Little John and the Christ Child

Little John and the Christ Child

Many, years ago a little boy named John lived with his aunt in an old house in a city, probably in Europe. John tried to do everything well for his aunt, but no matter how hard he tried, she was never pleased. She was always selfish and grumpy!

Even though his aunt had a sock full of gold under her bed, she gave John, only dry bread to eat. In school, some of John's classmates were unkind to him because he was poorly dressed. They would not play with him and tried to blame him for all that went wrong in the school. Little John was often very sad, and sometimes he would hide, and cry as though his heart would break!

When the cold winter set in, John had no warm clothes to wear. On his feet he wore some old stockings that were full of holes, and a pair of heavy wooden shoes. The little boy was freezing cold!

On Christmas Eve, the schoolmaster took the boys to church to hear the beautiful singing and lovely organ music. When the singing stopped the boys left and John noticed a child sitting on one of the stone steps outside, fast asleep in the snow. The child was poorly dressed and his bare feet were frozen! But this child was special; he had a sweet, gentle face and his hair shone like gold in the moonlight! John felt very sorry for the poor child who was barefoot, and who had no shoes to put out for St. Nicholas to fill. Without a second thought, John took off one of his wooden shoes, placed it near the child and trudged home through the cold snow. When the boy arrived, his aunt flew into a rage and slapped him because he had given away one of his shoes. Crying with sadness and pain, John went to bed.

In the morning when the old aunt went downstairs, she cried out in surprise! The kitchen fireplace was covered with beautiful toys, bags of candy and all kinds of nice things; and John's missing shoe! Hearing his aunt, the boy ran downstairs and stood there. Both wondered how this had happened. Suddenly they heard a voice, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me!" Then they both understood, and the aunt was kind towards little John, ever after. Be generous to the poor! When you place something in the poor man's hand, Jesus receives it!

The End

Home | Contents

Accueil