The Blood of Jesus

From time to time Jesuit Brother Philip would tell a religious story to the class or he would pontificate on the sufferings of Jesus.....

Poor Jesus. He was crucified, put to death on that horrible cross; blood all over him, blood on his hands, blood dripping from his wounds, from his head because of his crown of thorns, blood from his feet, blood from his side. It was precious blood. The Blood of Jesus. And Brother Philip used to go on and on about it. Brother Philip said Jesus shed so much blood that when the Roman soldier thrust the spear into the side of Jesus there was no more blood. Jesus had given all his blood and had no more to give; so, water flowed forth. From out of the side wound of Jesus flowed water. Jesus shed his most precious blood for our sins, and from the side wound of Jesus, after giving all his blood, he gave water. Healing water from Jesus.

Most probably Brother Philip couldn't let pass an opportunity without giving a little story about the blood of Jesus; so, as we students were winding down in the last class of the day, Brother Philip told the following story:

The Blood of Jesus

"A man entered a Catholic church. He was a non-believer. He had heard about the bread of the Eucharist,.....that Jesus is within it. He wanted to see for himself....so,....during Communion, he went to the altar rail---the priest not knowing that the man didn't belong to the church, gave him the Eucharistic Bread. On the way back to his pew the man bowed his head and made a pretense of crying. As if he was contrite. He was not. He was acting. They were false tears."

"From out of his pocket, the man took a handkerchief and pretended he was going to wipe at his tears: but, as he put the handkerchief to his face, he placed the communion bread into the handkerchief and then put it back into his pocket."

"At the end of the Mass the man left the church, not speaking to anyone because he didn't belong to the church. When he got home he took the handkerchief from out of his pocket..."

At this point in the story, Brother Philip very slowly lifted his hand from his desk. He had his thumb and index finger together and slowly lifting...it was as if he was holding something he was afraid to touch, as if it were something incomprehensible. His face was one of shock; and, continuing to lift his hand, he held it out before him for all the class to see. It was as if he were holding the handkerchief and was showing it to the class. At the same time it was the posture a priest would use in holding the Bread of Jesus, holding it between thumb and index finger. Brother's facial expression went from shock to sadness, and he solemnly announced to the class...

"The handkerchief was soaked in blood! It was the Blood of Jesus! It was Jesus who had changed the bread into his most precious blood. When the miracle happened, it convinced the non-believer: Indeed! The communion bread is the Body and Blood of Christ."

I questioned Brother Philip because he had mostly directed the story at me and I wanted some letup. "How do we know that to be true?" I asked. "How did you come to know of the man's wrongdoing?"

Brother responded, "The non-believer, seeing that the bread had turned into the blood of Jesus, had returned to the church and sought forgiveness from the priest. The man became a Catholic and had his confession heard. The priest forgave him and he was saved."

It was that simple. The man returned to the church. He sought forgiveness from the priest. And! He had his confession heard! What could be more simple? How could I have doubted the word of Brother Philip? How could I have?

The Man in Hell

Now that my objective was known I became the sounding board. Jesuit Brother Bill made it his mission to tell me religious story after religious story. He did this in one of his afternoon classes. He would tell the whole class, but I believe most of it was directed at me, me the wayward catholic, for I hadn't been to confession in years, and that, believe me is something different in a catholic boys school.

This is a religious story as told by Jesuit Brother Bill. I call it "The Man in Hell" aka "Not One Drop of Water".

As Jesuit Brother Bill would tell the story he would take on the personifications of the main characters, using facial expressions and arm and hand gestures, using them as the story required.

"The Man in Hell"

The man lived an openly sinful life. He had all the pleasures of life and cared not for others. The man died well into his old age, not giving up his evil ways.

While the man was living, Jesus was all forgiving; but, now.....now the man was dead he would be judged. It was now that Jesus would be all judgemental. There would be no forgiveness.

Because the man had lived a flagrantly sinful life he was sent down to hell where it was unbearably hot. The heat was relentless. It would be forever. The man's lips were parched and cracked from dryness. His mouth and throat was like sand.

From the depths of hell the man looked upward. High above he could see those who had been saved. Those people who had lived good lives. They who had gone to church and received the sacraments. They were now in heaven.

The man cried for mercy. He pleaded for water. 'Water! Water!' he cried, and he opened his mouth hoping for one drop of water. But his cries fell upon deaf ears. 'There would be no mercy.'

From his desk Jesuit Brother Bill takes on the outward appearance of the condemned man. His face pleads. He partially opens his mouth and demonstrates how the condemned man, deep in the bowels of hell wishes only for a drop of water to quench his unbearable thirst. With mouth partly open, Jesuit Brother Bill slowly pushes out his fat tongue, it coming to rest upon his lower lip. His eyelids are half closed. It looks as if Jesuit Brother Bill is about to receive communion. Not a communion of bread, but of water. Water from Jesus.

"The man pleads, 'Please! Water! Mercy!' but there would be no forgiveness. Not now."

Jesuit Brother Bill holds out his hand toward me, as if I am to remain where I am seated. It is the same posturing hand are movement used when the mad bastard priest had cursed me!.....Stop! remain where you are!.....Then Jesuit Brother Bill slowly moves his hand and points to his forehead. Again! It is the same as when I had been cursed.....the vile bastard curse of the kiss upon the forehead......Jesuit Brother Bill knows I had been cursed by the mad bastard priest, and covertly he is telling me, "there will be no forgiveness! Not now! Now you will be like the man in hell, begging for Jesus to forgive, pleading for His mercy. Now that you have refused confession. Now that you have refused the sacrament. Now that you are remaining a sinner. It is now that the curse of the priest will come full force. Now!" That is what he is telling me. That is what the fat bastard is saying; yet, no one in the class is aware of the hidden meaning between the speaker and I....those vile pervert subtle bastards.

Not one drop of water was to touch this man. Jesus was no longer all merciful. Now He would be all judgmental.

The man cries, 'Water.....please.....water!' but Jesus wouldn't allow it.

The man recognizes his fate and makes a different plea. He asks Jesus to allow him to return to earth, only for a moment. He must warn his relatives.....his family and friends. He must warn them. Beware! Do not lead a sinful life. You will go to hell where it will be unbearably hot. And it will be forever. For all eternity. With hot unbearable heat. A dry desert heat with no water. Go to church. Lead a saintly life. You will be richly rewarded. Beware of the sinful pleasures of life.

Yes, that is what he must do. He must go back and warn those who do not know of the terrible fate that awaits them.

But Jesus wouldn't let the man return to earth. 'Those on earth must learn for themselves.'

This religious story will become useful and will become part of an exercise I will give to people in the future. If people are to do the exercise and strike the pose of the 'Man in Hell', mouth open, pleading, tongue hanging out. That is the pose. It is the pose of a man in hell, and not one drop of water is to touch that person.

Do that pose in an exercise and you will obtain 'center stage'. But that is for the future and will take a little more explaining.

Let Them Eat Cake

At this juncture in time I was at the beginning of my junior year. From my brief conversations I had with the Jesuit faculty it became apparent I had one goal. To get out of the school. I had already done almost four years, from the seventh grade through the sophomore year. I had two years to do. I believe the information was relayed to the mad bastard priest who cursed me. I guess he flipped out.

For shortly afterwards, a story circulated and came back at me a couple of times. It seems a priest had consecrated a truckload of bread. The church was notified and bought the whole truckload and disposed of the consecrated bread as best they could. But the story points to a mad priest, a priest mad enough to consecrate a truckload of bread. It indicates mental instability, but no, I was told the story by Jesuit Brother Philip and he forlornly implied that I was the one to blame for having this poor poor distraught priest consecrate a truckload of bread.

I have to clarify the situation. The mad bastard priest who cursed me had plans for me. He wanted me to enter the religious life. He wanted me to take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He wanted me to sacrifice my life and offer it to the church, Jesus and God almighty. That's what he wanted. Me! I wanted to live my life as anybody else would. For me to pervert my life and take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience was absurd. So I'm thinking that the mad bastard priest now knowing my plans of my coming graduation and eventual freedom set him off. He explodes and in anger goes and consecrates a truckload of bread.

My father had a bar on the main street in town. The trouble making bastards of the church would go there and bend my fathers ear.

This one day two grim bastards of the church were in my fathers bar and obviously had been talking about the incident of the mad priest consecrating the truckload of bread. My father tried to make light of the situation. About this time I had walked into the bar to say hi, hello, goodbye. But dad called me to where he was conversing with the two grim church people. He had a story to tell me. The story was about the queen who had asked what was the matter, the people were gathering outside the castle. "Why are they upset?" asks the queen. "The people, they have no bread to eat." The queen says, "Let them eat cake."

And my father laughs at the end of the so called joke. I manage a short laugh just to side with him. The two grim church men are not amused.

But the point was made. A mad bastard priest had consecrated a truckload of bread causing a scandal. The church steps in and buys the truckload of bread. Thus, "The people, they have no bread to eat." and the mad bastard priest could easily have said "Let them eat cake."