Congregation Surprised that a Teenager Can Remember What was Read in the Gospel during Liturgy Today

“A young lawyer walked up to me as she overheard me discussing the Gospel from today’s liturgy with my friend while drinking my tea after liturgy ,” said the teenager.  “And she said, ‘I’m surprised you remembered the Gospel from today’s liturgy.  Good for you.’  Then a doctor who was standing there said, ‘Yeah, that’s really cool.  I don’t know anyone who remembers the Gospel reading from the liturgy.’”

This is a phenomenon that has been afflicting Copts and has been continuing from generation to generation.  Some estimate that 99% of those who attend the liturgy literally cannot hear the readings, that white noise all of sudden appears, but others disagree.

“It’s about values and inattention,” said the teenager.  “I mean, these people should be ashamed of themselves.  Do you know how much a lawyer and doctor can remember hearing for the first time and how much study they carry out during the day?  They study for 9 hours a day!  They can’t remember the Gospel because as soon as they walk into church, they become infants all over again.  It’s the infant who cannot remember the Gospel.  It is their safe place.  They fear adulthood and responsibility.”

“He must have the best memory in the whole church,” said the mother of the lawyer who complimented the teenager, after her daughter told her about him.  “If he was a little older, I would suggest he ask my daughter out.  We want a saintly young man like that in the family.”

“The way I was raised,” says the teenager.  “Is that when someone is reading something out loud, we listen to them.  That seems reasonable.  Doesn’t it?”