CORPUS CHRISTI
Fr. MAREK ŁUCZAK
In the original Church miracles used to happen quite often. Their significance should be understood within the effective pedagogy of God: soon after their conversion, pagans or Judaism believers needed to strengthen their faith
On the feast of Corpus Christi, Polish towns and villages will manifest their worship which they express to Eucharistic Christ. Although there are no miracles of healing people in the eyes of the whole Community of believers, like it happened on the occasion of the visits of the Apostles in ancient towns, some miracles are mentioned relatively often today. It is all about Eucharistic miracles. So, maybe, assuming the same pedagogy of God, also today we need to strengthen our faith. This time the stake is a belief about a real presence of Lord in the signs of bread and wine.
Our faith will win
St. Thomas Aquinas defined a miracle as 'something which God made beside the order of nature'. A miracle is an extraordinary event, which goes beyond the laws of nature and a special interference of God. Can similar events happen in our eyes?
Let's start with Sokółka. The events which took place there, were not described in the Middle-aged books. We say about the contemporary times, and among witnesses of unusual circumstances are not anonymous authors of apocryphal writings, and histo-pathologists from the Medical University in Białystok. Independent investigations were done by professor Maria Sobaniec - Łotowska and professor Stanisław Sułkowski. The results of their investigations are unusual - the sacramental bread, which was placed in a special vessel by one of priests, changed into a piece of heart muscle. The event took place in the year 2008. The monstrance with the miraculous Sacramental Bread had been kept in the rectory for three years. The feast of installation of the Holiest Sacrament on 2 October 2011 was attended by 25 thousand of people. For the time being the Eucharistic miracle in Sokółka is acknowledged on the diocesan level. The bishop has a right to this diocese after receiving the results of the investigation and the analysis of cases of healing.
At the present phase, apart from the diocese of Białostok, the events in Sokółka are defined as an Eucharistic event. The Holy See will decide in the future about spreading the cult in the whole Church. However, first it is necessary to investigate phenomena of miraculous healings or register a bigger pilgrimage movement. Considering the dynamic growth of the cult in Sokółka, one can be calm about its future. The faith in Christ will win.
Lord, multiply our faith
The history of Eucharistic miracles converges with the period of weakening faith into real presence of Christ in the Holiest Sacrament. Sometimes, even the background for a miracle were acts of profanation Him. Such events took place in the Portugal town Santar, where a woman wanted to take away the Sacramental Bread from the church, which she had promised a local fairy in return for information on the betrayal of her husband. The blooding Sacramental Bread got to the tabernacle for long years, and a red colour used to appear for many years later. Also, or maybe, first of all, it was when somebody was doubtful about a miracle. This situation took place when a skeptical patriarch of Lisbon took the monstrance in his hand - and he noticed blood in it at once.
Similarly in Lanciano, an Italian seaside town, at the basis of a Eucharistic miracle there were doubts of a priest. A Greek monk, in love with his reason, could not accept the idea about a real presence of Christ in the white Sacramental Bread. In his eyes, the bread changed into the human body, and wine into blood. Doctors concluded that the blood had AB group. Till today, although many centuries have passed, thousands of pilgrims arrive every year, in order to visit this miraculous place.
The unusual events were documented also in the Korean town Naju. Julia Kim is not only a visionary, because Mary's revelations took places there, but she was also a participant of a Eucharistic miracle. In 1995, receiving the Holy Communion from a Canadian bishop, she noticed that the Sacramental Bread was changing into the human body and taking the shape of heart. In the Korean sanctuary there have been unusual things till today. For example, there appear blooded Sacramental Breads around the statue of Mary, but only in photos and video films, which have not been watched with the unaided eye before.
Contrary to the senses
Why has there been such an activity of God's Providence in the recent years? This question appears after reading some descriptions of some miracles. If in the history similar events took place in relation to the crisis of faith in the real existence of God in the Holiest Sacrament, the answer goes without saying. In the encyclical about Eucharist John Paul II writes: 'Through the consecration of bread and wine there is a transformation of the whole substance of bread into the substance of body of Christ, Our Lord and the whole substance of wine into the substance of His Blood. This transformation was rightly and suitably named by the holy and the Catholic church as conversion. Indeed, Eucharist is a mystery fidei' - a mystery which goes beyond our thoughts and which can be accepted only in faith, as patristic catechesis often remind about this Divine Sacrament. 'Do not notice - encourages St. Cyril of Jerusalem - simple and natural elements in bread and wine, because Lord said clearly that they are His Body and His Blood: it is confirmed by faith, although the senses suggest something different' ('Ecclesia de Eucharistia', 15).
(AA)
"Niedziela" 21/2013