Christ with Us!

After the visit of Canon Andrew White (the Vicar of Baghdad), father David shared an amazing story with us, in his sermon: Andrew White reported that Christ has been appearing to Muslims in Iraq! On one of these occasions Christ had revealed himself as a figure dressed in white at the bedside of an I.S. commander and ‘had called him to follow Him’. The I.S. commander – not being able to resist this call – has become a Christian!

I am so impressed by this story that I tell ‘everyone’ about it. So also to one of my friends during a lunch date. And then she (my friend) came up with a similarly amazing story:Cross

Some years ago she walked into the chapel of the Virgin Mary, in the Sint Augustinus Church in Utrecht, to just ‘sit there quietly for a while’. My friend was not a church goer, nor had she received a religious upbringing. While sitting in this chapel she pondered about the meaning of life, God, Jesus, and then she heard herself asking out loud: “Jesus, if you really exist, how can that become clear to me?” And at that very moment she suddenly felt a sturdy pressure on her chest and back – as if two hands had been placed there, pushing – and her tears started to flow. She cried about her life, her mistakes, her fears, her doubts, but also – with immense gratitude – about this miracle taking place; she cried and cried and cried. When the tears subsided she knew: “This pressure was the touch of Christ. He has made His presence known to me. He is with me, alive and real.”

Following that encounter she started on an Alpha course and was baptised.

These experiences are so uplifting: Christ is with us! Here and now! And if we call on Him, He will answer!

Madeleine de Boer