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Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
The Eucharist is the greatest gift we have. It is Jesus present with us. Jesus could have just left us when he ascended, but instead he continues with us present in the Eucharist. During the consecration at Mass, the bread changes into the body of Jesus but still looks and tastes the same, and the wine changes into the blood of Jesus but looks and tastes the same. After the consecration, it is no longer bread, but the Body of Jesus. It is not blessed bread; no, it is no longer bread—it is the Body of Jesus. After the consecration, the wine is no longer wine but the Blood of Jesus. We call this change transubstantiation: the substance has changed from bread into the body of Jesus, from wine into the blood of Jesus.
To help us believe, a number of times through the past 2000 years, miracles have occurred during the consecration when not only did the bread change into the Body of Jesus as it does in every Mass, but also changed its form to human flesh. This often happened during times when people doubted. Laboratories that tested samples submitted to them by the Church have always found the flesh to be the same type, heart muscular tissue. So, I say it is the heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart. When the blood in these miracles is tested, it is always the blood group, AB. We call these Eucharistic miracles. A number seem to have occurred in recent years in various places throughout the world, but they have occurred all during the history of the Church.
Perhaps the most famous and
the one most visited is in Lanciano on the east coast of Italy. It
is north of St. Padre Pio’s shrine so most pilgrimages that go to
St. Padre Pio’s shrine stop in Lanciano. You can see the flesh in a
glass monstrance and the blood in a glass chalice, now congealed
into blood clots. Even though this miracle took place around AD 700,
the hospital laboratory tests found no trace of any preservative of
any kind. Another famous Eucharistic miracle in Italy is north of
Rome. When the priest held up the host during the consecration at
Mass, the bread turned into flesh and began to bleed, and the drops
of blood fell onto the small white cloth on the altar called the
corporal. You can still see the blood-stained corporal today. It was
because of that Eucharistic miracle that took place in 1263 that
Pope Urban IV extended the celebration of Corpus Christi to the
entire Church which before then had been celebrated only in one
diocese in France. So, we have this celebration every year since
1264 because of one of those Eucharistic miracles.
Our celebration of the Eucharist today reminds us, that as well as giving thanks for the Eucharist, to also pray for vocations because without priests we would not have the Eucharist. People sometimes joke with me that they could say Mass and my response is they could say the words, but the bread would still be bread and the wine would still be wine, whereas when a priest says the words the bread changes into the Body of Jesus. That reminds me of a bartender elsewhere who said to me that he heard many confessions during his work as bartender. Perhaps he did but he was unable to give absolution whereas a priest hears confessions and gives absolution. During the Last Supper, Jesus gave us the Eucharist and the priesthood and the two are intimately linked. We have the Eucharist because our priesthood in the Catholic Church is going all the way back in an unbroken line to the apostles ordained by Jesus. The bishop who ordained me a priest, Bishop John Magee, was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1987, who was ordained a bishop by Archbishop Baziak in 1958, who was ordained a bishop by Bishop Twardowski in 1919, who was ordained a bishop by Bishop Bilczewski in 1901 and so on all the way back to the apostles which is why we have the Eucharist and Eucharistic miracles.
Some say they are spiritual but not religious. I think the words from Jesus we heard in our Gospel (Year A) are a key point in the spirituality of Jesus:
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (John 6:53-56)
I am not sure how any spirituality could not include those words of Jesus and their implications. Talking of implications, Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Corinthians about receiving the Eucharist worthily. This is part of what he wrote:
Everyone is to examine himself and only then eat of the bread or drink from the cup; because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body is eating and drinking his own condemnation. (1 Cor 11:28-29)
One of the ways we prepare to receive Jesus worthily is go to confession regularly to be ready to receive Jesus.
Tonight, we take Jesus in procession through our town as an expression of our love for Jesus, an expression of our faith in Jesus, and asking his blessing on our town. We read in the Gospels about Jesus visiting various towns in Galilee and tonight Jesus will go through our town.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2023
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies on the Eucharist
The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and Eucharistic Miracles
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