As I was standing at the altar and my hands were cold I began to rub them whilst singing the various parts of the liturgy. Sometimes I tuck them under the front of the vestments and try to steal some heat. But then something really weird happened that has never happened to me before.
If you are unfamiliar with the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom about 2/3rds of the way through we have consecration of the Holy Gifts. The priest recites the words, “and make this bread to be the precious body of the Your Christ, and that which is in this cup to be the Precious Blood of Your Christ, changing then both by the power of the Holy Spirit.” My congregation is singing a little tune at this point so often times they do not hear this. Whilst the priest is saying these words he makes a cross over each of the elements. Right at that point my hands became hot, I mean hot, not warm, but hot! After the last blessing of that part of the Liturgy my hands did cool a little but they stayed warm for the rest of the Liturgy.
So I ask the priests that read this blog, has this ever happened to you? To others, the Liturgy Geeks of your out there, any thoughts on this?
Would I be making too bold a statement if I were to say that perhaps the Holy Spirit was warming your hands by making His Presence known?
I know – there are people, including clergy, that would maybe scoff at that. However, considering where you were, what you were doing, and when you were there, it sure makes me think that there is something to that….
Besides, isn’t the Orthodox view on the Real Presence the same as that of Catholics?
God works in strange ways.We have all had wonderous things like this happen to us,unexplainable mysterious things.But faith makes us understand that this is the hand of God at work and these things help keep us faithful.Besides we are God’s children so why would he not choose to touch us in special ways.linda
Tongues of fire over the heads of the apostles, were seen by many and recorded in the bible, who would believe that? Yet as extraordinary as that was,it happened. People are skeptical about modern day occurrences such as yours. But, ultimately we are all about mysteries and the unexplained. That’s the gospel truth.