Feed my lambs : the children's own book


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Feed My Lambs
The Children's Own Book

At Home or in the Third Grade at School

BY

JOSEPHINE VAN DYKE BROWNSON

Price

Single Copy 20c

- One Hundred Copies $10.00

Copyright 1930

By Josephine Van Dyke Brownson
Detroit, Mich.

Published by

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR PRESS
HUNTINGTON, INDIANA



Nihil Obstat:

AQUINAS KNOFF

Censor Deputatus

i

Imprimatur:

^ JOHANNES FRANCISCUS,

Episcopus Wayne Castrensis .

OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Learn of Me; (25c for 5 copies) single copy 10c

Catholic Bible Stories 85c

To the Heart of the Child $1.00

Living Forever $1.68



FOREWORD
Dear Boys and Girls :

—

This little book is just for you. It will tell you, many
things you will be glad to know. It will tell you about
the Three Great Persons Who always lived and Who will
never die. It will tell you how They love each of you so
much that One of them got born a little Baby so He could
be a child like you. It will tell you how He found a way
of coming to each of you. It will tell you how very great
each one of you is, even if you don’t weigh very much.
It will tell you of a wonderful Place you are going to, if
you try to be good. Even if I never see you here, I hope
to see you There

!



DEDICATED

TO

THE CHILDREN OF OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS



FEED MY LAMBS

LESSON 1

GOD
I can’t see God because God has no body, no shape, and

the kind of eye I have can only seq what has a body, a
shape. I can see you and you can see me, but I can’t see
the air, I can’t see electricity or many other things.
Yet the air, is all around me and in me. God is a spirit.
Only spirits can see spirits, but spirits can see us.

There is no one like God. He is greater than all the
kings and great men that have ever lived, all put together.
He is stronger than all the people that have ever lived,
all put together. He is more beautiful than the most
beautiful person that ever lived. No one is good like
God, not even your own mother. No one is kind like
God. No one is pure like God. No one loves me as God
does.

No one made God. He always lived. Before any-
thing was made, God lived all alone but He was too happy
to be lonesome. God never, never started.

If you could travel a hundred miles a minute in an
aeroplane and need never stop for gas or food or anything
else, and were to start off now and keep on flying until
you became very, very old, you could not find the tiniest
spot where God is not. And if each of you had such an
aeroplane and were all to start off in different directions,
you would each find God in every spot you came to, and
He would be in each place at the same time. God is
everywhere. He is closer to me than any one else can be.
He is beside me. He is in me. He is wherever I go. He
is with me when I sleep. I must often speak toi God in
the day-time and when I wake up at night.

God can never grow old, God can never get tired or
sick, God can never suffer, God can never die.

I can’t see God, but God sees me. I am going to see



6 FEED MY LAMBS

God some day. God sees all I do even when I am in the
dark. He hears all I can say even when I whisper. He
knows all I think. He knows everything.

I must not do anything wrong, because God is always
looking at me even when I am asleep. I must not say
bad words, because God hears me. I must not do any-
thing bad because God is watching me. I must not even
hold a bad thought, because God knows my thoughts.

God is purer than snow. Anything bad hurts Him,
and I must try never to hurt God. God loves me so that
I am going to love Him and try to please Him. He likes
to hear me say I love Him; so, at least five times each
day, I will say : “My God, I love Thee with all my heart !”

See if you can get a little note-book and mark each
page with seven squares, one for each day of the week.
Write on each page the date and the practice you have

taken for that week and every night mark in the square
for that day whether you have kept the practice or not.

At the end of each lesson you will find a practice but
don’t take a new one until you have tried the old one for
a week longer. This will be your bank-book. Keep it in
your bed-room with a pencil. If you try hard you will be

surprised at the end of each month and most of all at the
end of the year to see all the money you have sent on to
Heaven and how rich you will be when, you get there.

LESSON 2
THE BLESSED TRINITY

There is only one God, but God is three Persons. The
Father is the First Person, the Son is the Second Person,
the Holy Ghost is the Third Person. The Father loves
me, the Son loves me, the Holy Ghost loves me. They are
three different Persons, but they are all the same God and
there is only one God. I love the Father, I love the Son,
I love the Holy Ghost

!

Do you know three girls? Do you know one called
Mary, one Grace, one Jane? How many persons is Mary?



FEED MY LAMBS 7

How many persons is Grace? How many persons is Jane?
Howf many Persons is God ?

Is Mary the same person as Grace? Is she a different
#

person? Is Grace the same person as Jane? Is she a dif-
ferent person? Is the Father the same Person as the
Son? Is the Son the same Person as the Holy Ghost?
Are they three different Persons? Who is the First Per-
son? The Second Person? The Third Person?

Do you know three boys? Do you know one called
Tom, one Dick, one Harry? Is Tom the same person as
Dick? Is Dick the same person as Harry? Is the Holy
Ghost the same Person as the Son? Is the Son the same
Person as the Father? Are they three different Persons?
Who is the Second Person? Which Person is the Holy
Ghost? What Person is the Father?

Is Mary the same girl as Grace? Is Dick the same
boy as Harry? Is the Father the same God as the Son?
Is the Son the same God as the Holy Ghost? Are they
all the same God? The same Person? Could I put Tom,
Dick and Harry together and make just one boy? Are
the Three Persons one God?

How many boys and girls are there in this room?
How many Gods are there in this room ? How many Gods
are there in the whole world ? Are there more little boys
and girls like you in the world? Is there anyone any-
where like God ?

How old are you? How old is God? Why has God no
age ? Who is the oldest, the Father, the Son, or the Holy
Ghost ? Who is the strongest ? Who is the most beautiful ?
Who will die first? Who is the kindest? Who loves you
most?

Let us learn now to make the Sign of the Cross. Put
your right hand to your forehead and say: In the name
of the Father. Put your hand to your breast and say:
and of the Son. Put your hand to your left shoulder
and say: and of the Holy. Put your hand to your right



8 FEED MY LAMBS

shoulder and say: Ghost. Drop your hand and say:
Amen.
Can you draw on the board or on paper the sign you

just made? Always make a fine straight cross. Don’t
make a crooked cross or a cross with a broken arm or
with a broken foot.

Make the Sign of the Cross often, when you leave
the house to go to school or to go to play, when you are
afraid in a storm, in the dark, before you eat and when
you have finished eating, the last thing when you are in
bed, before you go to sleep, when you wake up at night,
the first thing when you wake up in the morning. It
means that what you are going to do is for God. It
means too that you are a Catholic and that you love God.

Kneel by your bed every morning and night, fold your
hands, close your eyes and then make the Sign of the
Cross carefully and ask God to keep you good.
Can you show how straight you will kneel, how you

will fold your hands, close your eyes and make a beauti-
ful Sign of the Cross every morning and every night?

The other day I was passing on a trolley-car through
the busiest part of a big city and the street was crowded
with automobiles and people trying to cross it. Suddenly
I saw a little boy, about ten years old, stop at the edge
of the crowd, make a large Sign of the Cross, fold his
hands a second and then plunge across. God must have
loved that boy and have taken care of him and if he had
been killed, God would have come to him for he had called
upon Him.

LESSON 3

THE ANGELS
Here is a picture of a very great angel and his name

is St. Michael. You must tell me later what he is doing.
There are millions and millions of angels. God made

them all just by wishing for them. They are not like you



ST. MICHAEL AND THE DRAGON



10 FEED MY LAMBS

and me. They have no body. St. Michael has a body in
the picture because sometimes when God has sent his an-
gels to speak to people, they have looked like very beauti-

ful young men. But St. Michael hasn’t really a body and

he is far more beautiful and far stronger even than he
seems to be in the picture. He is a spirit, all the angels are
spirits. The angels are very much more beautiful and very
much stronger than any man or woman and they are very
swift because they are God’s Messengers. They can go as
fast from one place to another as you can think. There
isn’t even one ugly angel or one weak angel. No angel ever
gets sick or tired. No angel ever grows old. No angel
ever dies.

God loves His angels very much and they are burning
with love for God. They never think of anything but
how to please Him. The angels love us just because God
does. As soon as God made you, one of those beautiful,
strong angels flew from Heaven to your side and has been
with you ever since. He is your Guardian Angel because
God told him to always stay with you and never to leave
you for a single minute, no matter what happens and to
take care of you and bring you safe to Heaven when He
calls you to come.

How many angels, at least, are in this room right now ?
One time, God told His angels that He was going to

make this world and fill it with men and women, little
boys and girls, and that one day He Himself would pick
out His Mother and go down on earth and be born a little
Boy. Now many of the angels were so proud that they
told God that if He got born a little Boy, they wouldn’t
kneel down beside Him. That was an awful sin to tell
God they wouldn’t do what He wanted. It was the first
sin that was ever made and the good angels were angry
because they loved God and they said they would go and
kneel by that little Baby because He would be God. Then
there was a great fight and the good angels won and they
threw the bad angels out of Heaven. The bad angels fell



FEED MY LAMBS 11

fast as lightning into an enormous hole filled with fire.
And they screamed and cursed when they felt the flames
burning them. And they have been burning there ever
since and they will burn there forever for they can never

get away and they can never burn up or die. Rights this
minute, whilst I am talking to you, they are burning and
they have never rested for a single second in all these

thousands of years. And the name of that terrible pit
is Hell and we call those bad angels devils.

Now tell me what St. Michael is doing.
Then God let His good angels see Him for the first

time, to reward them for being good. O, but it was
wonderful to see God! They have lived with Him and
looked upon Him ever since and it makes them so happy
that all these thousands and thousands of years have
been like one day. If you are good, you will some day
go and see God too and live with Him forever and you
will see St. Michael and all the angels that fought with
him. But bad people will go and live with the devils for-
ever in Hell.

God is everywhere and Heaven is where the angels
and good people see God.

Love your Guardian Angel. Thank him every night
for keeping you out of danger and trying to make you
good. Ask him to keep the devil away from you. The
devil is afraid of your angel. He never forgets the whip-
ping he got and that your angel helped to throw him out
of Heaven. The devil is always trying to put a bad
thought into our mind or a bad word on our tongue or to
make us angry or disobedient or to take what doesn’t be-
long to us. When we feel the devil is around, we should
make the Sign of the Cross because it scares him away
and we should call to our angel for help.

Every morning and every night kneel by the side of
your bed, fold your hands, close your eyes, carefully make
the Sign of the Cross and say The Our Father and Hail



12 FEED MY LAMBS

Mary as far as you know them. At night say the Act of
Contrition too, as soon as you know it.

Ask some one to teach you to sing

:

Dear angel ever at my side
How loving thou must be
To leave thy home in Heaven to guide
A little child like me.

LESSON 4

THE EARTH
Who will draw on the board or on this paper a pic-

ture of the earth ? See how round it is ! It spins round
and round faster than you can spin your top. And you
and I spin round with it but we don’t get dizzy and we
don’t feel anything at all because the earth and you and
I and everything else on it all spin round together.

And up there in the sky, keeping us nice and warm, is
the sun. Who will draw it? See how much bigger it is
than the earth. But it does not look big in the sky. It
looks as though two of you together could stretch your
arms around it. Why do you suppose it looks so small ?

And when you look up at the sky on a clear night,
what do you see? Who will draw some of them? Those
far-off stars that look like little points of fire, are many
times larger than the sun and many, many times larger
than our earth. But they are so far away, many of
them, that if you could shoot through the air on the
fastest express-train and travel day and night and never
stop until you were grown-up men and women, you
could not reach them.

How great God must be for He made the earth, He
made the sun, He made the moon and the stars. He
made everything out of nothing. No one else can make
things out of nothing. God gave the earth and each



FEED MY LAMBS 13

star its place. He gave the sun its heat so it would keep
us warm. He let the moon cool off so it wouldn’t burn
us up. He made His stars to shine on. our earth so we
should look at them and think of Him. He made day
and night, winter and summer, spring and fall. He
made the trees and the flowers, the fruits and the vege-
tables and the soft, green grass. God made the fishes
and the birds. God made the elephants and camels and
lions and bears and horses and dogs and all the other
animals. He made everything for us.

Some animals are for us to eat, some to clothe us,
some to work for us, some to give us pleasure. How
good God is to us

!

God has given you everything nice that you have,
your father and mother, brothers and sisters. You must
thank God for all you have. He gives you everything
you need and you must never take anything that does
not belong to you. Never touch a single penny that is
not yours. You may think no one is looking but God is
watching you and He will have to punish you for every-
thing wrong you do. When you are in a store, you must
never take the smallest thing without paying for it un-

less you ask for it and the man gives it to you. And
never let any one coax you to steal anything at all.

And you must never cheat. If you do, God will let
you lose more than you make in the long run. If you
are selling anything, give good measure and give back
the right change even when you think people won’t know
the difference.

Never take anything from anyone because you think
he won’t know the difference. God knows it! And never
break or hurt other people’s things. And if you borrow
anything, be sure to give it back.

Try not to take a single thing that is not yours.
Now sing the hymn to your Guardian Angel that yop

sang last week.



14 FEED MY LAMBS

LESSON 5

THE FIRST MAN
This earth was very beautiful after God had clothed

it with soft, green grass and gorgeous flowers and
spread over it vast forests of great trees and made His
rivers flow into the sea, and placed deep in the moun-
tains gold and diamonds and sparkling gems and filled
the land with wonderful animals, the sea with fishes and
the air with birds. But the most beautiful spot of all
was a great garden called Eden or Paradise.

One day God took from His earth some clay and
shaped it into the body of a man. Then He breathed
into it a spirit, a soul, and at once that body was alive
and breathed and the first man in all the world stood in
the midst of the Garden and God called him Adam and
told him all the earth was for him. Yet Adam had no
one like himself to talk to and to go with. And God
said it was not good for him to be alone and then He
put Adam into a deep sleep and took a rib from his side
and made it a body and breathed into it a soul and the
first woman stood before him.

And when Adam woke up, God showed him the first
woman and Adam called her Eve. And Adam was
happy and loved her very much. Together they played
with the animals which were tame and came and laid
down at their feet and let them stroke them and put
their hands in their mouths. Together they swam in
the clear, cool rivers and ate all the plums and peaches
and pears and every other kind of fruit they wanted.
Together they went deep into the woods and listened in
the open spaces to the sweet songs of the birds. And in
the afternoons God came into the Garden and talked
with them, for He loved them very much and they loved
Him. Still they could not see God Himself because He
is a Spirit.

One day God gave them a test to see how much they



FEED MY LAMBS 15

really loved Him, to see if they would obey Him. He
told them they could have all the fruit they wanted ex-
cept the apples on just one tree that grew in the middle
of the Garden. God didn’t care about the apples. He
only wanted to see whether they would mind Him.

Now all went well until one day the devil stole into
the Garden, for he heard what God said to Adam and
Eve. He went straight up to that apple-tree, made him-
self look like a big, long snake and twisted himself
around one of its branches and there he waited. Soon
Eve came along to have a close look at those apples.
Now, since God had told her not to eat them, she should
not have wanted to go near them. She should have
stayed away. But when she got near the tree, the devil
spoke to her and told her to taste one of those nice
apples and Eve said : “O, no ! God told us not to touch
one of those apples or else we’ll get sick and some day
die.” And the devil said : “That isn’t true. If you eat
one of these apples, you’ll be as great as God.” Eve
then came • closer and closer and after the devil had
coaxed her for a while, she believed what he said instead
of what God said and at last she took one of the apples
and bit into it.

All at once Eve began to cry for she saw that her
beautiful white soul was all stained black and that the
devil, who was gone now, had been lying to her and that
she had hurt God and done the one thing He told her
not to do and that she could never, never be as she was
before.

But instead of calling for God and telling Him what
she had done and how sorry she was, she took one of the
apples and went to find Adam and coaxed him to take a
bite too, and Adam did as she wanted and ate the apple.
And then he felt so strange and so horrid and would
have given anything if only he had obeyed God. And
he saw how bad Eve had grown and that she had tried



16 FEED MY LAMBS

to make him do wrong and he blamed her until she felt
worse than ever.

That was the first sin on this earth and it brought
all kinds of strange things into the world—death and
sickness and trouble and wars. It brought terrible
things on Adam and Eve and on all of us too because
we are all their children.

%

And God came and called them and instead of being
glad, they were afraid and ran and hid. But they had to
come out and God told them they would now have to
work hard and have many troubles and some day die.
But as they went from the Garden sobbing their hearts
out, God felt sorry for them and promised them that
some day He would send some one to make up for their
sin and open again the gates of Heaven that their sin
had closed to them and to us all.

If Adam and Eve had only obeyed God, how nice
everything would be now ! There would be no bad peo-
ple in the world and no troubles of any kind.

But if you and I obey God, we shall be very happy
anyway. Now God wants you to obey your father and
your mother and your teachers because He has put them
over you to tell you what He wants you to do and some-
times it is very hard to do just what your mother tells
you to do when you don’t want to do it one bit and it
takes a lot of strength to make yourself do it. But you
want to be strong and you want to do what God wants
and every time you obey your mother when you don’t
feel like it, God puts by something very nice for you in
Heaven that you will like.

So if your mother tells you to run to the store, jump
right up and go; if she tells you to mind the baby, do it;
if she says she doesn’t want you to go to a certain place,
don’t go; if she tells you not to play in the street, don’t
do it; if she tells you not to take the cookies out of the
jar, don’t take them.

I knew a little boy and his mother told him not to



FEED MY LAMBS 17

go swimming in the river. And he disobeyed his mother
and went down to the river with a lot of other little boys
and the river was very deep and whilst they were all
playing, he took a dive and didn’t come up. And then
the other boys missed him but when they found him in
the water and got him on shore, he was dead.

Never talk back to your father or mother and never
call them names and never try to hit them. See whether
you can go all week without being disobedient once.
Each night when you kneel down to pray, think over the
day to see how many times you were disobedient. If
you have been disobedient, tell God you are sorry and
will try hard to be better tomorrow. If you haven’t been
disobedient, thank God for keeping you good.

LESSON 6
YOUR SOUL

God didn’t have to make you but He made you be-
cause He loved you.

God had you in His mind long before He made you.
You were always, always in His mind. And He wants
you to be very good so He can take you to Heaven to
live with Him when you die.

God gave you your eyes so you can see and your
tongue so you can speak and your ears so you can hear
and your legs so you can run and play. God, has been
very good to you. You must often thank Him for all
He has done for you. Some little boys and girls can’t
talk and some can’t walk and some can’t see and some
can’t hear.

But the best part of you is your soul. God put it in
your body and it keeps you alive and you can’t die un-
less it leaves your body. You can’t see your soul be-
cause it is a spirit like your Guardian Angel.

God thinks more of your soul than He does of the
sun and the stars and this earth and all the beautiful
flowers 1 It is your soul that knows God and loves Him.



18 FEED MY LAMBS

Your soul is more beautiful than the most beautiful
rose in all the world and the only thing that can spoil
it is sin. Sin is the nasty little worm that gets into the
heart of the* beautiful rose and gnaws at the lovely
petals and, if you let it stay, it will get fatter and fatter
and at last it will kill the beautiful rose.

You must try to keep every sin out of your soul be-
cause sin can’t get in unless you let it in. You must try
to mind your mother, to tell the truth, not to say bad
words and not to steal the smallest thing. And you
must say your prayers well so God will help you to keep
your soul beautiful and you must ask your Guardian
Angel to keep bad little boys and girls away from you.

Your soul is worth more than the biggest diamond
in the whole world. You would die to save your soul!
Your soul is worth much more than your body. No
matter how much you take care of your body, it will
die anyway and when it is deep down in the grave, what
will it matter whether you were pretty or ugly, had
nice clothes or ragged ones, were rich or poor, were
hungry or well-fed? It is only your soul that counts.
If you take care of it, you will be rich and happy and
beautiful forever with God in Heaven. But if you don’t
take care of it, you will be ugly and suffer and cry for-
ever with the devils in Hell. Your soul can never die.

One way to please God is always to tell the truth.
A lie makes an ugly black mark on your soul. Don’t
tell a lie even if you know you will get punished for
telling the truth. It is better to get punished right now
than to hurt God and get punished worse later on. Every
lie is a sin and every sin has to be punished.

If you are not brave enough to tell the truth, don’t
say anything. I like little boys and girls who wouldn’t
tell a lie for anything in the world.

If any boy or girl asks you to lie for her to her
mother or to her teacher or to any one else, don’t do it.

Always keep your word, keep your promise. Don’t



FEED MY LAMBS 19

make many promises because it is too hard to keep them
but when you do make a promise, do your best to keep
it. It isn’t right to promise to do anything wrong and
it is worse still to keep such a promise.

See how many days this week you can go without
telling a single lie. Count up every night when you say
your prayers. I am sure some of you will not tell a
single lie.

I told you the devil was scared of the Sign of the
Cross and another thing he is scared of is holy water
because when the priest blesses the water, he asks God
to save from the devil those who use it. Have you a holy
water font at home? If you have not, save your pennies
and buy one. In the meantime take a bottle to church
and get some holy water. Then fasten a small bottle at
your bed-room door, and keep it filled with holy water.
Put a drop on your finger and make the Sign of the
Cross with it when you go in or out of your room and
when there is a storm and sprinkle a little on your bed
at night.

Whenever you do anything wrong, tell God you are
sorry and try to get the spot right off your soul. If you
have just little sins on your soul and you are very sorry
for them and make the Sign of the Cross with holy water
carefully, God will take them away.

A very rich man in the South had a large store. One
day a terrible fire broke out down town and the wind
was blowing the flames nearer and nearer his store. He
was very frightened and went up oh the roof of his
building and sprinkled holy water on it. God saw him
and when the fire came to the other side of the street, it
stopped and his store was saved.

LESSON 7

GOD PICKS OUT HIS MOTHER
Once there was a little girl and her father and

mother called her Mary. When she was about three



20 PEED MY LAMBS

years old, they took her to the great Temple in Jerusa-
lem where all the Jews used to go to pray. And there
were rooms in the white marble Temple where little
girls lived and learned to sew on the beautiful clothes
the priests wore when they went to the altar. There
they left the little Mary and went home alone without
her. They wouldn’t have given her up for any one else
but just for God because she was so pretty and lovely
that they loved her better than anything else they had in
the world.

And when little Mary had grown prettier and love-
lier every day and was about fifteen years old, she was
married by the priest in the Temple to Joseph, whom
God loved.

Though Mary was so pretty, her soul was even more
beautiful and I will tell you why. Do you remember
that first awful sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden
when they disobeyed God and ate the apple? That is
the reason we all have to die and why we- get sick and
why we have all kinds of troubles. And that is why
every single soul that God has made since then, your
soul and mine, had a sin on it as soon as God made it.
This is because we are the children of Adam and Eve. If
they had not sinned, our souls would be very beautiful
as soon as God makes them.

Adam and Eve let the horrid worm of sin first get
into the beautiful garden of roses and now every rose is
born with a worm in its heart and should, as soon as
possible, have the worm washed off. It is on account of
this worm of sin that little babies are taken to church
so the priest can wash it off and make their souls beau-
tiful. The priest pours water on the baby’s head whilst
he says : “I baptize thee in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” We call this getting
baptized and when a baby is baptized, its soul it like a
beautiful rose fresh with the morning dew and it belongs
to God and is His child and if it dies, it is because God



FEED MY LAMBS 21

wants the lovely rose with Him in Heaven and so He
takes it. But if a poor little baby dies without being
baptized, it can never, never be with God for God could
not have a rose in Heaven with a worm in its heart.
So you see it is very, very wrong not to have a little
baby baptized as soon as you can. And if it is dying
and you can’t get a priest, any one can baptize it. Ba-
bies that die without being baptized, go to a place call-

ed Limbo where they are always happy but they would
be happier in Heaven. Sometimes big men and women
are baptized because they were never baptized when
they were little.

Now Mary’s soul was so beautiful because it be-
longed all to God as soon as He made it and the worm
of sin never once touched it. As long as she lived, she
never got the smallest sin on her soul. She is the only
one in the whole world that ever lived or ever will live
that never had a sin on her soul. And God kept that
first sin off her soul because He was going to ask her
some day to be His Mother.

As soon as Mary and Joseph were married they left
the big city of Jerusalem and went to live in the little
town of Nazareth where St. Joseph had his work. He
was a carpenter.

One day whilst St. Joseph was working, Mary was
alone and thinking about God when all of a sudden a
great angel stood before her and bowed his head low
and all the room was filled with light and he said

:

“Hail, full grace! The Lord is with thee. Blessed art
thou amongst women.” And then he told her that he
had come straight from Heaven, and that God wanted
to know if she would be His Mother if He came down
on earth to be born a little baby. And Mary was very
surprised. She knew God was coming because He said
He would, but she never dreamed that He would ask her
to be His Mother, because she didn’t think she was good
enough. But she had never said “No” to God in all her



22 FEED MY LAMBS

life, so she said “Yes” now. And Gabriel, the arch-angel,
told her the Holy Ghost would come upon her, that
the Son of God would come to be her Son and that she
must call His Name Jesus. Then the angel flew back-
to Heaven to tell God that she said “Yes.”

Ask someone to take you to church and show you
the baptismal font. Then see if you can answer these
questions: What is the matter with little babies’ souls
when they are brought here? What happens when the
priest baptizes them? Where will they go if they die
after he has baptized them? If anyone, big or little,
were dying now and had never been baptized and the
priest was away and you could not find him, what would
you do? How would you baptize him? I would pour
plain water on his head and say while I was pouring
the water: I baptize Thee in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

LESSON 8
LITTLE JESUS IS BORN

Nine months after the angel had been in Mary’s
home, she and St. Joseph went on a long trip to a little
village called Bethlehem because that was where their
families belonged. The great emperor said that every
one must go to his own town to have his name written
down. So the roads were filled with men and women
hurrying away to give in their names. Nowadays a man
comes to our door to get the name of every one in the
house.

When they reached Bethlehem, the little town was
so crowded that they could not find a place in which
to stay, not even a bed to sleep in or a place on the floor.

It was winter, too, the month of December, and poor St.
Joseph didn’t know how he could keep the Blessed
Mary warm. At last, as it was growing dark, they found
an old stable outside the town, cut into a hill side. It
was dark and cold but they found some straw in it and



Feed my lambs 23

an ox and an ass that had been put in there to keep them
out of the cold wind. There was nothing for them to
do but spend the night there too. Outside the stars

sparkled in the frosty sky and all was very still.

The Blessed Mary was thinking of God Whom she
loved with all her heart, when just at midnight, was
born the little Baby that was God. And Mary took Him
in her arms and wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes
and held Him tight, the tiny Child Who was the Great
God from Heaven. And St. Joseph fell down upon his
knees and bowed low before the little Christ-Child. And
Mary carried Him to the manger filled with straw
from which the ox was eating and fixed it for a cradle
and laid Him there and then knelt close beside Him
and gazed and gazed upon that little face ! And she call-
ed His Name, Jesus.

Every year we keep little Jesus’ Birthday and wTe
call it Christmas. Before Jesus was born there was no
Christmas.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if you and I had been
living when little Jesus was born! We might have met
dear St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin when they were
hunting for a room to stay in. What would you have
done if you had met them?

And if we had lived too far away for them to have
gone home with us that night, we could have taken
them nice warm blankets and the loveliest soft covers
for little Jesus. But do you know that whatever we do
for Jesus now, for His Birthday, He will like just as
well as though we had done it for Him the night He
was born! So what shall we do? We’ll start three weeks
before Christmas and get ready a nice cradle and make
it just as comfortable as we can.

Let’s get a little box for a crib and you will line
it. Now this week let’s make little red straws out of
tissue paper for the bottom lining. For every act of
kindness you make, you can have a red straw. You can



24 FEED MY LAMBS

mark on a little piece of paper the acts you make to
help you to keep track of them. Of course no one will
say he has made an act if he hasn’t because then Jesus
would not want his straw. It will be an act of kindness
if you run an errand for your mother, make her sit down
when she is tired, pick up her spool or scissors if they
fall, give a bite of candy to some little boy or girl whom
you do not like. What else can you do for an act of
kindness?

Learn to sing: “The Snow Lay on the Ground.’” At
the end of the week we’ll set up the crib and holding our
straws we’ll kneel and say nine times: “Dear Jesus,
come soon !” Then we’ll stand and sing : “The Snow Lay
on the Ground.” Still singing, we’ll go up to the crib
and lay our straws carefully in it.

LESSON 9

THE SHEPHERDS FIND LITTLE JESUS
When little Jesus was born Christmas night, shep-

herds with their flocks of sheep were sleeping out on
the hill-sides, wrapped warm in coats made from their
own sheep. All at once, the black, wintry hills were
flooded with light and looking up, they saw an angel in
the sky and they were frightened. But the angel said
to them : Don’t be afraid for I am bringing you news
of great joy, for this day is born to you a Savior Who is
Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you; You
shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and
laid in a manger. Then with the angel stood a great
army of angels and they filled the air with music as
they sang: “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth
peace to men of good will.” And when their song was
ended, the angels left and the light faded away and
the shepherds called to one another: “Let us go over to
Bethlehem !” And away they hurried over the hills and
hunted for a little Baby lying in a manger in a stable in-



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26 FEED MY LAMBS

stead of in a nice soft cradle in a warm house. They
knew the country well and every hill and cave, and soon
they found the lovely Baby lying in the straw and near
Him was His Mother and, guarding them both, strong
St. Joseph. Never had they seen so beautiful a Baby or
so lovely a Mother ! And whilst they watched that little
Child, Mary told them He was the Son of God Who had
come on earth to open the gates of Heaven that Adam’s
sin had locked and to save us all and take away our sins.
And those rough shepherds’ hearts beat fast with love
for the little Jesus Who had comb from Heaven for them
and when they went away, they spread the wonderful
news among all whom they met upon the road.

Next week, we will line little Jesus’ crib with green
straws that we shall lay on top of the red ones. Each
straw will be an act of self-denial which means giving up
something you like or doing something you do not like to

do. Keep track of your acts of self-denial as you kept
track of your acts of kindness last week, and you can have
a green straw for each act. It will be a very big act of

self-denial if you don’t eat any candy all week, and it will
be an act if you take a little piece of cake when you want
a big piece, or if you don’t take any sugar in your coffee,
or if when you are thirsty, you wait a little while before
you take a drink, or if you let some one else use your sled
or your skates when you want to use them yourself, or
even, if you pick a piece of paper off the floor when you
don’t feel like doing it, and so on. Can you think of any-
thing else that you can do?

Learn to Sing : “0 Little One, how sweet Thou art !”

Perhaps you can make two tableaux, one of the angels
• speaking to the shepherds on the hill-side and the other
of the crib with the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, angels and

the shepherds.



FEED MY LAMBS 27

LESSON 10
THE KINGS FIND LITTLE JESUS

The night little Jesus was born, God set a great,
blazing star in the sky and its bright rays fell on a far
land and men saw it and held their breath in wonder for
they had heard from the Jews that a new star would
shine when Jesus was born. And three of the men who
saw the star, started off to find God. For weeks they
swung upon their long-legged, hump-backed camels and
the star led the way and brought them safely to the great
city of Jerusalem. There it suddenly left them so they
went through the streets asking the way to the little King
bf the Jews who had just been born and whose star they
had followed. But not one in that great city knew that
little Jesus had come! And when the bad King Herod
heard that three strangers were asking for a new king,
he got very angry and very afraid too, because he wanted

to be the only king himself. And quietly he had the
three Wise Men brought to his palace and there he asked
them all about the star. And then he sent for the Jewish
priests and asked them where Christ would be born and
they said that God had told them that He would be born
in Bethlehem. Then the wicked king told the Wise Men
to go and look for the King of the Jews in Bethlehem
and to come back when they had found Him and tell
him just where He was, so he could go and see Him too.
But in his heart, the wicke^ king wanted to find little

Jesus so he could kill Him.

So the Wise Men started off for Bethlehem and as
soon as they got away from Jerusalem, there was the star
shining on them and showing them the way again and it
led them straight to where little Jesus lay in His Moth-
er’s arms. And the kings leaped down from their camels
and ran to little Jesus and fell on their knees before Him
and gave Him the presents they had brought for Him

—

gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were so happy and



28 FEED MY LAMBS

they loved little Jesus and His beautiful Mother so much
that they did not want to go away but when at last they
had to start for home, God told them in their sleep not to
go through Jerusalem and see King Herod for he wanted

to find little Jesus to kill Him. So the kings went home
another way.

This week we are going to make yellow straws, golden
straws. If you say your morning and night prayers every
day, you can have a straw; you can also have one for

every time you make a little visit to church and bow
your knee and speak to Jesus, and for every ten times
you say: “Dear Jesus, I love You.”

Make a little visit to Jesus today or as soon as you
can. Go to church and look for the little light hanging
before the altar. It is the star showing where Jesus is.

Go to the railing so you can be near Jesus Who lives on
the big altar behind the little door. Bow to Him on your
right knee and then kneel down and talk to Him. Tell
Him what you have done to please Him and what you find
hard to do and ask Him to make you good. Then just
look at the little door for Jesus is looking at you. Bow
again, carefully when you leave and at the door turn and
throw a kiss to Jesus.

LESSON 11
HEROD HUNTS FOR LITTLE JESUS
The bad King Herod waited and waited for the three

good Kings to come back and when they did not come,
he made up his mind to kill little Jesus without seeing
Him. Sq he told his soldiers to go through the land and
kill every little baby-boy that wasn’t yet two years old.
He was sure little Jesus would then be killed for He
wasn’t even one year old. And so the soldiers took their
terrible swords and went from house to house and tore
the little babies from their mother’s arms and killed
them right on the spot before their eyes. And the poor



FEED MY LAMBS 29

mothers cried and held on to their babies with all their
might and fought those cruel soldiers but they could not
save their little boys.

But whilst the Holy Family slept, an angel woke St.
Joseph and told him to take the Child and His Mother
and hurry into Egypt because Herod was trying to kill
Him. Then dear St. Joseph got right up and called the
Blessed Mother and quickly packed the few clothes they
had and picked up something to eat and started off into
the black night. After two or three days they reached
Egypt and there they looked about for a place where they
could stay. They felt very strange in their new home
but they were so glad they had saved little Jesus from
the wicked king.

And Jesus grew and learned to say His first words
and take His first steps and to run into His Mother’s

arms and clasp His hands about her neck.

And after a few years, the wicked king died in awful
suffering and then the angel came again to St. Joseph
and told him that now he could go home. So St. Joseph
led the sweet Mother and Child to Nazareth where once

again he took up his carpentering. And Jesus loved to
play in His foster-father’s shop and pick up the shavings

that fell in long curls and lift the hammer and saw. And
the Blessed Mother spun and made clothes for them all
and she made little Jesus a garment all of one piece,
without a seam.

And no mother ever loved her little boy as Mary
loved hers and no little boy ever loved his mother as
Jesus loved His!

As soon as you wake up in the morning make the
Sign of the Cross and say: “Good morning, dear Jesus!”
and let your last words at night be: “Good night, dear
^esus!”



30 FEED MY LAMBS

LESSON 12
JESUS IS LOST

Did you ever hear of any little girl or boy getting lost ?
What did his father and mother do? Yes, they hunted
all through the neighborhood and telephoned to their
friends at a distance and they sent word to the newspa-
pers to help them and they offered a big reward to any
one who would bring back their little boy and they
couldn’t sleep at night and they let their supper get cold

on the table because they couldn’t even eat.

Once dear Jesus was lost! But He was a big Boy,
twelve years old, and He knew where He was, only His
dear Mother and poor St. Joseph didn’t.

This is how it happened. As usual that Spring every-
body was going to Jerusalem for the big Feast that lasted
a whole week. And Joseph and Mary took Jesus with
them because now He was old enough to go and they left
their little village where they knew every one and came to
the big, noisy city which was so crowded that they could
scarcely push their way through the streets. Many people
had to sleep along the roads because the houses were all

'filled and every day the crowds flocked to the great Tem-
ple to say their prayers and have the priests offer to God
for them, lambs and little calves and big bulls. And they
gave to God the life of the animals instead of their own
life which God had given them and which belonged to
Him.

And when the Feast was over, every one was excited
and everything was topsy-turvy and all the men left one
way and all the women left another way and the children
left either way. And when they had got away from the
city, all came together again and the fathers and mothers
looked for each other and for their children and all the

families that lived in the same town, travelled home to-
gether. This time when Joseph and Mary met outside
Jerusalem, they found that Jesus wasn’t with either of



FEED MY LAMBS 31

them. They were very frightened and they asked every-

body there whether he had seen their Son. But they

could not find Him, so they started back for the city.
They hunted all through Jerusalem for three days and

they couldn’t sleep or eat, they were so worried about

Jesus.

On the third day, all worn out they went into the Tem-
ple once more and as they passed near one of the rooms,
they suddenly heard His voice. They hurried to the door-
way and there standing in the center of some wise old
Jewish priests, they saw their dear Jesus talking and
explaining what no one there had ever been able to learn
before. As soon as they called, He ran to them and threw
His arms about their necks and the tears filled His eyes
to see how they had suffered looking for Him. Then He
took hold of their hands and went home with them and

/

told them that He had had to stay there though He knew
how anxious they would be, because He was the Son of
God as well as Mary’s Son and His real Father, God in
Heaven, wanted Him to do so.

After that Jesus and Mary and Joseph were so happy
together and Jesus learned His foster-father’s trade and
became a carpenter too. And then dear St. Joseph died
and Jesus took care of His Mother all by Himself. And
all the time that He was growing into a tall, strong Boy
and even when He had grown into a Man, He always
obeyed His dear Mother and did at once whatever she
said.

Now just as Jesus had to go to church, so you and I
must go to church to say our prayers and watch the priest
offer Mass to God. Many Catholics go every day but
every Catholic goes to Mass every Sunday. Does your
father or mother take you every Sunday ? Have you ever
gone? How many times? Try your best to go to Mass
every Sunday. Jesus will be there and He will count
each one and if one is missing, He will feel so badly. Of



32 FEED MY LAMBS

course, if you should get very sick and not be able to go,

He will understand.
Make a visit to the church every day if you can.

After your visit to Jesus, go to the Blessed Virgin’s altar.

We do not bend our knee before it because we only do
that to Jesus and He lives only on the middle altar. Say
the Hail Mary and speak to the Blessed Mother and ask
her to take care of you. If you live far from church, go
to your room and turn towards the church and bend your
knee to Jesus and speak to Him just as you would if you
were kneeling before His altar.

Learn to sing: “Holy Joseph, Dearest Father.”

LESSON 13

JESUS DOES NOT EAT FOR FORTY DAYS
When Jesus left home for good, He went first to the

Jordan River and there He found His cousin, St. John,
oaptlzing great crowds of Jews and telling them to be
sorry for their sins and to believe -in Jesus when He
came to teach them. Jesus too stepped into the river and
let John pour the water on His head and baptize Him.
Then He went on into a desert where He stayed alone for
forty days and forty nights and all that time He never
ate a bite of food nor drank a drop of water. He got a
little sleep on the hard ground and the rest of the time
He prayed and prayed.

At the end of the forty days, Jesus was very weak and
hungry and that horrible old devil came to Him and tried
to make Him sin because He thought He would be too
weak to fight him. It was strange that he didn’t know
that Jesus was God for the devil is very smart and he
knew better than to try to make God sin. But Jesus
drove the devil off and then left the desert and passed at
a little distance from where St. John was still baptizing.
And John saw Him passing and pointed Him out to two
of his friends, Andrew and another John, And they ran



FEED MY LAMBS 33

after Jesus and asked Him where He lived and Jesus
(told them to come with Him and see. And they went
and spent the night with Jesus in the home of one of His
friends and after that they stayed with Him, always.

And Andrew got his brother Peter, and John got his
brother, James, and little by little the number grew to
twelve and Jesus called them His twelve Apostles and
took them with Him wherever He went.

Dear Jesus fasted for forty days, that is, He neither
ate nor drank a thing during all this time to show us that
it is good for us sometimes to go without things. Though
it makes our body a little weak, it makes our soul strong,
and if sometimes you pray very hard for something and
you don’t get it, try a little fasting. And fasting makes
us strong to fight the devil and drive him off when he
comes sneaking around.

And so every year in the spring-time, we fast for
forty days to be like Jesus. We call these forty days,
Lent. But we fast only a little bit. When people get to
be twenty-one years old, they have to fast a certain way
unless they are sick or have to work hard or the priest
excuses them.

We can all fast in many little ways even if we don’t
starve ourselves for forty days.

All during these days of Lent, do a little fasting from
something to be like Jesus. Do one extra thing for Him
each day. Think now what you will do each day for one
week and then you can plan to keep on doing the same
thing for another week or change to something else.

If you are mean to some little boy or girl, make up
your mind to do something kind or say something kind
to him all week; or wait five minutes, when you are
thirsty, before you take a drink; or you can give up

eating candy or cake all week; or go without sugar in
your coffee all week

;
or, if you are taking bad medicine,

don’t make a face when you taste it; or get up every
morning as soon as your mother calls you; or help your



34 FEED MY LAMBS

mother with the dishes every night. There are many,

many things you can do.

Now you could keep a little mite-box at home or in
school during Lent. Any little boy or girl who would like
to do something for Jesus, may drop a penny or two into
it every week. It would be very fine if instead of buying

candy or going to the movies, you would give it up and

put the money into the mite-box.

When Lent is over, you can take the pennies out and
send them far, far away to China where the fathers and
mothers don’t know anything about the Infant Jesus and
so many of them don’t care for their babies and they
throw them away. They drop them in the street or in
the fields or in the woods and hungry wild dogs eat them
up.

And Sisters and priests say good-bye to their fathers
and mothers, brothers and sisters, forever and go to that
far-ofit country because they love Jesus so much and they
know He wants those babies in Heaven and that they
can’t go there unless they are baptized. So they go out
and hunt for the poor little children and they chase
away the bad dogs and they take home the little babies
and baptize them and take care of them. Most of the
babies die soon but some of them live and have to be
fed and dressed and taught. And the poor Sisters and
priests have no money because they have given every-
thing to Jesus but if we send $5.00 they will be able to
get another baby and care for it.

Wouldn’t it be fine if we could save enough pennies
to make $5.00 ? Perhaps you know some one at home or
some one who lives near you who would like to help buy
a little Chinese baby. If we buy a baby, we can have it
called any name we like and the baby will belong to us
and will go to Heaven and will come to meet us when
we go there and Jesus will be so glad

!



PEED MY LAMBS 35

LESSON 14

JESUS GOES TO SIMON’S HOUSE
FOR DINNER

When Jesus was thirty years old, He left His home
in Nazareth for good. He was a grown Man now, strong
and the most beautiful of all men. As St. Joseph was
dead, it was very hard for Jesus to leave His dear Mother
but He had come from Heaven just to open it for us and
sha\y us how to get there and so He started now to teach
the people. Up and down the country He went, walking
from town to town, talking to the crowds that came to
Him and curing all the sick, the blind, the deaf, the
crippled, and even bringing the dead back to life. He
could do anything because He was God.

He loved little children and lifted them up in His
arms and hugged them and said that Heaven was for
them.

There was one place near the great city of Jerusalem
where Jesus loved to go. This was the home of Martha
and Mary and Lazarus. Here He was always sure of a
welcome for the two sisters and their brother loved Jesus

very much and Jesus loved them and when He was all
tired out and feeling sad because the Jews had treated
Him badly, He would stop here for a little rest.

“But did any one ever treat Jesus badly?” Ah! yes.
Sometimes they picked up stones to throw at Him and
once they tried to push Him over a high cliff and kill
Him. This was because the Jewish priests were jealous
of Him when they saw that the people thought more of
Him than of them and they hated Him because He told
them their sins. And so they tried to turn the people
against Him.

Don’t ever let any one turn you against Jesus. If
any little boy or girl tries to teach you bad words, give
him a good slap and don’t stay with him if he tries it
again. And if any one tries to show you anything bad



36 . FEED MY LAMBS

or to get you to do anything bad, don't have anything

more to do with him. Such children are trying to turn
you against Jesus by getting you to do something wrong
which is a sin. If you say bad words or do bad things,

you are hurting Jesus wrorse than if you threw a stone
at Him. And you would never do that! You mustn’t
even let a nasty thought rest in your mind. As soon as
you know it is there, throw it right straight out and say

:

“Dear Jesus, help me!”

If any one tries to turn you against Jesus, tell your
mother or your teacher or the priest about it. The priest
wfill always help you and tell you what to do. And oh!
be very, very careful never to teach another child any-

thing bad.

And now I was telling you about Martha and Mary
and Lazarus and I really think that of the three, Jesus
loved Mary best. This may seem strange when I tell you
that Mary had once been very bad and had let people turn
her against God and she herself had turned many others
against Him too. Her soul was black and ugly with all
kinds of little sins and with great big ones too. But this
was before she knew Jesus. Once she had heard Him
speak so kindly and had looked at His beautiful face, she
saw all the terrible sins of her whole life and she knew
for the first time how her sins had hurt dear Jesus, and
her heart nearly broke and she wished she could tell Him
how sorry she was.

One day Mary heard that Jesus was going to take
dinner at the home of a rich man named Simon. Simon
wras glad of a chance to be able to speak with Jesus whom
every one was talking about and so he got ready a big
feast and invited Jesus and the men wTho now followed
Him everywhere and were called His disciples, and a
number of his own friends too. At the same time, Simon
was stuck-up. He didn’t know Jesus was God and he
didn't want his friends to think Jesus was very much
greater than he was. So when Jesus stepped into the



FEED MY LAMBS 37

banquet-hall and took off His sandals and left them near
the door, no water was brought for Him to wash the light
dust off His feet and Simon came forward to meet Him
but he didn’t give Jesus a kiss of welcome, neither did

he sprinkle Him with sweet perfume. All these things
the Jews used to do and Jesus missed them.

When the feast started, the door was left open onto
the street and strangers filled the doorway watching
everything and listening to Jesus speak. Mary came and
pushed through the crowd and walked right into the
room though she had not been invited and was not want-
ed. She was very beautiful and was richly dressed. She
had wonderful long black hair that hung far down her
back and in her arms she carried a costly vase filled with
exquisite perfume. But she wasn’t thinking about her-
self and she didn’t, care whether Simon liked it or not
and she went right up to Jesus and threw herself on the
floor at His feet. And the hot tears fell all over dear
Jesus’ feet and she wiped them off with her beautiful
hair. And then she got up quietly and stood behind Jesus
and broke her costly vase and poured the sweet perfume
over His hair and the whole hall was filled with lovely
fragrance. And then she knelt again at His feet and
covered them with kisses.

And Simon was getting angrier and angrier the longer
Mary stayed and he was thinking that Jesus couldn’t be
a prophet or a very holy man or He’d know that Mary
was a very bad woman and wouldn’t let her touch Him.
Now Jesus knew what Simon was thinking just as well
as though he had spoken and He said to him: “Simon,
when I came into your house, you gave Me no water to
wash My feet and you gave Me no kiss of welcome and
you gave Me no ointment for My hair but she has kissed
my feet and bathed them with her tears and poured sweet
perfume on My hair. Her many sins are all forgiven
because she loves Me so much!”

O, how happy poor Mary was to hear Jesus say her



38 FEED MY LAMBS

sins were forgiven! 0, she would never be bad again!
She hurried home as on wings, her heart singing with
joy.

Every night, think over your sins of the day and be
sorry for them with your whole heart and tell Our Lord
that you won’t do them again.

LESSON 15
JESUS HAS SUPPER WITH MARTHA

AND MARY
Do you remember what I was telling you last time

about Martha and Mary? We often call Mary, Mary Mag-
dalene, probably because she had a beautiful house near
the sea in a place called Magdala.

Some time after Simon had given his big dinner,
Jesus went to the home of the two sisters to have supper
with them. Mary couldn’t think of anything but Jesus,
and so she sat at His feet and looked at His beautiful face
and listened to His words. Poor Martha set the table
and got the supper all alone, and she felt a little hurt to
see Mary sitting and enjoying herself whilst she did all
the work. At last she spoke to Jesus and asked Him
whether He didn’t mind seeing her do everything and
whether He would please send Mary to help her. But
instead of telling Mary to go, Jesus said: “Martha,
Martha, you are busy about a great many things but
Mary is busy about the greatest of all things which is to
love Me and listen when I speak. I will not ask Mary
to leave Me.”

Now Jesus loved Martha too because she was working
hard for Him but He wanted to show us that the greatest
thing we can do is to look at Him and tell Him that we
love Him.

If Jesus should stop at your house some day after
school, what would you do? Your mother would beg Our
Lord to stay to supper. But who would get the supper



FEED MY LAMBS 39
V

ready? And what would you do? I think it would be
nice for you to say: “Dear Lord, I want to stay with
You every minute but I know You want me to help my
mother, too.” And then perhaps Jesus would say: “I
will go with you whilst you help your mother.”

Now when you pray, you are like Mary sitting at
Jesus’ feet and sometimes you speak to Jesus and some-
times He speaks to you and sometimes no one speaks and
you just stay quiet and look at Him.

Now close your eyes and try to see Jesus. Try to see
yourself near Him. . . Now open your eyes. Did you
see Jesus? Perhaps you saw Him as a tiny Baby and
knelt down beside Him and the Blessed Mother laid Him
in your arms and let you hold Him for a little while.
And perhaps you saw Jesus grown up and He was sitting
on a bench and you knelt at His feet like Mary Magda-
lene and said how sorry you were that you had ever been
mad. And perhaps you saw Jesus coming down the road
and ran and knelt before Him and just looked at His
beautiful face. And perhaps you were walking along at
Jesus’ side and telling Him what you were going to do
to please Him.

In the morning and at night when you kneel down
beside your bed to> say your prayers, close your eyes and
try to see Jesus. Then say your little prayer slowly and
carefully. And when you find you are thinking about
your new base-ball or your new dress or about playing
marbles or anything like that, put the thought out of your
head and try again to see Jesus.

And when you go to Mass, close your eyes and talk to
Jesus for a little while. And sometimes after school, run
into church and kneel at the railing as close to Jesus as
you can get. Then close your eyes and perhaps you will
see Jesus step down from the altar and come to you and
take you in His arms and then you can talk to Him and
He will talk to you.

Ask Jesus to stay with you always. And if the old



40 FEED MY LAMBS

devil tries to get you to do something wrong—to tell a
lie or steal something or say a bad word, just say: “0,

no! Jesus is right at my side.” And if you should do
something wrong, close your eyes a moment and look at
Jesus and say: “I’m sorry!” And when you have to do
something hard or when you are afraid, or when you
are in trouble, turn to Jesus and say: “Please help me,
dear Jesus

!”

Try this week to see Jesus every time you say your
morning and night prayers and when you go to church
and kneel at the railing try to see Jesus coming to you.

LESSON 16
JESUS BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN
Look well at this picture. Where is Jesus sitting?

What animals are those drinking the cool, clear water?
Are all of them white? And what has the man behind
them in his hand? What kind of work did many of
those people do? Would you rather work in a factory
or stay out on the hills all day with your sheep? Or go
out on the lake in a little boat with your nets and catch
fish?

Do you see three men standing together? I think I
know their names. Of all the people who crowded around
Jesus to hear Him speak and watch Him cure all the sick
and who followed Him from place to place, He chose
seventy-two men and gave them special lessons and called
them His disciples. But of all that followed Him He let
just twelve live with Him day and night and these He
called His Twelve Apostles. Do you remember how the
first two found Jesus?

The Apostles were rough fishermen and didn’t know
how to read or write or about much of anything except
fishing. But they knew all about that. They knew the
best time to drop their nets into the sea and the best
places to drop them. And they knew about the sky
and the clouds and the winds and the seasons.



CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN



42 FEED MY LAMBS

Now the three men you see standing together are three
of the Apostles and I think the one with the beard is St.
Peter. He was strong and always said right out what
he thought and he was always ready to work hard and
always ready to fight. Jesus knew Peter’s big heart and
He loved his strong faith and He put him over all the
others and made him the head of the Twelve but not
right away.

And I think the man who has his hand on the woman’s
shoulder is St. John. He was a good deal younger than
St. Peter and quick and strong and full of life. Jesus
seemed to love him best of all because his heart was so
good and pure. And he knew how Jesus loved him and he
liked to call himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.

And behind St. John and St. Peter is John’s brother,
St. James. These three were special friends.

And how many children do you see? Which one would
you like to be?

And do you see the woman who is sitting down ? And
near her is a basket. What is in the basket ? And what is
her little boy holding out in his hand ? And what do you
think he is saying to his mother ?

Would you love to give Jesus a pretty bouquet of
flowers? Do you think Jesus would like it? Why?
Can’t He have all the flowers He wants? Of course He
can because all the flowers in the world belong to Him
because He made them all. No, the reason Jesus likes
us to make Him little presents is just because it shows
that we love Him and the only thing in the world that
He wants is our love. And the more we love Him, the
more presents we will give Him and the more presents we
give Him, the more we will love Him and the more He
will love us.

I will tell you how you can make little bouquets for
Jesus and He won’t take your presents without giving
back much more than you give Him.

Everytime you say : “All for Thee, my Jesus !” you



FEED MY LAMBS 43

make Jesus a present of what you are going to do. When
you get up in the morning, when you dress, when you
eat your breakfast, when you walk to school, when you
study, when you play, say: “All for You, my Jesus!” and
do it for Him. Let’s give Jesus the lesson we are having
right now and say: “All for You, my Jesus!”

Put your finger on your wrist. Do you feel something
go throb, throb? What makes it do that? Tell Our
Lord that you want every beat of your heart to be an
act of love, to say: “I love You!” What else can you give
Him?

Now a penny bouquet isn’t as beautiful as a 50c bou-
quet or a $1.00 bouquet, is it? And the harder it is for
us to do a thing, the more we say it costs us. And if
some one steps on your foot, it is harder to say nothing
and give the hurt to Jesus than to eat a piece of candy
and offer that up. And if it is raining, it is harder not
to grumble and to offer it up than to play ball in the
bright sun-shine and offer it up. And so the harder the
thing you do, the nicer the reward Jesus will lay aside
for you in Heaven.

See how many bouquets you can make each day and on
what day you will make the biggest ones.

1

LESSON 17
JESUS IS TIRED

Once Jesus had to pass through a country called
Samaria. It was right next to His own country and of-
ten the Jews passed through it for if they wanted to go
to certain cities of their own, the road was shorter that
way. Now the Jews hated the Samaritans and the Sa-
maritans hated them, although the Samaritans were half
Jews. They were also a little different from the Jews
in their religion and when they got a good chance, they
were apt to hurt the Jews travelling through their land.

In Samaria was a very old well that had been dug



44 FEED MY LAMBS

hundreds and hundreds of years before by a great man
named Jacob.

Have you ever dug a hole in the sand near the ocean
or a lake or a river? And when you had dug down quite
far, did water come into your hole?

There is a great deal of water under ground and in
some places the water has so much force that it breaks
through the earth and leaps high in the air. Sometimes
the water is very cold and sometimes boiling hot.

People who go to live in the country far from a spring
or river, have to dig until they strike water. Sometimes
they have to try many different spots. And when they
find a good supply of water, they board in their hole or

wall the sides with stones, and then they have a well.
Nowadays people pump the water out of their well

but long ago they had no way of getting the water except
by letting down a bucket on the end of a rope and they
had to make the bucket heavy enough to sink into the
water or else they could never fill it.

Now this day, Jesus and His Apostles were journey-
ing through Samaria and they came to Jacob’s well.
Some day some of you may go to the land where Jesus
lived and if you do, you will be able to see this old, old
well. It was a large well with a low wall built around it.

Dear Jesus was so tired that He sat down on the wall
to rest and let the Apostles go into the town near-by to
buy something to eat, for it was noon-time and they had
had no dinner.

As Jesus sat all alone by the well, He saw a Samaritan
woman from the town coming towards Him. She was
coming to draw water for she carried on her shoulder a
tall, slender pitcher. Usually every well in that country

had its own leather bucket tied to a rope so that any one
could draw water but there was no bucket at Jacob’s well
so the woman must have brought one with her.

When she had come near, Jesus said to her: “Give
Me a drink.” The woman was surprised to hear Jesus



FEED MY LAMBS 45

speak to her for she saw at once that He was a Jew and
she said : “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, for
a drink? The Jews don’t speak to the Samaritans.”

Then Jesus said to her : “If you knew Who I was, you
would perhaps have asked Me to give you a drink and
I would have given you living water.”

The woman said: “Sir, you have nothing to draw up
water in and the well is deep. How could you give me
living water ? Are you greater than our father Jacob who
dug the well and drank of its water himself and his chil-
dren and his cattle?”

And Jesus said : “Whoever drinks this water, will get
thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water that I will
give him, will not be thirsty forever.”

Then the woman said : “Sir, give me this water so I
shan’t get thirsty nor have to come here any more to
draw water.” But Jesus meant that if she would ask
Him, He would make her heart so pure that she would
one day go to Heaven where she would never be thirsty,
not just for water but for happiness or joy or anything

else.

Then He began to talk to her about her soul and told
her all her sins better than she knew them herself and
He told her that He was the Christ every one was waiting
for.

Just then the Apostles came back and they were sur-
prised to see Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman
but they said nothing. Then the woman leaving her
pitcher, hurried into the town and said to the men there

:

“Come and see a man who has told me everything I
have done. Is He not the Christ?” When they heard
this they all started for the well.

Now the Apostles said to Jesus: “Master, eat.” But
He said : “I have meat to eat that you don’t know about.”
And they said to one another : “Has any one brought Him
anything to eat?” Then Jesus explained to them that He
was so happy over having saved the soul of the woman



46 FEED MY LAMBS

that He wasn’t hungry any more. And as He looked
over the fields, He saw all the men and women from the
little town hurrying towards Him with the Samaritan
woman leading the way. And He saw into the heart of
each one and He loved them all and longed to tell them
about Heaven. And when they had come up to Him, He
spoke to them. And when they heard Him, they loved
Him so, they wouldn’t let Him go away and they begged
Him to stay with them and each one wanted Him to sleep
in his house. And Jesus went back to their little town
and He stayed with them two days and they crowded
around Him every minute. And when at last He left,
they were very sad. They followed Him down the road
and then stood and watched until they could see Him no
longer. Then they said to the woman : “Now we believe
in Him not because of what you told us but because we
have heard Him ourselves and we know that He is indeed
the Saviour of the world.”

Suppose that some day you would hear a little knock
on your door and that when you opened it, you would see
Jesus standing there and that He would say to you:
“Give Me a drink.” What would you do?

Yes, you would ask dear Jesus to come in and rest
in the best chair and you would get the best cup your
mother keeps high on the shelf so it won’t get broken and
you would give Him the best you have. And then Jesus
would tell you that it wasn’t just a drink of water that
He was thirsty for but your love, your heart. And you
would say: “Take my heart, dear Jesus. Make it bright
and pure like gold. Make it love You more than any oth-
er little boy’s or girl’s heart in the whole world loves

You !”

And you know more than the Samaritan woman knew
at first, because you know that Jesus is God and so you
would say: “Dear Jesus, give me a drink too. Help me
to Heaven. Keep me away from sin. Make me strong
to tell the truth. 'Make me thirst to get others to love



PEED MY LAMBS 47

You. I will try to get some children to come to Instruc-

tions and learn about You and I will try to take them to
Mass and when I hear about any little baby, I will see
that it gets baptized.”

0, if only you could give Jesus a drink when He is
thirsty! You can. When a poor man or woman comes
to your door and asks for a bite to eat or for a drink of

water, give it gladly for you are giving to Jesus. Jesus

said: “Whatever you give to the poor, you give to Me.”

So if you know of a poor person, see what you can do for
her. Sometimes when you have something nice, save a
part for her and lay aside a penny once in awhile to

give to the poor. And don’t just give what you don’t
want. Give what you’d like to keep.

St. Martin was a brave soldier and one day as he was
travelling on horse-back, in bitter cold weather, with his

warm cloak wrapped tight about him, a poor man stood
in his way and held out his hand to beg. St. Martin had
not a thing, not a cent, to give the poor beggar shivering

in the cold. Suddenly he pulled off his warm cloak and
with his sword cut it in half and gave one part to the old
man. That night he saw Jesus with half of his great
cloak wrapped round Him. And Jesus looked lovingly on
St. Martin and said: “Martin, the half-cloak you gave
the beggar, you gave to Me.”

See what you can do to bring some one to Jesus.
Perhaps you can teach the baby to say “Jesus, Mary and
Joseph,” or to make the Sign of the Cross. Perhaps you
know some one who does not go to Mass on Sunday and
you can coax him to go. Perhaps you know some child
that isn’t learning about Jesus and you can bring him to
Instructions.

LESSON 18
JESUS CURES THE SICK MAN

• , *
In the big city of Jerusalem, near the beautiful mar-



48 FEED MY LAMBS

ble Temple, was a pool of water and about this pool were
built five porches.

Have you a porch on your house? The porches
around this pool were wide and very long and they were
filled with sick people, with cripples and the blind. At
certain times an angel came down from Heaven and
stirred the water and after that whoever got into the
water first was cured. Only one person was cured each
time and so everyone tried to get into the water first.

Some of the poor sick people spent years watching
for the angel and trying to get down first when he came
but some one else always got ahead of them. And some
were too sick to sit up and some weren’t able to move
and they either had some friend stay with them who was
able to lift them up and carry them to the pool, or they
hoped some one passing by might take pity on them and
help them if they called.

One day Jesus went up to Jerusalem and passed by
the pool. A poor man was there on the porch, lying on
a little mattress of straw. He wasn’t able to help him-
self much and he had been sick thirty-eight years and he
hadn’t a friend in the world to lift him up.

Jesus knew all about this poor man and it hurt Him
to see him suffering. And so He went up to him and
said: “Would you like to get well?” And the man said:
“Sir, I have no man when the water is stirred to put
me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goes
down before me.” And Jesus said to him: “Arise, take
up your bed and walk!” And at once the man got up all
well and picked up his mattress and went off.

How kind Jesus is! And we must try to be kind, too,
and not to be thinking about ourselves all the time.

When you see your mother is tired, try to make her
rest a little. Run to the store for her or hold the baby
or wash the dishes or bring in the coal. Watch for
chances to do things for it is all for Jesus

!

If at school you see a little boy or girl that nobody



FEED MY LAMBS 49

likes because she is stupid or dirty or poor, be kind to

her; say something kind and let her play with you.

If you know of any neighbor who is poor or old or
sick, be kind. See what you can do for her. Perhaps

you can carry her something nice when your mother is
cooking or go to the store for her or cut some kindling

for her. I know of a little boy who went every evening
to an old woman’s house and closed the shutters for her.

And I knew another little boy who found out about a
poor old woman who hadn’t a friend in the world and
lived all alone in one room high up in an old house. He
would coax his mother to fix a good dinner and would

carry it in his little express cart and take it up to the

poor woman.

And don’t always do things so people will pay you for
them. When Jesus had cured the poor man at the pool,
He didn’t wait for any thanks but went away quickly so
that the man didn’t even know who had cured him until
he met Jesus again later on. If you do a thing just so
people will pay you for it, that’s all you’ll get for it and
if they don’t pay you, you’ll get nothing. But if you do
a thing for Jesus, He will put by something better than
money for you in Heaven and it will last forever.

If you peddle papers and you know some poor old
man or woman who is too poor to buy a paper, it would
be nice to give her one when you have one left over.

If you see a blind man or an old person trying to cross
the street, help him over. If some one drops a- parcel,
pick it up. If some one is carrying a bundle too heavy
for her, give her a hand. If a man’s hat blows off, run
and pick it up. If he offers you money, take it, if you
like, but it would be very fine if you wouldn’t take a cent
so it would be all for Jesus.

Try this week to do one kind act each day.



50 FEED MY LAMBS

LESSON 19
JESUS SPEAKS TO THE WIND

Once when Jesus had been teaching the people all
day and was all tired out, He said to His apostles in the
evening : “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.”

There were a number of boats drawn up on the shore
and sending the great crowd away, the Apostles took Our
Lord in one of them and pushed off into deep water.

As they sailed the little ship, Jesus was so tired that
He laid down in the back of the boat and fell fast asleep.

And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake
and the waves rose and beat into the ship so that it was
filling with water. The Apostles were good sailors and
they did all they could to fight the storm but the waves
stood up like mountains and crashed down on them and
the wind howled and shrieked through the rigging. They
could not understand how Jesus could sleep through the
terrific storm instead of trying to save them. At last
they felt the boat settling and they knew it would soon
sink and they would all be drowned. So in great fright
they went to Jesus and woke Him up and said: “Master,
don’t You care if we all die?”

Then Jesus stood up and scolded the wind and spoke
to the sea and said : “Peace ! Be still !” And at once the
wind stopped and the waves sank and everything was so
still that it frightened them. Then Jesus said to His
Apostles: “Why were you afraid? Don’t you believe in
Me yet?” And the Apostles, still scared, whispered to
one another (they weren’t yet sure that Jesus was God)
“What kind of a Man is He? For the wind and the sea
obey Him!”

Now the Apostles should have trusted Jesus; they
should have known better than to get afraid as long as
Jesus was with them. Even if they had been thrown out
of the ship and felt themselves sinking into the sea, they
should not have been afraid for they should have known



THE

LAST

SUPPER



52 FEED MY LAMBS

that Jesus would let no harm come to them as long as
they were fighting the best they knew how and trusted
Him.

And so, too, whenever you are in danger, you must
try to help yourself all you can and at the same time cry
out: “Jesus save me!”

Sometimes you may pray and pray and Jesus seems
to be sleeping and paying no attention to you. But He
hears every word you say and is only trying to see how
far you will trust Him. And if you do the best you can
and trust Him and call to Him for help, no real harm
will come to you, no matter how close it gets.

Sometimes you may be sick and you may try your
best to get well and ask Jesus to cure you and still you
stay sick. This is because Jesus sees it is better for you

to be sick though He doesn’t like to see you suffer one
bit. But if you could see what He is getting ready for
you in Heaven, because you are offering the pain to Him,
you would want to be sick all the time.

Try this week to say, “Jesus, save me,” when you
cross the street or find yourself in danger or in trouble

or if the devil tries to make you sin.

LESSON 20

JESUS’ LAST SUPPER WITH
HIS APOSTLES

Do you see Jesus sitting at the table? How many are
with Him? Who are they? At Jesus’ right side is John
and next to John is Peter. They are upstairs in a house
in the city of Jerusalem. The Jewish priests have been
turning so many people against Jesus that it isn’t safe
for Him to be here in Jerusalem. There are men all
around watching for Him and they are waiting for a
chance to kill Him. Jesus knows this but He came to
Jerusalem just the same although St. Peter begged Him
to take care of Himself and keep away.



AT THE LAST SUPPER ST. JOHN GOT AS CLOSE AS HE
COULD TO OUR LORD

What has Jesus in his hands ? What did He say when He had
blessed the bread? What happened to the bread when Jesus said:
“This is My Body?” When Jesus changed bread into His Body, did
it look like His Body ? No, it still looked like bread. But was there
a bit of bread left in His hands? No, it only looked and tasted and
felt like bread but it was really His Body.



54 FEED MY LAMBS

•Jesus is here for the great spring Feast, the same
Feast He came for when He was twelve years old and
was lost for three days. At this Feast every Jewish
family eats a roasted lamb with lettuce and wild parsley
and unleavened bread, that is, just flour and water

stirred together and baked. It is hard and has no salt
or yeast in it.

It is Thursday night and Jesus and His Apostles have
just eaten the roasted lamb. There is some bread left
on the table and some wine mixed with a little water is
in one of the cups.

Look at Jesus! How sad He is! He is so sad because
He knows that this is the last time He will ever eat supper
with His dear Apostles. He knows that at this time to-
morrow night He will be dead

!

Do you see the Apostle at your left with his head
turned awav from Jesus? That is Judas. Do vou see

tr

how ugly and worried he looks? He has just done a ter-
rible thing and he thinks that no one there knows it. For
a long time he has been getting tired of going with Jesus.

Jesus is poor and loves the poor and Judas wants to be
rich. He wants lots of money. He knew the Jewish
priests were watching for a chance to kill dear Jesus and
before supper he stole away and went to them and told
them that he would show them how they could get Him
if they would pay him enough. And they gave him thirty
pieces of silves and hp took the money and told them he
would meet them tonight at twelve o'clock and that he
would then give Jesus over to them. Then Judas hurried
back just in time for supper. But Jesus knows exactly
what he has done and so He says very sadly to the Apos-
tles: “One of you is selling Me to My enemies!” They
all start and excitedly ask: “Am I the one. Lord?” And
Judas too asks : “Am I the one?” And Jesus says to him

:

“Yes, you are!" Judas is frightened but the others don’t

understand who it is. Peter whispers to John: “Ask
Jesus who it is.” And John leaning his head on Jesus'



FEED MY LAMBS 55

heart, says: “Who is it, Lord?” And Jesus says to him:
“The one to whom I will hand a piece of bread after I
dip it in the dish.” Then Jesus takes a piece of bread, dips
it in the dish and hands it to Judas. Judas eats the piece

of bread and with the bread the devil goes into him and
holds his heart.

Judas can’t stand being there any longer and gets up
and goes out and the others think Jesus has sent him to
buy something.

Then Jesus takes some bread left on the table and
blesses it and breaks it and gives it to His Apostles say-
ing: “Take and eat. For this is My Body.” And when
He says: “This is My Body,” the bread in His hands is
changed into His Body. Then He takes the cup of wine
and blesses it and gives it to His Apostles saying: “Take
and drink. For this is My Blood.” And when He says:
“This is My Blood,” the wine in the cup is changed into
His Blood.

And the Apostles eat the sacred Body of Jesus and
drink His precious Blood and in this way each one holds
Jesus in his heart. 0, how happy they are to have Jesus
so close to them, closer even than He was to John a mo-
ment ago when John rested his head on His breast.

This is their first Communion and we call the day
Holy Thursday. Then Jesus makes them able to change
bread into His Body and wine into His Blood. In this
way He will come to them as long as they live, even when
He has gone back to Heaven.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Jesus would come to you
some day and go right into your heart and you could
throw your arms about Him and speak to Him and He
would speak to you? Well, Jesus is coming to you and
you will hold him as truly as the Blessed Mother held Him
when He was a little Baby and you will rest upon His
dear Heart as truly as St. John did at the Last Supper.
Think of touching Jesus!

And when will Jesus come to you and when will you



56 FEED MY LAMBS

really hold Him in your heart? When you make your
First Communion. And after that He will come to you
as long as you live, every time you go to Holy Commun-
ion. O, how Jesus loves us

!

Try to say five times every day this week, “Dear
Jesus, come to me!”

LESSON 21

THEY NAIL DEAR JESUS TO THE CROSS
You remember my telling you about the last supper

Jesus ate with His Apostles and how when the supper
was over, He gave them His sacred Body and Blood.
Then they all sang a hymn, went down the stairs and out
into the night. They crossed a little stream of water
and Jesus stooped and drank. Then they went into a
large garden filled with old crooked olive trees. It was
about nine o’clock and the Apostles laid down under the
trees and were soon fast asleep. Jesus went deeper into
the garden alone and fell upon His knees and prayed to

God His Father. The full moon rose higher and higher
in the sky and threw its white light on the dear Figure
of Christ.

At midnight He stood up for He knew that Judas
was at the garden gate meeting the soldiers who had
come with swords and clubs and ropes to take Him. “0,

why didn’t Jesus leave the garden by a different way
and save Himself?” Because He wanted to be killed. “Oh,
why?” Because it was by dying that He would open the
gates of Heaven so we can all get in. “But how did the
gates get shut?” Adam and Eve by their sin of disobed-
ience in the Garden of Paradise locked the gates of
Heaven for themselves and for us all because we are their
children.

Dear Jesus was God so He could do anything and He
could have opened the gates of Heaven in ever so many
ways easier than dying but He chose to die a dreadful



fey./’.'/'/.

"

THE KISS OF BETRAYAL



58 FEED MY LAMBS

death because He loved us so much that He wanted to
do the hardest thing He could for us.

Then Jesus went to the Apostles and woke them up
and told them that Judas was coming to get Him.

Before supper the Jews asked Judas how they would
be able to tell which one was Jesus and Judas told them
he would let them know by kissing Him.

See how beautiful Jesus is ! See how He looks straight
into the eyes of Judas and calls him His friend for He
still loves the soul of Judas and wants to save him if He
can only get him to tell Him his sin and be sorry. But
Judas’ heart is hard as stone and he dares to place his
lips against the dear lips of Christ and kiss Him!

Then the soldiers come up and take hold of Jesus. The
Apostles try to fight at first, but they soon get frightened

and run away. The soldiers tie dear Jesus’ wrists to-
gether with a rope and drag Him off. All the rest of the
night they take Him from one court to another trying to
get some judge to say that He must die.

In the morning they tie Him to a post and whip His
dear body until it is running blood. Then they throw an
old purple cloak about Him, put a reed in His hand and
press a terrible crown of long sharp thorns deep into
His sacred Head.

His mouth fills with blood and so do His dear eyes.
Kiss Jesus’ face and kiss the place where the awful thorns
go in and tell Him you wish you could take out those ter-
rible thorns and bind up the dreadful wounds.

Then they make a long, heavy cross and rest it on
Jesus’ shoulder and make Him drag it through the streets
and out of the city and up a hill called Calvary until
they come to the very top. And a great crowd of men
and women and even little boys and girls follow Him
all the way throwing mud and stones and telling the sol-
diers to kill him.

On the top of the hill they throw the cross on the
ground, pull off Jesus’ clothes, make Him lie down on the



THE CRUCIFIXION



60 FEED MY LAMBS

cross and nail Him tight to it with three great nails
they hammer through His hands and feet.

It is just noon-time and they hoist the cross in the
air and drop it into a hole they have dug for it. Then
they stand off and look.

In all that crowd just three persons love dear Jesus
to the end and stay close to His cross—His dear Mother,
Mary Magdalene, and St. John.

Look at poor Jesus on the cross. Look at His face!
At His hands ! At His feet ! Kiss the great wounds in His
head, in His hands, in His feet. Tell Him you will never
sin again and make Him suffer so.

His poor broken-hearted Mother looks up at Him
from the foot of the cross.

For three long hours He hangs until all the blood has
dripped out through His wounds. Then He dies

!

0 Jesus, Jesus! It was my sins that helped to hurt
you ! 0, help me to be good. I don’t want to be bad any
more.

See how many times you can make the Way of the
Cross this week. Perhaps you can make it every day.
At the railing, say the Act of Contrition slowly. Then
stand or kneel in front of each of the fourteen pictures

that go all around the church and say five times at each

:

“My Jesus, Mercy!” while you think how Jesus suffered.
Then kneel again at the railing and say five Our Father’s
and Hail Mary’s for the Pope Who is the head of the
Catholic Church.

Learn to sing: “O, Come and MournWith MeAwhile.”

LESSON 22

JESUS COMES ALIVE FROM THE GRAVE
It was three o’clock Friday afternoon when dear

Jesus died and three o’clock Friday afternoon when
Heaven opened. Now you and I and all the world can
go to Heaven because Jesus died for us. Though so terri-
ble for Him, it was a good day for us and so we call it



FEED MY LAMBS 61

Good Friday. And to show a little love for Jesus who
showed so much for us, we Catholics give up eating
meat on Friday because it is hard not to eat meat. And
if any one won’t do that much for Jesus who gave His
life for him, he ought to be ashamed of himself.

Do you eat meat at your house on Friday ? How many
do not? If you do, see if you can’t coax your mother to
have fish or eggs or pancakes or anything else except

meat.

Now after Jesus died Good Friday afternoon, some
of His friends took down His body and buried it nearby
in a grave dug into a rock and they rolled a great stone
into the mouth of the grave. Then St. John took the
Blessed Mother home and Mary Magdalene and some
other good women who loved Jesus went with them. All
that night and all the next day they cried over dear Jesus.

But very early Sunday morning, before the sun was
up, Mary Magdalene and two other Marys hurried to
the grave to put sweet spices and perfumes on Jesus’
body. And they said to one another on the way: “Who
will roll away for us the great stone at the door of the

f

grave?” And as they walked along, they felt the earth
shake.

Now Jesus’ soul which left His body on the cross and
had been since then in Limbo, a place where all the good
people who had ever died were waiting to get into Heav-
en,—came back into His body as it lay in the grave and
He was alive once more and, body and soul, passed right
through the solid rock of the grave.

And when the women felt the earth shake, an angel
had come down from Heaven and rolled back the stone
from the door of the empty grave and sat upon it. And
his face was like the lightning and his garments sparkled
like snow and when the Roman soldiers, whom the Jews
had placed about the grave to guard it so no one could
steal away the body of Jesus, felt the earthquake and
saw the angel and the empty grave, they were so fright-



62 FEED MY LAMBS

ened they were like dead men. And when they got a little
over their fright, they hurried into the city to tell the

Jewish priest who had hired them, all that had happened.
And when the three Marys came to the grave, they

were surprised to see the great stone rolled aside and
still more surprised when they looked inside to see that
Jesus’ body was gone. And they saw the angel and they
were frightened. And the angel said to them: “Don’t
be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who
was crucified. He is not here for He is risen as He said.
Come and see the place where the Lord was laid. And
go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen and
will go into Galilee and you shall see Him there.” Now
Jesus had often said that He would come alive the third
day after He died.

And the women went away very afraid and very
happy. But Mary Magdalene sat down near the empty
grave and cried. And Jesus came up to her and she
didn’t know Him until He called her by her name. And
He was all beautiful and His wounds were all well though
the marks will always stay, to show how He loved us.
But He can never again suffer and never again die.

We call Jesus’ rising from the grave His Resurrection
and the day He arose, which was Sunday, we call Easter
Sunday.

Do you know what it means to praise a person? Has
any one ever praised you? If I scold you or tell you you

do not know your lesson, am I praising you? If I tell
you that you have been very good, or that you are very

bright, am I praising you? So too when we thank God
for being so good to us, or when we tell Him that He is
so kind or that we love Him with all our heart, we are
praising Him. Now the word “Alleluia,” means “praise
God. Let every one thank Him, let every one obey Him,
let everyone love Him. It makes us happy to praise God
and when we are happy we feel like praising God. We
ought to be very happy now because Jesus has come alive



FEED MY LAMBS 63

and can never again suffer. So let’s see how often we
can say this week : “Alleluia ! Alleluia ! Alleluia

!”

LESSON 23.
JESUS GOES BACK TO HEAVEN

For forty days after He arose from the dead, Jesus
stayed on earth talking to His dear Mother and coming

and going among His disciples.

At last one Thursday, when a great crowd had gath-
ered about Him, He led them out to the top of a hill and
there, speaking His last words, He began to rise slowly in
the air. They strained their eyes watching Him go
higher and higher until a cloud hid Him from their sight.
And this day, the day Jesus went back to Heaven, we
call Ascension Thursday.

Jesus had told His Aposeles that He would have to
leave them and go back to His Father’s House which is
Heaven. They grew very sad and did not want Him to
go but He told them that He was going to send them the
Holy Ghost, God the Third Person, who would comfort
them and teach them all things and that He was going
to get a place ready for them in Heaven so that when
their life was over, they could come and stay with Him
forever and He would never again leave them.

And Jesus is getting a place ready now for you, too,
and for me and the more we love Him and the more we
do for Him, the nicer and nicer the place He will fix
for us.

When we die if we haven’t a single spot on our soul
and have made up for all the bad we have ever done, we
shall go straight to Jesus and have a wonderful time with
Him forever in Heaven.

And if we have just little sins on our soul or haven’t
made up for some old sins Jesus has forgiven, we shall go
to Purgatory and there we shall have to burn in very ter-
rible fire until all the bad is burned away and our soul is



64 FEED MY LAMBS

white as snow. Then we shall go to Heaven forever.
When we go to do even the smallest sin, we ought to stop
and think how we shall have to burn for it unless we make
up for it before we die.

And if we die with great big terrible sins, or just one
big sin, on our soul, we shall go to Hell and live forever
with the devils in terrible fire and never, never have a
chance to get out.

And some day the end of the world will come and no
more people will be born and a great fire will burn up
everything on the earth. And then God’s angel will come
and he will blow a great trumpet that will sound from one
end of the earth to the other and he will call on the dead
to come and be judged. Then God will bring back the
bodies of all from the dust into which they have fallen
and the souls of all in Heaven, in Purgatory (which will
then come to an end) and in Hell will go back, each into
the body it once lived in. And the bodies of the good
people will be made beautiful like the body of Jesus and
will never again be able to suffer or to die. And the
bodies of the bad people will be terribly ugly and will
never again be able to die but they will suffer frightfully

forever in the fire of Hell.

Then Jesus will come on a cloud of glory with mil-
lions and millions of beautiful angels and He will call the
good to His right side and say: “Come, ye blessed of My
Father, come to the kingdom all ready for you. For I was
hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty and you
gave Me to drink; sick and you visited Me.” And they
will say: “Lord, when did we see You hungry and fed
you; thirsty and gave You to drink? Or when did we see
you sick and came to You?” And Jesus will say: “When
you did these things to the poor and weak, you did them
unto Me.” Then all the good people will give a great
shout of joy. All tears will be wiped from their eyes and
never again will they be hungry or thirsty or sad or poor.

Then Jesus will turn to the bad on His left side and



CHRIST THE CONSOLER



66 FEED MY LAMBS

they will tremble and try to hide from His eyes and He
will say: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire for I was hungry and you gave Me not to eat ; I was
thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink ; sick and in prison,
and you did not visit Me.”

Then they also will answer Him, saying “Lord, when
did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or sick, or in prison,
and did not help You?”

Then He will answer them, saying: “Amen, I say to
you, as long as you did it not to one of the poor and weak,

neither did you do it to Me.” Then shrieking and cursing,
they will plunge into Hell and stay there forever.

Let’s say five times every day, “Dear Jesus, take me
to Heaven !”

LESSON 24

TELLING JESUS OUR SINS
Look at the boy kneeling at Jesus’ side. Do you

see his hat and stick? He has been walking away from
Jesus but now he has come back and thrown down his
hat and stick to show he won’t go away again. And he
is telling Jesus that he went away from Him and he is
telling Him all the bad things he did when he was away
and how sorry he is. Do you see how sorry he looks? At
first he finds it a little hard to tell his sins but once he

gets started, it is so easy ! And is Jesus scolding him? No,
indeed. He looks at him so kindly and puts His arm
around him. And when he tells his biggest sins, Jesus
grows kinder than ever. He knows all the boy has done
any way but He wants him to tell Him his sins and He
wants him to be sorry.

Now, wouldn’t you like to kneel by Jesus’ side and
have Him put His arm around you whilst you tell Him
all your sins? Then He will take them all away and your
heart will be light and happy. It doesn’t matter how bad
you have been or what you have done. Jesus knows all



FEED MY LAMBS 67

your sins before you tell them. You must just be honest
and tell them straight and you must be sorry and try not

to do them over again.
This boy in the picture is making a good confession

because he is telling the truth and because he is sorry he

has been bad and he is promising Jesus that he will try

his best not to make any more sins.
If he should try to hide a big sin he doesn’t like to tell,

Jesus would be very hurt and He wouldn’t take away a
single one of his sins and his confession would be bad.
But if he leaves out some little sins, Jesus won’t mind
but I’m sure he is telling everything because I can see

that he loves Jesus very much and wants to tell Him
everything and have Him forgive everything.

And if there is one great big sin that he likes and he
won’t promise to try not to do again, Jesus will be very

hurt because the boy really doesn’t love Him at all. But
I know this boy is going to promise to give up every big
sin because he wants to make a good confession.

As soon as you know a little more, you can go to con-
fession too, but only if you want to go.

Now that Jesus is in Heaven, He has His priests to
take His place on earth but He stays with them too and
when we tell the priest our sins, Jesus hears and knows
how truthful we are and when the priest takes away our
sins, Jesus takes them away.

Now I will try to think up my sins. When I find a sin
J have done, I must think how many times I have done it,
or how often I usually do it in a week or in a day.

1. Have I missed Mass on Sunday through my own
fault?

2. Have I tried to think of God when I prayed or
have I let myself think about playing and other things?
(If my thoughts get away without my fault, it is not a
sin.)

3. Have I sworn or cursed?
4. Have I disobeyed my parents ? Have I talked back



68 FEED MY LAMBS

at them? Have I called them names? Have I struck
them?

5. Have I been very angry?
6. Have I had bad thoughts? (It 'is no sin if I try

not to think of them. When they come, I must try to put
them out of my head, say some little prayer as: “Jesus
and Mary, help me,” and try to get busy at something.)
Have I said bad words or taught them to others? Have
I done bad things by myself or with others? Have I
looked at bad things? Bad pictures? Have I listened to
bad talk?

7. Have I stolen money, cakes, fruit, candy, or any-
thing else? Have I broken or hurt what belongs to
others? Have I given back things I have borrowed?

8. Have I said mean things about others? Have I
done mean things to them ? Have I told bad things about
them? Have I had mean thoughts? Have I told lies?

9. Have I eaten meat on Friday? (It is no sin if I
forget.)

10. Is there anything else I have done or anything

that worries me?
When I have read over these questions carefully and

taken plenty of time to think of the answers, I come to
the biggest thing about confession which is to make my-
self sorry for my sins. Think how terrible it would be
not to go to Heaven and say : “Dear Lord, I want to be in
Heaven with You after I die. So I will try my best to
stop every one of my big sins and I don’t want to have
any more little ones either.” If there is a sin I don’t
know how to stop, I will ask the priest when I go to con-
fession.

Now close your eyes and see dear Jesus on the cross
or look at the picture on page 59 and see what your sins
and my sins did to Our Lord. Look a long time. See how
He is bleeding with those awful nails through His hands
and feet. See His poor eyes filled with tears and blood.
Think what you can do to stop your worst sin. Then say

:



FEED MY LAMBS 69

“Dear Jesus, I love You and I am going to try to stop my
sins no matter how hard it will be. I am not going to sin
and make You suffer. Please help me to be very sorry for
hurting You.” Now say slowly the Act of Contrition.

Ask some one to take you to church and show you the
place where you tell your sins and where the priest sits
and how he opens the slide when he is ready to hear you
and closes it when you are through.

Every night this week when you say your prayers,
ask Our Lord to help you to make a good confession.

LESSON 25
HOW TO GO TO CONFESSION

Kneeel down in church and say: “0 Jesus, help me to
make a good confession, to remember my sins, to be truly
sorry for them and to tell them bravely.” Then say the
Our Father and Hail Mary.

Think over all your sins by reading the questions
about sins in the last lesson.

Then read the rest of the lesson to make yourself
sorry and say the Act of Contrition. Never listen to an-
other person telling his sins. Never let any one force you
to go to confession and never go unless you have thought
up your sins and have made up your mind to try hard not
to do them again. When you are all re^dy go into the
confessional and when the priest opens the slide, make
the Sign of the Cross and say: “Bless me, Father, for I
have sinned.”

Don’t think of the priest any more but just tell your
sins right out, in a whisper, to Jesus and tell the number
of times you did each one. It may be easier to tell your
worst sins first. If there are some sins you are afraid to
tell or don’t know just how to tell, say so to the priest and
he will help you. It 'is no sin if you leave out some little
sins.

When you are through, the priest will tell you what



70 FEED MY LAMBS

prayers to say afterwards and then while you say a good

Act of Contrition, he takes away all your sins. Don’t leave
until the priest closes the slide. Then go to the altar-rail
and say the prayers the priest told you to say. We call
these prayers your penance. Talk to Jesus a little while

and thank Him for taking away all your s'ins and ask Him
to keep you good. Then visit the Blessed Virgin’s altar
and talk to her.

Go to confession again soon. It will be easier because
you will only have to think of the sins you did since your

last confession and tell them. And instead of saying it is
your first confession, you will say how long it is since
your last confession.

Say three Hail Mary’s every night to the Blessed
%

Virgin to keep you pure.

LESSON 26

THE MASS
Look at the picture on page 51 and keep your finger

on it so you can look at it soon again.

Jesus and the Apostles have just eaten their last
supper.

Then Jesus took bread in His hands, blessed it, broke
it and said: “This is My Body.”

What happened to the bread when Jesus said : “This
is My Body”?

The bread was changed into His Body.
Then Jesus took a cup of wine, blessed it and gave it

to His Apostles saying: “This is My Blood.”
What happened when Jesus said : “This is My Blood”?
The wine was changed into His Blood.
At Mass the priest does what Jesus did at the Last

Supper.

Look again at the picture. Do you see Jesus? Has
Jesus only a body? No, He has a body and blood, and a
soul for He is alive.



AT MASS THE PRIEST TAKES BREAD IN HIS HANDS AS
JESUS DID

At Mass what does the priest take in his hand?- What does he
say when he has blessed the bread? What happens to the bread
when the priest says: “This is My Body?” Is each piece of bread
changed into Jesus’ Body? When the priest changes each altar-
bread into the Body of Jesus, does it look like Jesus? No, it looks
and tastes and feels like bread, but it is really the Body of Jesus. Is
it only the Body of Jesus? No, it is the whole of Jesus, His Body,
His Blood, His Soul. It is Jesus, God and Man. Is there a bit of
bread left on the altar after the priest says: “This is My Body?”
No.

When each piece of bread has been changed into Jesus, we call
each a Sacred Host. The priest swallows the large Sacred Host
and the small Sacred Hosts are for the people.



72 PEED MY LAMBS

What are you made of besides your body? Yes, you
have blood and a soul. Has Jesus a body, blood and a soul
as well as you have? But what is Jesus that you are not?
Yes, He is God.

What has Jesus in His hands? What did He say when
He had blessed the bread? What happened to the bread
when Jesus said: “This Is My Body”? When Jesus
changed bread into His Body, did it look like His Body?
No, it still looked like bread. But wTas there a bit of bread
left in His hands? No, it only looked and tasted and felt
like bread but it was really His Body.

At Mass what does the priest take in his hand ? What
does he say when he has blessed the bread? What hap-
pens to the bread when the priest says: “This Is My
Body?” Is each piece of bread changed into Jesus’ Body?
When the priest changes each altar-bread into the Body
of Jesus, does it look like Jesus? No, it looks and tastes

and feels like bread but it is really the Body of Jesus. Is
it only the Body of Jesus? No, it is the whole of Jesus,
His Body, His Blood, His soul. It is Jesus, God and man.
Is there a bit of bread left on the altar after the priest

says: “This is My Body”? No.
When each piece of bread has been changed into

Jesus, we call each a Sacred Host. The priest swallows
the large Sacred Host and the small Sacred Hosts are

for the people.

What is Jesus holding? We call the cup a chalice.
What is in the cup? Wine mixed with a little water.
What did Jesus say when He had blessed the wine? What
happened when Jesus said: “This Is My Blood”? The
wine was changed into His Blood. Did it look like Jesus’
Blood? No, it looked and smelt and tasted like wine but

it wasn’t wine, it was really Jesus’ Blood.
This is a cup or chalice that the priest has at Mass.

What is in the chalice ? What does the priest say when he
has blessed the wine? What happens to the wine when
the priest says : “This Is My Blood” ? The wine is changed



AT MASS THE PRIEST TAKES A CUP OF WINE
This is a cup or chalice that the priest has at Mass.

What is in the chalice? What does the priest say when he has
blessed the wine? What happens to the wine when the priest says:
“This is My Blood?” The wine is changed into Jesus’ Blood. Does it
look like Jesus’ Blood? No, it looks and smells and tastes like
wine but it isn’t wine, it is really Jesus’ Blood. Is it only Jesus’
Blood? No, it is the whole of Jesus, His Body, His Blood, His Soul.
It is Jesus, God and Man.



74 FEED MY LAMBS

into Jesus’ Blood. Does it look like Jesus’ Blood? No, it
looks and smells and tastes like wine but it isn’t wine, it
is really Jesus’ Blood. Is it only Jesus’ Blood? No, it is
the whole of Jesus, His Body, His Blood, His Soul. It is

Jeus, God and man.
Have you seen the people go to the railing at Mass and

have you seen the priest put a sacred Host on their ton-
geus? That is the way Jesus comes into their hearts and
that’s what it means to receive Holy Communion and
when Jesus comes to you for the first time, it is your First
Communion. But you mustn’t go for the first time, until
the priest or your teacher tells you you can go.

Would you receive the whole of Jesus just the same
whether you swallowed a sacred Host or drank from the
chalice ?

When the bell rings for the people to go to the railing
to receive Holy Communion, the priest gives himself Holy
Communion. He swallows the sacred Host and he drinks
from the chalice the precious Blood. Then he gives Holy
Communion to the people.

Try this week not to say one mean thing about any-
body. Count up each night and see how well you have
kept this practice. Never say about a person what you
would not like to have said about you.

LESSON 27
HOLY COMMUNION

The priest changes bread and wine into the Body and
Blood of Jesus at the middle of Mass and he lifts the'large
sacred Host above his head so we can see Jesus and he
lifts the chalice, too, so we can see. Watch the next time
you go to Mass and see if you can see Jesus. When you
see Him, say : “My Lord and my God !”

At the end of Mass, the priest gives Holy Communion
to himself and then to the people. The small Hosts are
kept in a gold cup having a cover and called a ciborium.



FEED MY LAMBS 75

The ciborium is kept in the tabernacle and that is the way
Jesus stays on the altar day and night.

When you go to Holy Communion, the priest will put
Jesus on your tongue and you must try not to let the sac-
red Host touch your teeth but swallow it as soon as you

can. If it does touch your teeth, it is not a sin. You must
never put your finger into your mouth and touch the Host
even though it sticks to your mouth. Just wait and try to
loosen it with your tongue and then swallow it.

You must never, never go to Holy Communion with
a big sin on your soul. In that case, you must go to con-
fession first. But if you have only small sins on your
soul, you can tell Jesus you are sorry for them and then
go to Holy Communion. But the cleaner your soul is, the
more Jesus will love you.

And you must never eat or drink anything before you
go to Holy Communion, not after twelve o’clock the night
before, but you can eat or drink up to twelve o’clock. The
only time you can receive Holy Communion after eating
or drinking is when you are dying or when you are very
sick and the priest says you can.

If you should forget and should take just a tiny bite
of anything to eat or just a sip of water or just a bit of
medicine, you could not go to Holy Communion that day
and no priest could let you go. The priest himself could
not say Mass if he should break his fast—that is, eat or
drink, no matter how little, after twelve o’clock at night.

If by accident you should swallow a drop or two of
water in washing or a drop of rain or a snow-flake on
your v/ay to church, that would not matter. But if you
brush your teeth, spit the water out well two or three
times.

When you go to Holy Communion don’t rush to the
railing. Think of Jesus and keep saying: “Come, dear
Jesus, come to me.” When the priest comes to you, close
your eyes and receive Our Lord with all the love of your
heart. As you walk back to your place, say over and



76 FEED MY LAMBS

over: “Dear Jesus, now You are all mine!” Kneel during
the rest of Mass. Put your face in your hands and see
Jesus in your heart as He was at the Last Supper. See
yourself like St. John with your head against His heart
and feel His arm around you. Then just think of Jesus,
love Him and, when you feel like it, speak to Him. Ask
Him to make you good, to keep you from sin, to take you
to Heaven, to bless all priests, your parents and teachers

and friends. Thank Him for making you a Catholic, for
taking away your sins, for coming to you.

When you have made your First Communion, try to
receive Holy Communion often, once or twice or three
times a week, or even every day.

Try to make one act of kindness each day to get your
heart ready for Jesus.

Learn to sing: “Jesus, Jesus, Come to me.”

LESSON 28
THE HOLY GHOST COMES

Do you remember how, on Ascension Thursday, as
Jesus rose in the air, the Angels strained their eyes

gazing after Him? Two angels came and told them not
to stand there any longer but to go back to Jerusalem.
Now Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the
Holy Ghost whom He would send to them. He told them
the Holy Ghost would take away their lonesomeness and
make them remember all He had been teaching them;
and that He would make them brave, so they would never
again run away from trouble as they did the night Judas
sold dear Jesus to His enemies.

So they went back to that up-stairs room where Jesus
had eaten supper with them for the last time before He
died and over a hundred other friends of Jesus and the

dear Blessed Mother went with them. There they stayed,
day after day, praying hard. And St. Peter stood up and
told them to choose some one to take the place of Judas,



FEED MY LAMBS 77

for that Thursday night after Judas had kissed Jesus and

seen Him dragged away, he went off and hanged himself.
And on the tenth day after Jesus’ Ascension, on a

Sunday, whilst they were still praying, the house they

were in suddenly shook and the Holy Ghost came down
upon them. They could not see Him for He has no body
but they saw a little flame of fire rest over the head of
each one. And the Holy Ghost came into their souls and
their hearts were set on fire so that they were burning to

go out and tell everybody in the world about Jesus. And
they didn’t care 'if they got thrown into jail or had their
heads cut off.

Then they rushed straight out and started talking
about Jesus right on the street-corners and many believed
them and were baptized. And the Jewish priests were so
angry, they had them seized and thrown into jail and
whipped. But they sang, they were so happy to suffer for
Jesus and when they got out of jail, they went right back
and talked about Jesus all over again.

And as years went on, one Apostle after the other was
killed for talking about Jesus, all but St. John and they
tried to kill him and threw him into a great caldron of
boiling oil but God took care of him so that he didn’t even
get a burn and at last when he was very, very old, he
died.

Now the day the Holy Ghost came to the Apostles,
we call Pentecost Sunday.

And the Holy Ghost is coming to you too when you are
confirmed. You will go to church and the bishop will be
there and he will stretch out his arms and pray to the
Holy Ghost to come. And then you will go up to the bis-
hop and he will make a cross on your forehead with holy
oil and strike you gently on the face.

He makes the cross on your forehead to show you
belong to Jesus. You must be proud of it and you must
always be proud to say you are a Catholic because the
Catholic Church is Jesus’ Church. And the bishop uses



78 FEED MY LAMBS

oil because oil makes our muscles strong and we must
have strong muscles to fight the devil when he comes
around whispering sins to us. And he strikes us on the
face, to show us that we must be good Catholics even
when it is hard and even if we have to die for being Cath-
olics.

I know a boy called Magar who once lived far away
in Armenia. In that country there are many bad Turks
who go around killing all the Catholics they can find. One
day when Magar was about ten years old, he was with
another little boy and some Turks came up to them and
asked Magar’s playmate if he believed in Jesus and the
little boy was brave and he said to those terrible Turks

:

“I do believe in Jesus and I will die for Him.” And they
killed him on the spot.

So now you must pray hard when you are confirmed
and ask the Holy Ghost to make you strong and brave
and to set your heart on fire so that you will burn with
love for Jesus and burn to make others love Him too.

As when you go to Holy Communion, so when you are
confirmed, you must not have a single big sin on your
soul but if you have just little ones, you don’t have to go

to confession but can tell Jesus you are sorry. You must
not eat or drink anything before you go to Holy Com-
munion, but you can eat and drink before you are con-
firmed.

You can go to Holy Communion every day but not
more than once on the same day. You can be confirmed
only once in your whole life. The priest gives you Holy
Communion but only the bishop confirms you.

As you walk up to the bishop, say over and over
again : “Dear Holy Ghost, make me strong !”

Often ask the Holy Ghost when you are praying to
make you' a strong Catholic as long as you live.



FEED MY LAMBS 79

LESSON 29

FAITHFULNESS
You all expect to finish the Eighth Grade at least. You

would not dream of leaving school as soon as you know
your letters or the multiplication-table. Your parents
wouldn’t let you leave then, and they would be hurting

you if they did. If you should leave school now, you

would feel very much ashamed when you grow up and
there would be very few jobs you could hold.

But it would be far worse to stop learning about Our
Lord now than to stop going to school because school only
helps you while you live in the world and if you should

d'ie as soon as you finish school, it wouldn’t help you at
all. But learning your religion will help you on this earth

and for ever and ever afterwards and no matter when
you die, it will count very much.

You mustn’t dream of leaving the Catholic school be-
cause you have made your First Communion. You have
just started to learn a little bit about God and there is far
more left for you to learn about God than there is about
Geography or Spelling or Arithmetic.

If you can’t go to a Catholic school, at least keep on

learning your religion somewhere. Religion is the biggest
thing in the world and if you study it all your life, you

won’t know it all. If you know your religion well, you
may save mapy souls by telling others about it and by
saying the right thing when any one asks you about it.



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