Terrible Dreams...

I had the weirdest dream last night.

A friend and I attended Mass together in a church we'd never been to before. All was well, and we got our first hint that something was wrong when the priest began to dance a little jig after the final blessing and before he processed down the aisle. Initially the deacon looked on, slightly embarassed, but then he danced a little, too, and finally the two left the altar.

For some reason, Communion was not distributed during the Mass, but afterwards, so as we left we were to go to Father or one of the Extraordinary Ministers who were stationed around much like they would have been in the front of the church.

My friend immediately went to the left to an Extraordinary Minister, while I went forward towards Father. There was no line, and I thought that odd.

He was holding a ciborium and the Blessed Sacrament in a large luna, which I thought to be very strange, wondering how and why he was doing this. But I bowed as usual, and I think he might have said "Body of Christ", but instead of picking up one of the consecrated hosts to hand to me, he just tilted the ciborum in my direction, inviting me to "pick one."

I was shocked and couldn't move. He just grinned insanely and shook the ciborium invitingly, until I stammered that I couldn't reach in and just "take one" because that was Jesus and it was completely improper for the laity to self-communicate.

I considered just walking away, but I couldn't seem to do that, either, realizing that this priest was actually just plain nuts and perhaps had no idea what he was doing. I wondered how he could otherwise have been so normal during Mass only to descend into this type of behavior afterwards.

He seemed upset by my unwillingness to approach the Sacred in the way he preferred, and finally seemed to relent. He picked up one of the hosts, and I began to feel a sense of relief, said, "Amen" and began to open my mouth to receive Our Lord.

He seemd both confused and angry by that so, realizing that I should just receive in the hand, I cupped my hands. Then, to my great chagrin, the mad priest, with great vehemence and anger THREW the host at me. I heard it crack and tried to catch it, and watched in horror as it went to the ground.

A couple others fell as well. I dove to the floor, crying out, "Oh, my Jesus!" and quickly consumed the host, realizing there were missing pieces, not knowing what to do, and realizing also that by my diving to the floor, I'd even shocked the priest and all the witnesses to this, feeling their disapproval. I think I just stayed on the floor, praying to know what to do next.

That's when I thankfully woke up to the real world.

I hope I never have another dream like that!