The Forgotten Easter Egg

Joseph Tolson handed his wife, Mary Katherine the newspaper and said -- “look here Mary -- looks like there’s gonna be a huge Easter Egg hunt at the Cathedral this year.  It says here, all the local businesses will be participating.”

“Why that’s marvelous, Joseph!  Since the old church burnt down -- there hasn’t been an Easter egg hunt in years.  What a shame too.  It was such a wonderful tradition.  I know our children enjoyed it immensely.”

“I remember those days, Mary -- like they were yesterday.   It was so much fun making Easter eggs for the children to find.  Now that there’s finally gonna be an Easter egg hunt again -- we’ll have to donate some eggs for the occasion.  It’s been such a long time since we’ve participated in an Easter egg hunt, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Remember the year, Mary -- one little Easter egg was forgotten?”

“Gosh do I -- like it was yesterday, Joseph.”

“Let’s tell that story when all the grandchildren come.  Maybe they’ll remember it too.”

                                            ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

All of Mary and Joseph’s children and grandchildren arrived at their house on Holy Saturday to make eggs for the big Easter egg hunt.   Everyone was excited about the big hunt and Mary and Joseph were happy the children would be participating. 

On Holy Saturday, Mary and Joseph and their children --  spent several hours with all of the grandkids making colored eggs and placing them in the baskets for everyone to find.  They had cooked them -- dyed them -- and painted them with all kinds of different designs.  But those weren’t the only eggs that Mary and Joseph were contributing to the hunt.  They had purchased some small and big plastic eggs and filled them with all sorts of good things for the children too.

“What’s inside this egg, Pop Pop,” one of the grandchildren asked.

“Now if I tell you , it won’t be a surprise.  You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out.   Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to find this egg at the hunt and then -- you’ll discover what’s inside.”

Joseph knew the children were anxious to see what each plastic egg held inside, but it would have taken the fun out of the hunt if they knew ahead of time what was hidden in the eggs.

“Let’s have something good to eat, children,” Mom Mom offered -- and we can wash it down with some milk.”

“Can we eat the brownies we made? one of the children asked.”

“I think a brownie for everyone would be perfect,” Mom Mom replied.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

For a short while, the children didn’t ask anymore questions about the eggs and when Easter morning arrived -- they found the Easter bunny had brought them lots of candy and eggs -- and they were happy.  But even with all they had,  they still looked forward to the Easter egg hunt at the Cathedral.

Everyone piled in several cars and drove over to the big beautiful church.  Monsignor Gillespie was outside with Sister Teresa and lots of parishioners were there with their families, talking and laughing too  -- while waiting for the Easter egg hunt to begin.

Mary and Joseph had arrived early to hide the Easter eggs they were donating and when they saw their families arrive -- they walked over and greeted them -- handing each set of parents an old fashioned flash camera to take pictures with the occasion.

“Why the camera, Mom?” one of the children asked.  “We all have cell phones and they take great pictures.”

“I’m aware of that, Mary replied -- but Monsignor wants the cameras turned in to him after all the pictures have been taken today -- because he plans to make an album and that’s why he wants you to use those cameras.”

“Okay, I get it.  We can use our cell phones too, but we’ll make sure we use this camera before anything else.”

When the hunt began -- the children scurried around quickly to gather as many eggs as possible and it didn’t take long for the hunt to be over.

Can everyone account for the number of eggs you donated? asked Monsignor, making sure all the eggs were accounted for.

Mrs. Wilson donated 30 she said.  Mrs. Evans said she donated 25 and Ethel Patterson said she donated 20.   Mary, seeing everyone had responded said -- “Joseph and I made 33 eggs, Monsignor.”

“Thirty-three eggs, Mary? “Monsignor repeated, quite surprised by the odd number.  “Is there any special reason you made 33 eggs?”

“Yes, Joseph and I were thinkin’ about Jesus’ when we prepared them -- and the number of years of His life on Earth stood out in our minds.”

“That’s very interesting, Mary.  I’m not sure most people would have considered Jesus’ life at such a time.”

When all the eggs had been totaled, it was discovered one egg had been forgotten — but none of the children seemed to care.  They’d already found so many eggs with so many different types of goodies inside them, what was one more egg they declared.  So, they didn’t bother to look for the missing egg.

All the children went home with their baskets full and all the parents gave Monsignor their cameras after the Easter Egg hunt, as promised.  When Mary and Joseph asked to see their grandchildren’s eggs, they were sad to find out no one found the egg they’d made special for the hunt.

“What egg was it Pop Pop?” one of the children asked. 

“It was a large gold egg.  I’m sure one of the other children must have found it,” he replied.”

“No one found a large gold egg, Pop Pop.  I’m sure we would have noticed an egg like that if someone had found it.”

“I think the forgotten egg must be that egg,” said another one of the grandchildren.

“I bet you’re right, but no one cared to go in search of it. 

How terrible!” another child cried. 

“I wonder what was inside of it?” one grandchild asked. 

“I have an idea,” exclaimed Mom Mom. “Let’s go back to the Cathedral and see if we can find it.”

“That’s a great idea!” the children all shouted.  

Everyone piled back into their cars and drove back to the Cathedral.  On the way there, they spotted a little girl, carrying a big bright gold Easter Egg in her hands. None of the children recognized her from the Easter egg hunt and wondered how she managed to have the egg.

As they got closer, it was Mary who noticed the little girl was walking all alone and she was headed towards a run down looking house across from the Cathedral.  She could see her clothes looked shabby too and her hair looked uncombed. It was tied up in a ponytail, but some of the strands Mary noticed  had come loose from the ponytail and were hanging loosely on her face.

“Joseph, let’s stop.  I want to see if that’s the egg we made for the hunt.  It sure looks to be the same.”

Joseph stopped the car and Mary approached the little girl.  She asked if she’d found the egg at the Cathedral and the little girl responded she had. 

“Did you open it to see what was inside?” Mary asked, smiling at the little girl who looked so meek and poor. 

“No I didn’t,” she replied —“but I’m sure there’s something special inside it.”

“How do you know if you haven’t opened it? “ Mary asked — already knowing the contents of the egg.

“Because this egg was forgotten and I knew it was meant for me to have it.”

“Why didn’t you come to the Easter egg hunt?” Mary asked, curiously.

“I couldn’t because my mom couldn’t afford to give any eggs for the hunt.”

“I see,” Mary replied, feeling quite sorry for the child.  “But I’m sure no one would have cared if you joined in the Easter egg hunt. There were lots of eggs to be found.”

“I heard there was one egg missing, the little girl said. I was looking at the Easter egg hunt from behind a bush and I heard Monsignor say one was missing — but no one wanted to find it. It was a forgotten Easter egg.  I didn’t have any eggs — so I decided to look for it and I found it in the garden over there.”

“I’m glad you did,” Mary said.  Why don’t you open the egg.  My husband and I put something very special inside it and now it’s yours.”

The little girl proceeded to open the egg and when she saw what was inside she was overjoyed!  It was a small box that held a gold crucifix inside it.  It bore the inscription INRI which meant ‘King of the Jews’.

Mary was happy to see the joy on the little girl’s face.  She thanked Mary for allowing her to keep the egg and after saying goodbye, she ran into the house to show her mother. 

“What was inside the box Mom Mom,” one grandchild asked.

“A crucifix,” Mary replied.  “A beautiful gold crucifix.”

                                           ~ ~ ~

Years passed and all the grandchildren grew up and went their own different ways. They remembered the fun times they had at their grandparents house and clearly remembered the time one Easter egg had been forgotten. It hadn’t mattered that they never tried to find the egg or anyone else for that matter.  But surprisingly, they learned a valuable lesson from that day.

Not long after Easter —Mary and Joseph went to the house where the little girl lived and the house was vacant.  She was no longer there and they were very disappointed. They wanted very much to help her, but she was gone. 

But as fate would have it, the young girl one day found her way back to the town she’d known as a child and went to see Mary and Joseph. They were so surprised to see her, they could hardly believe their eyes.  She was wearing the crucifix they’d put in the big gold egg -- and when they asked her where she’d been living, she replied -- across town — in a small apartment.

Her name was Elizabeth and she said she wanted to come back and thank them for letting her keep the beautiful crucifix.  She said she met a nice lady when she found it in the garden -- and she told her -- that like Jesus, she would have to bear a heavy cross in her life, but she would later be rewarded.

Mary and Joseph listened as she unfolded her story to them.  She continued on by saying that the day after she found the egg, she was taken away from her mother.  She was put in a foster home and the people had treated her badly.  They deprived her of many things, but she held tight to her crucifix, knowing one day she’d be able to leave the awful place she lived in and start a new life of her own.

Mary and Joseph were deeply saddened by what she told them -- and Mary began to cry.  “Please don’t cry for me,” she said to Mary and Joseph -- because I am truly happy now.  I have a very nice home and a wonderful husband.  I have a beautiful son too.”

“We’re so glad to hear you’re happy Elizabeth,” Mary tearfully said.

“Oh yes, I’m very happy -- and I’d like for you to come visit me one day.  Here’s my address and phone number.  Please call me anytime.”

After Mary and Joseph said goodbye to Elizabeth -- they hugged one another knowing their little Easter egg had brought happiness to a child that Easter morning, even though the child hadn’t been one of their own.  Their gift had actually found its way into the hands of a child that needed the little gold crucifix inside the egg.  It had kept her spirit alive through all her troubled times and now -- they were happy knowing she was living a good happy life with a man she loved and who loved her.

“We’ll call her in the near future Mary and go see her,”  Joseph said, grabbing Mary’s hand.  I think the forgotten egg wasn’t really forgotten, after all.”

“Why do you say that, Joseph?” Mary questioned.

“Like a shepherd, Jesus always went after the one little sheep that strayed from the others.  He knew that Elizabeth was a part of His flock and even though she wasn’t with the others during the Easter egg hunt, He didn’t forget about her.  He made sure she found an egg just like the others.  Although the egg was believed to have been forgotten -- it was always meant for Elizabeth, my dear -- because Jesus sent her in search of it, knowing it would help her carry the heavy cross He knew she’d have to bear like He did.”

“I’m so happy Joseph we were instruments in helping Elizabeth,” Mary happily said.

“Me too, Mary.  It was a wonderful idea you had, putting the crucifix inside the egg.  What made you think to do it?”

“I’m not sure Joseph, but years ago — that same crucifix helped get me through a very troubled time in my life.   When my dad died, I was  young and didn’t understand why he’d been taken from me.   Something this Easter told me to place it inside one of the eggs, and now I understand why.  A very important person was taken from Elizabeth -- her mom.”

“I’m glad Elizabeth has the crucifix, Mary -- because now -- she  can pass it on someday to someone else.”      

A Very Happy and Blessed Easter