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Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
All of us together form the Church. Who is the center or head of the Church? Jesus is the center. How is Jesus most present to us? In the Blessed Sacrament. Today’s celebration of Corpus Christ, the Body of Christ, is the feast of the very center and heart of the Church, the center and heart of our faith, and the center and heart of parish, the center and heart of the lives of each of us.
I know that some find it difficult to believe that bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus. I can understand your doubts. We don’t see any change in the bread or wine. There is no difference in the taste. It is going against logic to say that the bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus with no change in appearance. With our intellect, we can understand that God must be keeping the universe together, that God is the origin of everything, but reason will only take us so far. Then we need to add faith to our reason and intellect. As Paul says, in the Christian life we go by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). We need to be humble and open to God performing a miracle every day in this church—the miracle of the Eucharist. Can you be humble enough to add faith to your intellect and reason, to admit that intellect by itself does not provide all the answers, and that God can perform miracles every day making it possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Jesus while keeping the same appearance? When you submit to God, you will not lose anything; you will gain everything. There is a beautiful chant, “Trust, surrender, believe, receive.” Add faith to your reasoning and receive the love of God for you! The Eucharist is the gift of God’s love for you.
To help us believe, from time to time, God has allowed visible miracles of the Eucharist to occur, Eucharistic Miracles as we call them. These are miracles that occurred during Mass when the bread changed into flesh during the consecration and the wine changed into blood during the consecration. Many such Eucharistic Miracles have occurred in various parts of the world and throughout the two millennia of Christian history and have been authenticated by the Church.
In the year 1263 a priest from Prague was on route to Rome making a pilgrimage asking God for help to strengthen his faith since he was having doubts about his vocation. Along the way, he stopped in Bolsena 70 miles north of Rome. While celebrating Mass there, as he raised the host during the consecration, the bread turned into flesh and began to bleed. The drops of blood fell onto the small white cloth on the altar, called the corporal. The following year, in 1264, Pope Urban IV extended the celebration of the Body and Blood of Jesus, today’s solemnity, to the entire Church which previously had been celebrated only locally in France. The Pope asked St. Thomas Aquinas, living at that time, to write hymns for the feast and he wrote two, better known to the older members of our congregation, the Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris. That blood-stained corporal may still be seen in the Basilica of Orvieto north of Rome.
Although that is the
Eucharistic
miracle that led to the extension of this celebration in the entire Church, a more famous Eucharistic
miracle is the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, also in Italy, which took place
many centuries earlier, around the year 700. A monk who feared he was losing his
vocation was celebrating Mass, and during the consecration the host turned into
flesh and the wine turned into blood. Even though the miracle took
place more than 1300 years ago, you may still see the flesh in a monstrance which is
exposed every day and the blood in a glass chalice. (The glass chalice is
beneath the monstrance.) The blood has congealed
and is now in five clots in the glass chalice. In 1971 and 1981 a hospital
laboratory tested the flesh and blood and discovered that the flesh is
myocardium, heart muscular tissue, so we could say it is the heart of
Jesus, the Sacred Heart, and the blood is of the blood group AB. In
1978 NASA scientists tested the blood on the Turin Shroud and
interestingly also discovered that it is of the blood group AB. (The Sudarium, Face Cloth of Christ,
in John 20:6, is also of the blood group AB.) Even though human flesh and blood should not have remained preserved for 1300 years, the
hospital lab tests found no trace of any preservatives. One final interesting
point about the five blood clots in the chalice is that when you weigh one of
them, it is the same weight as all five together, and two of them together weigh the
same as all five. In fact, no matter what way you combine the blood clots
individually or in a group to weigh them, they always weigh the same.
(This shows that the full Jesus is present in a particle of the Eucharist no
matter how small.)
These are two Eucharistic miracles I have seen, and that have been authenticated by the Church after investigation. In spiritual books you will read of many more Eucharistic miracles throughout the world that have been authenticated by the Church. All these authenticated Eucharistic miracles throughout the world are surely an answer to any doubts we may have about Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is really with us in the Eucharist. Jesus comes to us in every Mass under the form of bread and wine. The Eucharist is a celebration of the love of Jesus for us, his blood shed for us in love, and his body scourged, crowned with thorns, and crucified for us. Because the Eucharist is the love of Jesus for us, we always approach Jesus in the Eucharist with great respect and asking pardon for our sins. That’s why it is so necessary at the start of every Mass to ask Jesus for mercy because we are so unworthy of his love, and again before receiving Jesus we express our unworthiness, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Think of how precious a moment it is in Mass when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. When we receive Jesus, Jesus is in us, and we are with Jesus. It is like what Genesis says about the marriage of man and woman—no longer two but one (Gen 2:24). It is the same when we receive Jesus; we are no longer two but one— “He who eats my flesh abides in me and I in him.” (John 6:57).
I know some find it difficult to believe that bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Can you be humble enough to add faith to your reason and intellect, to admit that intellect by itself does not provide all the answers, and that God can perform miracles every day making it possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Jesus while keeping the same appearance? Can you add faith to your reason and logic? To help us in our weak faith, from time to time, God has given us Eucharistic Miracles so that we may believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Come to Jesus, not like a scientist trying to analyze, but come in trust; surrender, believe, and receive his love. Say to Jesus that you believe he is really present in the Blessed Sacrament and gradually grow from merely believing, to loving Jesus, and being loved by Jesus. Come to visit Jesus in the tabernacle here in church often where you will have a wonderful opportunity to trust, surrender, believe, and receive the love of Jesus.
To show love for Jesus, we will carry him in procession tonight. It is also a symbol of Jesus’ love for us. We cannot carry Jesus through every street or road in our parish but nevertheless we know that Jesus is with us and loves us, his blood is poured out for us, and his body broken for us. As Jesus passes you in the Blessed Sacrament, adore him and thank him for all that he has done for us unworthy sinners. Also, as Jesus passes you in the Blessed Sacrament, ask him for whatever healing you need. Try to put words on the deepest healing you need in your life, and ask Jesus to heal you. At Masses for healing, the healing always occurs when people are blessed with Jesus in the monstrance. Jesus in the monstrance will pass by you tonight. Adore him, love him, and ask him for help. He is waiting for you. Remember the words of the consecration of every Mass recalling Jesus giving himself for us, “This is my Body which will be given up for you....This is the cup of my blood. It will be poured out for you...”
Jesus in the Eucharist is the very center and heart of our Church, the center and heart of our faith. May Jesus in the Eucharist be the center and heart of our parish, and the center and heart of the lives of each of us.
O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine,
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be every moment Thine.
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 1998
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More homilies on the Eucharist
The Eucharist: the Greatest Gift 2023
Year A: Meet Jesus in his Real Presence in the Eucharist 2008
Year B: Hungry for Jesus 2024
Jesus’ continuing presence with us in the Eucharist 2021
Year C: Is Jesus in the Eucharist the center of your life? 2007
Related Homilies: Homilies on the Eucharist