In response to the girl’s request, the priest came to her house and prayed for the health of the old man. Upon entering the room, the priest noticed a chair next to the old man’s bed and thought the old man knew he was there.

– Were you expecting me? – asked the priest.

– No, but who are you? – replied the patient.

– I am a priest. Your daughter invited me to pray for your health. When I saw the empty chair, I thought you knew about my visit and put it up for me.

“Yes, the chair…” said the patient, lowering the chair, and continued, “I haven’t told anyone about it. My whole life, I have often gone to church and there I was told that we had to pray, listen to the prayers of the priests, that prayer warms the human heart, along with the prayers of the priests. I have been praying for a long time, but all the prayers went in one ear and out the other, and then I stopped praying, and only two years ago, by chance, my good friend told me that prayer is like a conversation with God. He advised me to sit on a chair, put another chair next to me and imagine that Jesus is sitting on it.

Didn’t he say he’s with us forever? A friend of mine told me to start saying what bothers me and listen carefully, as I am listening to you now, so I tried it and loved it. Now I chat that way for 2 hours every day, though I don’t let my daughter see me do it.

After the priest blessed the man and prayed for him, the man’s daughter came back a few days later and told him her father had died.

– How did it happen?

The time was 2 o’clock, my father called, kissed me, and told me he loved me very much. After I went to the store, I returned to find him out of breath. In all probability, he had gathered all his strength in the last few minutes and got up from the pillow, approached the chair beside his bed, and laid his head on the seat. What could this mean if I saw him in the same position?

“May God grant us all such a death,” replied the priest, wiping away tears.
The chair was not empty.