Magyar Egyház, 1984 (63. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1984-11-01 / 5. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 3. oldal JUST ASK THE ANGELS A Christmas Story by ANDREW HARSANYI Heaven is not a place yet the whole world meets there and by world I mean planets and stars and galaxies and all, including all the live beings of the world. When do they meet? Well, there is no time in heven just eternity. But because those heavenly folks must relate to the world locked up in time we earthlings can think of them as if they lived in time. This isn’t so difficult since some of them at one time or another used to live on earth. What I want to tell you about happened some time before a certain Christmas — a hundred years ago or just lats year, it doesn’t really matter. Anyway, things in heaven were particularly busy and those heavenly folks had their special meetings. They were looking down to earth and saw all the Christmas doings going on: gift shopping and gift wrapping, travelling homeward to family reunions; and because those heavenly folks had very sensitive noses they really smelled the fragrance of the Christmas trees and of the freshly baked cookies as well. Now there was one group — you should have heard them talking. Well, I did; I couldn’t tell you this story if I hadn’t. One of those talking was a donkey. He said: “I was the one who carried Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It wasn’t easy: up and down the hills, on rocky roads and we had to hurry; so we went all through the cold nights. But Mary was a light burden and Joseph had kind words not to her only but to me too; and he also threw a blanket on my back. They were refused to get a room in the inn but a nice servant girl led us to a cave: it was a stable, really. I was glad to get into that stable so we could all stay together and I was also happy because I got Mary safely to a place of rest. I think I can say I gave a nice gift to Jesus who was bom soon after our arrival.” Next in the group talking was the cow. She said: “Yeah, I was wondering who you all were but the little servant girl pushed me gently aside from the manger. She had always been kind to me so I let her do it. The baby was born, and you know what: my manger became his crib and my hay made it soft for him to lie there. It was quite cold so I stretched out my big head and breathed on him to make him warm. I think I can say I gave a nice gift to Jesus; I gave him all I could.” Last to speak was a grey-white dove. He said: “I was sitting on the rafters and looked down on the baby. He was beautiful, I tell you. Also, it was strange: there was only a small oil-lamp burning in the corner and yet there was a splendor in the stable: the light came from the baby’s face. He was wide awake but I thought he should sleep. So I began to sing my dove’s lullaby. You know that I don’t have a nice voice but there it hapened: I cooed so beautifully as never before in my life; I cooed him to sleep. I think I gave Jesus a nice gift; I gave him all I could.” As they were talking to each other some angels were sitting by, listening. One of them was the Christmas Angel. He said to three little angels next to him: “I have an idea. We have lots of complaints coming up from earth. That people are heartless and selfish, even at Christmas time; that everybody wants to receive gifts and that they themselves give only in order to get gifts in exchange. I even heard the Lord saying that He is just getting fed up with the selfishness of mankind. But I also heard our Jesus say to His Father that he still believed that there were many people who had pure hearts. I believe in Jesus. So I suggest we find someone with a pure heart. Even one would do for now to make this Christmas shine. We could report it to Jesus; I know it would make Him happy. So, you three little angels come with me. We are going to fly down to earth. He pointed to one: You will be an old woman; to the second: You will be an old man; and to the third: You listen carefully, you will be a little bird. Now all of you: stretch your wings, let’s go.” Since they were angels they got to earth in a twinkle. The three little angels followed their leader, they passed a big city with thousands of lights. Close to a dense forest the Christmas Angel slowed down and stopped over a nice house, not big, not small but with a lovely lawn in front. You could also see the rows of rose-bushes — they would surely bloom in the spring a hundred roses. Nice people must live in this house — one of the little angels whispered. The Christmas Angel flew straight towards an upstairs window. The angels peaked through it. What they saw was a little girl, maybe ten years old, kneeling at the side of her bed. She was saying her evening prayers. She was beautiful child, in fact her face was like that of a real angel. But, oh, as she was kneeling her back was curved; the angels saw that under her nightgown there was a hump on her back. Poor little girl, the second angel whispered. The Christmas Angel beckoned to fly on to the next window. It was another bedroom. The angels here saw a hoy, somewhat older than his sister — it must have been his sister. — The Christmas Angel put his finger on his lips: Listen to him. The Boy was just about to finish his prayer: “And, oh Dear Lord, help us, please. Help my little sister to get well. You can do it. You can do better than all the doctors in the world can do. Please, work a miracle this Christmas, make her stand up, make her run and play as other little girls do. Put a smile on her lips...” The Christmas Angel signalled to his companions: “Wait until he falls asleep.” Then they all got into the room. After all, they were angels from heaven, they didn’t have to open the window in order to get in. At once the room was full of angelic splendor. The boy, roused from his sleep, just stared at them; he wanted to cry out but no sound came from his mouth. But he heard clearly what was said: “I am the Christmas Angel. We heard your prayer. It will be granted. Now listen carefully: there is one condition. As a matter of fact there are three conditions. You must perform three good deeds before Christmas Eve and never accept a reward for them — for it you do the spell would locally. But if you keep the three conditions your little sister will be well on Christmas Eve.” Before the last word was spoken the room turned dark again. The boy sprang out of his bed, ran to the window. He saw a spark flashing toward the black velvety sky. “Was I just dreaming or was it really the Christmas Angel?” — he muttered to himself. In the morning he didn’t say anything to his parents or to his little sister. It was already school vacation so he went for a walk into the woods. He had to think about last night. He didn’t see, of course, that the three little angels were hovering over him and followed his every step. One of them suddenly dropped to the ground some distance ahead of him. On the ground he was no angel any longer but an old woman just as the Chritsmas Angel ordered him to be. As the Boy walked along and got to a clearing he saw this old woman picking mushrooms. She wore city clothes; thus it was clear
