Angel Food For Boys & Girls

T. Brennan Gerald

Description

These Angel Food books, filled with Christ-like charm, simplicity, and attractive truths, are here served for the additional delight of the many who have enjoyed other Father Brennan books. Angel Food for Boys & Girls, Volume III, has over two dozen short stories, including: "Is God Very Big," "Jesus! Are You There?" "A Mother's Note", and many more. Each volume also has a topical index relating various subjects in the stories to chapters in the Baltimore Catechism.

Sujets

• Children's
• Catholic Church

Informations

• Publié par: Neumann Press
• Date de parution: 10 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781505108033
• Langue: English

Extrait

Angel Food for Boys & Girls
Volume IV
Father Gerald T. Brennan
Nihil Obstat:
William F. Bergan
Censor Deputatus
Imprimatur:
James E. Kearney
Bishop of Rochester, New York
June 9, 1942
Copyright © 2013 Neumann Press. Neumann Press is an imprint of TAN Books.
All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in articles and critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, printed or electric, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-911845-94-5
Neumann Press Charlotte, North Carolina www.NeumannPress.com
2013
To Christ's Little Ones
Contents
Why This Book?
   1 God's Secret
   2 The Voice at the Window
   3 The Three Frogs
   4 "A Little Child Shall Lead . . . "
   5 The Little Devil With the Long Tail
   6 The Last Flight
   7 The World's Best Flag
   8 Peter, the Soldier
   9 The Soldier's Greeting
10 The Most Beautiful Picture in the World
11 Five Precious Diamonds
12 White Cloud
13 A Boy's Letter
14 Saint Peter Goes Shopping
15 The Open Door
16 Joseph and Nicodemus
17 The Golden Key
18 The Friendly King
19 Jesus' Workshop
20 The Priest of Times Square
21 The First Flower
22 Aberdeen Angus
23 The Chicken and the Sparrow
24 God's Answer
25 The Two Tears
26 Sparky and Rex
27 Double or Nothing
28 The King With the Black Heart
29 The Best and the Worst
30 The Steaming Kettle
31 The King and His Box of Gold
32 Gabriel and the Cripples
33 The Angel With the Horn
34 The Grave Stops Perot
Why This Book?
WE, WHOSE duty it is to teach in the name of Christ, often find our greatest happiness in dealing with children. When our words fail to stir the cold hearts of indifferent adults, how often do we turn to the company of children! The innocence and freshness of children attract us and we turn to them . . .
          "But still within the little children's eyes
          Seems something, something that replies,
          They at least are for me, surely for me!
          I turned me to them very wistfully."
Sadly enough, even the children sometimes disappoint us. The child easily grows listless, tired, inattentive, and occasionally mischievous. The poet blames the Guardian Angel . . .
          "But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
               With dawning answers there,
          Their angel plucked them from me by the hair."
But the soul of a child, once it is won, is loyal. To win such a soul is worth a contest, even with an angel.
Therefore, I present this little book of talks to children, with the hope that these talks may help priests and teachers to win the attention and love of children for God. I even dare to hope that these talks will win the love of the angels for priests and teachers. Then, not only the children, but also their angels, will want to listen when they teach.
G. T. B .
1

God's Secret
ONE day three angels looked over the walls of heaven. They saw this beautiful world, and they wondered why God made the world so large. They decided to find out a few things about this world.
First, the angels decided to count the stars. They knew that it was a mighty big job, but they began to count. Every night for weeks and weeks, the angels climbed the clouds and counted stars. Big stars! Little stars! Bright stars! Twinkling stars! The angels counted them all. They were very careful, because they did not want to miss a single star. At last, their work was finished. The angels had counted every star. And how many stars do you think they found? Well, the angels found 372,941 stars in the sky.
Just as soon as the angels had counted the stars, they hurried back to heaven. They told God that they had counted 372,941 stars in the sky. God smiled at the angels.
"My friends," said God to the angels, "I have placed thousands of stars in the sky. I alone know how many there are. You have tried to count My stars, but you have not counted them all. You must have skipped some of My stars."
Of course, the angels were disappointed. They thought for a long, long time.
"Let's count the rivers of the world," said the youngest angel of the three.
The other two angels thought that it was a fine idea.
So, the angels began to count rivers. Oh, the angels found so many rivers. Why, they found rivers in every country of the world. They found long rivers and short rivers. They found green rivers, black rivers, red rivers, blue rivers, yellow rivers. They found rivers near the mountains, rivers in the country, rivers flowing through cities. And the angels counted every river they found. How many rivers did they find? Well, they found 17,387 rivers in this world.
Now the angels thought that God would be happy to know how many rivers there are in this world. But when the angels told God, He only smiled. God told the angels that they had counted well, but they had not counted all the rivers of the world. Again, the angels were disappointed. After all their counting they had the wrong number. The angels begged God to tell them the right number of rivers in the world, but God only smiled.
Finally, the angels decided to count the people in the world. They decided to be very careful and skip no one. Well, they were careful. They were very, very careful. The angels visited every city and every town. They visited every country, every land, every island. They went to India, Africa, China. Yes, they went everywhere. The angels counted white people, black people, red people, brown people, and yellow people. They tried not to skip a single person. Old people, young people, boys and girls, little babies — all were placed on the angels' lists. Well, when the angels had added their lists, they had counted 1,254,645,324 people living on this earth.
Then the angels hurried back to God. They told God that they had counted all the people on this earth. When God heard the number, He laughed.
"Yes," said God, "and there are many more people on the earth. Did you forget to count the old man who lives on the mountain in Asia? Did you meet the little girl who lives in a cellar in Chicago? What about the man and his wife who live in a barn in Georgia? Did you count them? No, my friends, you have not counted all the people who live on the earth."
The angels were sad and disappointed. They wondered that God knew so much. As the angels turned away, God smiled, and God kept His secret.
Yes, children, God has a secret. It's a mighty big secret too. God knows all things. God alone knows how many stars are in the sky, because He made the stars. God knows the number of rivers, because He made the rivers. God knows the number of people in this world, because He made every person in this world. God knows where the stars are, even when they hide behind the clouds. God knows where the rivers are, even though they run behind the mountains. Yes, and God knows you. God knows where you are every minute of the day.
God knows your name. The color of your hair and the color of your eyes. . . . Where you live. . . .How tall you are. . . . How old you are. . . . How good you are. . . . How bad you are. . . . God knows everything.
God knows everything about everybody. God never sleeps. He is always watching you. You can never, never hide from God. You can never do anything behind God's back. Everything you do, you do before the Eyes of God! And the EYES OF GOD ARE NEVER SHUT!
2

The Voice at the Window
IF YOU were to move into a new house, what is the first thing that you would do? I wonder whether you would do what little Eddie Brown did! Who was Eddie Brown? Well, here's Eddie Brown's story!
The Brown family lived in the city. They had lived in the city for a long time. But Mister Brown didn't like the city. Mister Brown was tired of the city. He wanted to live in the country. So Mister Brown bought a home in the country. The Brown family decided to move.
Now, little seven-year-old Eddie Brown was very excited. Little Eddie knew that he would like the country. There would be plenty of sunshine in the country. There would be plenty of room to play games. There would be horses, cows, and chickens. Oh, Eddie expected to have lots of fun. Little Eddie could hardly wait until the family would move to their new home in the country.
Moving day finally came. Eddie and the family said "Good-by" to the city. They were on their way — on their way to their new home in the country. Well, the family rode, and rode, and rode. At long last, the auto stopped in front of a large, white house Yes, the large, white house was to be their new home in the country.
The father, the mother, and the two girls, went first to the kitchen. But little Eddie Brown didn't go to the kitchen. Oh, no! Little Eddie went upstairs. Eddie went from one room to the other. He opened every door. He seemed to be looking for something. Well, Eddie finally found what he wanted. Stairs! Stairs leading up to the attic!
Eddie climbed every stair, and found himself at the top of the house. Eddie was in the attic. Now there were six windows in the attic, three on each side of the house. Eddie walked over to one of the windows. He lifted the window, stuck out his head, looked up at the sky, and waved his hand.
"Look, God," said Eddie, "we live here now!"
Now, you may think that that was a strange thing for Eddie to do. Well, it was strange. But do you know why Eddie climbed to the top of the house? Why, Eddie wanted to get near God. Eddie wanted to be sure that God would hear him. Eddie wanted God to know just where he lived. Eddie wanted God to watch over him in the country, just as He had watched over him in the city.
Of course, you boys and girls know that Eddie didn't have to make that trip to the attic. You know that God is everywhere. God is not only in the sky, but God is also down on this earth. God is in the city, and God is in the country. God is in China, Africa, Australia. God is al