently, again on the recommendation of an uncle of mine, I read John Ianolide’s Return to Christ. This book has remained in my heart as the most beautiful lesson in religion, it has given me the strongest motivation not only to believe strongly in God and in the Saviour’s sacrifice for us human beings, but to confess Christ with all my faith, to be convinced without the slightest trace of doubt that God is always with us and never leaves us, no matter how much we turn our backs on him. John Ianolide writes at one point, quoting Valeriu Gafencu: “We all seek happiness. We all want it, we all search for it. I enter directly into the intimacy of your hearts and tell you: seek happiness in your souls. Don’t look for it outside of yourself. Do not wait for happiness to come from anywhere but within you, within your soul where Christ dwells. If you wait for happiness from outside yourself, you will experience disappointment after disappointment and you will never attain it. I tell you this: seek love and live it with great humility!”
With thanks,
(Constața Rosoiu)