So should you be, blessed brother

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

So should you be, blessed brother. If the Lord prepares for you a great fish to swallow you, do not fear, neither be troubled, nor grieve. From inside the belly of the fish bless the Lord as Jonah did.
Be assured that the whale can swallow you but it cannot harm you. It can never touch you without God's sanction. The time will surely come when the Lord will order it to disgorge you onto dry land where you where before. Is God not the Creator of the whale, and are not its life and direction in His hand? If you are in tribulation, brother, then remember Jonah's whale and you will be reassured, You will know that the Lord is the one who has prepared this whale for you to grant you a particular virtue or a special grace.