Bishop Sheen tells this story...
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Bishop Sheen tells this story of deliverance and hope in his daily devotional book. A priest who was in the German prison camp in Dachau describes the Mass after all the German guards were in bed. He said, "Our lives were in danger if we were discovered. A young priest had to memorize the names of all those who had received communion, but it was forbidden for us to gather in groups for prayer. After night call and bed check, we would set our guards, darken the windows, and the lucky one chosen to celebrate for this momentous occasion would carefully brush his pathetic prison garb, put the stole over his shoulders, and by the small light of his smuggled candle begin the commemoration of that other great passion of which our way was the physical continuation. "We would understand the Mass. All that could crowd into the room were there, tears of joy running down our cheeks. Christ the Lord knew what suffering was, was coming to suffer with us, to bring us strength and consolation. "The small hosts were broken into as many particles as possible so the greatest number could communicate. We had to keep a secret roster of those who received. We missed some of the liturgy perhaps, but I think God looked down into that prison room and found a particularly refreshing response to his cry of love from the cross, 'I thirst.' There was nothing that could keep us from doing all in our power to be closer to God." -- Joseph
