This
apparently is a true story from Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble’s blog, Pursued by Truth about a priest who was robbed on the subway on Ash Wednesday. It’s really very funny, and the good Sister
has a nice Lenten reflection on it.
A Jesuit priest who used
to say Mass at our convent was on the subway making his way to visit his mother
on Ash Wednesday.
At one stop a young man
entered the subway car and told the priest to hand over his wallet. When the
priest explained that he did not have a wallet with him, the young man made him
empty his pockets.
The priest pulled out his
train pass, some change, and a little silver box. The young man demanded to
know what was inside the box.
The priest said, “Well, I
am a Catholic and it is Ash Wednesday so I am bringing some blessed ashes to
someone who is sick.”
The young man responded,
“Oh, I am Catholic, can I have some ashes?”
So the priest opened the
little box, said the prayer and traced the cross on the man’s forehead.
The young man left at the
next stop.
Read
Sister Theresa’s little homily on how we all feel like this thief, here.
