December 13, 2015

Not For Her

On Easter, 1990, Kathleen Ellerston attended Mass in a strange community. Her husband was in the military and they had recently moved. He was not with her that day. She was alone. She also felt perhaps somewhat self-conscious. She was wearing a scarf over her head, to cover the baldness cause by her chemotherapy treatments.

Over the past several months, a lot had been going on. Besides her cancer battle, she had become aware of His Real Presence during eucharistic adoration. Masses had become alive for her, She had been fasting and praying during Lent, which made it her “best ever.”

This particular Mass, on Easter, capped it off. During the consecration, when the Host was raised, she saw the “living face of the crucified Christ” in it. Then she interiorly heard something odd, “not for you.” Then, the face disappeared.

After Mass had concluded, she approached the priest and told him her story. The priest told her that he knew the meaning of what she had heard.
Earlier that week, another person had approached this priest and also spoke of seeing Christ in the Host. Her vision, and the message she received, served as confirmation for this other person that the spectacle witnessed earlier had in fact been true.

Of course, it also served to reaffirm her faith.

And by her telling this story, it can now also help others. For if she had imagined this vision, how unlikely for her to also imagine a voice denying her own significance in regard to it.

Adapted from Proctor, Sister Patricia, O.S.C., 201 Inspirational Stories of the Eucharist (Spokane, Washington, Francisan Monastery of Saint Clare, 2004) p. 209.

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