Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Friar I Met In My Dream

From Messenger of Saint Anthony comes this amazing story from a person visiting the recent exhibition of the reconstructed face of Saint Anthony:

Among the many thousands of people at the exhibition was ‘Danny’ (not his real name) who began to sweat profusely when he drew near the facial reconstruction. The personnel at the exhibition, seeing that Danny was unwell, invited him to sit down and offered him a glass of water. Danny sat down, drank a bit, and after a short pause asked to speak to a friar. By a happy coincidence our General Director, Fr. Giancarlo Zamengo, happened to be in a nearby cloister, and so Danny was able to speak to him.

“Fr. Giancarlo,” Danny began, “I have to tell you why I am feeling so flustered. A few years ago I was working on the power panel at my son’s factory when I was struck by a 380 volt electric bolt. I immediately passed out and was rushed to hospital. The only thing I remember is finding myself in a nice, warm place filled with light, and that I was perfectly at peace. At first no one seemed to be there beside me, but soon after I perceived a tall figure with a dark grey habit. He was smiling, and he placed his hand on my shoulder. “Danny,” the figure said to me, “you must go back to your loved ones, who are greatly worried about you. Your time has not yet come. Wake up!” At that precise moment I woke up and found myself lying on a hospital bed with my wife standing beside me.
“However, it is not the memory of this event that has troubled me, but the fact that the friar I met in my dream was the spitting image of the forensic reconstruction of St. Anthony’s face here at the exhibition. And I would like to add that I rarely forget people’s faces because I am a portrait painter, and I certainly never forgot the face I saw in that dream!”


Click here for the whole article~