10. Christina’s engagement
Christina’s dad
There is a
lot of joy in our little Angela’s house. Her older sister Christina is getting engaged
to a very nice and polite young man, John.
Her parents
are very happy with the good choice of fiancé which was made by their beloved
daughter. Many times they prayed to their heavenly Father to help their
daughter to find a good guy, who would love her sincerely and make her happy.
Mum Sophia was
encouraging her daughter Christina to leave the choice of husband in the hands
of her beloved God. She was telling her to pray continually for this, so that He will help
her to find an earthly angel husband with whom she will spend the rest of her
earthly life.
Christina, also,
was begging God to give her a good young man like her beloved father for a husband. Her dad was a role model for a husband and
father. He adored his children with so much love and affection, that you
thought that God himself, through him, loved them with fatherly love and adoration!
He loved his
wife Sophia very much and adored his children, but most of all he loved and worshipped
God from the depths of his kind heart. They never heard him shouting angrily at home or
causing sadness and unhappiness by his behaviour, either to his wife or his children.
He was gentle and polite in his manner
and didn’t speak a lot. He was always giving his wife such a great and
affectionate tender love and was saying to her such sweet words, that everyone realized
how much he loved and adored her!
Vangelis, Christina’s
dad, loved God since he was a child. He had been taught by his pious parents
respect and devotion to Almighty God. But since he married Sophia he loved God more
and tried to live like a real angel on earth. His wife’s modest and humble life
full of kindness helped him very much to become an even better person.
Vangelis was telling
his friends that God gave him an angel for wife, that’s why he was very
grateful to his heavenly God and Father. Many times he was kneeling and thanking
God for the precious gift that He had given to him. When he was praying for his
wife and his children, his prayer was lifting as fragrant incense up to heaven. Many times Christina was seeing her father
emotionally trying to discreetly hide a few tears of love and gratitude which
were rolling down his cheeks during their common prayer in the evening. One day
Christina told her mum, that you only have to see her dad praying in order to
understand how the saints are praying.
Before she
met her husband, her mother Sophia, was begging God to give her a man, who would
not only be a good husband, but also a good father.
She knew that
the edification of children was a great and difficult process that a woman on
her own could not manage without the help of her husband.
Love and the good example of both parents are what
can bring correct and steady results. Only when both parents with peace,
harmony and love guide their children to good and virtue, can it be achieved. When
one parent is fighting the other, it creates confusion and anxiety in the child
and the results are often very bad. If the child doesn’t have a strong and correct
character to have the ability to choose the right way, he can easily get lost on
the paths of badness and failure.
Sophia, as
well as her husband, was often begging God to enlighten them how to guide their
children properly, who were given to them, according to His holy Will. They
knew very well that their earthly role was to help their children, as divine
nannies, to know and love with all the power of their hearts the heavenly God, like
the Father and Mother of their soul.
Christina,
before choosing someone for her future husband, had already decided how she would
like him to be. The criteria by which she was searching for him were exactly
the same as her mum’s were.
Her beloved
John was a simple and pious young man, whom she had chosen, among many men, for
the gifts he had. She believed that these
gifts would make him a good husband, a virtuous father and a pious role model
for her and her children.
Christina’s room
The door bell
rang and Christina ran to open the door. It was her beloved John with his
parents. For Christina it was the happiest moment of
her life. John was shining with joy and he could not hide the happiness he felt
in his soul. They sat all together in the living room of the house until mum
Sophia prepared the engagement dinner for them to eat together. After dinner
John would officially ask Christina’s parents for the hand of their daughter to
become his future wife.
The two
children asked their parents’ permission to be on their own for a little while until
the table was prepared and the food served. Christina took her beloved John into
her small room to talk quietly. It was the first time that John would enter
the room of his beloved and he would know the place where Christina was
reading, praying and resting.
Although it
seemed simple in appearance, however, it had a noble beauty. Above the bed a lovely
cross, a gift from her mum on her name day, was decorating her room but also
protecting Christina.
Between the
bed and the desk was a big beautiful icon of Christ who was blessing her. His
two big expressive eyes, made you think that they wanted to speak to you and
tell you how much they love you. This icon was given to her by her dad the year
she entered high school. She very much liked standing in front of her beloved
God to express to Him, sometimes the love of her heart, other times her
gratitude for the good parents who He gave her and other times to beg Him to
flood her heart with the holy spirit and His divine love, in order to love Him
with all the power of her soul.
Her desk,
next to a large book shelf, was big and tidy. A vase full of beautiful flowers
from their garden spread a fragrant aroma throughout the room. On the desk
there were a Holy Bible and two or three other books which she liked studying, as
well as a very beautiful icon of the Virgin Mary holding the holy infant Jesus in
her arms. It was her favorite icon and she liked to pray in front of it to her
beloved God and Father.
As she was
taught by her pious mother, she adored the holy infant Jesus and sometimes she imagined
she was taking Him in her arms to cover Him with lots of tender kisses. But at
the same time, as a little girl, let her soul be enclosed in the divine embrace
of her sweet King Jesus and put herself with absolute trust into the arms of
the sweetest heavenly Love.
A large
window above her desk gave a view into the beautiful, big and enchanting garden
of their home. Just opposite, a little further from the house, you could see
the little river which divided the village in two with only one large bridge to
unite it. The big trees next to the little river and the countless birds living
in their abundant leaves, made a wonderful image of an earthly paradise.
John was excited
with the room of his beloved. He sat at her desk and opened a random page from
the Bible which was permanently on it; so that Christina could study God's Will
every day through a passage from it. His eye
fell on the paragraph that Christ said to all His children "As the Father
has loved me so have I loved you" (John. 15: 9)
Who, really, can measure the love that God the
Father has for his only-begotten Son Jesus? It is
infinite and no one can ever measure it. Is it not amazing that the unerring mouth of
our Saviour Jesus assures you, that with the same infinite love that God the
Father loves Him, He also loves all of us with exactly the same love?
Two tears of
gratitude were rolling down his cheeks showing his beloved Christina what a
wonderful soul the young boy was that God promised to give her as the most
precious gift!
As John was
looking through the window outside enjoying the beauty of the nature of spring,
Christina came near to him and embraced him with the love and affection that
only a woman who truly adores her beloved knows how to give.
He smiled at her
tenderly and in his turn opened the wings of his love to enclose the most
precious gift that his merciful God had given to him. Christina, as a small
sparrow perched within the eagle wings of her beloved.
The five rays of love
John and
Christina were secretly enjoying, in the depths of their hearts, the love which
their God the Father put into their souls. There, embraced as they were, they
promised each other to become, through the Sacrament of Marriage, one in body
and soul.
They promised
in front of the holy icon of their beloved God Jesus to love each other with
all their heart and both of them as one to worship their heavenly Father and
God in absolute trust and obedience to His Holy Will.
Both of them
believed that the more they loved and put their souls with absolute trust into
the hands of their heavenly God the Father, the more they would love and trust
each other. This would be the power of their real love; since what they would
give to each other would be nothing other than the same love which God would
give to each of them so that he would give it to his spouse.
Once Sophia
said to her daughter Christina that God the Father himself, through marriage,
was blessing the husband to give to his wife the true love which He himself put
in his heart. Through the man’s love and protection, God made the woman
understand how much He would love and protect her. And through the woman’s
tender love, God was giving to the man the ability to understand how tenderly
and affectionately she loves him like his heavenly Mother and Father.
Sophia was
advising her daughter to love and trust God with all the power of her heart, because
only in that way could she give her husband the greatest possible love a woman can
give.
Christina had
understood the valuable advice her mum had given to her from time to time about
the greatness of the Marriage Sacrament, therefore she supported the absolute
happiness of her marriage with the love which she and her John would have for
their beloved God the Father.
As they were embraced
there, the happiness of their love was flooding their souls and they agreed to
kneel in front of the large icon of Jesus and there they promised Him that one will
be a sweet five ray of love for the other. They had often spoken about these five
rays of love and had both agreed to work hard in order to succeed. They had
decided to be everything for each other.
John would
love his wife as a husband and a tender
companion and would share with her whatever life would give them. But he
would love her as his little girl as
well, so that with the power of his fatherly love, not only would he protect
her, but also he would transfer to her the safety of love and adoration that a
father knows how to give to his child. But when difficult moments would come and
his tired mind would like to be in the arms of a unique love, that only a
mother knows how to give to her son, he would like his wife to be the sweetest mother in the world, in
order to hold him in her embrace with tender motherly love until the difficulty
is passed and the natural path of life would return. John would like Christina,
apart from a tender wife, a beloved daughter and an affectionate mother, to
also be a beloved sister for him, for
whom he could feel all those wonderful mutual brotherly feelings of love and solidarity
that God has given to beloved siblings.
Finally, the
happiness of the five rays of love would complete the feeling that his wife
could also be for him, besides all the rest, a wise friend with whom he could discuss issues, without any prejudices,
which someone would want to discuss only with his friends.
Christina agreed
with all John’s thoughts and desires.
She herself wanted to be everything for her
beloved man; a wife, a daughter, a mother, a friend and a sister. At the same
time, she would want her husband to be, her
tender husband, her affectionate father, her only son, her beloved brother and
her best friend.
Through these
five rays of love that with absolute trust they would each become for the
other, both of them believed that they could become one in body and soul and, then
united together, to become one with their king and God Jesus.
The dinner of joy
Without
realizing it the time passed quickly and her mum called them to come to the
dining room because the food was ready.
Before they
started eating they all stood up to say their usual prayer. They said the Lord’s
Prayer: "Our Father ..." and sat down to eat.
Everyone seemed
joyful and happy, but most of all the two children, John and Christina.
When the meal
was over it was time for John to officially ask Christina’s parents for the
hand of their daughter to make her his partner for life.
It was a very
emotional moment and Christina’s parents joyfully accepted the wedding proposal
of this blessed young man to become their daughter’s husband. They wished him
to have many joys in their life together and God to make them worthy to have
many little angels.
Then they put
the engagement rings on the children's hands and offered their gifts, as it is usual
in such cases. Then all of them lifted their glasses of wine to wish for the
happiness of their children and to drink to their health.
John’s father
wished them to be eternally in love and as the wine they are drinking may
intoxicate them, the more they drink, so the love of John and Christina will
grow more and more and will intoxicate them with the power of happiness which
it will bring.
John’s mother
tearful with emotion, wished the children to be always simple and humble in
their lives, in order to have peace in their hearts and so that any selfish
desire cannot destroy the true love which they now have.
Christina’s dad,
before he gave his wishes to them, put some water into his glass of wine and
said to his girl:
-My
Christina, I wish you to spend a happy life with your beloved John as I have
spent and am spending with your sweet mummy. Since I married your mum I was
feeling that I didn’t have a woman next to me but an angel of love, tenderness,
affection and understanding. I was making mistakes many times and unintentionally
I was hurting the angel, my sweet wife, who was sent to me by God. However, I
assure you, my little girl, that your mummy never hurt me by pointing out my
mistakes. She was always blaming herself and was trying, with the motherly
tenderness which every woman has, to help my soul heal from the wound that
Satan wanted me to create through any of my human weaknesses. Seeing what your
mummy did made me to love and adore her even more. I will never forget her
answer, when I asked her once, how much she loves me!
-What did she
tell you my daddy?
-She took a
glass, filled it with sweet wine and told me:
My Vangelis, you're the sweet wine of my soul
which makes me intoxicated with your love in my heart.
Then she took
some water, poured it into the glass of wine and continued:
As the water was lost in the colour and the taste
of the wine and became one with the wine of this glass, so my dear man I'm lost
in the love of your heart. I don’t want to exist, only you, my beloved man who
my God gave me. My happiness is being lost in your existence.
Her sweet
words, full of devotion and adoration, made me realize that day what a great
soul my sweet wife had, whom God gave me.
It was then
that I decided to struggle with all the powers of my soul to achieve the most
beautiful success of my life.
-What was
this success my dad?
-To be lost,
in my turn too, as the water in the intoxicating wine of absolute devotion and
love of my beloved wife and become one with her like water with wine. I
understood, my child that the greatness of marriage is not found in the ability
for two bodies to become one, but for these two souls to manage to become,
before God and with His help, the absolute ONE.
-That is what,
my dad, we were discussing before with John, how we should achieve this, if we
want to live this life with serenity in our hearts and peace in our souls.
-Well done, my
little girl. This will be the primary purpose of your love; to become one in
body and soul. You will not exist, only him. But also John has to want the
same; not for him to exist, only you. One lives inside the other, so that no one can separate one from the other. Of
course, you cannot achieve it, without the help of God. That’s why from today
on you will be begging our Heavenly Father to bless you so that by the grace of
the Holy Spirit you enjoy the greatest gift of God to a married couple. For the
success of your sacred desire, I am drinking, my beloved children, John and
Christina, this sweet wine which I mixed with the water, to remind you always
what from now on you will struggle to achieve.
A happy marriage
Christina’s
father’s wise words made a vivid
impression on John who wanted to hear more about his
marriage with his beloved Christina.
-Father, let
me call you so from today on, I would like you to tell us more things, which
would help us to have a blessed marriage and to live with each other with real
happiness, joy and love on this earth.
-My child,
John, I will not tell you my own words but what I was taught by my beloved wife. I didn’t know many things, but now what I am
going to tell you are all those things, that the angel who God gave me, my
beloved wife Sophia, taught and helped me to live and experience. I only hope that
she will forgive me if I cannot pass them on correctly as she told me. However,
I will do it with pleasure, because I want you to live what I have lived close
to her. My Sophia, if I make a mistake somewhere I want you to correct me.
-My beloved husband, I might have told you them, however, you were able to live them better than
me with the divine simplicity which God has graced you. That’s why I want, like
a little girl in your embrace, to listen to what you are going to say to our
daughter Christina and to our sweet child John, so that I will be able to
become, by the grace of God, even more one with you, my beloved husband. You
should know that the words that you are going to say to our daughter now, I
will put them even more deeply into my heart.
-My Sophia, you
always enslaved me with your humility and your absolute love for me. You were always
living first what you taught to me; therefore I was able to fly quickly, like
an eagle, high up into the sky of absolute love and happiness. Do you know
Christina what your mum was often telling me?
-What did she
tell you, my dad?
-To be like an
eagle who always flies high up enjoying the beauties of our God. But when I
asked her one day, what she would like to be, I was surprised by her response.
-What was her
answer, my daddy?
-To be a nothing, lost in your heart.
-What did you
mean mum with this answer? Asked Christina.
-My child, when
you love your husband very much and want to be one with him, you are not
seeking to be better than him and overshadow him by your words and actions. This is very selfish and shows imprudence and
disrespect towards the man that you say you love and trust. This selfish attitude unfortunately arms Satan’s
hand to fight you with bad thoughts at first and then with dislike against your
husband. When a man sees that his wife is trusting and dedicated
to him with simplicity and humility, then his heart floods with much love and
adoration for her.
-My mummy,
how should I feel in order to help my husband but also to keep my soul in the
right choice?
-You should feel
like a seed which is sown in the earth. In the beginning it is difficult to accept
that it must be lost in the soil. But then, when the sun of love warms the soil
of her man’s heart and the water of humiliation irrigates her soul, she will realize
with surprise and joy that she was not destroyed in the soil that she entered
voluntarily, but now the seed becomes a sprout and the sprout a tree, which
soon will be filled with delicious fruits. Then the seed realizes how important
it was to be lost in the soil of the earth. That’s what I also did with your
father and my beloved husband. I was lost like seed in the soil of his soul. I
became nothing in order to fly, lost in his heart, up to the highest mountaintops
of absolute happiness that brings love, trust and dedication to your husband.
-Mum, how do
you feel now that you have succeeded in all these things?
-Now I feel
even more nothing compared to my husband; because at first I feared that the
sowing might not succeed, but now as you have also realized I see that it has
succeeded. With an even greater will and desire I can be enclosed in his heart
with absolute confidence and love, because I can say with certainty that also
my beloved husband with absolute love, devotion and trust rests in the heart of
our sweet God the Father and doesn’t do anything that our Lord wouldn’t like. The more he trusts our God and tries with simplicity and
heartfelt humility to obey His holy Will, the more I allow him to lead me to
the paths of happiness. However, I
would like him to tell us everything about the experiences he lived, what the
grace of God enlightened him to learn, so that you can also experience them in
your life. Please, my man, tell us your holy experience which will help all of
us.
-One day, my
children, my wife told me:
“My Vangelis, you know that our good God made
man a perfect image of His own. He gave him, as the hymn which we heard yesterday in
our church stated, three precious gifts; Mind,
Word that is, reasonable actions and
Spirit. These gifts had been given
both to man and woman. We both have them. Now as a married couple, we have to
become one apart from the body but also in the soul; our minds and reasonable
actions as well as our spirits will be united as one”. And how can this be my wife? I asked her.
-What did she
answer you, Dad?
-When one
will show understanding to the
other, it means that our minds started to become one. When we don’t do anything without discussing
it first between us and reach a common decision through dialogue, then the process of unification of our reasonable actions
is beginning. And when we will finally see that peace and harmony will prevail in all our
decisions, then we'll know that our spirits now have also become one. From these three things we will understand
that we are going ahead, with the help of the Holy Spirit, deeper and deeper into
the sacred fields of human happiness, as God wants from all his children who are
walking the sacred path of marriage. My children, I tried to abide by these
three things, as much as I could in my life. As a result of my effort God
rewarded me with many graces in my humble soul and with so much happiness from my
beloved angelic husband of my life. My beloved children, as you are starting
now the most beautiful path of your happiness through marriage, I want to wish
you the same things.
-I promise
you, my dad, that I and my John will not forget all these things you told us
and we will try with God’s help to apply them in our life. But I would like
you, my mum, to also wish something for us.
-I wish, my
little girl that your eyes look with adoration and trust into your John’s eyes.
After God he will be everything to you in this life. And for you my beloved child John to be blessed
by God. You should love and
worship Him with all your heart. You will be everything to your wife, but for
you everything will be only your heavenly God the Father. You, my little girl,
be lost in the heart of your husband and you my sweet little boy John, be lost
in the heart of our God.
-We thank you
our beloved parents, my John and I and we are asking you to bless us now at the
start our new life.
Our little
Angela was very happy about Christina’s engagement, but most of all because she
will have another older brother, John.
