The Choir Room
My local Catholic Church
The Associate Pastor was the priest for morning mass
Date of event: November 20, 2009
As best as I can remember, these are the events of morning mass during Holy Communion in the choir room at my local Catholic Church November 20, 2009. Morning Mass was being said in the choir room due to the work being done in the main church.
Weekday morning mass is about 30 minutes. As best as I can remember, there were about 15 attending the mass.
The priest prayed on the altar the Roman Catholic Transubstantiation Prayers in preparation for Holy Communion,
“Take this all of you and eat of it,
for this is my body which has been given up for you,
Take this all of you and drink of it for this is my blood.”
During this prayer process, the holy bread host and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
After 2000 years of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Roman Catholics continue to go to mass to receive Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, to provide special nourishment and food for their soul in holy worship to God all mighty and the Son of God Jesus Christ.
Many Catholics may say I go to mass to receive Holy Communion. Holy Communion is about half way through the Catholic mass. Other prayers are said, readings from the Holy Bible are read and may be some singing during the Catholic worship service.
About halfway into the mass, the Transubstantiation Prayers are read and a line is formed to receive the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The priest stands in front of the church alter and the parishioners line up in front of the priest to receive the Blessed Sacrament Holy Communion. Before receiving the Body of Christ, the parishioner stands in front of the priest and blessing himself with the Sign of the Cross, touches his forehead, his heart, his left shoulder then is right shoulder while the parishioner states the following . . .
“In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit”
The parishioner will then hold his hand out in front of the priest to receive the Blessed Sacrament. The priest will then place his hand into the chalice and picks up a Blessed Sacrament host and while placing the Blessed Sacrament into the parishioner hand the priest will say the words . . .
“The Body of Christ”
Then the parishioner responds by saying …
“Amen"
and places the Blessed Sacrament in his month for food for his soul.
As the parishioner is leaving and returning to his seat he blesses himself again,
“In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit . . . “
Roman Catholics are allowed to receive the Holy Communion Blessed Sacrament providing their soul is free of sin. If it is not, you go to Roman Catholic Confession to confess your sins and ask God for forgiveness.
Before November 20, 2009 I had sinned and I did not make it to confession therefore I could not receive the Blessed Sacrament. However, as a Catholic I could go to Holy Communion and instead of asking for the Blessed Sacrament, I could ask for a blessing. This is what I did.
During Holy Communion and standing in line then getting in front of the priest, instead of holding out my hand to receive the Blessed Sacrament, I placed two fingers of the right hand over the lips of my month. The priest with this right hand replaces the Blessed Sacrament that he picked up for me and puts it back into the chalice to free up his right hand that he will use for me to receive the blessing. With me standing in front of the priest with him about 2 or 3 feet from me, with the priest using his right hand and makes the Sign of the Cross he stated,
“In the name of Jesus Christ,
I bless you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Amen . . . “
From the time the priest said “ Jesus “ to the time the priest said “ Amen “ was about eight or nine seconds.
THESE EIGHT OR NINE SECONDS CHANGED MY LIFE!!!!
With unconfessed sin on my soul, I stood Face to Face with the Holy Spirt for about eight or nine seconds. In the following words, I will try my best to remember and describe to you the following events.
From the word Jesus,
Immediately, a major change had happened. I instantly noticed a great change had taken place. I noticed that the priest and I were the only ones in the room. But the others had to be in the room. What was going on? It cannot be. How could this be? What happened?
From the word Jesus,
Immediately, I felt that there was a change in MY atmospheric pressure all over my body from my head, face, chest, shoulders, legs, arms, feet, all over my body by several pounds of pressure. It felt like a least 10 to 15 pounds of pressure all over my body.
From head to toe, pressure all over my body creating a definite resistance to move my body in any direction. I could move. However, to move I had this intense resistance pressing against me.
From the word Jesus,
Instantly, my eyes were aching a lot and it was difficult for me to see. The feeling in my eyes went from a very normal feeling to an aching feeling and the kind you feel after reading all day. It was difficult and I felt resistance to move my eyes from side to side. However, I could and I did and was amazed at what I saw.
From the word Jesus,
My vision of the choir room had changed. I realized that I was in the choir room. However, my vision from side to side and what I could see had changed. I could not see the person to my right or my left. There was some kind of cloudy visual obstruction to my immediate left and to my immediate right. There was lots of pressure resistance moving my eyes to the left and right. Moving my eyes from left to right, my eyes ached a lot so I felt that I was not and should not do this. So, I stopped to pay attention to the priest and his Blessing to me.
From the word Jesus,
Looking beyond the priest, and behind him in the choir room, the altar was clearly visible and seemed clearly intended to be visible because of the following. Everything to the right of the altar and everything to the left of the altar and everything behind the altar had this visual cloudy obstruction and was impossible to see and make out as if it wasn’t even there.
From the word Jesus,
During this experience, this atmospheric pressure I felt all over my body created a movement resistance I have never felt before. During the blessing, a pressured response reacted to my movements and acted as if it did not want me to move at all. As best as I can describe, it felt like an ever changing highly dynamic and variable pressurized invisible bedsheet covering my entire body from head to foot. If I move my head and shoulder to the left to look, the feeling I got was this bed sheet was pulling my head and shoulder equally back in a variable 2-to-5-pound resistance in the opposite direction. If I move both shoulders toward the priest, the response was a variable 2-to-5-pound resistance in the opposite direction to move be back away from the priest.
The unspoken message seems to be, “Do not get close to the priest … Stay where you are. Pay attention to the blessing … STOP MOVING AROUND … Amazed and fascinated I tried other movements with my legs and this same resistance was felt over my entire physical body during the event. My personal intent was to try and experience this and try to understand …. WHAT WAS GOING ON. As I moved, the bedsheet moved me back.
This experience continued until the priest said, Amen.
In about 8 or 9 seconds this experience was over. Once the priest said Amen, this experience immediately ended and I was back to normality. The atmospheric pressure during the event was gone and vision was back. The choir room appearance was immediately back the way it was prior to the event. The bedsheet resistance was gone. From one second to the next the total environment had changed.
My immediate feeling was that the Holy Spirit was between me and the priest. My feeling was I stood face to face with the Holy Spirit during the blessing.
I remember, I was very emotional. I felt all my strength was gone and it took whatever strength I had left just to stand up. It was a physical struggle for me to get from standing in front of the priest back to my chair.
I remember leaning up against the wall and leaning up against the chairs in the choir room to stand up because I did not have the physical strength. Making it back to my chair I sat down to try to get my strength back and by that time, the mass was over and people were leaving.
I was the last one to leave the choir room and I was very weak and had to lean up against the wall to make it to the hallway where the priest was saying good bye to all. As I approached the priest and as I could barely stand, I said to him,
“Something happened in there . . . something happened in there . . .”
In the days that passed after the event, I felt a tremendous sense of PEACE that I never felt before or since. As the days went by, I felt this tremendous sense of PEACE was leaving me and I may never get it back and never did.
Normally, when I get pissed off and angry, I cuss and swear and sometimes a lot. I know all the four-letter words and I use them often depending on just how pissed off and angry I get.
During these five or six days after the event, I had noticed that without any effort on my part, the cursing and swearing had stopped. The tremendous sense of PEACE I received from the Holy Spirit, I believe caused me to stop cussing and that was amazing to me.
So,
Why did this happen to me?
I am not a pope. I am not a cardinal. I am not a bishop. I am not a monsignor. I am not a priest. I am not a deacon. I am not a friar. I am not a monk.
I am not a saint. I am not a mystic. I am not a holy person.
I am a sinner.
Maybe that is why. I am a sinner who ask God for forgiveness and his blessing. Maybe that is why.
For the last several years, these events have been my personal story. This has been my private story. These events have been no one’s business but my own. I will soon be 72 years old and I have decided to publish these events on the internet for all to see as they wish.
I must admit, my intended audience is not Roman Catholics or even other Christians. I must admit my intended audience are those who do not believe in God. My intended audience is the atheist. Those who say there is no such thing as Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Holy Spirit or God himself. My message to the atheist is simply the following:
1. God is real.
2. The Holy Spirit is real.
3. Jesus Christ is alive today.
Therefore, I say to you,
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God be with you, and rain down upon you and bless you every day, In name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit.
Michael