Today is a great day where we get to focus on one of the greatest and, perhaps most wonderful, mysteries of our faith. It is definitely the best thing that happens on earth. Yet, we don’t know it. Research is showing that there are many Catholics among us who do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. What do we believe or should we believe? That the bread, the host, a little piece of bread and a cup of wine when the correct words are said by an ordained priest are turned into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus and we get to take it into our very bodies. We get to become one with Jesus.
How do we know this? By a variety of means. We know it from Sacred Scripture. You might be thinking that Sacred Scripture is not true and you’ve seen evidence to the contrary. For now I will say this: Scripture is the most historically verifiable document known to man. There is more proof of the truth of Scripture and that it reliably transmits the word of God than any other document known to man. I will show you in another homily, but I say this with certainty and have no fear of the critics who speak against it. As well, I also know that anyone who reads the Word of God often will know this truth too. So what does Scripture say about the Eucharist? In John, Jesus said that, “Unless you eat my body and drink my blood you do not have life within you.” Now some might say it was just a symbol but they asked him about it and questioned, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So we can see that they understood that it wasn’t a symbol and in John 6:66 they walked away and returned to their very lives and Jesus let them. If Jesus was speaking symbolically, he would have corrected them, he wouldn’t let people lose salvation over a misunderstanding. The Lord then turned to the disciples and asked, “Will you also leave?” Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Basically, “Lord, we don’t know how you are going to do this, but I believe.” Each one of the Gospels has an account of the Last Supper where the Eucharist was instituted, though John does not have the actual consecration as the other three do. However, we know that John was written later and he talks about things the other disciples didn’t but we know that he believed in the Real Presence and that Jesus gave His body and Blood for His believers to do this in memory of Him.
We also know that in Scripture Jesus is called the bridegroom. The main way a bridegroom shows his full union with his bride is in the marital embrace where the two become one. Jesus becomes one with His Church physically in the Eucharist where we take the body of our Lord into our bodies and become one with Him, our foretaste of Heaven. All the Church writings from the death of the last Apostle until now proclaim our belief in the Real physical Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. That should be enough, shouldn’t it for us to believe that Jesus is really there? Yet our Lord, in His infinite Love and Mercy for us, proclaims it even louder. The Lord is practically shouting it out to anyone one who has ears to listen. How is He shouting it out? Not only has He taught us through the Scripture and the Church teaching, He has given us experiences to proclaim so we can say, without a doubt, this is the Lord or, like Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus, on top of it all, has performed many miracles through the Eucharist and He has on occasion turned the bread into physical flesh and the wine, though less often, into actually blood. Do you hear this? To help us see what a treasure this is Our Lord gives us Eucharistic miracles to ruin the doubt in our hearts.
One such miracle happened not too long ago in Brazil. A priest found a discarded Host in the candle stand. He took the Host and placed it in water (he put it in a jar with water so that the Consecrated Host would dissolve and he could dispose of the remains in a consecrated place because once the Host is dissolved it is no longer the body of Christ). Placing the jar in the tabernacle, he came back a week later to dispose of the remains. To his surprise, the water had turned red and the Host had grown in size to be a fleshy tissue. The priest called the Archbishop, one Jorge Bergoglio (aka Pope Francis) and asked what to do. The cardinal told him to have it professionally photographed and to keep it a secret. They left it in the tabernacle for almost three years. It did not decompose. They then sent the sample to a world famous forensic cardiologist, apparently an atheist as well. They did not tell him where it came from, they sent him the sample blind. The cardiologist determined it was from a man roughly thirty years of age, it had human DNA, it was blood type AB and the piece was from the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves (the side that pumps blood to the whole body). He also said that the man had received a severe beating and suffered from a lack of oxygen. He said one of the oddest things was that there was a white blood cell count. This means that the flesh was still alive. If you detach an organ from its life source, within minutes the white blood cells die. Keep in mind, the piece of Host had been in water for three years now. When they revealed the truth to the doctor, he said, “I have no idea how a piece of Host became a piece of heart, but it did and it is still alive.” The doctor was converted when he found this out. To go even further, when they gave the sample to another researcher and compared it to another Eucharistic miracle in Lanciano, Italy, the world renowned researcher said they were from the same person. God is shouting for us to believe this great Mystery which He has left the Church as a living sign of His Love and desire to be with us.
You may be thinking that nothing amazing has ever happened to you when you have received the Eucharist. Well then, let today be the day. This is Jesus and He is coming to your and my lives today and He is here to draw everyone in this town into His Eucharistic Heart, into His intimate love. If you are in the state of sin, do not receive the Eucharist until you have gone to Confession because we must let Jesus prepare a place for Himself. To receive Communion in the state of serious sin is called sacrilege, it is a damnable sin. Go to confession. If you are able to receive today, receive and ask the Lord for miracles. Ask the Lord to set you on fire with love of this great and intimate Mystery. If you are struggling in repeated sin or addiction, come and ask the Lord to heal you and give you the grace to love Him alone. If you are not able to receive Communion today, ask the Lord to set your heart on fire so that you don’t miss out on this great remedy for the human heart.
Today in our world confusion reigns everywhere but the Eucharist is the antidote to this confusion, to this depression and anxiety. Today as we take our Lord in the Eucharist, we proclaim to the world that there is something greater than the problems of the world; there is Jesus who dies in our place to forgive our sins. Had He not, we would be destined to hell because of justice. But now we proclaim: repent and believe Jesus is what we are looking for in our sins. Lord, set our hearts on fire for the love of this great Mystery that you desire so much that you even humbled yourself that we, though not worthy, can receive You into our very bodies. Help us, dear Lord, to understand. Fill us with joy that we are so blessed, so loved. Let us never take you for granted again.