Charlie was a regular visitor at the racetrack. One
afternoon he noticed an unusual sight. Right before
the first race, a Catholic priest visited one of the
horses in the stable area and gave it a blessing. Charlie
watched the horse race very carefully, and sure enough
the blessed horse came in first!

Charlie followed the priest before the next race, and
again he went to the stables and performed a similar
procedure. Charlie played hunch and put a couple
of dollars on the blessed horse. Sure enough
the blessed horse came in by two lengths and Charlie
won close to fifty bucks!

The priest continued the same procedure through the
next few races and Charlie won each time. He was
now ahead $1000, so between races Charlie left the
track and went to the bank and withdraw his life's
savings of $20,000.

The biggest race of the day was the last one. Charlie
followed the priest and watched carefully which horse
he blessed. He then went to the betting window and
put his whole $21,000 bundle of cash on that horse to win.

Then Charlie went out to watch the horses race. Down
the stretch they came, and as they crossed the finish
line, the horse Charlie's fortune was bet on was dead last!

Charlie was crushed. He located the priest and told
him that he had been watching him bless the horses
all day, and they all became winners except the last
horse on which he had bet his life avings. Charlie then
asked, "What happened to the last horse which you
blessed? Why didn't it win like the others?"

"That's the trouble with some folks ," sighed the
priest. "they can never tell the difference between a
blessing and the Last Rites."