One day, a heretic told St. Anthony of Padua that he would believe that
Christ was truly present in the Eucharist only if his mule bowed down to it.
They established that the test should take place in three days.
The heretic starved his mule for the next three days. When the appointed time had arrived, Anthony stood off to one side with the consecrated host in his hands, while the heretic stood to the other holding some fodder for the mule to eat. The mule, ignoring its own extreme hunger, went before the Eucharist and knelt down to adore the Blessed Sacrament.
The heretic starved his mule for the next three days. When the appointed time had arrived, Anthony stood off to one side with the consecrated host in his hands, while the heretic stood to the other holding some fodder for the mule to eat. The mule, ignoring its own extreme hunger, went before the Eucharist and knelt down to adore the Blessed Sacrament.
One of the major things that separate the Catholic Church
from most other Christian denominations is the belief that the bread and wine,
once consecrated by the priest, actually become the body and blood of Jesus
Christ.
The Eucharist, also called the Blessed Sacrament, is the sacrament by which we partake of the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ and participate in his one sacrifice. The first of these
two aspects of the sacrament is also called Holy Communion.
Paragraph 1374 of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church outlines this belief in the real presence. Over the years many
miraculous instances have occurred that attest to this belief. These miracles
cannot be explained by human logic or science and seem to occur most often in
times or situations where people have begun to doubt the True Presence.
A young Blessed, Carlo
Acutis, developed a website
listing many Eucharistic Miracles around the world.
Carlo Acutis was born in London in 1991, but his parents moved to Milan
not long after his birth. From an early age he recited frequent rosaries
and received his First Communion at the age of 7 in the Convent of Saints
Amrogio and Neumus in Milan. He used to spend time in front of the
Tabernacle. He defended the rights of the disabled and defended
disabled peers at school when bullies picked on them. He contracted Leukemia at a young age, and
although he had requested that his parents take him on pilgrimages to the sites
of all the known Eucharistic miracles in the world, his failing
health prevented that.
He had a passion for computers: everything including computer
programming and website creation.
His most
significant computer venture was cataloguing all the Eucharistic miracles of
the world. He started the
project when he was 11 years old and wrote at the time, “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so
that on this earth we will have a foretaste of Heaven.” He then asked his parents to start
taking him to all the places of the Eucharistic miracles, and two and half
years later the project was completed.
Acutis
researched over 136 Eucharistic miracles that occurred over the centuries in
different countries around the world, and have been acknowledged by the Church
and collected them into a virtual museum.
The
famous incident, which we call the Miracle of the Eucharist of Assisi, took
place at San Damiano in 1241, twelve years before Clare died. The catalyst that
the Lord used to bring about this miracle was a German prince, Frederick II of
Swabia. There is a tradition that Frederick was born in Assisi at the same time
as Francis, and was baptized on the same day in the church of San Ruffino.
The Pope had treated this Frederick very well, being sure he was brought up
comfortably, affording him every courtesy. The young German repaid his kindness
by turning on the Pope and the Church, waging a war against them, and the
people of the Umbria. He had visions of an empire that would spread itself from
Assisi down to Sicily. To this end, he recruited a band of Saracen (Arab)
mercenaries to be his army. Reinforced by his band of merciless cutthroats,
Frederick proceeded to march against Assisi.
The
convent of San Damiano stood between the troops of Frederick II and the city of
Assisi. The fact that there was a group of virgin nuns in the convent was
particularly appealing to the Saracens, who hated Christians. They proceeded to
attack the Convent. Clare was sick in bed at this time.
She
went to their little Chapel, and removed a Monstrance containing the Blessed
Sacrament. She held it in her hands, pressed her head against it, and prayed to
the Lord. She walked to the large open window facing the courtyard below.
She
spoke to the Lord, and He answered her. She implored, “Protect, Lord, these
your servants, that I now, by myself, cannot protect.”
A very sweet voice, that of a young
child, answered her, “I will take
care of you always.”
Strengthened
by these words she took the monstrance and held it high in the air. The advancing Saracens froze in their tracks at
the courtyard of the Convent. They looked up at Clare, at the Monstrance in her
hand. Petrified with fear, as if they could recognize the God Who was there,
they turned and ran, fleeing from the convent of San Damiano, leaving Clare and
her Sisters in peace.
The
next day, the people of Assisi were pleased, but astonished that the Saracens
had not attacked their city. Survival not conquest, uppermost in their minds,
the invaders had left without ever setting foot in the town.
At the last supper Jesus
established the Sacrament of Eucharist and symbolically shared His Body and
Blood with His disciples. He also commanded them to do it till the end of
the world, in His memory.
Food gives
energy for sustenance. The Spiritual food Jesus offered, gives
energy for spiritual sustenance. Holy
Communion preserves and increases the supernatural life of your soul. In
the Holy Eucharist, Christ becomes present so that He may abide bodily among us
by His Real Presence in our tabernacles, renew the Sacrifice of Calvary on our
altars, and nourish our souls in Holy Communion.
The
Eucharist is not only a sacrifice, but a sacrament as well. As a sacrifice, it
relates in the first instance to God; as a sacrament, to ourselves. Through the
Blessed Sacrament God bestows upon us the grace by which we obtain supernatural
life and are saved.
By the
imparting of divine grace, God has made it possible for us to share His own
nature and His own vital activity. The life of God calls for appropriate food.
The Bread of Angels has become, through transubstantiation, the food of man.
This Bread, the product of our Savior’s love and power, is the only food that
is worthy of the Father who gives it and the adopted children who receive it
from His hands. It produces wondrous effects in those children. The first and
principal effect is that it gives divine life to the soul.
Of all the
gifts that God has given his Church, the greatest is the Blessed Sacrament, for
it is nothing less than the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus himself. In
the Eucharistic host, our Divine Savior dwells among men in his fullness. He is
truly God with us.
When Jesus commenced his
Public ministry the crowd approached Him for various reasons - To be with him,
to experience his presence, to be fed by him, to be cured by him and to be
forgiven by him. Today Jesus is with us in the Blessed Sacrament and he wants
us to be with him.
Firstly People approached Jesus to enjoy his presence.
Throughout the Bible we see
that man longed for the presence of
the Lord ever since Adam was turned out of the Paradise due to his
disobedience. God promised Moses that He would be with him. Exodus 33:14 “And
he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
This is where Moses is encouraged by God
that He would go with Israel and with Moses. God’s presence is His going
with them and it is only with His presence that they can ever truly rest.
It’s resting in the knowledge that God’s going with them every step of the
way. This is the type of relationship a person who is close to God has
and it was written of Moses, “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11).
Again God asserted his Promise to
Jacob. “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring
you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have
promised you.”(Genesis 28:15)
This verse refers to Jacob’s dream where
God spoke to him and said that He is going to go with Jacob wherever he goes,
and he will go far; yet God will bring him back to this land again; and God
seals it by saying that He won’t leave Jacob until everything He’s promised
comes to pass. The psalmist also knew that God’s presence provided
fullness of joy.
“You make known to me the path of life; in
your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures
forevermore.” Psalm 16:11) Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they
comfort me.”
Israelites experienced this presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant.
In Exodus we read the making of the Ark. Now Bezalel made the ark of acacia
wood; its length was two and a half cubits, and its width one and a half
cubits, and its height one and a half cubits; and he overlaid it with pure gold
inside and out, and made a gold molding for it all around. He cast four rings
of gold for it on its four feet; even two rings on one side of it, and two
rings on the other side of it.
He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry it. He made a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat; one cherub at the one end and one cherub at the other end; he made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at the two ends. The cherubim had their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward each other; the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.
He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry it. He made a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat; one cherub at the one end and one cherub at the other end; he made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at the two ends. The cherubim had their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward each other; the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.
God
tells Moses to put the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff, and the stone tablets
of the covenant into the Ark. (Ex. 16:33-34, 25:10-16 and Num. 17:10)
The
ark has a number of seemingly magical powers, according to the Hebrew Bible. In
one story, the Jordan River stopped flowing and remained still while a group of
priests carrying the ark crossed the river. Other stories describe how the
Israelites took the ark with them into battle where the powers of the ark
helped the Israelites defeat their enemies.
When
the ark was captured by the Philistines,
outbreaks of tumors and disease afflicted them, forcing the Philistines to
return the ark to the Israelites. Some stories describe how death would come to
anyone who touched the ark or looked inside it. When the temple was built The
Ark was placed in the Holy of Holies.
In
the New Testament Jesus himself is present in the Blessed Sacrament. The Tabernacle
and our churches have become the dwelling place of Jesus.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be
his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”(Rev. 21:3)
At the Last Supper, after
taking the bread and breaking it, Jesus said, "Take, eat, this is My
Body." [Mt. 26:26] Jesus clearly said that the consecrated Bread becomes
His physical Body, therefore, He dwells with us and within us in this world.
Afterwards, Jesus said, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood
of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins." [Mt. 26:27-8].
When Jesus spoke of His Blood, He was telling us
that through His death, the spilling of His Sacred Blood, a New Covenant was
beginning. The sins previously committed would be forgiven so we would be made
righteous in the eyes of God. Through our new creation, the new spirit within
us that cannot die because it is of the godly seed, we received a second
chance.
In His teachings, Jesus added, "I am the living
bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live
forever..." [Jn. 6:51] Pope John Paul II
admonished us, “This is
a personal invitation to you from Jesus.
"Jesus
waits for us in this sacrament of love." (Pope John Paul II, Dominicae
Canae)
Again
he said, “Your hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
will repair for evils of the world and bring about peace on earth.
"Let us be generous
with our time in going to meet Jesus and ready to make reparation for the great
evils of the world. Let your adoration never cease." (Pope John Paul II,
Dominicai Cenae)
Secondly, People approached Jesus to be fed by him.
The concept of God
feeding His children is found throughout the Sacred Writings.
When the Israelites, on
their journey to the Promised Land, were hungry God fed them with Manna.
God sent a raven to feed Prophet Elijah. God sent Prophet Elijah to feed a
woman in Zarephath. When Jesus saw the hungry people, he fed them with bread
and fish, and finally Jesus went to the extreme of offering
Himself for the spiritual sustenance of His People.
In the New Testament we
read two accounts of Jesus feeding the crowd. Once he fed 5000 and later he fed
4000.
When Jesus heard what had
happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this,
the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.14 When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their
sick. 15 As
evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote
place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to
the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do
not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here
only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here
to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave
thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the
disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied,
and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left
over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men,
besides women and children. (Mat. 15:29-39)
On another occasion Jesus fed four thousand people.
Jesus
left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside
and sat down. Great crowds
came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many
others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The
people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the
lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Jesus
called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been
with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away
hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
His
disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to
feed such a crowd?”
“How many
loaves do you have?” Jesus
asked.
“Seven,”
they replied, “and a few small fish.”
He told
the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then
he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke
them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They
all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls
of broken pieces that were left over. The number
of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children.
He
instituted the Blessed Sacrament at the last supper. On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus ate His last supper with
His disciples. And knowing what He would accomplish through His sacrifice, He
instituted the Holy Communion (Luke 22:19–20, 1 Corinthians 11:24–25).
And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the
apostles with him. 15 And
he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it[a] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and
when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on
I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God
comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and
gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of me.” And
likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is
the new covenant in my blood. (LK22:14-20)
Here, Jesus is telling us
that to maintain the on-going righteousness that we have received in the
Sacrament of Baptism, we need to continually receive the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist, the Living Bread of eternal life, the Body of Christ who is
physically manifested in the Holy Eucharist.
Jesus makes the promise so astonishing that
it takes all our faith to accept Him
“He who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood
lives in me and I live in Him (Jn 6:56) and
“As I myself draw life from my Father,
So whoever eats me will draw life from
life.”
This imposes a serious
obligation on us Christians – to receive the Holy Eucharist only if we are
determined to live in peace with one another. If there is disunity, if our
hearts are filled with malice towards others, if we indulge in injustice, if we
our thoughts are impure, we have no right to partake in the breaking of the
Bread. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is the living bread of eternal
life. Therefore, it is meant for those who are pure of heart. Justin the martyr
taught “It is allowed to no one else to participate in that food which we call
Eucharist except the one who is living according to the way Christ handed on to
us.” St Augustine preached, “Before you receive Jesus Christ, you should remove
from your heart all worldly attachments which you know to be displeasing to
Him.
The most pleasing gift
that we can give to Jesus is a blameless heart. St. Therese of
Lisieux wrote, “Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie
in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely
dearer to Him - the heaven of our souls”.
A
four-year-old was in church when the wine and communion were passed out.
He was very interested in this, and started to get up. His mother leaned over
and told him that he was not old enough to partake in the Communion. He was
very much disappointed.
Later,
when the collection plate came by, he ignored it. His mother again leaned over
and tried to coax the nickel out of him. He steadfastly refused, stating, “If I
can’t eat, I’m not paying.”
Receiving
the Eucharist is one of the most important things we can do. Holy Communion is
the most important of all the sacraments. It completes the Sacraments of
Initiation. The bread and wine we receive at communion is the body and blood of
Jesus. It becomes the bread and body of Jesus through Transubstantiation. We
participate in the sacrament of communion to commemorate all that Jesus did for
us and getting nailed to a cross so we can be free from sin and have eternal
life in heaven. The Lord gave us the sacrament of communion on Holy Thursday at
the Last Supper. After first washing the feet of the disciples, he then did the
breaking of the bread. Jesus said “Take, eat, this is my body” after Jesus said
this he did the same for the wine saying “Drink from it, all of you, for this
is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins” (1 Cor 11:23-25). The sacrament of Communion is the only one of the seven
sacraments that we are actually receiving Jesus. So the soul must be in the state of sanctifying grace
when we receive Holy Communion. Physical food cannot benefit a dead body, and
the Holy Eucharist cannot benefit a dead soul.
A
little girl, Kelli, went with a neighbor girl to church for First Communion
practice. The pastor has the children cup their hands, and when he gives them
the Host – in this case, a piece of bread – he says, “God be with you.”
Apparently this made quite an impression on my niece. She came home and told
her mother to cup her hands and bend down. Kelli took a piece of bread from her
sandwich, placed it in her mother’s hands, and whispered, in her most angelic
voice, “God will get you.”
In
his Easter Sermon St. Augustine exhorted,” If we receive the Eucharist
Worthily, we become what we receive.” And in receiving Christ, we become one
body in Him, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through receiving the
Eucharist, we enter into a unique and personal relationship with the
Trinity and with one another, the Body of Christ. This is why Jesus came
to us in the Incarnation, to raise man to God. Today Jesus comes to us in the
Eucharist to raise us up to Him body and soul. When we receive Him do so
with reverence and love for it God who dwells in you. Then with St.
Paul we can say “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
me.” (Gal 2:20)
Thirdly, People approached Jesus to be healed.
There are many references
to Jesus healing the people.
When evening
came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the
spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.( Matthew 8:16.) Though Jesus tried to withdrew
from the people Many followed Him, and He healed them all (Matthew 12:15). While the sun was
setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them
to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.( Luke 5:17). Jesus was going through all
the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of
sickness (Mt 9:35) Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they
were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might
just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured (Mark 6:56)
We do not have
to travel far to find Jesus. He is as close as the nearest parish. He is
waiting there to heal us just like he healed many during his ministry.
It is evident
from the many Eucharistic miracles related to healing.
One
of the classic examples is the sudden cure recorded by a physician who was part
of the examining board at the Lourdes shrine. According to this physician the
sudden healing of a women dying of cancer was the most medically remarkable
experience he had in his two decades of working with the examining board. She
arrived at Lourdes in a dying condition. First she was immersed at the water at
Lourdes. The first effect was excruciating pain. Then the pain ceased but the
cancer remained. It was only the next day when the priest blessed her with the
Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance that she was immediately cured of her
cancerous condition.
Fourthly, People came to Jesus to be forgiven.
The Bible gives many accounts of Jesus forgiving
people.
One of
the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house
and reclined at table. And
behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was
reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of
ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to
wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and
kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
And
he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Jesus Forgives Sins of the paralyzed man and
commanded him, “get up, take your
mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat
and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised
God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Jesus forgives the woman caught in adultery.
Early in the morning he came again to the
temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The
scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and
placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught
in the act of adultery. Now
in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” This they said to test
him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and
wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he
stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first
to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote with his
finger on the ground. But
when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and
Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said
to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”(John
7:53-8:11). Finally we find Jesus forgiving the executioners and the thief on
the cross.
“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” And Jesus
forgives the thief on the cross. (Luke 23:34)
Jesus waits patiently for
us in tabernacles and monstrance around the world. He waits for us to repent
when we stray; he waits for our words of allegiance and affection; he waits to
hear of our joys and sorrows; he waits to answer our deepest desires. Let us
visit him to hear the consoling words.
Listen to
the words of Pope John Paul II, “You grow spiritually with each moment you
spend with Jesus! “Our essential commitment in life is to preserve and advance
constantly in Eucharistic life and Eucharistic piety and to grow spiritually in
the climate of the Holy Eucharist." (Pope John Paul II, Redeemer of Man)
Each
moment that you spend in His Eucharistic Presence will increase his divine life
within you and deepen your personal relationship and friendship with him. Jesus
said:
"I
have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." "I am
the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him shall
bear much fruit because without me, you can do nothing." (Jn 15:5)
Each hour
you spend with Jesus will deepen his divine peace in your heart. He invites
each one of us: "Come to me all of you who are weary and find life
burdensome and I will refresh you..." "Cast all of you anxieties upon
the one who cares for you...." "My Peace is My Gift to you." (Mt
11:28; Pt. 5:7; Jn 14:17).
Satish