Eucharistic Crusaders: Lily Flower And Lotus Flower

KITTY AND JESUS

Kitty was a little girl who did not wear grand clothes and who was not a Catholic. Her father and mother loved her dearly. When she was only 5 years old, Kitty was going to school. But Kitty's parents were troubled because she was not happy at school. Every day Kitty cried because the teacher had been cross with her.

One day her father and mother decided to put Kitty in a Catholic school because they thought she would be happier there. Mother took Kitty to the school and spoke to the Sister in charge. The Sister refused to take little Kitty into the school because the girl was not a Catholic. But mother begged the Sister to take Kitty, because she had always heard that children were so happy in Catholic schools. At last the Sister agreed, and the following week, Kitty went to the convent school, just as if she had been a little Catholic girl.

Now it was quite different. As soon as Kitty woke up in the morning she said, "Mother, don't let me be late for school, the first lesson is best of all!" The first lesson was Catechism and the little girl loved it. Kitty loved to hear the wonderful true stories about God the Father, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus, and his Blessed Mother and the Saints.

One day Kitty came home, full of excitement. Some of the girls in the convent school had made their First Communion that morning. Kitty had seen them in their white veils, with flowery wreaths on their heads. She asked why they were dressed like that and was told that the Little Jesus had come into their hearts for the first time.

Not long afterwards Kitty had her sixth birthday and felt quite a big girl. As soon as she arrived at the convent school she went up to the Sister and said, "Please, Sister, I am 6 years old today and Mary is only six and a half." Mary was one of the little girls who had lately made her First Holy Communion.

"Well, Kitty," said the Sister, as she gave her a birthday kiss, "I hope you will have a very happy birthday. So now you have nearly caught up to Mary, is that what you want to do?"

"Yes, Sister. May I have Little Jesus in my heart today? Mary did!"

"But Mary is a Catholic dear, and only little Catholic girls may make their First Holy Communion."

"Then please make me a Catholic, Sister."

"I can't do that, dear. You must ask your Father and Mother about it."

The nun sighed, and Kitty went to her desk and did her lessons, but from that day the tears began to flow again at home. She kept saying, "Oh Mother dear, I do want to be a Catholic. Won't you let me be a Catholic?"

"Nonsense, Kitty," her mother would say. "Isn't your father's religion good enough for you?"

"No, Mother. I can't have Little Jesus unless I'm a Catholic!"

But her mother did not understand what Kitty was talking about. Then Kitty would try her father. "Daddy, dear, wouldn't you like to make me very happy?"

"Yes, dear, if I can. What do you want?" her father replied.

"Oh, Daddy, do let me be a Catholic. I do want Little Jesus. Oh, Daddy dear, do!" But her daddy did not understand either.

This went on so often that at last her mother said she would try another school where they didn't put such funny ideas into children's heads. This frightened Kitty so much that she said, "Mother and Father, I promise never again to ask to be a Catholic, if you will only leave me where I am." So for a time there was peace once more at home. Several months went by, and again at school a happy group of girls made their First Holy Communion. Poor little Kitty, she had been so sure that the Little Jesus would have come to her this year. Many a time she cried herself to sleep.

Soon her mother thought that Kitty was looking rather pale and thin, so she took her to the doctor.

"The child is fretting," said the doctor. "Do you know what it is about?"

"It's all because of that school she is at," said her mother.

"Then you had better change her school," the doctor replied. "She'll never get better if she goes on fretting!"

That evening her mother and father talked it over. If they took Kitty away from the school she would worry and fret, and if they left her there she would worry and fret. Why not let her be a Catholic? It seemed to be an even better religion than their own religion!

So the next day father and mother went to the school and arranged with the Sister to have Kitty received into the Catholic Church. They promised to do all in their power to help her to practise her religion. Then they went home, and her father taking Kitty on his knee, told her what they had done. Kitty was overjoyed; she could not thank her parents enough. She seemed quite a changed little girl altogether.

Now she would tell her father and mother all the beautiful stories about Little Jesus that she had heard at school. And when it came to making her First Confession, Kitty told them all about it, and how dear Jesus was going to make her soul so beautifully white. "Wouldn't you like to have your souls washed too?" she asked her parents, but neither her father nor her mother knew what to answer her.

Kitty made her First Confession, and soon after began to prepare for her First Holy Communion. So hard did she try to be good, and so often did she give up little things for her dear Jesus, that her mother was quite puzzled. She said, "I can't understand the child at all!" Kitty used to be so fond of sweets. Now she's giving them away; and as for cakes and jam, she hardly touches them. Yet I've never known her to be so happy and contented!"

At last came Kitty's First Communion day. What a truly happy day it was for the little girl. "I feel too happy to live," Kitty told her mother that night. "How lovely it would be to die and always live with Little Jesus!"

"Would you leave father and me all alone?" said her mother.

"I could see you all the time if I were up in Heaven," said Kitty, "and I would ask Little Jesus to let you come too!"

A little while later, Kitty received the Sacrament of Confirmation and she took the name of Mary Imelda, because she said, "Little Jesus took Imelda to live with Him always, after her First Holy Communion."

Now for those of you who don't know, Imelda is really 'Blessed Imelda' who died in 1333, when she was about 10 years old. At that time, children were not allowed to receive Communion until they were 14 years old. When Imelda was about 9 years old, she joined the Dominican Sisters. She had such a love for Jesus that one day after Mass, when she was in the chapel, a Host came out of the tabernacle and floated in the air above her head. When some other nuns noticed this, they called a priest and he gave this Host to Imelda as her First Holy Communion. Then a few minutes later, Imelda died of joy!

As the months slipped by, Kitty would go to Communion as often as her mother would let her. She grew brighter and happier every day and was like a ray of sunshine in the house.

"How glad I am that she is a Catholic," said her father. "It makes me feel better to look at her."

"Yes," said her mother, "and when she says her prayers night and morning, she looks just like a little angel!"

Little Jesus had been helping Kitty to make her soul more and more beautiful until it was like a lovely lily, just opening. Jesus wanted Kitty in Heaven, so one day He sent her a disease called diphtheria. She was very ill and had to be taken to the hospital. One day a priest came to see Kitty. He told her that Little Jesus wanted her to live with Him in Heaven.

"Oh, I am so glad," said Kitty, and when her father and mother came to see her, she told them the good news adding, "And I will ask Little Jesus to let you come too!"

But her father and mother were very sad, for they knew how lonely they would be without their little girl.

The very next day Kitty died. Being such a young and good little girl she very possibly went straight to Heaven. And Kitty didn't forget her father and mother either.

The next year her father died, but before he died he sent for a priest and asked the priest to let him die a Catholic, just like his little girl, Kitty. The priest instructed and baptized him, and soon after he died. Then only Kitty's mother was left and she asked the priest to baptize her too. "For," she said, "I must be with Kitty and my husband when my turn comes."

The End

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