A EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Ex. 24: 3 – 8; Ps. 116; Heb. 9: 11 – 15; Mk. 14: 12 – 16. 22 – 26

It was in the 8^th century at Lanciano that the greatest Eucharistic miracle took place. After the two – fold consecration, as a response to the doubt of the Basilian monk on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the bread changed into living Flesh and the wine into living Blood. Twelve centuries later, a scientific investigation concluded that the flesh is a human heart with its essential structure while the blood contains the elements of a normal human blood. The preservation of the flesh and blood until today remains to be an extraordinary phenomenon. The miracle at Lanciano is just one of the many stories which we have heard on the Eucharist. However, that Eucharistic celebration which happened in Lanciano is the same Holy Mass celebrated in far – flung barrio chapels. The Eucharist even without those miracles continues to be the “source and summit” of our Christian life. Thus we ask ourselves, what is really the Eucharist? What is its meaning in my life right now?

Today, Holy Mother Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we give honor and praise to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Let us then take our reflections on the Eucharist from our liturgical readings today.

In our first reading, to ritualize the people’s assent to the covenant of the Lord, “Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar…Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.’” Scholars would interpret the sprinkling of both the altar and the people as the bringing together of the two parties to the covenant – God and man. Thus, a sort of sacramental union is achieved. Indeed, this is the drama of the Chosen People of Israel! Their story is all about the graciousness of God to the covenant and their struggle to remain faithful to the God who has delivered them from slavery.

In the Eucharist, we are not merely sprinkled by blood of animals. Rather, we partake of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, we too establish a union with God. If we try to look into the term, “eucharist,” we can find to Greek words – “eu” (good) and “charis” (gift). The Eucharist is a good gift. And what is this gift? The gift of unity with our Lord Jesus Christ. God is not someone who lives up there. But as the holy bishop Camomot would say, “God is in the heart!” It is our challenge then that as we go home after this Mass, we experience a “Eucharistic joy,” a union with God who has loved us first.

In our second reading, the letter to the Hebrews tells us that “if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.” In the Old Covenant, blood of the animals were used for purification and sanctification. However, in the New Covenant, it was already the blood of Christ himself poured out on the cross which washed away humanity’s sin.

In the Eucharist, when we receive the Lord and give him a dwelling place in our hearts, our lives are also made clean and given direction. We move away from “dead works” to “worship of the living God.” Pope Francis in his address to the priests in Rome has this to say, “ Stopping for a moment before the tabernacle can also lead priests to examine their consciences: “In the silence of prayer Jesus make us see if we are working as good workers, or if we have become a little like ‘employees;’ if we are open, generous ‘channels,’ through which His love, His grace can flow abundantly; or if instead we place ourselves at the center, and so instead of being channels we become screens that do not help the encounter with God, with the light and the strength of the Gospel.” A devotion to the Blessed Sacrament then can help us stay attuned to our vocation – to be channels and not screens of the grace of God.

Finally, in our Gospel taken from the Last Supper narrative of Mark, Jesus after taking, blessing, and giving thanks, shared both his body and blood to his disciples. The story ends with Jesus and his chosen friends going out from the Upper Room to the Mount of Olives. We have to remind ourselves that this narrative finally marked the beginning of Jesus’ passion.

From the story, we learned that the Eucharist is meant to be shared. However, sharing does not only mean giving the Eucharist to others. To share here means to be one in the suffering of others. Pope Francis in his homily during this year’s Corpus Christi celebration in Rome asked everyone who will be joining in the Eucharistic procession “to perceive ourselves in communion with our many brothers and sisters who do have the freedom to express their faith in the Lord Jesus…And we venerate in our hearts those brothers and sisters from whom the sacrifice of their lives has been required for fidelity to Christ: let their blood, united to that of the Lord, be a pledge of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.” To receive the Lord in the Eucharist carries with it a challenge to share in his passion; to be ready to drink from the cup of suffering. We do not worry, however, because we know that it did not end on Calvary but in the empty tomb. The Eucharist is not an “anting – anting” or a magic potion that every time we eat and drink of the body and blood of Jesus, life becomes problem and worry free. Rather, partaking of the Eucharist is accepting suffering with the assurance that we are never alone in the journey.

The late Vietnamese Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was imprisoned for 13 years, nine of which were spent in solitary confinement. Since, the Mass was not allowed in prison, he asked the guards to provide him with wine as “medicine for his stomach pains.” And every day at three in the afternoon, he would celebrate the Mass with only three drops of wine despite the terror and darkness surrounding him. When asked by reporters what made him survived such ordeal, he exclaimed, “the Eucharist!” We do not need to go to Lanciano in order to experience a Eucharistic miracle. Rather, every time we experience a “Eucharistic joy;” every time our consciences are made clean; and every time we share in Christ’s passion and accept our suffering with hope all because of the Eucharist, then, we experience a miracle! Amen!

P.S. Photo taken from http://www.acfp2000.com/popefranciswithmonstrance2.jpg