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Private Revelations The Night of Christmas
Private Revelations The Night of Christmas
| The Night of Christmas |
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A priest told me what happened to him once in his first parish. After Midnight Mass on Christmas Day he personally locked the church. With the keys in his pocket he went to his room and had a good sleep. At 7:30 he got up and went back to church intending to have one hour of prayer all to himself. He opened the side door leading to the sacristy, turned a light on an then turned on a couple of lights for the church. As he opened the sacristy door and walked into the church, he literally froze. Most of the pews were occupied by strange people clad in poorest of clothes and all were in total silence. No one so much as wiggled and nobody cared to look at him. A small group was standing by the Nativity scene contemplating the manger in total silence. The priest recovered quickly and in a loud voice asked them how did they get in? Nobody answered. He walked closer t them and asked again who let them in? A woman answered totally unconcerned: "Strange things happen on the night of Christmas." And back to total silence. The priest when to check the main door and found it locked just as he had left it. He was now determined to get the facts and turned his face to the pews; but the pews were empty. The people had vanished. He kept this puzzle to himself for some time. Unable to hold it any longer, he told me just what I have told you. Could I help with any plausible explanation? Let me hurry to say that the priest in question is a model of sanity and is as well educated academically as mot of the priests I know, if not better. My explanation was and still is as follows: those were dead people who were doing their purgatory, or part of it, in the church. It is safe to assume that we atone for our sins where we committed them. Those people were immersed in total silence. Why? Consider the irreverences committed before the Blessed Sacrament; how many people act in church: chatting, giggling, and looking around. After Mass some people gather in small groups around the pews and turn the church into a market place with no regard for Christ's Real Presence in the Tabernacle. Why did they vanish? They did not vanish. They simply became invisible; but they remained tied to their pews unable to utter one single word to atone for their disrespectful chatter while living. The Blessed Sacrament is no laughing matter. There is a price tag to all we do or say. In the end it is God who get the last laugh - so to say. Those people had to give the Blessed Sacrament the adoration and respect that Christ deserves. For how long? Only God can answer that. Why did the priest see them? So he could pray for them and for all other poor souls detained in other churches. Why other priests do not see those people? Well, perhaps they already know in theory that souls can be detained in churches as well as anywhere else, so they do not need a miracle. Why were they clad in such poor clothes? To atone for their vanity while living. People often use clothes not so much to cover their nakedness but as a status symbol to impress others. But God is not impressed by, say, mink coats Also people walk into a church with hardly any clothes. In the summer months it is not unusual for people to go to receive Holy Communion in the most indecent clothing. The pastor may or may not put up with it; but God will have his day in court about this. Rage could be appropriate punishment for these excesses. Article submitted by Susan Tassone. |
