The Fire

By Erni-Szakács Szilárd

The Smith family was an ordinary one, living near the city center of Glasgow. John Smith, the head of the family, worked as a doctor at the local hospital. Due to his expertise and dedication, many respected him, as he saved numerous lives. His wife, Anne Smith, worked as a geography teacher at a nearby school. She was known as a strict but compassionate teacher who gladly organized charity events to support poor students. Their single child, the seven-year-old Mark Smith, spent his days happily with his loving family. In the town, everyone knew they were very religious: John wrote books on biblical themes and often volunteered to help those in need. When the local priest was ill, John substituted for him at the masses. Anna baked cookies and made lemonade to support the community with her sales. Mark also followed the family example: he eagerly attended Bible classes, where he learned the foundations of faith. On a cold 25th of December, when the family was celebrating Jesus’ birthday, an unexpected tragedy occurred. No one turned off the Christmas tree lights, and at night the tree caught fire. The fire spread quickly, and the smoke enveloped the house in a thick haze. The sharp sound of the smoke detector alerted the family. John picked up little Mark and, together with Anne, they escaped from the house. As soon as John notified the firefighters, Mark suddenly ran back into the burning house to look for his beloved teddy bear. Although he managed to find it, the stairs collapsed in the meantime. The child fled to the balcony and shouted for help from there. John and Anne watched in despair as the boy stood high above, hidden by the smoke.
At that moment, John encouraged Mark: “Drop the teddy bear, we’ll find it later!”. Mark threw it down and John continued, “Jump down, dear son, I’ll catch you!” Mark was uncertain: “Dad, I can’t see you from the balcony because of the dense smoke!” The father’s response was firm and reassuring: “Don’t worry, I can see you, and I’ll catch you!” Mark finally gathered his courage and jumped down. His father caught him and saved him.

What Mark did, perhaps, is the most appropriate definition of faith: trust in things hoped for and conviction in things not seen. We believe in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary, the saints, and the angels, even if we have never seen them. This is faith: believing in something or someone you have never seen in your life! A miracle is a phenomenon that cannot be explained by natural or scientific laws and therefore can be attributed to some supernatural cause. The miracle is understood through faith, not through reason. The visible and invisible worlds coexist, they are intertwined, and both of them were created by God. We perceive the visible world with our five senses, while the invisible one with our soul and faith.

Erni-Szakács Szilárd was born on the 16th of September 1999 at the City of Oradea. He studied at the Partium Christian University at the English Language and Literature specialization. His research topic was The representation of refugees in the British media, which after graduation was published at Lambert Academic Publishing in 2023. He lives at the City of Oradea and considers that literature is a form of expression of the soul. Adores writing short stories, poems, reviews and scholarly papers.