Have you been following this story? Over the last week or so, first among Catholic news services, and then in the national media as well, people have been speculating as to the identity of the mystery priest in Missouri. As described here, apparently a woman was in a serious car accident in that state and was trapped in the wreckage. Rescue workers attended to her, attempting to extricate her, but without much success. Soon, her vital signs began to fail. Around the same time, a priest appeared who prayed with the woman, anointed her, and then left. The emergency personnel were subsequently able to free the woman, and when they turned around to thank the priest, he was not to be found.
Several things about the incident seemed to suggest a supernatural explanation. For one, the highway was blocked for a quarter mile or so in both directions, and no one rememebered walking up or walking away. Descriptions of the priest's words and of his appearance varied from person to person, and despite the dozens of photographs that were taken at the scene, none contained a picture of him. Beginning with the woman and her family, words like "angel" began to be tossed around. Days passed and the speculation increased. Some believed that it was a holy priest who was able to bilocate from some other location to be present in the moment of need. Others thought it could have been an apparition of a long-dead priest who was invoked through prayer. Some even said there was no priest at all, but merely some spiritual (or hysterical) experience shared by all present.
Then, this morning, the flesh-and-blood priest who was at the scene came forward. He was born in Ireland, is a priest of the Diocese of Jefferson City, and was returning from celebrating Mass in a nearby town, filling in for another priest. While certainly the priest was doing the Lord's work -- his presence brought calm to the situation, he administered the sacraments of reconciliation and anointing to the young woman, and his prayers very likely aided her rescue -- the true story seems fairly commonplace, even plain, when compared to the hypotheses of ghosts and guardian angels.
Viktor Vasnetsov, Eucharist (1911)
And yet, for precisely that reason, this story is even more important for us. Why? Because this kind of thing happens every day. Every hour of every day people are in dire situations -- physically, emotionally, spiritually -- and it is to them that Jesus the Savior comes. In and through his priests, he meets them sacramentally, forgiving their sins, comforting them in their pain and fear, or feeding them with his own Body and Blood. Miraculous stories of mysterious priests catch our attention, but how attentive are we to the true miraculous mysteries that are present among us each and every day? What greater miracles do we have or do we need than the sacraments, where we encounter Christ and his grace in a real and unmistakable way?
The mystery priest may no longer be a mystery, but in a sense, we should be all the more grateful at the way the story turned out. Nothing overly miraculous or amazing happened -- but, precisely for that reason, we were reminded again of the amazing miracles that God performs among us each and every day and to which we are so often blind. Through prayer, through the guidance of his ministers, and especially in and through the transformative power of the sacraments, God is working real miracles. Are we paying attention?
No comments:
Post a Comment