December 14, 2016

Angela

Deacon Joe went to see Angela. Angela had been sick. Her father was unemployed and had no medical insurance. So, he told Angela to pray. For six days, she did that but got continually worse. Finally, her eyes rolled back into her head and she became comatose. An ambulance was called and she was taken to the hospital. She was in surgery for six hours. Afterwards, her first words were “Bring me Jesus.” That was when Angela’s father called Deacon Joe.

When he arrived at the hospital, he found her in bed with one tube in her arm and another into her stomach. The stomach tube was filled with fluid that was dark brown, almost black in color. Deacon Joe was about to place a small piece of a consecrated Host on her tongue when a nurse interrupted. She identified herself as a Catholic and said he could not put the Holy Eucharist into the foulness in her stomach.

Deacon Joe then decided upon an alternative. He knew that the Church recognizes the practice of making a spiritual communion. It is an act whereby a person ardently desires to be with Christ. Often, a person prays for union with Him to a degree that is, as much as possible, the same as that which is experienced when He is actually received in the Blessed Sacrament.

So, Deacon Joe asked Angela if she wanted to receive the Eucharist and she said she did. He told her, then, to just say “Amen” after he finished a short prayer. He then recited the Spiritual Communion of St. Ignatius Loyola. After he finished, though quite weak, Angela managed to say an “Amen.” Deacon Joe then raised the Host and said, “Angela, receive the body of Christ, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. May Our Lord Jesus come to you and heal you in heart and body and soul…”

Deacon Joe returned to his home and, fifteen minutes later, received a telephone call. Tony was on the other end. He said that right after Deacon Joe left, the fluid in Angela’s stomach tube changed to a clear color. Angela sat up in bed and called for the nurse. The tube was removed and then she went to every room in the children’s ward, saying, “Look how much Jesus loves me. He healed me and He will heal you too, if you ask Him.”

Source: Proctor, Sr. Patricia, OSC, 201 Inspirational Stories of the Eucharist (Spokane, Washington, The Franciscan Monastery of St. Clare, 2004) p. 210-211.

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