-AN EMPTY CHAIR
~~~
-By: Walter Burkhardt
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This was the experience of an old man who lay dying. When the Priest came to anoint him, he noticed an empty chair at the man's bedside and asked him who had just been visiting. The sick man replied, "I place Jesus on that chair and I talk to Him."

For years, he told the Priest, he had found it extremely difficult to pray until a friend explained that prayer was just a matter of talking with Jesus. The friend suggested that he imagine Jesus sitting in a chair where he could speak with Him and listen to what He said in reply. "I have had no trouble praying ever since."

Some days later, the daughter of this man came to the parish house to inform the Priest that her father had just died. She said, "Because he seemed so content, I left him alone for a couple of hours. When I got back to the room, I found him dead. I noticed a strange thing, though; his head was resting not on the bed but on an empty chair that was beside his bed." ~~