Once there was a church that had the happiest people. They all worshipped together in harmony, young and old. They had many statues and one was a wooden statue of the Virgin and Child. One day the Deacon noticed that it was gone. Everyone was tasked with looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found and they organized a team of youngsters to find out what happened. They were Connor, Paul, Meagan, Alicia, and Linda. The committee of children went out to look for her.

They scoured the neighborhood and found the guilty party: a band of hoodlums. Connor asked them to give it back.

“No way,” said the chief hoodlum. “Only if you give us a ransom.” Connor thought fast.

“If we tell you a good story, can we get her back for free?”

“Ok” said the boy.

Each child set out to find a piece of the story that would bring the Madonna and Child back to the church.

Connor went looking around the neighborhood. He came across some people that were celebrating a gender reveal. One arch of pink balloons in the sky. It was beautiful. The parents were so happy as they looked around at their friends.

Paul tried to leave home to help find the statue, but before he could, his mother said, “Aunt Cheri is having her baby shower today and I can’t go. I have too much to do. Could you go instead? Here is your gift.”

“Ok, sure,” said Paul. He walked to his aunt’s house.

“So happy to see you, Paul!” Cheri said. The guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, played games like Guess the Name of the Baby, and opened gifts of clothes, baby food and toys.

Meagan went to St Luke’s hospital because she thought someone might have taken the statue for their patients. She passed by the baby ward and looked at the babies. They were so cute. She thought to herself “What if one of these was the baby Jesus?” It was hard to think of. Maybe Jesus would have had a golden aura around him, or maybe he would just look like an ordinary baby. She decided to tell the team that all the babies had a magical aura around them.

Alicia went back to the church to scour for the statue. When she was there, a crowd of people processed in. They filed in and the last ones were some proud parents with a baby in their arms dressed in white. They gave the baby to the priest who held it over the basin and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” while pouring water over the child’s head. She was fascinated with the process: a white glow seemed to emanate from the child’s clothes.

Finally, there was Linda, the youngest. She got a ride from her sister to the police station because she thought someone might have turned it in there. She sat down in the waiting room and shortly there was a huge uproar as some people excitedly came in. There was a young child with them and then a burst of joy from some other people as she was brought in. “Thank God, you found her,” they cried. There was much hugging and rejoicing. Then her sister told her it was time to go.

Each team member told the hoodlums their part of the story. When they were done, the hoodlum said “So that’s it?”

Connor said, “It’s the Joyful Mysteries: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation and the Finding in the Temple.”

The other group conferred and decided it was a good story after all. So that is how they all found the Virgin Mary.

 

©Copyright 2025 by Cecile Bianco

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