This week Catholics celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. Except for the United States, which has transferred the feast to this coming Sunday, the Pope, those who follow the 1962 liturgical calendar, and the rest of the world will celebrate it on Thursday, the day associated with the Last Supper. Except in the United States, according to my pastor, this feast is a holy day of obligation.
We know that Jesus is the Word of God and we listen to His word in the Bible. He also promised us in Matt. 18:20, "For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." But we experience Jesus most personally and intimately when we receive Him- body, blood, soul, and divinity - in the Holy Eucharist. What more perfect way to honor this great gift and praise Christ in a most special way than through the feast set aside specifically for this purpose?
I wrote some history about the Feast of Corpus Christi and why we believe from the Bible in the Real Presence of Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine at my other blog for those who are interested. Here I want to offer something to those who doubt or just don't believe.
Studies in recent years have shown that 2/3 of Catholics don't believe in the Real Presence, that they believe they only receive bread and wine at Holy Communion, a distressing indicator of the catechetical problems in the Church. God loves us so much, though, that throughout the centuries He has provided miracles to show us that Jesus is personally there, and prompt us to deeper faith. Today is no different. Our heavenly Father wants us to love His Son as He does, and believe in all He revealed while on earth, so He is willing to startle us with what seems impossible.
One of the most remarkable miracles of the Holy Eucharist in recent years occurred in Argentina. May all who see this video find peace and encouragement to adore Jesus more and receive Him more reverently and may all celebrate the coming feast of Corpus Christi with special joy.
Barbara,
ReplyDeleteEvery time I hear that "2/3" statistic, I am amazed(but not in a good way). I have heard of the Argentina miracle before. I don't know how anyone could explain that away, but they do. I think that a person's heart has to be opened to accept this doctrine and truly believe it; it is pure grace. On the negative side, they shouldn't call themselves Catholic if they don't truly believe it is Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Thanks for sharing this and God bless.
Barb,
ReplyDeleteThis video is simply amazing! How come miracles like this aren't snapped up by every TV station and newspaper on earth? You barely ever hear about these Eucharistic miracles and yet a number of them have happened over the years. Stories like these cannot just be explained away when there's laboratory proof backing it up.
As for the horrendous statistics on Catholics and the Eucharist - this leaves me stunned. I don't even know what to say about this, Barb. I guess Karin's comment explains it best - an open heart and pure grace.
Thank you for this "eye opening" post.
Wow! Thank you Barb!
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the Miracle at Lanciano, Italy: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that this is not widely known amongst Catholics and others.
God bless.
Absolutely amazing! Thank you so much!!
ReplyDeleteWhat I've noticed about Eucharistic miracles in today's age is that they spread by word of mouth. The ones like Lanciano that have been around for many years don't even have the following they should. When you think of how many Catholics only attend Mass on Christmas and Easter and at funerals or weddings, it's not really surprising that people don't know about the miracles. TAN books published a book titled "Eucharistic Miracles" which details a number of them throughout the history of the Church.
ReplyDeleteFor sure, it is only by the grace of God that we have faith to believe what Jesus said, and it takes God's grace to even want a relationship with Him. If we had better catechesis from the pulpit and in parishes I think the situation would improve because people would be stimulated to think about this great mystery. But so many places I've been it seems like many take Holy Communion for granted as part of a ritual and not as a genuine encounter with Christ. Also, making people sing a bunch of dippy songs at Communion time instead of allowing silent prayer time, taking kneelers out of churches, etc. gets in the way of belief.
One of the orthodox priests of our diocese announced at Christmas before Holy Communion that anyone who was aware of serious sin on his soul should not present himself to receive. He then cited living together without being married, artificial contraception, not attending Mass regularly and not confessing mortal sins, marriage outside the Church as examples of not being suited to receive. His parish council jumped all over him and people complained about him to the bishop who called him on the carpet. So good priests need a lot of prayer and we need to pray for good bishops to build the Faith.
Fabulous! I went to a presentation a couple of years ago given by two men from Australia: Ron Tesoriero and Mike Willesee. They have a book, Reason to Believe that covered several modern Eucharistic miracles. Very enlightening.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the alleged eucharistic miracle in Argentina: I believe in miracles, but more information is needed here. I am skeptical of scientists who seem to specialize in researching miracles, then sell books and lecture about it. This guy reminded me of a used car salesman in the video. They need to publish the details of the experiments and make them available to the public. Is that too much to ask? We are simply taking their word for it. Why wouldn't they publish a paper about this amazing find? Why hasn't the Church approved of the miracle as worthy of belief? They also need to have more objective scientists examine the sample and have the study peer reviewed. Zugibe and Castanon are known religious scientists who are biased and may have ulterior motives. Zugibe examined and approved of Catalina Rivas who is a fake stigmatist - so I am very cautious about his conclusions on the supposed eucharistic miracle. I don't believe for a minute that Zugibe was clueless about the nature of the sample he was examining, since he is known for miracle research and received it from a scientist who is known for miracle research. Castanon should have sent a sample to a more objective scientist for the sake of credibility. Plus, the story about the host has two versions - one says it was discovered stuck to a candlestick holder in the back of the church and another version says it was dropped during communion. Which is it? Castanon and Zugibe also have differing stories about the experimental process as well.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog, it reminds me of Emile Zola , discussing one of the controversial writings by Emile the novel “Lourdes” about the conflict of faith and naturalism that took stage in the famous pilgrimage place Lourdes, France.
ReplyDeleteI tried to write a blog about it, hope you also like it https://stenote.blogspot.com/2020/02/an-interview-with-emile.html