Chapter 1 - Personal experiences in the field of spiritual apparitions

- 13 - 1.3 The confirmation of the truth But you have had the Holy Spirit poured out on you by Christ and so all of you know the truth. 1. John 2:20 Without taking the threatening consequences into consideration, I decided to select a number of people from my own parish, in order to organise the kind of meetings with them that I had attended to in a neighbouring town. But I didn’t know whom to select. Wasn’t I told that everything would fall into place once I was ready to do it? And this is how it happened. I didn’t have to go looking for these people, they were led to me in a most peculiar fashion without me lifting a finger. There was an ill woman in my parish who was partially paralysed. I visited her a number of times during the week. One of her sisters was married in my parish and she had for children aged 20 to 28 years of age: Three sons and one daughter. I sat in conversation with the ill woman one evening. A son of her sister came by to ask whether his mother was here. He was told that his mother had been here, but that she had gone way again to deal with some busines or other and that she would return in a few minutes. The son sat himself down to wait for his mother. It wasn’t long before the mother returned and the other two sons arrived almost at the same time wanting to collect their brother. They had arranged with comrades to meet that evening at a specific family’s place. The daughter also entered the room a few minutes later. She was a nurse and she wanted to ask me whether a vigil for a patient was necessary. So, there we were seven people assembled together. One of the sons suddenly mentioned my sermon from last Sunday. I had cited a chapter from the Bible that was completely unknown to them. I explained these specific passages from the Holy Scriptures to those sitting around me in detail. They all listened with the greatest mindfulness. When I had finished my explanations, one of the sons said that he would be happy if he had an opportunity to receive elucidations about many things from the Bible more often. I volunteered that I would be more than pleased to assemble here at their ill aunt’s place in order to answer the questions they would present to me. This is how the early Christians had assembled at their homes to discuss religious subject together. Those present joyfully agreed with my suggestion and we immediately set a time and date for these meetings. We had already gathered together for a number of evenings where nothing extraordinary had happened. We began our “meetings” with a prayer. We then devoted a few minutes to silent inner contemplation whilst holding hands. Recitals from the Holy Scripture followed by discussions and explanations about what had been read ensued, as well as answering the questions put by those present. We also contemplated how we could bring help to the needy in our proximity or those further afield. The utter seriousness of how the three brothers in particular dealt with the situation surprised me. Something curious not only caught my attention, but also their mother’s attention: The facial expressions of the three young men changed to become nobler and more beautiful. Even strangers noticed this. One of the three also admitted that he didn’t actually know what was happening inside of him. When he was working out in the fields, an INNER VOICE constantly reminded him to laud and to praise God. Such thoughts had never entered his mind before. And when he allowed his irascible temperament to end up in a flash of anger, he found that it immediately affected his mind to such a degree that he had to interrupt his work and ask God for forgiveness for the trespass he

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