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Friday, November 21, 2008

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!

13 comments:

Lillian Marie said...

With my dream a couple months ago regarding the Most Precious Blood and now you with the Most Holy Eucharist - I have a feeling this may be what is to come. I pray not. But we must be prepared to defend the Church.

Anonymous said...

From what I have read on Catholic blogs your dream is not far from the reality that happens in some parishes. At my own, while not this bad, I have seen the Eucharsit dropped, thrown around like poker chips on the altar and a couple of weeks ago, placed in the front shirt pocket by our "praise band" drummer.
I see things getting worse in some parishes and better in others. I forsee this continuing and leading to a split in the Church, the "Amchurch" of diversity, tolerance and sacrilege versus the true Church of tradition, acknowledgment of sin and reverence. I think God has shaken the fence within our Church and in society in general. This past election may have signaled the end of the shaking and the begining of persecution and purging. We need to pray and intercede for friends and family that they might end up on the right side with the true Church and not with the "Amchurch" and their communion meal symbology.

Anonymous said...

Or...it could just be a dream with no prophetic significance whatsoever.

I think we need to be careful about ascribing meaning to these things; too easy to get paranoid that way.

I've been in "bad" parishes, and certainly the elements of my dream could already be happening there. I have seen laity self-communicate and I know of "liturgical dancing", and certainly, a priest could be mentally ill or even diabetic. (For example...if I witnessed an otherwise-orthodox priest suddenly begin doing weird things the FIRST thing I would question is whether he is diabetic!)

But it's true sides are being or have been chosen. Myself...I am going with 2000+ years of solid authority. That's where the signs of credibility are, and that's where life is.

Anonymous said...

The dream definitely shows your love for the Most Holy Eucharist and God.

Adoro said...

It made me want to go to Mass.

The Ironic Catholic said...

That's a loaded dream.

I'll pray for you today. I usually feel awful after dreams like that. And I agree with the LM comment.

Adoro said...

I do feel really weird today, and I DO love Jesus in the Eucharist! I have a special devotion to the Precious Blood but don't often receive it because I am prone to cold sores...and this is a REALLY BAD year for them for some reason...on my 4th now in only a month when I usually only get them a few times per year!

Adoro said...

Oh, yeah...and I can still hear the "crack!" sound!

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

May this dream never come to reality

Banshee said...

Creepy dream.

(Insert deep meaningful references to the gate of horn vs. the gate of ivory here.)

Don't let it trouble you too much. Creepy dreams like that tell us what's been bothering us, and can be useful in that way. Sometimes it's probably the work of spiritual nasties with nothing better to do than bug us. But usually it is just brainjunk.

Of course, it's possible that priest was inspired by that horrible Porta Ceili pun of mine, in which case I apologize.

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Adoro: You sneak! You had me. I agree that it seemed real to me, and the others who commented here, because we've seens reality close enough to your dream.

Adoro said...

Cathy ~ LOL..."sneak"? So apparently the title "Terrible Dreams" and the first line, "I had the weirdest dream last night" worked to throw you off and make you think it was real!

:-)

That's what I was going for...I aim to deceive!

Anonymous said...

Oh, dear ... Thank God it was only a dream. You know what, maybe if you say the prayer to St. Michael before you go to sleep, that dream (or anything like it) would never recur. Just a thought. It has been helpful for me in the past. I'll keep you in prayer - God bless,
Patricia Gonzalez