WE ARE going back over nineteen hundred years for our story this morning. We’re going to the city of Jerusalem, where Mark, a little boy who was crippled, lived with his father and mother. Mark wasn’t able to walk. Other boys could run, and jump, and play games. But Mark could do none of these things. Mark spent all of his time in bed.
Well, one afternoon little Mark had a visitor. An angel came to visit Mark. It was the Angel Gabriel. At first, Mark was afraid. Mark had never seen an angel, and he wondered why this Angel should visit him.
“Mark,” spoke the Angel, “do you know that God loves you very much?”
That made Mark angry. He raised his head from his pillow. He pointed a finger at the Angel. “Don’t you tell me that God loves me!” cried Mark angrily. “Don’t talk to me about God! God doesn’t love me. If God loves me, why does He make me suffer? Every day I have to suffer, but God never had to suffer. That makes me greater than God. Yes, I’m greater than God.”
Gabriel had never heard anyone talk like that. He dropped his head and left the room.
Well, it didn’t take the Angel Gabriel very long to hurry back to Heaven. Gabriel went immediately to God. The Angel told God all about Mark and what Mark had said. Maybe you think God was angry? Not at all! God just smiled. Then God promised Gabriel that He would take care of everything.
Now, what do you think God did? Well, God left Heaven. God came down to this earth. God lived here for thirty-three years. God’s whole life on earth was a life of suffering. Why, God suffered more than any other person. But God never found fault. God never complained about His suffering. God wanted to show us how to suffer.
Bad men nailed God to a cross, and finally, God died on the cross. Never once did God complain, because He had to suffer. Never once did God find fault. But after His death, God went back to Heaven, and God told the Angel Gabriel how much He had suffered.
Well, two thousand years had passed, and once again the Angel Gabriel left Heaven and came to earth. This time the Angel went to the city of Boston. While Gabriel was walking down a street, he met Michael Rogers. Michael was ten years old. He too, was a cripple. He walked with crutches and was very sad.
“Don’t be so sad!” said the Angel Gabriel to the little boy. “Don’t you know that God loves you more than He loves other boys? Why, Michael, you are God’s special friend.”
“God is not my Friend,” snapped the little boy, “and God doesn’t love me either. Look how I have to suffer! If God loves me, why does He make me suffer? God never suffered as much as I suffer.”
“You’re wrong, Michael,” spoke the Angel kindly. “Come with me! I want to show you something.”
The Angel Gabriel led Michael to a near-by church. The Angel and the boy walked down the aisle. They stopped before the altar. Then the Angel Gabriel pointed to the cross above the altar. Little Michael looked at the cross for a long, long time. There was a long silence.
“I was wrong,” whispered Michael to the Angel. “God did suffer. God suffered more than I’ve had to suffer, and God never found fault.”
Then the little boy hung his head in shame. When he turned to the Angel, the Angel was gone. Michael Rogers had learned a lesson.
And what was that lesson? It was just this. God wanted to be like us. God didn’t want us to do anything that He hadn’t done Himself. God wanted to suffer. God came to earth to teach us how to suffer. God wanted to teach us how to suffer without finding fault. You know, boys and girls, God suffered more than we will ever have to suffer. Never once did God complain. God never found fault.
Some time you may have to suffer. You may be sick, your father or mother may die, or you may be very poor – all these things will make you suffer. Just keep in mind, that God suffered too. No matter how much you may have to suffer, you’ll never have to suffer as much as God suffered. When suffering comes, don’t think that God doesn’t love you! God loves you more, when you have to suffer. When you have to suffer, ask God to help you, so that you won’t complain! Ask God to use your sufferings to pay for all the sins of your life! Remember, suffering can buy your way out of Purgatory. The more you suffer now, the less you will have to suffer in Purgatory.
Remember, children, if you find things hard, don’t be angry with God! If you ever have to suffer, don’t ever turn away from God! If you find things hard, if you have to suffer something, then, go to Jesus! He suffered once. He knows how you feel. Jesus wants to help you.
Angel Food for Boys and Girls Volume II
by Rev. Gerald T. Brennan 1898-1962
