Corpus Christi 2020 - Eucharistic Miracles and Real Presence

We come to the great feast of Corpus Christ, the origins of which date back to an extraordinary event in the year 1263.  A priest named Peter of Prague was making his way from his home city of Prague to Rome on pilgrimage. Peter of Prague was a pious priest, though he harbored some doubts about the Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Perhaps, this is why he was making the pilgrimage, to help renew his Faith. Well, as he neared the Holy City, Father Peter stopped in the Italian town of Bolsena to offer his daily Mass. And during Mass, a miracle occurred which certainly cleared up his doubts. At the moment he lifted up the consecrated host, the host began to bleed. The blood ran down his hands and his arms and dripped down onto the corporal on the altar.

Astonished, Peter of Prague quickly made his way to the nearby town of Orvieto, where Pope Urban IV was visiting.  He knelt down before the Holy Father and confessed his former doubt of the Real Presence told the Pope of this extraordinary miracle. The Pope sent a delegation of Cardinals to investigate, and when the facts were ascertained, he ordered that the Host and the corporal bearing the stains of Blood be brought to him.  After seeing the signs of the miracle himself, the Pope ordered the sacred items to be placed in the Cathedral of Orvieto, where they are still on display.

Traveling with Pope Urban during this period was the greatest theological writer of the time, of all time, no? St. Thomas Aquinas.  In honor of this miracle, the Pope asked the Dominican friar to compose the liturgical prayers for a feast honoring the Real Presence of the Lord. We celebrate that Feast today, the Feast of Corpus Christi.

There are many stories of Eucharistic miracles throughout the centuries like the one experienced by Peter of Prague, miracles in which the Lord God bolsters the faith of the doubting, or gives supernatural proof of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

One of my favorites is from 13th century Portugal: the story goes that there was a woman living in the town of Santarem, Portugal. The woman had begun to suspect that her husband was unfaithful, for he had withdrawn his affections. She became desperate to win back her husband’s attention, and so she turned to a strega, a witch. The witch promised that the husband would again love her like before, but for a price. The woman was tasked with stealing a consecrated host from church and bringing it to the witch. This frightened the woman, as she knew this to be a terrible sacrilege, but she agreed. After receiving communion in her parish church, St. Stephen, she did not consume the host upon receiving it, but took the host out of her mouth and placed it in her scarf.

On her way to the house of the witch, a miracle occurred: the Holy Host began to bleed. The woman panicked, and out of fear, she hurried home and placed the scarf with the Host at the bottom of a wooden chest in her bedroom. Her husband returned home, and the two retired for the evening, though due to her dreadful state she could barely sleep, the guilt of her sin tormented her—she could not get the image of that Bleeding Host out of her head.

And then, in the middle of the night, brilliant rays of light began to shine from the chest. The couple awakened to the spectacular vision of angels kneeling down and adoring the Host contained in that wooden chest.

The woman could no longer keep secret her terrible deed. She confessed her great sin to her husband. Both repented and spent the rest of the night kneeling in adoration and reparation before the miraculous Host.

The next morning they informed the parish priest who returned the Host to his parish Church of St. Stephens in a solemn procession. The host continued to bleed for days, when it was finally encased in a reliquary made of bees wax.

A hundred years later, the new priest went to move the reliquary to the tabernacle, when the beeswax disintegrated, but the bleeding host remained. The host was placed in a case of glass, and throughout the centuries, it has bled repeatedly, and several images of Our Lord was seen in the host.

These stories are important, they bolster our faith in the Real Presence, the remind us that in each host, in the smallest particle of each host, is the body and blood of Our Lord, who says in the Gospel, my flesh is true food, my blood is true drink. Now, most of us will never witness an Extraordinary Miracle, of seeing a bleeding host, and that’s fine because and we don’t need to. Blessed are those who believe without needing such extraordinary measures. The gift of supernatural faith enables us to know that Our Blessed Lord is truly present in the Eucharist. And, if you are struggling to believe this doctrine, please ask the Lord for help: Lord help my unbelief. Don’t just write off this doctrine as superstition, ask God for help. If you believe yourself to be too modern, too intellectually sophisticated to believe in the Real Presence, you do need help, you do need God to help ignite a faith that has grown cold, or polluted by worldly categories.

There is a crisis of faith in the real presence. Last August, remember, Bishop Robert Barron made national news lamenting a recent Pew Research report that over two-thirds of Catholics have lost their faith, or never had faith, that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist—that bread and wine are truly transformed, not just symbolically, but truly, into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.

Two-thirds of Catholics. Perhaps they’ve been failed by their Catechists, perhaps by faithless clergy or religious, perhaps by their parents who themselves exhibited little-to-no Eucharistic faith, or they themselves have allowed secular materialism to destroy their faith. Whatever the reason, we must pray and work for a renewal of Eucharistic faith. The more the Eucharist is profaned or abandoned, the more we need to receive it with love and reverence.

Again what does it matter? Belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist is an essential doctrine of our Saving Faith. It is a conduit for grace, and transformation. Belief in the real presence leads us to make our lives worthy of its reception, to strive to adorn our souls with virtue, to make our souls fitting receptacles, spiritual tabernacles for our Eucharistic Lord.

The Eucharistic is not just a symbol. We don’t love symbols, we don’t kneel down and adore symbols, we don’t strive to better ourselves for a symbol. But we do kneel down and adore the Eucharist, we treat it with the highest level of reverence we can muster, because the Eucharist is really and truly Jesus Christ, present. He is truly present in the tabernacle. He is made present on the altar through the prayers of the priest. He is truly present as you receive him in Holy Communion. And he makes Himself present that you may love Him, and adore Him, and know Communion with God through Him, and receive the transforming grace you need to be faithful to Him in the concrete circumstances of your life. Helping you, like Him, to become a pleasing sacrifice to God, to be broken and shared for others.

May this feast help us to enshrine the Eucharist with Love, with worship in spirit and in truth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Friday - 29th Week of OT 2017 - Signs of the Times

One of the very strong features of our Catholic faith is that we take signs and symbols seriously. Liturgically: art, music, gesture, beauty lift our minds to the worship of God, and help to express religious truths which cannot be expressed in words. In his 1999 “Letter to artists” Pope St. John Paul wrote, “In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God”

This is really the Sacramental Principle at work, so permeating Catholic Christianity: the visible sacrament communicates the invisible, the physical can communicate something of the spiritual.
In the Gospel today, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem when he must have come across a crowd of unbelievers, for he rebukes their unbelief. He points out how they so easily and forecast the weather by reading the signs, but they were missing something more important than weather, which was happening in their midst. The signs of the time were all around them: loaves being multiplied, the lame walking, hardened sinners repenting, and the good news spreading. But with all these signs many refused to believe.

Similarly today, even amidst all the tragedy, natural disaster, war, and sickness in the world, we see miracles, healings, restored relationships, Christian joy, fellowship, all which come through Christ. Catholics pouring out their lives in teaching the young, feeding the hungry in soup kitchens, clothing the naked, so much evidence if we take time to look and listen for the work of God.  The darker the world becomes, the more reasons for unbelief, the brighter we need to shine, with reasons for belief.

The more things change, the more things stay the same, for Christians, meaning, as the world changes, the Christian message, and the vocation of the Church remains the same. We are called to be proof of God’s love to the world. And that is done in very physical ways: gathering for prayer, gathering for works of charity, gathering for teaching, and manifesting the spiritual gifts God has given us for the upbuilding of the Church.

To go back to the idea of art, there is nothing more beautiful, no masterwork of art greater than a soul which has surrendered herself to God. We are called to be the works of art, through which the invisible hand of God, the artist, is made visible, in which His beauty, His truth, and His goodness are made manifest, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Church leaders may be instilled with genuine Faith, Hope, and Charity and help all people of the world to grow in those virtues.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering, may they come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Homily: Nov 21 2016 - The Presentation of the BVM - Mary and the 144,000

On this Monday of the final week of Ordinary time, and this, year the memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we continue to read from the great book of Revelation.

Throughout the book, the evangelist John has symbolic visions of the Church, visions of the nations and rulers—the principalities and powers who persecute the Church, visions of the worship of God in heaven by the saints and angels.

In the passage, today, John sees 144,000, having the name of God on their forehead, who had been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb. Nearly every number in Revelation is symbolic. 144,000 is an interesting number—it is a perfect square—twelve times twelve—times a thousand. The number 144,000 is found again to describe the saints, and also much later, in the penultimate chapter of Revelation—it describes the architectural dimensions of the wall of the heavenly Jerusalem “144 cubits according to the standard unit of measurement”. Also, 12 foundations stones of the wall, each with the 12 names of the 12 apostles. That’s 144 names!

The 144,000 are us, the members of the Church, living, dead, and future members, those who stand firmly on the foundation stones of the twelve apostles—each of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, who mark our foreheads with the name of God “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”.

The memorial of the presentation of Mary celebrates the naming of Mary and her dedication to God. What a lovely coincidence that in our Revelation reading, it is revealed, that the name we have received, the name Christian, the name “Child of God”, the name “follower of Jesus” endures even into heaven.

Mary is surely the model for all those with the name of Christian—she is the model of faith, hope, and love, the model of all the virtues, she is the model of trusting in God, and surrendering all to God; she is the model of suffering with Christ and suffering for Christ; she is a model for all Christian mothers, and a model for all Christians called to bear fruit for the sake of the kingdom; she is the model of magnifying the goodness of God through our own good works; she is the model of the marriage of grace and free will; the model of Christian perfection to which we all are called.

Pope St. John Paul said, the Church from the beginning has modeled her earthly journey on that of the Mother of God. “It is to her as Mother and Model that the Church must look in order to understand in its completeness the meaning of her own mission.”

May each of us consider today how we are being called more deeply to follow Our Lady’s example in following the Lamb wherever he goes, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Thursday - 33rd Week in OT 2016 - The Lamb who was slain stands victorious

Throughout the book of Revelation, Jesus is depicted in several different ways. He is described as a lion: the lion of Judah. Back in Genesis, Jacob prophecies that his son Judah, is like a lion, king of beasts. And from Judah will come a ruler, who will receive the homage of the people.

That prophecy is fulfilled partially in King David, a descendent of Judah, but is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, whom comes from the line of David and the line of Judah.  Jesus depicted as the Lion of Judah reveals that Jesus a King, the King who brings the everlasting peace God promised.

Jesus, as we heard Monday, is depicted as a cosmic ruler, who walked among the lampstands; he is present to the Churches and among the churches.

Jesus is depicted as a warrior and judge, riding on a white horse leading the heavenly army against the defeat of the beast.

He is depicted as the bridegroom of the Church, who has prepared the Church for heavenly glory by giving her a pure white wedding garment; a symbol of the baptismal garment of his faithful followers.

Though, he is depicted as a lion, as a judge, a warrior, and a king, by far, the most frequent image for Jesus in the book of Revelation is a Lamb.

And as we heard today, he is the lamb. Revelation uses the word “Lamb” to refer to Jesus twenty-eight times. The lamb had been slain. The word “slain” refers to a person killed by violence or of an animal slaughtered for a sacrificial purpose. Jesus is both.

Lamb of God by 50LbHead

Though he is depicted as a slain, sacrificed, brutally murdered victim, we see him standing before the throne. He is standing victorious, with seven horns and seven eyes to symbolize his complete knowledge and power.

Again, Revelation was primarily written to Christians who were being persecuted for their faith, who were being tempted to abandon their faith for the ways of the world. What a powerful image if you are being persecuted! The risen lamb, in the fullness of knowledge and power, victorious over sin and death and the powers of evil in the world, is on your side.

Today at Holy Mass, the consecrated host and chalice are lifted-up, and the priest will proclaim, “behold the Lamb of God.” Jesus comes to us today to share his victory with us, that amidst our temptations, we can be strengthened in persevering and enduring faith, that we may come to share in the glory of his eternal kingdom for the glory of God and salvation of souls.