Christ is Really Here -- Are You?

Readings for Sunday June 26th 2011

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Occasionally I take out my dad’s “Letters from War,” these were letters he had written to my mom during World War 2. I enjoy reading these letters because they remind me of my mom and dad and how much they cared for each other.

Don’t we all have letters or pictures that we keep nearby, especially when we feel lonely or on those painful days? We find them when we need a reminder that people really do care. I don’t know about you, but the people I love seem really present when I see them in a picture or read letters they had written.
If that makes sense to you, then you are on your way to understanding Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. Early Christians scared some people because they talked about eating someone’s body and blood. Obviously that is not what Christians do. But, Christ is fully present in the forms of bread and wine, even though you cannot physically observe it.

Remembering a close friend who isn’t physically present can remind you that you are loved and cared for. Your friend’s presence can still be very real at those times. How much more can Jesus Christ- who is truly present in the Eucharist – offer us comfort, strength, and challenge when we eat and drink at the Eucharistic table.
Here is something else to think about. This week don’t ask whether Christ is really present during the Mass. Ask yourself whether you are really present. Let’s say you call a friend on the phone for help. He or she can be really present as a good listener and adviser. But if you aren’t really present-if you don’t pay attention or open your mind- then you’ll likely to miss the support your friend is offering. The same is true during the Eucharist. Focus in the coming weeks about being really present at the Mass. Greet the people sitting next to you. Listen and respond to the prayers and readings. Sing the songs. As you receive the body and blood, pray for strength and guidance in problems you face. I guarantee you’ll find a great friend there just waiting for you.


Reading 1 Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a

2 Moses said to the people: "Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. 3 He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. 14b "Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; 15 who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock 16 and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers."

Questions for Discussion:

1. The first reading tells us to “remember” what the Lord has done for us and not to “forget” him. And yet we can often receive the Eucharist in a blank or unfocused manner. How would you describe what Jesus did for you on the Cross? How can you better use your memory of the Lord’s great love for you, and what he has done for you through his death and resurrection, in preparing to receive Christ in the Eucharist?

2. What kind of promises have you made to God? Have you found it difficult to keep these promises?

3. We are also told we are to be fed by “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” What steps can you take to better incorporate Scripture reading in your day?

Reading II 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

16 Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What is one thing that I can do this week to make my participation during Mass more meaningful to me and to my friends?

2. Who are the people in your life with whom you need to be reconciled? How might you begin to break down the walls of division and unforgiveness, and start the process of reconciliation?

3. Why does Christ sacrifice have an everlasting result?

Gospel John 6:51-58

51 Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "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. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.


Questions for Discussion:

1. In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells us that “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” What are the little things you can do during the day to make yourself more aware of Jesus’ presence in you?

2. What vow did Jesus make?

3. How would you have felt if you had been at that meal?

4. What do you think the Disciples were thinking when Jesus said “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” ?

5. The devil knows Jesus. Do you?

Eucharistic Miracle Lanciano, Italy 8th Century A.D.

Ancient Anxanum, the city of the Frentanese, has contained for over twelve centuries the first and greatest Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church. This wondrous Event took place in the 8th century A.D. in the little Church of St. Legontian, as a divine response to a Basilian monk's doubt about Jesus' Real Presence in the Eucharist.

During Holy Mass, after the two-fold consecration, the host was changed into live Flesh and the wine was changed into live Blood, which coagulated into five globules, irregular and differing in shape and size.
The Host-Flesh, as can be very distinctly observed today, has the same dimensions as the large host used today in the Latin Church; it is light brown and appears rose-colored when lighted from the back.

The Blood is coagulated and has an earthy color resembling the yellow of ochre.

Various ecclesiastical investigation ("Recognitions") were conducted since 1574.

In 1970-'71 and taken up again partly in 1981 there took place a scientific investigation by the most illustrious scientist Prof. Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy. He was assisted by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena.
The analyses were conducted with absolute and unquestionable scientific precision and they were documented with a series of microscopic photographs.

These analyses sustained the following conclusions:
• The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood.
• The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species.
• The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart.
• In the Flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium.
• The Flesh is a "HEART" complete in its essential structure.
• The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood-type identical to that which Prof. Baima Bollone uncovered in the Holy Shroud of Turin).
• In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood.
• In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium.
• The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelvecenturies and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.