A Birthday Wish

The sun was vacationing behind a thick wall of clouds. Icy wind and snow were playing a wild game of tag. "Awful weather, even on my sixth birthday," Jesus complained, and looked sadly out into the haze. "If only I could build a snowman with Gabriel or have a snowball fight." Mother Mary comforted him and suggested that he invite a few friends over. "I'll bake a cake and there is warm milk, and you can play. And besides, I don't really like to see you playing only with Gabriel. That archangel can be so childish!" A few big tears rolled down Jesus' face and he turned away, because... he didn't want to show that he was crying. But he was really sad. Nobody wanted to play with him anymore.

The boys from the village always made fun of him: "Show off, know-it-all!" and they had even thrown rocks at him. And only because he had told them that he sometimes flies with Gabriel. "Does your Gabriel flap with his arms or does he have wings?" they ridiculed. "You're just jealous that you don't have an angel for a friend." Little Isaac became curious. "What's an angel?" Jesus was amazed. "What, you don't know any angels?! That's someone with wings who lives in heaven." "With... wings?! And lives in... heaven?! Ah, you're crazy!" yelled the children.

Then Behavis, the chubby one, said, "My father tried to fool me with a story like that once. About Icarus. He made wings out of wax and wanted to fly across the ocean. But when he got too close to the sun, the wings melted and he crashed into the water. Is your Gabriel like that too?!" And everybody laughed, but Jesus was sad and went home. "I'll show them," he thought to himself. Naturally, Gabriel came on time for the birthday cake. "Happy birthday," he laughed, "what's your wish? Just name it." "My only wish is that you take me flying again, soon. But this time over the village.” “Hm, it's actually forbidden, but... I'll do it for you. However, we'll have to wait for good flying weather." Even angels can't fly in any kind of weather.

Soon the icy wind and snow were tired and the sun wanted to work again. Gabriel stood neat and clean at the door, ready for take off. Jesus asked him to fly over the park where his friends always played. "But," said Gabriel, "no one is supposed to see me." Then Jesus confessed that the children had made fun of him because of his angel, didn't believe anything he said, and didn’t want to play with him anymore.

That was of course reason enough to break the strict regulations for angels which stated: Never fly over inhabited areas. And Jesus climbed onto Gabriel's back, and he steered directly toward the children. You can't imagine how astonished the children were. And when Gabriel even promised to take each one of them for a ride, they could hardly believe it. And it was an afternoon made in heaven...

Tales from Heaven, 2002, Nymphenburger Publishers