The Sleeping Beauty
by Rev. Robert J. Hermley

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The story of Sleeping beauty is always a childhood favorite.  It tells us of a King and Queen who were very happy over the birth of their infant daughter.  On her baptismal day, they invited all the fairy godmothers of the realm to be present for the festive occasion.  They all come, bringing the child their best wishes and many gifts.

The King and Queen failed, however, to invite the wicked witch, but she came anyway.  One by one, the fairy godmothers bestowed their gifts upon the infant Princess.  One gave her a pleasant disposition; one a good voice; another good looks and so on.  The last fairy godmother, fearing that the wicked witch would put a curse upon the child, hid behind a curtain to see what would happen.

Sure enough, the wicked witch put a spell upon the infant, prophesying that the child would prick her finger on a needle one day and die.  the last fairy godmother came out of hiding, and although she could not nullify the curse, she altered it to be that, instead of dying, the child would fall into a deep sleep and would stay in that state until a handsome prince would come to kiss her and awake her from her slumber.

Although the King and Queen forbade all needles in the castle, the wicked witch smuggled one in to fulfill the curse put upon the young Princess.  The Princess pricked her finger on the needle, and fell into a deep sleep to be awakened a long, long, time after by the kiss of a handsome prince who had been attracted by the story of a beautiful, sleeping Princess.

Young boys when they hear this story, have been known to way, "Yuck."  Young girls, however, have been known to sit for long periods of time, dreaming in a kind of smiling fantasy, looking into space and wondering if such a tale could ever be true.

For the sake of further discussion, let us imagine that, on the day our Baptism, Christ invited all of the Angels and Saints to see His newest child baptized.  "See my beautiful child,"  He said, "I have so many plans for this newly baptized child.  I have so many wonderful things I want this child to do.  He/she will bring comfort, he/she will aid the elderly, the sick, and those who need intellectual help.  He/she will bring laughter to the sad, hope to the down-trodden, health to the sick, and spiritual aid to the sinner.  I will use this child's lips to say what I want to say, his/her arms to bring a hug to those who are alone, and his/her feet to visit the sick.  I will use his/her knowledge to govern wisely, and his/her zeal to bring life to the burned-out.

But at a cautious distance, Satan, the Evil One, stands watching like the wicked witch of the story.  The devil snarls and gloats, "Let the angels and Saints have their moment of jubilation now."  Just as soon as he could Satan planned to destroy all God's wishes for this wonderful new child.  He would prick this young one as soon as possible with the needle of humanism and modernism.  He would get TV, movies and magazines to implant pornographic ideas into this young mind.  He would use the school's sex instructions to suggest temptation into the youngster's mind long before the child would have had to cope with such ideas if left to his/her own.  He would get MTV and Hard-Rock singers to inject venom into the veins of this unsuspecting child through their filthy lyrics.  Yes, Satan has many friends, even in high officers, who through their liberal views help to make the young oblivious to anything sacred.

He would inspire half-baked theologians and self-styled religious instructors to confuse them  they would, then, not know truth from falsehood.  He would make worldly things exciting for the young, while proposing through peer pressure that anything religious would be boring, boring, boring.

Thus the many helpers of Satan, wolves in sheep's clothing, would knowingly or unwittingly aid the devil in putting to sleep all the beautiful plans the King of the Universe had for this potentially great child.

Of course, this really doesn't have to happen if the child has a mother and father who augment Christ's plans by teaching him/her about Christ, the church and about the potential each soul has to be "God's special helper".

Then, too, behind the scenes, Our Blessed Lady, knowing the ancient adversary's intent, does all She can to alter the curse the devil wants to place upon all potential does of good.  Whenever the world would succeed in helping Satan make a child of God fall asleep in sin, Mary begs Her Son, as the Prince of Peace, to bestow His kiss of forgiveness upon the erring child through Confession to awaken him/her to his/her true dignity of sonship or daughtership to the King of Kings, and hopefully, to fulfill the plans that God had for that beautiful child on the day of his/her Baptism.

We are all sleeping beauties!  Yes fiction can be closer to truth than anyone imagines!

St. Joseph, Protector of the Child Jesus and of Your spouse, Mary, inspire all fathers to watch over their families with the same zeal and love that motivated you in your lifetime