She Wanted Him to Leave Right Away
Before Father Anthony entered the seminary, he dated a girl named Carrie in Pittsburgh. He was getting more and more involved in his parish and this caused some friction. They were partially broken up at the time of this story.
Early one Saturday morning, Anthony was engaged in Eucharistic adoration. It was about 1:45 a.m. A lot of noise began to come from the back of the church. He turned and saw that it was Carrie. She sat in the pew behind him. This was very unusual for her. She said, “Come with me, I have to talk with you, I am very upset.” He replied that he would soon, but she would have to wait until 2:00 a.m., when the next adorer arrived. It was not appropriate to leave the Lord alone.
She then began to scream and got even more upset. For eight minutes, she railed that he did not love her and other similar things. She never would look directly at Anthony and when he moved toward her, to offer some comfort, she repeatedly backed away. Although there were only a few minutes remaining before he could go with her, she suddenly left.
The next adorer arrived two minutes early and Anthony quickly left himself. He drove to his home, which was only half a mile away. He knew Carrie lived six miles away and would not have had a chance to get there yet, but he called her anyway. He intended to leave her a message. To his surprise, Carrie answered the phone when he called.
She sounded like she was being aroused from a sleep and, when he explained the reason for his call, she replied that she had no idea what he was talking about. She explained that she had been out with some girlfriends the night before, but they had all gone home early. She had been in bed since 10:00 and had not gone anywhere.
There was much of this experience that had not made sense to Anthony at the time. Why did Carrie not look at him in the church; why had she kept backing away when he approached? Also, why was she so insistent he leave with her right away, when to do so would have been an act of great disrespect for the Lord?
He has often wondered when he had been visited by the devil that night.
If this was a work of his imagination, would he have imagined Carrie doing the things she did, things that surprised even him? That is a possibility.
Also to be noted is that Anthony had been instrumental in having Eucharistic adoration started at his church. He was immersed in a journey that eventually led to the priesthood. If the devil was to pick a time for visiting him, this was an opportune one.
This Christmas Eve, we are well aware there is a good deal of malevolent behavior in the world. Many recent events in the news speak of man’s inhumanity to man. Like Father Anthony, however, we have a Real Presence to which we can turn, a Presence here among us now because of the night, so long ago, when He first came to be among us.
Adapted from: Proctor, Sister Patricia, O.S.C., 201 Inspirational Stories of the Eucharist (Spokane, Washington, Francisan Monastery of Saint Clare, 2004) p. 24.