Little Rosebud

Skopje [SKO-pyeh], Yugoslavia, in 1915.

“Wash up quickly, children,” Mama Drana [DRAH-nah] instructed. “Your father will be home soon.” Twelve-year-old Aga [AH-guh] took her little sister, Agnes, by the hand to help her wash her face. Seven-year-old Lazar [LAH-zahr] followed. When they had finished washing, they heard the front door open and close.

“Where’s my little Rosebud?” Nikola Bojaxhiu [NEE-ko-lah boy-ah-CHEW] called out.

“Papa!” Five-and-a-half-year-old Agnes laughed. Then she ran into her father’s outstretched arms. “I’m right here!”

“Where are your brother and sister?” Papa Nikola asked.

“They’re coming. We were playing a game in the parlor. Lazar was winning,” the little girl said with a slight pout.

Papa Nikola smiled and patted her head. “I hope you were being a good sport,” he said.

“I tried to be one. But I do like to win,” the little girl replied. “Papa, you know what tomorrow is, right?”

“Tomorrow is Sunday,” Papa Nikola said. “There is no council meeting, and my business will be closed. But I seem to recall that something special is happening. . . .” He tapped his daughter’s nose.

“Don’t you remember?” Agnes asked, her eyes opened widely. “I make my first Holy Communion tomorrow! I’m going to receive Jesus!”

“How could I forget something so important?” her father replied. “I just wanted to make sure you remembered!”

The next day, at the family’s parish church, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Agnes received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time.

After Mass, Agnes could not wait to speak with her mother. “I love Jesus so much! When I received him, I felt like he was telling me how much he loves me. I will always love him.”