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Showing posts from April, 2023
  The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, Italy.       It was somewhere between AD 700 and 750. A monk of the Order of St. Basil, who was also a priest, was not very steadfast in his faith and had been doubting the Real Presence of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. But he did pray to God constantly for resolution of His doubt. One morning at Mass, as he prayed the Eucharistic Prayer and spoke the words of consecration, to his great amazement, after he, as a priest with the ordination of Apostolic Succession, doing the same acts and words as Jesus and the Apostles did, behold! The bread in his hands physically became Flesh. He could see and feel it – Flesh, no longer bread. The wine in the chalice, again, after the words and actions of the Eucharistic Prayer, he could see had now become physical Blood. The appearance of both had physically changed into the reality that duly consecrated bread and wine always become, even if retaining the appearance of bread and wine: the Body and Bl
Eucharistic Miracles -- What Are They?        First, what does “Eucharist” mean?       “Jesus took bread, and BLESSED, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My Body.’ And He took a chalice and when He had given THANKS he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it all of you, for this is My Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-29.)       The Greek work for “thanks” or “thanksgiving,” which is also implied in saying a blessing, is “eucharist.” Because Jesus’ prayer over the bread and wine includes thanksgiving, the word “Eucharist” is commonly used to refer to the consecrated elements, now transformed from mere bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood, His human soul and His Divinity.       Do we have to take this on faith? Yes, of course. All the mysteries of Christ are appropriated by faith. Is there anything else? Yes, Holy Scripture. Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist is found in Matthew, Mark