While kneeling to receive Communion, my brother James suddenly felt the presence of his recently deceased friend, for whom the Mass was being said, kneeling beside him. Then James asked the priest what he saw….
I was living in England with my younger brother James when we met an Anglican priest named Father George. Father George had psychic gifts. He was involved in the healing and counseling ministry, had the gift of second sight, could sometimes “read souls” and see spiritual realities invisible to the rest of us. Father George was confined to a wheelchair and had asked James to go with him to help conduct a parish mission.
While they were away on the parish mission, James got news that a college friend named Billy back in our native South Carolina had perished in a plane crash. Billy was a lively, athletic man in his early twenties. He was about five-foot with a broad, tanned face with lots of freckles, and an unruly shock of blond hair.
James was grieving for his friend, and told Father George that Billy was a Baptist who was away from the church and in a state of rebellion against God. This made James’ grief even more deeply felt. Father George suggested that they celebrate a Mass for the repose of Billy’s soul, and James agreed, although at this time James was an Evangelical Christian and unfamiliar with—and indeed suspicious of—such things as a Requiem Mass.
Nevertheless, Father George asked a fellow priest, Father Christopher to conduct a private Mass for the repose of Billy’s soul. So the three of them went into Father Christopher’s church, locked the door, and proceeded to the side chapel to celebrate the Mass. At the corner of the side chapel, the church opened to the chancel and East end. At the corner was a raised pulpit with four steps leading up to it from the side chapel.
When it came time for James to receive Communion he went forward and knelt at the altar rail, but he was overcome with quiet weeping—not only in grief, but also because he felt the presence of his friend Billy kneeling next to him.
After the Mass, James, Father Christopher, and Father George discussed what had happened.
James said, “I was weeping because I felt Billy was there next to me. I received Communion for him.”
“Yes. I saw him,” said Father George.
“What do you mean you saw him?” James asked.
“At Communion, a young man, I’d say in his early twenties, came up from the back of the church and knelt next to you.”
“But the door was locked.” James said.
“I know what I saw.”
“What did he look like?” James asked.
“About five-foot tall. Big, round face with freckles, khaki pants, polo shirt, big shock of unruly blond hair. He was confused at first, not knowing what to do, so after looking around, he recognized you and knelt next to you. Then when you received Communion he was happy.”
“That’s exactly what Billy looked like!” James was astonished. “How did you know?”
Father George chuckled, “I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I saw.”
“So was he like… transparent—ghostly?” James asked.
“No. Solid and real. Just as solid and real as you are.”
“George is right,” Father Christopher said. “I didn’t see Billy, but I sensed his presence kneeling next to you.”
“What happened after Communion?”
“He went up the stairs into the pulpit and then into the morning light of the East window.”
This is a true story and one which raises some interesting questions. The skeptic will want to know if the two priests colluded together to hoax James. Both men were trustworthy, good priests. They would not only have had to hoax James, but do so to a vulnerable, grieving young man. They would also have had to devise some way of finding out personal details about Billy—a person neither of them knew.
Father George must have seen the spirit of Billy. Billy’s appearance was unusual, and Father George had never met Billy, nor had a description of him from James, nor seen a photograph.
Other questions arise: If it was Billy—who died in South Carolina—how did his spirit get to England and how did he know where to go? Why did Father George see Billy while James and Father Christopher could not? What are the protocols for contact with the dead? How do they communicate?
Some might be dubious on theological grounds. Wasn’t this necromancy? Isn’t that forbidden? Yes, it is forbidden, but it wasn’t necromancy because they did not intend to summon up the spirit of Billy. It just happened as part of the Requiem Mass.
Other questions persist. What was the point? Why did this happen in this way when similar things do not happen at other Requiem Masses—or do they, but no one talks about it for fear of being thought unwell?
Then there are the theological questions: The Mass for Billy’s soul would seem to have been efficacious inasmuch as Billy’s spirit—after a sudden violent death—was unquiet, and after he received Communion vicariously through James, he was at peace and went up into the light.
It would seem then that Billy, a Baptist, was open to receive Holy Communion (vicariously through James), and Father Christopher, an Anglican priest, celebrated a mass that was spiritually efficacious. If the reported experience aligns with reality on “the other side,” then those who tend to be exclusive in their understanding of the sacraments and church membership should, perhaps, be more flexible.
In Catholic terms, what was experienced was the reality of life after death, the efficacy of Requiem Masses for the repose of the departed, and a reminder of the importance of praying for All the Holy Souls.
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The featured image is “Jarkko Naas’s artwork inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s story The Haunter of the Dark.” This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
