In the early 1900’s, there lived in Lyons, France a shoemaker whose name was Berthier, who never kept the Sunday holy, but spent it in manual labour in his shop, as he did during every other day of the week. In a house on the opposite side of the street there lived a rich merchant, who was a fervent Catholic. When he saw the scandalous conduct of the shoemaker, the merchant was very grieved on account of the sin he was committing.

One day, he went over to the shoemaker’s shop and spoke to him of the greatness of his sin, and of the terrible consequences that must follow in the next life if he did not cease working on the day which the Lord called “His own day.”

But the shoemaker said that it was necessity that compelled him thus to work.

“You, sir,” he said, “are a very rich man, and you can afford to remain idle on Sundays. But I am poor, and have a large family to support, and it would be a very great loss to me if I did not work on Sunday; besides, I am never able to finish on a Saturday night the work ordered during the week, and my customers would be disappointed, and leave me and go somewhere else.”

The merchant, hearing this, shook his head and kindly said to him “It is very far from my intention that your family should suffer loss, and I now promise you that if you do not work any more on Sundays for the next six months, and go regularly to Holy Mass, I will pay you back for any business losses you may suffer. Do you accept my offer?”

“Very willingly,” said the shoemaker, “for it is much easier for me to sit in church than to work, especially since you are so kind as to make me so generous an offer.”

Shaking hands on the matter, in mutual agreement, they separated.

When the six months were ended, the merchant went to the house of the shoemaker, and said to him “Well, my friend, the six months are ended, and I have come, according to my promise, to compensate you for the losses you have sustained by going to church and abstaining from work on Sundays, for I see that you have faithfully kept your promise. Now, tell me how much money you have lost, that I may make it up to you.”

“Indeed,” replied the other, “I must honestly say that I have suffered no loss at all, and that, on the contrary, I have become very much richer since I began to go to Mass. In fact, the only thing you owe me is to accept my deepest gratitude for the advice you gave me. In the beginning, it is true, I did experience some little inconvenience in not having my work done on the Saturday night; but the thought that you were to compensate me for any loss I might sustain, and also the promise I made to you, made me faithful in the due observance of Sunday, and made my mind easy. I have been regular in my attendance at church every Sunday and holiday of obligation, as you yourself well know. And,” the shoemaker continued happily, “besides fulfilling the obligation of hearing Mass, I learned many things that I must do to save my soul, which I knew nearly nothing about before. During this time, I have also gone to the Sacraments, and I now experience a joy and happiness which I never knew before. And on top of it all, my body has a strength and a vigour that I have never experienced before!”

The merchant was pleased beyond words, but ventured to ask his friend another question.

“But, my dear friend, how are matters going on between you and your family, because formerly, as you well know, there used to be nothing heard in your house but quarrels and words of evil and anger?”

“True indeed,” replied the shoemaker, blushing slightly, “but the case is altered now. Anger and obstinancy have vanished from our home now, leaving only peace and concord.”

Very much moved at this wonderful news, the gentleman took out his purse and offered the shoemaker some money, saying “Take this as a remembrance of my affection. When you made the promise, I did not think that my words would have produced such a change; so I put aside every month a little sum to give to you to make up for the loss which I thought you might suffer. Here, then, is the money which I stored away for you, and I beg of you to accept it as a token of the delight I feel at your following my counsel. You have now seen from your own experience that God will aid those who endeavour to do to the best of their ability what He requires of them.”