The mother of a 9 year old boy, Mark

The mother of a 9 year old boy, Mark, received
a phone call in the middle of the day
It was the teacher from her son's school.
"Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today in your son's third grade class.
Your son did something that surprised me so much that I thought you should know about it immediately."

Mother's seldom want to hear from their child's teacher in the middle of the day.
The mother was uneasy and nervous by such a beginning to a phone call.
"What now?" she wondered.

The teacher continued,
"I have been teaching for many years and nothing like this has happened until now. This morning I was teaching a lesson on creative writing.
And as I always do, I tell the story of the ant and the grasshopper.
The ant works hard all summer and stores up plenty of food.
But the grasshopper plays all summer and does no work.
Then winter comes. The grasshopper begins to starve because he has no food.
So he hops to the ants house and begins to beg.
'Please Mr. Ant, you have much food! Please let me eat, too.'
Now boys and girls your job is to write the ending to the story.

Your son, Mark, raised his hand. "Teacher, may I draw a picture?"
"Well, yes, Mark! But first you must write the ending to the story."

The papers came in.
As in all the years past, most of the students said that the ant shared his food through the winter & both the ant & the grasshopper lived. As always, a few children said, 'The ant said, "No, Mr. Grasshopper. You should have worked in the summer and not played. Now, I have just enough food for myself." So the ant lived and the grasshopper died.

But your son ended the story in a way different from any other child, ever.

He wrote: "So the ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper. The grasshopper lived through the winter. But the ant died."

And the picture? At the bottom of the page, Mark had drawn three crosses:
"Jesus gave up his life so that we might live eternally"

He emptied Himself of all His Glory and became a curse upon the Cross for us! Galatians 3:16


Remember that there are daily services at St. Mary the Protectress. Vespers on Saturday is at at 5:00 pm followed by Orthodox 101.  The Divine Liturgy on Sunday starts at 10:00 am followed by fellowship and my mother’s great homemade soup.  Invite your friends and neighbors to join us.

Don’t miss St. Mary the Protectress Radio.  You can listen on your computer, right at home.  Let your friends know.  Invite them to listen also.  Homilies, talks, classes, interviews.  It’s all there.  It’s right at this link:

http://stmarytheprotectress.mypodcast.com/index.html

And don’t forget.  You do not have to wait until Sunday to visit the church, join us in prayer and worship, and enjoy Father Theodosius’ mother’s great homemade soup.

Your Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
St. Mary the Protectress Orthodox Church Family