1. The catechism of little Angela

1. The catechism of little Angela

Little Angela

Angela is a smart young little girl, who lives with her beloved parents in a small but very beautiful village near a forest.

She loves running through the forest with her friends and playing many games with them. Most of all, she likes gathering beautiful flowers and giving them to her sweet mother who loves her so much.

When her father returns from his work, she runs quickly into his arms and gives him two sweet kisses on both of his cheeks. She adores her father so much that she calls him “my king”. But he also loves her so much that he covers her with his kisses and calls her “my little queen”.

Angela has two siblings, an older sister, Christine, and a younger brother, Joseph.

Christine is a very sweet, kind and beautiful girl and everyone enjoys her company. This year she will be leaving her home as she is going to university and will be living in the city. She loves young children very much and wants to be a teacher.

Joseph is a cute little boy and he will start kindergarten soon. Angela loves him a lot and looks after him to make sure he does not break anything. As a little mother she takes care of him so he doesn’t hurt himself and start crying. Joseph adores his sister and he likes playing with her, but most of all he likes listening to her telling various little stories. Many times he falls asleep before the end of the story. After giving him a sweet kiss on his cheek, she covers him with a small blanket to keep him warm and then she goes out to the backyard to continue playing. 

She is very happy because it is her first year at school and she learns so many things. Every time she returns from school she is first telling her mother and later her father whatever she had learnt.

Even though Angela is a small child, she is very smart and wants to learn many different things. Her mother is very pleased every time her little angel, as she likes to call her, comes to ask her something.  

Lately she has many queries. She wants to learn about everything she sees around her which arouses her admiration. Today she went to her mother very seriously and was asking her who made ​​the great sun which is high up in the sky and lights up the whole world.

Her mummy believes that this is the right time to talk to her little girl about God and the wonderful world He created. She wants her to know our heavenly Father and God and love Him with all her heart, as she and her beloved husband do.

So she decided to start telling her from the beginning how the whole word with the beautiful sky, the sun, the stars that shine at night, the land with the forests, rivers, lakes, flowers and whatever else is on it, was created.

Angela was so delighted because her sweet mother would explain to her so many things that she couldn’t wait to start. Her mother, seeing the anxiousness of her little angel decided to start her story that very evening.

They ate their warm meal and then they put little Joseph to sleep because he was feeling sleepy. Afterwards mother Sophia took her little girl in her arms and after kissing her sweetly began to explain about God’s wonderful creation;

-Dear Angela, many, many years ago this world that we see today didn’t exist; neither the deep blue sky with the bright stars, nor the earth with the colourful flowers. There were neither trees nor animals nor the boundless sea with fish.

-Did we exist at that time mummy?

-No, my child. The good God hadn’t created man yet. 

-Mother, since the earth and the sky did not exist yet, what did exist?

-There was absolute darkness everywhere, my baby. Only our good God existed and nothing else.

-Wow! That must have been bad then! said little Angela.

-Yes, my little girl, but as bad it was then, it was so much nicer later, when God began creating our beautiful world.

-And how did He create it mummy? What did He use to create it? Angela asked full of questions.

-God created all you can see by a single command, my baby. He said it must be done and it happened. 

-And how was He able to do that?

-He did that because He is almighty.

-What does almighty mean, mummy?

-It means that He is so wise and powerful, that He can do whatever He wants. So, almighty as He is, He created with much wisdom this beautiful world that we see around us and another world which we can’t see with our bodily eyes. It is the spiritual world in which all the angels of heaven belong.

-Are those the angels who came to the birth of Christ?

-Yes, all those angels who came over the manger to  announce to the people the joyful news that little Christ was born. All these angels were watching enthusiastically as God, our Father, created the entire world from scratch.

-Are the Angels only in heaven?

-Not only there, but also close to us, to help our souls to love our merciful God more. They are our best friends and love us very much.

Our good God gives an angel to each child, who loves Him very much, in order to be always with them. This angel secretly protects every good child and helps it to always do good deeds that our God likes a lot.

-Do I have my own angel mummy?

-Of course my little girl, the day you were baptized and became a Christian, our good God granted you your own little angel.

-Please mummy talk to me about my little angel!

-I am going to talk to you about your own angel and all the other angels of heaven another time, so you can know and love them better.

 Now my sweet little girl I am going to tell you how all this wonderful world was created, so, together with the angels we can thank our sweet God and Father who granted us this wonderful world.

     The wonderful creation of God our Father

Little Angela was so excited that her sweet mother would explain so many things to her about the beautiful world we live in, that she gave her two sweet kisses in advance on both of her cheeks. Her mother held her little girl even more tightly in her motherly arms and after she caressed her curly hair she continued her story.

-So dear Angela, before our good God started creating this beautiful world, first of all He created the sky and the earth. The earth didn’t have any form then. Land and sea were all mixed up and a boundless darkness was everywhere. There was no sign of life.

-Wow! Was there no light at all mum?

-No, my little girl, only an endless darkness covered everything.

But then, God’s sweet voice was heard saying:

“Let there be light!”

Immediately a bright light was spreading everywhere and lit up everything.

Then God separated the light from the darkness and called the light “day” and the darkness “night”.

So that was the end of the first day of creation.

- When did God make all the rest?

-The rest of the days of creation.

-Did He need many days to finish them all?

-The Holy Bible says that God made ​​ this beautiful world in six days.

-What is the Holy Bible mum?

-It is the book of God, my baby. The history of the world is written in it as well as God's will for humans. From this each man can learn what he should do in his life in order to be happy. The creation of the world is written in it too, which I am telling you now.

-Mother, when I learn how to read, can I read it by myself to learn what the good God wants from me?

-Of course, my little girl. God is very pleased when His children on earth read this Holy Book and learn how they should live. He wants everyone to realize how much He adores us and how much He wants to hold us in His arms with great affection, as I hold you in mine.

-I love to be in your embrace, mum. It's so warm and I feel so happy!

-I am also happy, my baby, when I hold you in my arms, because you are my treasure! The good God is feeling the same thing when He holds us in His arms. He feels so happy, that He doesn’t want us to leave. He feels like a happy King with His princes.

-Mum, since He is so happy when we are in His embrace, I don’t want to ever leave, so that He will always be happy!

-When you will be a good child and will love everybody, then you will always be in the arms of God like His little princess.

-Mum, I want to be a good princess so that our good God will be happy with me. Mum, can I call Him “my King”, since I'll be His princess?

-Certainly, my baby. He will be your King and you will be His little princess. He has already embraced you into His divine heart with much affection and love and tells you many sweet words.

-Mum, why can’t I hear them?

-Because He is saying them secretly into your soul and for the time being only the angels of heaven are able to hear them. When one day we will be in heaven with Him, you will learn and will hear from His sweet voice how much He loved and adored you, my little girl, and also how happy you made Him when you lived here on earth. Now, rest in my arms, close your eyes for a moment and tell Him sweetly that you love Him with all your heart.

Our little Angela leaned against her mum’s breast and there with her eyes closed started saying, with a lot of love and childish worship, to God:

-My sweet God, you are my own King and I want You to be very happy because I love You very much. I want You to make me a good princess and I will do whatever You wish, so that You will be happy with me. I want You to help me to learn quickly how to read your Holy Book, because I have to learn what You want your little princess to do.

Little Angela was saying these and many other things and, hearing them, her mother was very pleased with her.

-Do you want me to continue the story my Angela, or are you tired?

-I’m not tired mum but happy. Go on please. I am anxious to learn how our good God made all the rest of creation.

-After God made the light and separated it from the darkness, He said;

“Let there be heaven and earth!”

Then the boundless firmament started taking its form separating from the earth. It was a unique spectacle that made all the angels sing hymns of praise to the heavenly God. All these things happened on the second day of creation.

On the third day God said:

“Let the waters separate from the land!”

And it was so. Dry ground rose up through the waters. Then God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “sea”.

-Wow! It must have been fantastic when the land came out of the water, wasn’t it mum?

-It was even more fantastic when God said:

“Let the land grow every kind of plant and tree!”

   The land started immediately becoming green and every kind of plant and tree grew in it. The flowers bloomed buds, the seeds grew and the trees were bearing fruits. At the same time springs, rivers and lakes began to form. It was a marvellous miracle to watch all these things happening.

  -I can imagine the enthusiasm of the angels, mummy!

            -Yes, my baby, they didn’t stop praising our King with joy.

            -Ιf I were there, I would be singing joyfully with them.

            -I’m sure you would chant hymns of praise to God with them, because you would be even more excited with what your eyes would see created next.

            Why mum, what happened next?

            Well, on the fourth day God said:

            "Let there be bright stars on the sky that will light up the earth, to separate day from night and to distinguish the seasons of the year!"

            So the two great bright stars were created, the sun and the moon, as well as countless other stars that filled the sky.

            As Sophia was telling her daughter all these marvelous miracles of creation, the little girl was happy with all these things she was hearing. Like a grown up girl, she was amazed with what she saw her Father had done and frequently she shouted with amazement “wow!” Sophia was feeling her daughter’s joy and praised God for the little pearl He had given her.

          Little Angela’s impatience had peaked. She wanted to know what else her sweet Heavenly King had made. Her mummy continued the story.

            On the fifth day God said:

            “Let there be all the living creatures of the sea and sky!”

            Then the whole sky was filled with countless wonderful birds fluttering merrily in the blue sky and were singing melodically. The boundless sea was filled with all kinds of fish which were swimming in it.

        -Mum, all the animals, like our dog and cat, did He make them on the same day?

        -All the animals of the earth were made on the next and last day, on the sixth day.

Then God said:

            “Let there be all the animals of the land!”

            Then all the animals of the desert and the jungle even those that grazed in the fields were created. That’s how God finished all this wonderful creation of the beautiful world in which we all live.

            -Mum, I want to tell God that I love Him very much and I thank Him even more for everything He made with his great power and wisdom.

            -Yes, my little girl, it is a good thing to always thank Him for everything He gives us. It's also great to love and respect whatever He makes with love for us and not to destroy it. But now tell me, are you tired? Or do you want me to tell you how our good God created us, the humans?

            -No, I am not tired mummy, not at all and I want to learn with great joy how He created us.

     The wonderful creation of man

-When God, my child, made this wonderful world in six days, that is, in six long periods, the angels in heaven admired this beautiful creation and praised the almighty God with celebrations. But their joy became even greater when they heard Him saying; 

     “I will now make my finest creation, man, and I will give him my entire creation to rule over!”

So God created man but in a completely different way. While for all the other creatures God just declared that they be created and they were, the creation of man was different.

-Why mum did He make man in different way?

-Because He wanted to make man look like his God so He could live in man’s heart; something that even the angels in heaven do not have.

-And how did this happen mum?

-Well, He took soil from the earth to make man’s body and then He blew His divine breath into him in order to give him his immortal soul. So God created man in His own perfect image. Immediately the divine grace of the Holy Spirit flooded the soul of man with boundless love for all creation but mainly for God his King. This is the very moment, my little girl, that God’s finest creature, that is man, is completed.

-Mum, did the first man have a name?

-Of course, God named him Adam.

-Could Adam see God? 

-Yes, my baby, God was the first thing Adam saw when he was created.

-How did he feel mum when he saw the good God?

-He felt so wonderful that no one can describe it. His heart flooded with infinite love, peace and joy.

-How did God feel when He saw man, mum?

-He was so pleased and happy, just like me with you, my baby.

-But, mummy, I am your baby.

-But for God, my little girl, every man is also His baby, because He is the real Father of our souls. We all have something in us from our beloved God. The good God took soil to make our body, but to give us our soul He blew His divine Breath, the Holy Spirit, into us. So He took something out of Himself and put it into us.

He wanted all of us to know that we have something of His own in us and that we are His beloved children. As I took you out of my womb, my baby, and gave birth to you, so that I am your mother and you are my baby, so God did the same. The creation of man is like a birth. Therefore, one day our body, which is made of soil will return by death to the earth, that is, to the land, but He wants the immortal soul He gave us from His heart, to return there again, into His divine heart.

-Wow, mum! How wonderful it is to feel that the good God is our real Mother! Since He gave us our soul with the Holy Spirit, then He is our Mum and our Dad, isn’t He my sweet mother?

-Exactly, my baby. He is the real Father and Mother of every human soul. That’s why He loves every man so much and desires to embrace him in His divine heart with much adoration and affection, as a mother embraces her baby.

-From now on, mummy, I will love the good God very much, as I love you.

-Yes, my baby, love Him with all your heart and say to Him all those sweet words you say to me. When you want to do something, you should think first if He would like it and then do it.

-And how will I know if He doesn’t like something?

-Well, first of all you will ask your heart if your mum likes what you want to do. If your heart tells you that it is good, then do it, if it tells you not to, then don’t. Every mummy here on earth is an image of Him.

-What does His own image mean mum?

-It means that, as God is good, so is each mummy. Think what your sweet mummy is for you in order to understand what God is for every man.

-Mummy, you and dad are everything to me.

-My sweet love, you are also everything to me and your sweet daddy. Our joy here on earth is you, our children.

-Mummy, are we everything for the good God too?

-Yes, my princess. God may made His creation so beautiful and great that it arouses our admiration, but His greatest joy is when we love Him with all our heart and He is everything to us.

-Mummy, does God scold us?

-How often does your mummy scold you?

-When I'm not a good child and make mischief.

-Why does your mum scold you, since you know how she adores you and cannot live without you? Does she do it because she doesn’t love you, or because she wants you to be a good girl and be proud of you?

-To be a good girl so that you and dad are proud of me.

-And so the good God, as a sweet and good Father, is sad and scolds them when His children leave His sweet embrace and do things that are not right. He doesn’t want us to live here on earth as bad children but like princes, since our heavenly Father is the King of the whole world.

-Mum, when I do something wrong I apologize and you forgive me and also you give me sweet kisses. When we do something wrong to God, what should we do?

-What you do to me. After you realize your mistake, you will look up to heaven and say: "Forgive me, my good God for making you sad with my mistake”.

-And will He immediately forgive me, like you do mummy?

-Yes, my baby. He will immediately forgive you and joyfully He will turn to the angels around Him, and He will say to them: "Did you see how sweet and kind my little princess Angela is? She apologized for her mistake, therefore, I will not only forgive her, but I will also fill her soul with many spiritual gifts". Then He will hold you in His sweet embrace and will cover you with many sweet kisses, as your mummy does.

-How sweet our good God is, mummy! I love Him very much and I don’t want to hurt Him with any mistake.

-Bravo, my baby, that’s how I want you to think for your whole life.

     The creation of Eve

-You told me, mummy that God made man and named him Adam. But when was the first girl like me created?

-When God made Adam, my little girl, He put him into a big beautiful garden which He called Paradise. It was filled with rivers, lakes, many animals and flowers.

On the big trees all kinds of birds were perching and singing merrily. Nowhere on earth was there such a beautiful place.

Adam spent his days happily in it accompanied by all the animals of Paradise. He was friends with all the animals and they spent great times together. Only a little sadness troubled his soul.

-What kind of sadness did Adam have mum?

-He saw that every animal had its own mate and were playing happily together and he wanted to have a partner too in order to share the joys of Paradise with her.

-Why didn’t he tell this to our good God mummy?

-Because my baby our good God already knew about the sadness of His child Adam and decided to surprise him.

-What surprise did He make for him mum?

-Well, after a pleasant day spent with his beloved animals, He let Adam be a little tired and fall asleep under a big tree near a beautiful river. As Adam was lying down God took one of Adam’s ribs and from this made a woman, whom He called Eve.

-I can imagine Adam’s surprise when he woke up and saw Eve in front of him mum!

-Yes, his surprise but also his happiness was huge and indescribable. It was the greatest gift that our God granted him. He was staring at her, unable to believe that he really had a person like him in front of him.

-And what did Eve do mum?

-She was pleased with Adam’s happiness and didn’t stop smiling sweetly at him, my baby.

-And what did God do then mum?

-He was very happy with the joy of His children and all the angels of heaven were singing angelical hymns to Him, my little girl. Then God approached His beloved children, Adam and Eve, and blessed them.

Adam and Eve were the first couple on earth, therefore, along with His fatherly divine blessings, He gave them also the necessary advice, that if they would observe this advice, it would help them spend their life with love and happiness in Paradise.

-What did the good God tell them mummy?

-I will tell you all the sweet words and the advice He gave them another time, my baby. But now it is late and you have started feeling sleepy. Go to sleep and the next time we will continue the story of Adam and Eve. Let me give you a sweet kiss and I wish you good night, my baby.

-Good night mummy, I love you very much. I also love our good God with all my heart. Good night my God!