GIUSEPPE lived in a slum alley in Venice, where the sunlight penetrated for about one hour of the day. As the boy had no garden his playground was not more than eight feet wide. What games he played there I cannot say, but I do know that he was fond of reading, and since no money ever came his way, he was obliged to beg or borrow anything he read.
But Giuseppe found a friend who not only told him the most fascinating stories that he had ever heard, but occasionally he gave him little booklets. It was in one of these that one day he read his own name. It was in a story of a Man named Jesus who went about doing good, bringing people a message of life and hope, and even forgiving their sins!
And then, to read that such a Man was crucified! How strangely thrilling to read on that a man named Giuseppe (Italian for Joseph) had provided a private burial place for this great Benefactor! And it was a greater thrill to discover that He who died rose again, and, as young Giuseppe’s friend explained, was now alive forevermore!
There was one thing, however, that troubled Giuseppe. He knew that he was a sinner. Now he had been taught that the only way to get one’s sins forgiven was to go and confess them to men. “No,” said Monaco, Giuseppe’s friend, “all you need is Jesus. He can and will forgive all your sins when you confess them to Him.”
One day there was a very dark shadow in the alley. Young Giuseppe was dying. “Do you want to confess your sins to ‘someone'?” his father asked him.
“No,” said the lad faintly, “Jesus is mine, and He has forgiven me all my sins. I’m going home to be with Him.”
And so Giuseppe passed out of the shadows of the slums into the glorious eternal sunshine of the Saviour’s presence.
ML-11/24/1974