Last Rites
A bus on a busy street struck a Catholic man.
He was lying near death on the sidewalk as a crowd gathered..
"A priest. Somebody get me a priest!" the man gasped.
Long seconds dragged on but no one stepped out of the crowd.
A policeman checked the crowd and finally yelled, "A PRIEST, PLEASE!
Isn't there a priest in this crowd to give this man his last rites?"
Finally, out of the crowd stepped a little old Jewish man in his 80s.
"Mr. Policeman," said the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a
Christian. But for 50 years now, I'm living behind the Catholic
Church on Second Avenue, and every night I'm overhearing their
services. I can recall a lot of it, and maybe I can be of some
comfort to this poor man
The policeman agreed, and cleared the crowd so the man could get
through to where the injured man lay.
The old Jewish man knelt down, leaned over the man and said in a solemn voice:
B-5 .... I-19 ... N-38 ... G-54 .... O-72
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