Fr Francis TJ Sdb
It was about a month ago on a Sunday, one of the Catholics brought her Baptist friend along for the Mass. At communion time the Baptist Lady was also in the line and the priest inadvertently gave the Holy Communion to the outstretched hands of the Non Catholic. She pretended to eat it but did not consume it, out of reverential fear. She took it home and placed it respectfully at home. She had a restless night on account of it and she began to feel guilty of desecration. Early in the morning She ran to the house of her Catholic neighbour and explained the cause of her fear and showed the Holy communion covered with a white paper. Her Catholic friend immediately rang to the Parish Priest who could not be contacted. She then rang up to the Carmelite Sister in charge and the stolen communion was brought back to the church.
We have heard that in the Old Testament, that the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines who were pagans in I Sam. 5.1. Everyone knew that this covenantal box contained three things. It contained the 2 stone tablets of the ten commandments which were inscribed by God himself and given to Moses, the bread from heaven- the Manna- which the Israelites ate on their sojourn in the desert to which Jesus referred in Jn. 6.49, 58 and the miraculous rod of Aron, which symbolized Priesthood. This box was captured by them. Many untoward events started to happen. The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the people, and He terrified and struck them with tumors. So they returned it to the Israelite camp on a cart (I Sam 5,6) We also read about the death of Uzzah who accidently touched the Ark of the Covenant (2 Sam 6.3-8; 1 Ch.13.7-11). These biblical events must have played on her conscience as she decided to return the consecrated host to the priest.
The priest in charge of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Church, Chümoukedima, Dimapur, Nagaland, Fr Johnson took the consecrated host and broke it into bits and kept it in a cruet- a small bottle- and poured holy water over it to dissolve it. In such cases, the custom of the Catholic Church is to reverentially dispose it, either by consumption by the priest himself or by dissolving it in water and pouring it into a hole dug for the purpose.
Every Catholic parish has a tabernacle box, to conserve the holy Eucharist. The cruet containing the host was securely placed in the tabernacle to dispose of it later, when the host would be dissolved. But a series of miracles started to happen. Normally the host dissolves in a matter of few seconds, but when the priest examined the host after several days, he saw a double miracle.
Several days had passed and on Palm Sunday- four days ago-, there was a sick call and the priest opened the tabernacle to take viaticum to the sick. It is one of the greatest consolations of the sick Catholics to receive the holy communion and anointing so that they may be spiritually strengthened and recover if God so wills (Jas. 5.14-15) If God wills that he dies, it will be food for the journey till he reaches the heavenly Jerusalem.
As he was taking the consecrated host for the sick, he noticed something unusual in the cruet. The host which was broken into bits was at the bottom of the bottle intact and as testified by thousands later, he saw a layer of something like dried blood floating over it.
There was something covering over it and he was shocked. He put his finger into examine it. When he applied force, it broke, and blood started oozing out of it. It was kept for public viewing and now it is in the custody of the Bishop of Kohima for further verification. Blood tests have not been performed yet, yet for the believers, it is believed to be just another miracle that happens every day during the Eucharistic celebration in every Catholic Mass. It is truly, the body and blood of Jesus consubstantially that is effected at the consecration at every Mass.
Down through the centuries when faith has waned, Jesus still works this miracle of the Eucharist. The bread has become flesh and blood in the literal sense down through the centuries. Anyone can look up “Eucharistic miracles” on the inter-net and read about the Lanciano miracle, the Korean miracle, the miracle of Rani Maria in Kerala a few years ago and about the women in Shillong who has been living only on the Eucharistic species. St Carlo Acutis the young computer wizard who was recently canonized a saint, was a great devotee of the Holy Eucharist. St Carlo Acutis’ list of Eucharistic miracles is also available on the net for all.
The story of the Eucharist
Today, for the Catholics, it is Maundy Thursday Or Holy Thursday. On this day following the example of Jesus in Jn.13, the priest washes the feet of 12 persons and reminds everyone to love and serve one another. A collection is taken for the poorest of the poor and distributed. It is followed by the celebration of the Passover. Today is also the day of the establishment of the Priesthood, when the faithful pray for their priests who are ordained as ministers of the Word and Sacraments-especially the Eucharist.
The word Eucharist is from the Greek word ‘eucharistia’ meaning ‘thanksgiving’. Every year, the Jews celebrated the Passover, as a eucharistic remembrance of the events that delivered them from the bondage of Egypt and enabled them to Passover to the promised land. They would eat unleavened bread and sprinkle the blood of an unblemished lamb over their door- posts, to remember the angel of death passing over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt (Ex.12).
Jesus too celebrated this, being a law-abiding Jew. He knew that on the next day on Good Friday, he would be slaughtered like a lamb led to the slaughter (Is. 53.7) So realizing that he has the Lamb of God without blemish, who was to be broken on the cross to take away the sin of the world,(Jn.1.29), He took bread and said, “this is my body. Take this all of you and eat”. He then took a cup of wine and said, “This is the cup of my blood. Take this all of you and drink from it. Do this in remembrance of me” (cfr Lk.22.14-20; 1 Cor.11. 23-26).
Jesus’ command is to do this in remembrance of his saving sacrifice every day, not once a year. Every day we pray “give us today our daily bread” because we need to eat everyday to live. So too, we His disciples need to eat every day, of the spiritual bread of life. That is the reason why every priest has to celebrate the Eucharist every day to facilitate the believers to remember him and to eat of him every day in Holy Communion. St. Paul says, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again” (I Cor11.26).
Jesus, after rising from the dead, celebrated the 2nd Mass (in remembrance) at Emaus and the two disciples’ eyes were opened and they recognized him at the ‘breaking of the bread’ (Lk 24. 28-35).No wonder, the first Church in the New Testament “broke the bread” in remembrance of Him as often as possible. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers (Acts. 2.42).
Jesus, who is God for us will not lie to us and hence, is not speaking to us in a symbolic sense when he says, “very truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (Jn.6.52, 54, 55, 56.” Jesus was very clear about what he said, even though some so called disciples wanted to walk out in protest. (Jn.6.60-61). He did not correct himself to accommodate everyone.
Let us continue to obey the last commandment of Jesus. “Do this in memory of me”. Where there is remembrance, there is love and where there is love there is remembrance. Let every Communion be an occasion to come in Union to love Jesus and one another. God bless you all as I pray “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe (Jn. 20.25).
