Where Love Is, God Is (Tolstoy)
Short summary
A Russian town, presumably 19th century. Martin Avdéitch lived alone in a basement room after losing his wife and young son Kapitón.
Devastated by grief, he stopped attending church until a pilgrim advised him to live for God. Martin bought the Gospels and found peace through daily reading. One night, he heard a voice promising to visit him the next day. Throughout that day, Martin helped three visitors: he gave tea to Stepánitch, an old soldier clearing snow; he fed a starving woman with a baby and gave them warm clothing; and he reconciled an old apple-woman with a boy who had stolen from her.
That evening, as Martin read the Gospel, he heard footsteps and saw visions of his three visitors appearing and vanishing in his room.
It is I... It is I... It is I... And Martin understood that his dream had come true; and that the Saviour had really come to him that day, and he had welcomed him.
He read Matthew 25 and realized Christ had visited him through those he helped.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Martins grief and spiritual transformation
In a certain town lived a cobbler named Martin Avdéitch, who worked in a tiny basement room with one window facing the street. Through this window he could only see the feet of passersby, but Martin recognized people by their boots since he had repaired most of them. He was known for his honest work, fair prices, and reliability.
Martin had always been a good man, but in his old age he began thinking more about his soul. His wife had died years earlier, leaving him with a three-year-old son named Kapitón. All his other children had died in infancy. Martin decided to keep the boy with him rather than send him to his sister in the country. However, just as Kapitón reached an age when he could help and be a joy to his father, the boy fell ill with a burning fever and died after a week.
The pilgrims guidance and Gospel reading
Martin buried his son and fell into such despair that he murmured against God, praying that he too might die and reproaching God for taking his beloved child while leaving him alive. After this, Martin stopped going to church. One day an old pilgrim from his native village visited him. Martin opened his heart to the holy man, expressing his hopelessness and wish to die. The old man replied that Martin had no right to despair, explaining that God's will, not human reasoning, decides such matters.
For God, Martin... He gives you life, and you must live for Him. When you have learnt to live for Him, you will grieve no more, and all will seem easy to you.
When Martin asked how to live for God, the pilgrim told him to buy the Gospels and read them to learn God's will. That same day Martin purchased a Testament and began reading daily, finding that it made his heart light and peaceful.
The dream of Christs promised visit
One evening Martin read passages from Luke's Gospel about treating others with kindness and the parable of building one's house on rock versus sand. He then read about the Pharisee who failed to properly welcome Christ, comparing himself to that man. As Martin pondered these verses, he fell asleep at his table. Suddenly he heard a voice calling his name and distinctly heard the words:
Martin, Martin! Look out into the street tomorrow, for I shall come.
Kindness to the old soldier Stepánitch
The next morning Martin prepared his breakfast and sat by his window to work, looking out more than usual for any unfamiliar passersby. He saw various people pass by, including an old soldier clearing snow outside his window. Martin recognized him as Stepánitch, an old man kept by a neighboring tradesman for charity.
Seeing that the old man was struggling with the cold and appeared exhausted, Martin invited him in for tea. Stepánitch gratefully accepted, and as they drank tea together, Martin shared his dream and spoke about Christ's teachings. He told Stepánitch how Christ walked among common people, chose disciples from among workmen, and taught humility and mercy. The old man was moved to tears by Martin's words about Christ's compassion for the poor and humble.
Help for the struggling mother and child
Later that day, Martin saw a poorly dressed woman with a baby standing by his window, trying to shelter the child from the cold wind. He called to her and invited her inside to warm up. The woman was a soldier's wife whose husband had been sent away eight months earlier. She had lost her job as a cook when her baby was born and had been struggling for three months, unable to find work.
Martin fed her cabbage soup and bread while he cared for her crying baby, playing with the child until it laughed. The woman explained that she had just been promised work by a tradesman's wife but couldn't start until the following week. She had pawned her last shawl for sixpence and had nothing warm for the baby. Martin gave her an old cloak to wrap the child and sixpence to retrieve her shawl. As she prepared to leave, the woman said:
Surely Christ must have sent me to your window, else the child would have frozen... Surely it must have been Christ who made you look out of your window and take pity on me.
Martin told her about his dream, and she agreed that all things were possible.
Mercy and forgiveness for the young thief
Later, Martin witnessed an old apple-woman catch a boy stealing an apple from her basket. She was scolding him and threatening to take him to the police when Martin rushed outside to intervene. He asked the woman to forgive the boy for Christ's sake, but she wanted to punish him severely. Martin paid for the stolen apple and gave it to the boy, then spoke to the woman about forgiveness:
If he should be whipped for stealing an apple, what should be done to us for our sins? God bids us forgive, or else we shall not be forgiven.
The old woman softened as Martin told her the parable of the lord who forgave his servant's debt. She began talking about her own grandchildren, and the boy offered to carry her sack. They walked away together, talking peacefully.
The revelation of Christs presence
That evening, Martin opened his Gospel and it fell to a passage from Matthew. He read the verses about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and welcoming strangers. At the bottom of the page he found the key verse:
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.
Martin understood that his dream had come true and that the Saviour had indeed visited him that day through Stepánitch, the soldier's wife and her baby, and the old woman and boy. He had welcomed Christ by showing love to those in need.