Chapter 1

The television reporter began the interview by asking Joshua to tell his story in his own words. Joshua smiled knowlingly, as he had been through this process before. And so he began relating the following amazing story:

"I had wanted to be a priest ever since I was a little boy and saw the inside of our neighborhood church. Even my name, Joshua Michael Johns, was given to me in honor of the saints of the Bible. Every time I knelt before the beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin, I felt drawn to God, with a desire to give my life completely to Him by saying Mass and serving the people of God. Everyone agreed that this was my calling, and when the time was right, this should be my vocation. However, for some reason, I kept putting it off. And now, here I was, thirty years of age, and still without Holy Orders.

But today, as never before, I was feeling the power of God drawing me to the priesthood. And for some reason, I got the feeling that time was running out, and that, if I didn't act soon, the priestly vocation would slip away from me forever. I had been regularly spending time in prayer for many years, and had recently noticed a change in the quality of my relationship with Almighty God. My practice had always been to sit in silence before a crucifix, meditating on Our Savior’s life and the great act of love and sacrifice he offered up for me and for all of mankind. Most recently, however, I found that I could no longer form thoughts or images while at prayer. Rather, I found myself drawn to let the Holy Spirit of God fill my soul with a generalized, sweet, loving presence. In this manner, I began to spend long periods in prayer with no consciousness of the passing of time. The thought often came to me that this might be the beginning of the gift of “contemplative prayer.”

It so happened that I discussed this very matter with a stranger I sat next to while riding the train into town one day. The stranger was a large, sad, dark complexioned man, somewhere in his mid-sixties, who seemed to be able to see into my soul whenever he looked at me with his dark, penetrating glance. He asked me about my line of work. I told him that I intended to become a priest, and that the work I was now doing was internet web design, and that it was just a way for me to make a living until I entered the seminary. For some reason, the conversation turned to the importance of prayer in my life, and that it recently seemed to be drawing me closer to God and a priestly vocation in a new, very intimate and satisfying manner.

The stranger’s reaction to my choice of vocation, and his feigned friendly interest in my prayer life, could not hide his feelings of disgust for what I had told him, nor the contempt he seemed to feel for the priesthood. He said that it was a shame to see young men like myself wasting their God-given talents in pursuit of other-worldly, spiritual dreams, when they were desperately needed in the struggle to make “this” world a better place. He said he would like to discuss the matter at further length with me, but that he had to get off at the next station, and so, unfortunately, there was no time for such an interesting discussion. Then, as he got up to leave, he suggested that perhaps what I really needed was to find a love-interest, and that I should take a look at what the internet had to offer in regard to lovely young women available for romantic relationships with young men such as myself. Then, in the next moment, we arrived at his station and he was gone. I still had a long way to go, and fell asleep during the last portion of my trip, before the train arrived at my station.

Chapter 2

"While I was sleeping," Joshua continued, "I had what seemed to be a vision of spiritual evil designed to destroy me through the following terrifying events:

The large, sad, dark-complexioned man was completely under the control of his evil thoughts, as he walked down the street looking at the faces he hated, part of the race of beings populating planet earth. Here they were...the fleshy animals who claimed they were connected to divinity through the strange, contemptible man who had lived in Jerusalem and was known as "the Christ." He felt overwhelming contempt at the thought. He stared at a big man coming in his direction. The man stumbled as he confronted the evil in his gaze. He laughed to himself when he realized how easily these two-legged beasts could be overcome.

He had been sent to earth by the Great Leader of the Infinite Universe, commonly known as Satan, who promised him everlasting punishment, or everlasting glory if his mission was successfully completed. He recalled the exultation he felt when he was first informed that the Leader had ordered a private meeting with him. He had always resented the boot-licking lackeys who always surrounded the Leader. Once they found out that he was going to have a personal audience with him, they feigned friendship in order to discover the purpose of the meeting. He knew very well their true feelings, and that they resented his superior intellect and that he was a threat to their position at headquarters.

On the day of the audience, he was filled with anxiety as he wondered why the Leader had summoned him to a personal interview. No one was ever allowed to see the Great Leader. It was considered the ultimate honor, and he was very much determined to make the most of it.

As soon as he arrived at the Hall of the Hidden Chamber, he was met by a contingent of the Imperial Black Guard. They surrounded him as vibrations from thunderous drums opened the doors as they entered. The doors remained invisible until the drums reached a certain cadence and level of frenzied intensity. As the doors opened, he heard the sounds of creatures moaning under pain. The Guard escorted him past row after row of cages holding every kind of creature imaginable, now just permanent captives from ancient wars, held as permanent trophys for the pleasure of torture by the Great Leader and his guests.

The commander of the guard took special pleasure in pointing out, to his amazement, the special cells designed for the housing and torture of human "spirit forms" lately derived from planet earth. The commander, filled with jealousy and resentment toward him because he was going to meet the Leader, sneered contemptuously at the trapped beings begging them for freedom.

Soon they reached the Inner Portal, the entrance to the Imperial Throne Room of the Great Leader. No one who knew ever told what lay beyond these doors. They were formed of a substance that reflected all the light of the rainbow emanating in a blinding display from a thousand small shields covering the surface. He started to ask a question, but The commander and the Imperial Guard had disappeared. He was alone now before the doorway that would bring him into contact with the most feared being in existence, the Great Leader of the Infinite Universe.

He noticed that the rainbow light on the doors had stopped flashing. Suddenly he felt bottomless panic as he was powerfully sucked into the oppressive horror within the throne room. He felt himself crushed in humiliation and self-hatred as an evil presence slithered around the core of his spirit. He found himself in the grip of a malevolent being which immobilized him in sharp agony and unbearable pain.

He experienced the awful reality of an intense hatred, welling up from within himself, by a being of insurpassable power. And he knew it would always be this way, and that this pain, humiliation, and suffering would never end. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Then, just as it had started, it suddenly stopped.

The evil grip and the shock of pain lifted from his spirit. He found himself cowering in the malevolent presence of the fearful being known as the Great Leader. He heard the sound of contemptuous laughter coming from that being. The Leader looked at his cowering form and threatened, "I've heard from my servants in headquarters staff that you do not respect me. They say they have questioned you about this audience, and find you are an ambitious person who might try to replace me on the Infinite Throne. Well, then, 'GO AHEAD!, REPLACE ME!' At this the horrible pain shot through his spirit again as the evil once again gripped the core of his spirit. He pleaded and begged that the unbearable agony might stop. Then the Great Leader let out another peal of racous laughter at his misery as the pain, once again, lifted from him.

In terror, he cried out, "Oh my Great Lord and Leader, I have never been anything but faithful to you. I know your power reaches from end to end in the Universe, and there is no other equal to you. You are my only god to whom I pledge complete obedience. Please don't torture me any more. Give me another chance to prove my faithfulness in obedient slavery to your every wish."

Now the Leader smiled at him. Then he said, "Well, perhaps I have misjudged you. Maybe I will give you a last chance to prove your worthiness to serve me. I might be able to use someone like you for a very special mission I have in mind. If you are successful, you will, of course, enjoy my goodwill and receive a share of my everlasting glory. On the other hand, if you fail, said the Leader with a snarl, you will spend the rest of eternity immobilized in a cell and experiencing the pain of my everlasting hatred. Maybe you would like me to show it to you again in case you've already forgotten the power of my anger?

At this, the spirit entity bowed his spirit before the Great Leader and vehemently begged that there be no more pain. He promised not to fail, no matter how difficult the task, and he pledged his everlasting obedience to the Leader. Then, in a blinding flash, he knew what his mission involved. He would be immediately reassigned to a top priority, urgent mission to Planet Earth.

The evil entity reacted to his mission by thanking the Great Leader for this opportunity to redeem himself,. Then he fell on his face, cowering in cringing worship. The Great Leader scowled at him and screamed, "Go now! Waste no more of my valuable time! The young man you recently met on the train has been chosen as our next victim! He must, at all costs, become one of us! If you fail me this time, you will find yourself locked up, and tortured forever in one of those cages you passed up on your way in to see me! Now Go!!!!!!

Chapter 3

That night, Joshua said, as he continued with his story, I had already forgotten the conversation I had had earlier in the day with the stranger on the train. Once again, I felt the call of grace, and religious stirrings filled my spirit. A half an hour passed before I realized I had spent it in a peaceful state of satisfying prayer. Moreover, I felt Almighty God was powerfully calling me to a priestly vocation. So, I got up from where I was sitting, and sat down in front of my computer. Then, I asked God's Holy Spirit to please help me settle the issue of my proper vocation once and for all. For, if I was meant to serve him in the priesthood, why was I afraid to take the plunge? Why did dark thoughts of failure, misery, and ridicule always seem to arise within me when I contemplated life as a priest? Perhaps, at this hour, God in His great mercy would send me the grace and confidence I needed in order to separate myself from the world and to dedicate myself to Him, alone, forever. Perhaps He would give me the courage to move beyond my fears and human respect, and to dedicate my life to Him, once and for all, no matter what, or as they say, "come hell or high water." So with a great hunger and longing for His assistance and the wisdom of His Holy Spirit, I said a heartfelt prayer, turned on the computer, and clicked on my internet browser.

I stopped on the browser "general information" page and was surprised to find a question dealing directly with my concern about the spiritual life. It read, "Do you feel called to the priesthood?" I smiled to myself as I realized that God had answered my prayer and got ready to click the "mouse" on the question so as to receive divine help concerning my spiritual dilemma regarding the priesthood. But, then, before I had time to react, my eye caught the next line, and I saw the phrase: "Looking for romance?"

Suddenly, the conversation with the stranger on the train came back to my mind, and, simultaneously, the thought that the priesthood would be just a life wasted chasing impossible spiritual rainbows. Then, the thought of potential romance with a beautiful girl began to fill my spirit with great longing. So, I decided to take the stranger's advice, and look at this website promising romance before moving to the one dealing with the priesthood.

As I opened the website, I was confronted by a long list of names of women searching for men. Reading through the list of names, I stopped at one named "Ann," next to a picture of a beautiful young widow, living alone in a waterfront mansion in Sydney, Australia. Well, since I was safely ensconced in the U.S.A., 10,000 miles away, I figured it might be fun to contact such a woman in Australia to see what the country was like, and what she had to say. So, I wrote a brief note to her, describing myself as one intending to become a priest, and asking her what her part of the world was like.

To my surprise, she answered my email right away. She had attached a more recent picture of herself and the waterfront mansion where she lived. I must say, I was very much impressed by her picture, the prestigious mansion, and the expensive waterfront view created by the river running in front of the mansion. She told me how she had married very young, against the wishes of her parents, and how she was now paying the price in loneliness for having disobeyed them. She described Australia and the customs there, and I had to laugh as I read the Aussie expressions describing people and situations of everyday life. She said that I was the first Yank, of the many who had contacted her, to whom she had written. She said there was something about the tone of my letter that wakened her curiosity, and that set me apart from the others.

So, that's how Ann and I began our relationship. We started writing back and forth each day. We told each other everything. We described all the little details of our lives to one another. I sent her my picture and described my life in America. It got so that I was dependent on her emails. I found myself rushing home each day to see what she had to say. And little by little, our emails became completely open, in the manner of old friends, as we told each other every thing going on in our lives.

After several months had passed, Ann wrote to say that an uncle of hers, who lived in Columbus, Ohio, had passed away and left her some property. She said she would have to make a trip to the U.S. to meet with attorneys and settle the legalities connected with the "will." And, as part of the trip, she said she looked forward to meeting me in person, since we had become such great friends the last several months. And, of course, I readily agreed.

The day for our meeting finally arrived, and I got on a plane for Columbus, Ohio. I sat next to a handsome young man with one of the most charismatic personalities I had ever encountered. We began talking and during our lengthy conversation I mentioned to him my desire to become a priest. I also mentioned the great satisfaction I derived from religion and the practice of prayer. He was very impressed and encouraged me along this line. He said he thought that I should waste no more time in pursuing the priestly vocation because it seemed to be the thing that I was meant to do, and would therefore bring me great satisfaction and happiness. When I told him about Ann, and that I was going to meet her, he frowned and looked worried. He emphasized that it was a dangerous thing to neglect a calling from God. I smiled and told him that I had an interview the very next week with the Director of Vocations in my diocese. And, anyway, I told him, Ann was just a good friend.

And so, it was a bright Saturday afternoon when I entered the airline terminal, after departing the plane that had brought me to Columbus, Ohio. I couldn't get the young man out of my mind. His conversation and encouragement connected with my priestly vocation made a powerful impression on me. I felt that it was fortunate that I was meeting Anne in person, today, as I could share my feeling about the growing certainty of my vocation and discuss the priesthood with her. I knew, of all people, she would understand, and possible give me the final push I needed to commit myself to the religious life.

I walked over to the luggage area in order to retrieve my bag. As I stood by the carousel, I noticed a young woman talking to an older man, perhaps her father. He was a large, rather dark-complected man and he caught my eye as he seemed somehow, strangely familiar. I turned away to retrieve my luggage, and when I looked back, the older man was gone, and the lovely young creature was standing there by herself, smiling at me. I said, "Ann, is that you?" She said, "Of course it is, were you expecting someone else?" We both laughed and tightly embraced one another. And at the moment of that tight embrace, the thought of the priesthood fled from me, as Ann's physical loveliness filled me with delight. And strange to report, at the same moment, the charismatic young man who sat next to me on the trip from Los Angeles walked by looking at me with a sadness beyond his years. I pretended not to notice him.

Ann's photographs had given me no hint of the awesome beauty she possessed. When I looked into her eyes, all my self-restraint gave way before the power of her loveliness, conveyed into my spirit by a single glance. Needless to say, I found myself falling in love with the most beautiful woman I had ever known. And needless to say, she was well aware of this power over me. By the end of that day, the situation was hopeless. I was madly in love, and Ann seemed pleased to reciprocate my feelings.

Chapter 4

So, perhaps it will not come as a great surprise to you, that less than a month later, I found myself settling down with Ann in her waterfront mansion, next to a large forest, just past the bend of the George's River that runs to Botany Bay. Since I had become involved with Ann, I had not only forgotten the priesthood, but I had even forgotten God, the Faith, prayer, and the joy I used to find in attending Mass. And now, when I mentioned my former faith, or the priesthood, to Ann, she would just laugh and wonder,aloud, how an educated, intelligent person like me could be such a fool as to be taken in by "religion," and such "superstitious" nonsense.

One Monday afternoon, not long after we had moved in together, Ann had remarked that she wanted to cut some of the foliage that was growing wild and blocking nearby trails, and threatening to block the gate on the forest side of the fence. So she unlocked the gate, and went out of sight into the forest adjoining the mansion, with only a stick and a pair of pruning shears. I had expressed my concern as night was falling in the forest, and it would be another hour before it would be lit by the light coming from the rising moon. Already, the sounds of creaking trees and shrieking animals were filling the twilight air. And I was becoming more and more worried as Ann failed to return.

Still, I was reluctant to go in, myself, to find her, as she had warned me several times never to open the gate leading into the forest. Once when I said that I would like to go in to see what the forest looked like on the other side of the fence, she became very upset and angry. She said I would be hopelessly lost in there. With irritation in her voice, she said her family used to live nearby, and she had played in there ever since she was a little girl and knew the trails like the back of her hand. And she said it was a very dangerous place if one didn't know one's way around in there. So I dropped the subject and avoided bringing it up again. And yet, tonight, I was aware of increasing uneasiness and anxiety as her return before nightfall seemed a more and more remote possibility.

Finally, I could wait no longer. I picked up a flashlight from the shed and made my way through the gate into the darkening forest shadows. I followed the center trail where I had last seen her going before she vanished from my sight. I started calling to her, hoping she would hear me and we could leave this forbidding place as soon as possible. But she did not answer. It was as though she had vanished completely into the woodferns and trees, with rope like plants climbing into the high branches. Suddenly, I heard a strange, blood-curdling sound. I stopped where I stood on the trail and just listened. It came through the trees like the sound of someone moaning...someone abandoned, who had been in hopeless pain for a very long time.

I called out louder now. Ann! Ann, is that you?!! But my cry was met with more of the insane moaning I had just heard before. So, I began to run in the direction of the painful sound. Faster and faster I ran through the frightening night. Just then, I felt something grab my ankle with the force of a mighty hand holding me fast to the forest floor. My flashlight flew off into the distance and broke into pieces on the trunk of a tree. I looked down at my feet but could see only the very faint outline of something coiled around my ankle and growing tighter and tighter.I was desperate now, so in my panic, I took out my pocked knife and repeatedly stabbed the coiled thing around my ankle with all the force I could muster. I finally felt it release me, and could just make out the dark form of a large man as I ran headlong back in the direction of the gate, hoping to find it before everything around me was covered by the blackness of the cloud-covered, moonlit night.

I felt my heart beating violently as I crashed through vines, ferns, and small trees and then, blessedly, into the fence. I followed the fence until I came to the gate. I ran out of the forest as quickly as I could and into the house without looking back. I told myself it wasn't my fault that she didn't come out. She was right. I shouldn't have gone in there in the first place! I went to the upstairs window and looked down at the gate leading into the forest. Just inside the gate, there was a strange dark form pulling the gate shut, and locking it, from inside the forest. I bolted down the stairs and ran to the gate calling Ann!...Ann! Is that you dear? Are you alright? I got there just in time to see the dark form, outlined by the moonlight, as it moved away from the gate and ran back into the trees just beyond the trail. I stopped and stared after it, and then, there it was again...a soft, painful moaning, like someone in lonely despair, coming from the depth of the forest. I knew then, that in spite of all my fears, and the terror of the forest at night, I would have to go back in and search for Ann! No man who had heard that sound could leave the one he loves to the certainty of such a horrible fate.

With renewed determination, I ran down the stairs to the kitchen and grabbed the keys to the forest gate from the hook on the wall just next to the sink. I found another flashlight and bolted out of the house toward the forest gate. I turned the light on the lock, inserted the key, opened the lock, and pushed the gate inward, back toward the inner trail leading into the heart of the forest. Just then, after I had gone but a few yards, I heard a growling sound like an angry beast stalking its prey. In almost the same instant, I heard the sound of movement in the bushes nearby as a dark form lunged out of the night, locking its teeth into my arm, snarling in hateful fury, as though it wanted to rip my arm out of its socket. I fell to the ground in petrified horror. Then the beast started dragging me by the arm deeper into the forest, and, in the moonlight, I could just barely make out that it was pulling me toward some sort of opening in the ground, just next to a group of Eucalypts. It seemed like all the fury of hell was concentrated in that powerful creature as it dragged me like a sack of straw toward that dark, open pit.

In wild desperation, I reached out with my other arm and my hand came upon a large rock that lay in my path. I grabbed the rock and slammed it with all my might into the head of that powerful beast. Suddenly, it cried out, let go of my arm, and disappeared into the forest. I lay there for several moments in shock and utter terror listening for its return. Finally, when I realized it would not come back, I dragged myself upright as best I could and staggered back on the trails, and out through the gate and into the house. I went to the first aid kit in the kitchen and put antiseptic on the wounds and then covered them with clean gauze and tape. I fell on the bed in the nearby guest bedroom and collapsed in utter exhaustion.

The next morning I awoke as the sun streamed through the window of the bedroom and across my face. I sat up in bed and realized with horror that I had not been dreaming all the things that had happened to me the night before. The pain beneath the bandages on my arm was proof enough of that. Then, I remembered that Ann was gone. She was still in the Forest! "My God, I thought...what has happened to poor Ann? I must get help and go find her." Just then, I heard the sound of music coming from the radio near the bedroom. I climbed out of bed and hurried to the door. As I looked out toward the kitchen, I saw Ann busily preparing breakfast. She was startled to see me and said, "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere. And why did you sleep in the guest bedroom? And what's the matter with your arm?"

Overjoyed that she was safe, I rushed out to greet her. I kissed her and then sat her down at the breakfast table and related the strange facts concerning the forest gate and my attempts to find her the night before. I told her about the powerful dark beast that had tried to drag me into a pit in the ground. She laughed although she was somewhat angry with me and said, "I told you never under any circumstance to go through that gate into the Forest! Now look what you've done. Just as soon as we have some breakfast we're going to go to the doctor and have him look at your arm. You probably ran into one of the neighbor's dogs who sometimes roam about in the Forest at night! How could you be so stupid?"

As I let her words sink in, I realized that she was right. There was nothing strange at all about the things that happened the night before. Rather, I was the victim of a dogbite and an overactive imagination. So, I apologized for being so stupid and made a new promise that I should never again go alone through the locked gate leading into the Forest. What a fool I'd been!

So we finished breadfast, and I got cleaned up and prepared to accompany Ann to the doctor. But a nagging doubt assailed my mind as I thought back over the events of the previous night. How had Ann managed to get safely out of the Forest without running into the dog that had attacked me? And what had made that woeful moaning sound? I brought these doubts to her attention and she just smiled and said, "Alright, we'll settle this issue once and for all. Tonight, after dark, I'm going to take you into the forest and show you that your fears are totally unfounded. There's no other way to settle this. Meanwhile, let's get going to the doctor."

As soon as the doctor saw the wound on my arm, he became concerned and told me to tell him everything. I had started to tell him about the dark beast that had attacked me. However, Ann had come into the exam room with me and answered the doctor for me saying that I had been bitten by one of the many neighbor's dogs who protect local property and occasionally roam the forest near the waterfront mansion. The doctor said he had never come across such strange teethmarks before. He said it must have been an unusually vicious and very powerful dog to have inflicted such a wound. He said he would have to report the whole matter to the police to prevent such an animal from attacking someone else. He gave me a prescription for anti-biotics, and said I might have to undergo further treatment if the animal couldn't be found. Ann told the doctor that she would see to it that I followed his advice, thanked him, and said we were in a hurry and had to leave as she was expecting an important trans-oceanic phone call from her attorneys in America.

Later that evening, Ann came to me with the keys to the forest gate and said, "Let's go! I'm going to prove you have no reason to fear the forest. Don't worry, I've been in there a hundred times and have never had any trouble. And in spite of your fertile imagination, I've never come across "a hound from hell" in all the years I've gone in and out of the forest, and I have no idea where this pit in the ground exists that you talk about.. There has to be a less dramatic explanation, perhaps connected with the neighborhood dogs that occasionally stray into the forest at night. So, I picked up the flashlight and we made our way through the gate and into the forest as night fell upon everything around us. I followed her in and out of footpaths and wooded trails lit up only by my flashlight and the light of the rising full-moon. But then, suddenly... she was gone! I searched for her in vain, for in a second, she had vanished completely into the Forest night!

And then I heard it. There was a sound I had heard before, a distinct moaning sound coming from the nearby trees. Only this sound lacked the melancholy wail that had been the source of my horror when I was last in the forest. Now the sound was aggressive! It was distinctly like the hungry growl of a powerful predator stalking its prey. Once again, beside myself with terror, I let out a strange sound of my own. To my amazement, it was a prayer for help from the God I had not long ago rejected: "Oh God, please help me!" I cried. Then, I heard the sound of twigs and bushes breaking as something was moving rapidly toward me. I turned my flashlight in the direction of the noise and saw the same dark form I had seen the night before. It stopped a few feet away and it seemed to be watching me and waiting to see what I would do next. Again I cried out, "Oh God help me!" Then I noticed the sharp teeth, and that the vicious ugly thing was sneering at me, as if contemptuous of my cowardly efforts to seek help from "the supernatural." Finally, I cried out to God, "God help me! I'm sorry for having abandoned you! If you get me out of this, I promise to serve you all the days of my life!"

At this point, I looked over at the creature next to me, which had lost its aggressive growl, and had now fallen to the ground in a moaning fit of pain, I suddenly realized it was now, for some reason, afraid of me! So I moved in its direction and yelled at it, "Get away from me!" It got up from the ground, and seemed to back away. So I picked up some stones and started pelting it with them and yelling for it to "Go Away!" Suddenly it turned and ran back into the forest.

In the next moment, I was alone. I turned toward the forest gate leading to the mansion. And there to my surprise was Ann, standing by the gate, watching me with a fixed stare. Her eyes seemed lit by a furious anger as they flashed in the darkness. She said she had run after a strange dog she had seen just before we had become separated by the darkness of the forest. However, she hadn't been able to keep up with it, and it ran away. Then, before I could tell her about the dark beast I had encountered, her expression changed. She suddenly smiled, reached for my hand, drew close and kissed me with a loving tenderness. She told me I must be very careful not to let anything happen to me as she was so happy that I had come to stay with her in her big house, and that she no longer suffered from the pain caused by her loneliness after the death of her husband.

We walked back to the house together, hand in hand. As we entered the kitchen, I turned to Ann and told her what had happend to me in the forest. I explained about the vicious dark thing which had stalked me with a predatory growl, and seemd to have every intent to tear me to shreds. I told her that I had made a vow to God that I would serve him for the rest of my life if He would help me get out of this danger.

At the mention of the vow I had made to God, Ann fell into a rage. She started moaning with a lonely wail just like the sound I had heard when I first entered the forest. In a violent fit of hatred, she suddenly lunged past me, nearly knocking me over, and disappeared out of the house into the night, and through the forest gate. And that was the last time I ever saw Ann, except for the strange incident I will momentarily relate. And I gathered my belongings and left the waterfront mansion that night never to return. And the last thing I remember as I drove away, was the sound of a powerful creature's aggressive howl of anger and hatred coming from the forest, as it attacked another creature whose painful lonely, moaning filled my heart with dreadful thoughts I dared not entertain.

Chapter 5

The next day, after spending the remainder of the night in a rented motel room, I went to the terminal in Sydney, Australia, and awaited a plane bound for America. While I was standing in the terminal, I looked out through the window at a group of people waiting in line to board an airplane. As I looked, I could swear I saw the same charismatic young man who sat next to me on the plane in America when I was on the way to meet Ann for the first time. He was the one who had encouraged me to follow my vocation to the priesthood. And now He seemed to be looking straight at me through the terminal window. I thought I must be imagining things, so I looked away. But curiosity got the better of me, and as I looked back, he smiled and waived at me. And the next thing I knew he was gone, and had boarded the plane, never to be seen again.

Many years have gone by since these events turned my life upside down. And I have spent many years in contemplative prayer in intimate union with God's Holy Spirit. Today I am living in Rome, and have been an ordained priest for more years than it seems possible. Moreover, for the last few years, I have been the youngest Cardinal ever appointed Head of the Papal Office responsible for the Propogation of the Faith in all of Australia, Asia, and the South Pacific. And due to the grace of my vocation, and the dedication and talent I have been fortunate enough to bring to the service of God, there has been a great South Pacific revival, with the numbers of the faithful attending Church in my jurisdiction at an all time high. And for all this, I am truly grateful.

And as for Ann, I told you I never saw her again, except for the following strange incident I will now relate. Not long after I was appointed Cardinal, I was attending a Conference in Los Angeles. I chanced to sit behind a beautiful young woman on a plane going from Los Angeles to San Francisco, making connections to Sydney. Believe it or not, it was Ann! She had not aged a whit, and was still as young and beautiful as she had been the day when I first met her in Columbus, in what seemed like ages ago. She hadn't recognized me in my clerical garb, with my glasses and the greying hair of my bearded face, and was busily talking to the woman beside her on the plane. I sat there amazed, in semi-shock, and could just overhear her as she said she was a young Australian widow who had come to America to settle some business about an inheritance, and to meet a young man in San Francisco she had contacted over the internet from Sydney. She told the woman that she had become great friends with the young man through exchange of e-mail, and that he had told her he thought he had a vocation to the priesthood.

As Ann mentioned the young man she was going to meet to the woman beside her, and that he thought he might have a vocation to the priesthood, I felt a cold shudder go down my spine, and felt myself being drawn to pray. And suddenly, as I prayed, I had a vision and found myself back in the Forest by the waterfront mansion. And then I saw the dark form which had haunted me the night I had gone into the forest. And I could see it moving rapidly through the foliage in my direction. And suddenly the form stopped a few feet away, staring at me, and beneath it's ugly face I could make out a visage that looked like the large, dark, stranger I had met on the train years before, leering at me with hatred and rage within the form of the beast.

The vision was so real that I began to feel helpless before the terrible power of its evil. So I made a silent "act of contrition" to myself and simultaneously began to call on the power of Christ, through his angels and saints, to intervene for me against the awesome power of this raging devil from hell. And I, simultaneously, called on His Holy Spirit to put an end to this new relationship of Ann's, and to keep her from destroying the soul of her latest victim, called to the priesthood, but not yet having made the life-changing decision. And in my spirit, as I whispered this litany of heartfelt prayers, I heard a wild, helpless shriek from the beast of the forest, as it was seized and bound-up by a cadre of the Great Leader’s Imperial Guard, and cast forever into a cell of torture in the Hall of the Hidden Chamber.

Suddenly, the scene began to change, and I found myself in a more comforting vision of a Church in San Francisco where a troubled young man was kneeling in prayer, before a statue of the Blessed Virgin. And I prayed with greater intensity, adding my prayerful effort to his, and asking the Virgin Mother to intercede for a change in the young man's heart. And then, after several minutes had gone by, and just as I completed the litany of prayers, I saw the young man in the vision shed tears of grateful joy.

And then, I too began to shed tears of joy, as I heard him thank the Holy Virgin for her intercession, and make a vow, dedicating his life to the Church, and the service of God in Holy Orders, in the Holy Sacrament of the priesthood! Then, suddenly, I heard a powerful voice speaking to me from the midst of this vision. The voice rose above the thunderous sound of thousands of angels praising God. The one who spoke urged me to make an act of thankful adoration, “praising God,” for the young man for whom I had prayed, and who had just dedicated his life to the Church in Holy Orders, would one day ascend the Chair of St. Peter, and become the first American Pope. Moreover, he would be one of the great Popes in history, who would lead the Church in an overwhelming victory against the power of evil which, in days to come, would threaten the very existence of the Church and civilization as we know it through the terror of the Anti-Christ!