Hot Chocolate and Angels

I can still remember quite clearly my first major sacrifice for lent.  I was attending Saint Joseph Grade school in Mishawaka, Indiana in the 1950’s.  In those early days of my childhood, my mother prepared hot chocolate for me each morning before I went to school.  We called it hot coco in those days.  I loved coco and toast for breakfast then and I still do today.

One lent I gave up hot chocolate, I don’t remember what grade I was in, but I will never forget the accomplishment because, it was my first real sacrifice.  I managed to give up Hot Coco everyday during that Lent including Sundays.

My reward came on Easter Sunday morning.  In those days my parents prepared Easter Baskets and hide them plus chocolate candy and eggs all over the house.  Easter Sunday morning were a time of great joy for kids as we excitedly hunted for our baskets.  Mom and dad knew the best hiding places where right in front of our noses just above or below the level would would look.

The chocolate candy I received through the love of my parents that Easter morning was the best chocolate I ever tasted.

But the story of Hot Chocolate Doesn’t End There!

I used to spend the night at my Aunt Jane’s house on many occasions.  My Aunt Jane had two sons who were close to my age and we had a great great time playing together.

Have you ever noticed how bubbles form around the top of the rim of Hot Chocolate?   Well my mother and her sister, my Aunt Jane used to tell me that there were angles sitting on the rim of my cup kicking their feet in my coco.  When they would tell me this, the spirit of the boy in me would imagine those angels and eagerly scoop up those bubbles with my toast.  I would gobble them down only to watch as more bubbles would form.

Bubbles the essence of nothing.  Bubbles the essence of angles.  Angels the essence of the unseen.  Angles the essence of the spirit of everything.  Angles surround us and one is our guarding angel!