This is the text of the Homily I gave during the reading cycle of John 6.
Wouldn’t it have been neat to be present for this miracle. On this Lake of Tiberias Jesus sits and teaches the thousands and then gives them a meal from practically nothing. I remember during my trip to the Holy Land visiting the location of this story. And then we celebrated Mass at this very site. It was then that I realized, I was present for something far greater than the multiplication of loaves and fish.
Over the next three Sundays, our Gospel readings come from John, Chapter 6. This is known as the Bread of Life discourse. This event in todays Gospel is just preparing for Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist. Where he tells us: “I am the living bread”, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you do not have life within you.”
This Gospel tells us at the beginning that the feast of Passover was drawing near. This isn’t a throw away detail. This is the feast that celebrates the freedom of the Israelites from slavery. Central to this celebration is the seder meal. The text also tells us that when Jesus receives the loaves, he says a blessing and gives thanks. The Greek of this passage reads “eucharisteō” which makes it abundantly clear to us what this is leading to. In fact, we have the same string of verbs used in Marks account of this story and in the Last Supper narrative: “took, blessed, broke and gave”
This is the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ that we are given.
What is this that we believe. It is called “transubstantiation”. The bread and wine become flesh and blood; the appearance of bread and wine remain. The substance of the bread and wine become Jesus; the accidents (the appearance) remain as an act of mercy, a veil. If we saw what we were receiving, we would dare not approach.
Sometimes, through miracles, God has allowed this veil to be lifted. These are called the Eucharistic miracles; and I fear we do not talk about them enough. There are miracles like in Orvieto in the 13th century, on the feast of corpus Christi the host bled, and the corporal on which it bleed is still in that Cathedral for veneration today. I have been there and knelt before the blood of our Lord at this Cathedral. However, this is not a thing of the past. There are at least four Eucharistic miracles this century (in the last twenty years). Before approval the Vatican has these investigated by independent scientist to rule out any natural explanation.
One more recent one was in Legnica, Poland in 2013. At Christmas Mass, during the distribution of communion, a host fell on the floor. The option when this happens is that either the host is consumed or it is dissolved in water; and if any particles broke on the ground, that area is thoroughly cleaned. In this instance, they chose to dissolve the host. The scientific report read: “In the histopathological image, the fragments were found containing the fragmented parts of the cross-striated muscle. It is most similar to the heart muscle.”
This muscle of the heart is common in most Eucharistic miracles. There is another instance in Poland that this happened in 2008. They removed the host and placed it in the tabernacle for three years! It emitted the smell of fresh baked bread and when studied the bloody part was found to be this same heart tissue.
In Mexico in 2006 as a priest was celebrating Mass with religious sisters, the host began to emit a reddish substance. Again, the bishop of that diocese had a thorough investigation done. These are done by not telling the scientist the origin of the sample they are investigating to prevent bias. The report of this study found: “The reddish substance analyzed corresponds to blood in which there are hemoglobin and DNA of human origin… The blood type is AB, similar to the one found in the Host of Lanciano and in the Holy Shroud of Turin.”
If you search online for Eucharistic Miracles, you will find dozens of these stories. It seems like the Lord is shouting at us! “THIS IS REALLY MY FLESH AND BLOOD!” — “CONTEMPLATE WHAT YOU RECEIVE!”
