New this week: Blessed Carlos Acutis, "The Eucharist, my highway to heaven"
“You, too, can be a saint. But you need to want it with your whole heart, and, if you do not yet desire it, ask the Lord for it with insistence!” – Blessed Carlo Acutis
WHAT IS A EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE? A Eucharistic miracle is a private revelation that is approved by the Church for devotion. A private revelation is different from public Revelation. Public Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle, St. John and is the totality of all that Christ has entrusted to His Church, expressed in apostolic faith in Scripture and Tradition from which the Magisterium draws all that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines private revelation as: Revelation made in the course of history which do not add to or form part of the deposit of faith, but rather may help people live out their faith more fully. Some private revelations have been recognized by the authority of the Church, which cannot accept so called revelations of faith that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of Christ confided to his Church (CCC 67). Even if one does not accept a Eucharistic miracle, Christians are obliged to believe that God can work miracles and continues do so throughout history to the present day.
To date the Church has affirmed just over 100 Eucharistic miracles which have taken place in countries all over the world.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS’ BEAUTIFUL EUCHARISTIC HYMN: ADORO TE DEVOTE (I ADORE THEE DEVOUTLY) I devoutly adore you, O hidden God, truly hidden beneath these appearances. My whole heart submits to you, and in contemplating you, it surrenders itself completely.
Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgment of you, But hearing suffices firmly to believe. I believe all that the Son of God has spoken; There is nothing truer than this word of truth.
On the cross only the Divinity was hidden, But here the Humanity is also hidden. I believe and confess both, And ask for what the repentant thief asked.
I do not see the wounds as Thomas did, But I confess that you are my God. Make me believe more and more in you, Hope in you, and love you.
O memorial of our Lord’s death! Living bread that gives life to man, Grant my soul to live on you, And always to savor your sweetness.
Lord Jesus, Good Pelican, wash me clean with your blood, One drop of which can free the entire world of all its sins.
Jesus, whom now I see hidden, I ask you to fulfill what I so desire: That on seeing you face to face, I may be happy of seeing your glory. Amen.