Probably one of the
strangest things we believe, is that bread and wine become the Body
and Blood of Christ during the mass. It is a bizarre teaching. How are we supposed to
understand this? We are not, but we are asked to accept it in faith,
because Jesus himself taught us this at the Last Supper. All down
through the ages people have struggled with this teaching, because it
is so extreme. Protestants generally don’t believe that the
Eucharist really is the Body and Blood of Christ, but a symbol, or
representation of, or sometimes that Christ is present with it, but
not that it is actually his Body and Blood. It is very easy to be
skeptical about such a teaching. That is why, every once in a while,
the Lord gives us a miracle to help us believe. Today I would like to
tell you about a very recent one that happened in Argentina.
At seven o’clock in
the evening on August 18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro Pezet was saying Holy
Mass at a Catholic church in the commercial center of Buenos Aires.
As he was finishing distributing Holy Communion, a woman came up to
tell him that she had found a discarded host on a candle-holder at the
back of the church. On going to the spot indicated, Fr. Alejandro saw
the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume it, he placed it in
a container of water and put it away in the tabernacle of the chapel
of the Blessed Sacrament, to let it dissolve naturally.
On Monday, August 26,
upon opening the tabernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host
had turned into a bloody substance. He informed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Auxiliary Bishop at the time; now Pope Francis), who gave instructions that the Host be professionally photographed.
The photos were taken on September 6. They clearly show that the
Host, which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had grown
significantly in size. For several years the Host remained in the
tabernacle, the whole affair being kept a strict secret. Since the
Host suffered no visible decomposition, Cardinal Bergoglio decided to
have it scientifically analyzed.
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| Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires, 1996 |
On October 5, 1999, in
the presence of the Cardinal’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a
sample of the bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis.
Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he purposely did not
inform the team of scientists where it came from. One of these
scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugibe, a well-known cardiologist and
forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was
real flesh and blood containing human DNA. Zugibe testified that,
“The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in
the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is
responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in
mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the
body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a
large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was
alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the
heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living
organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their
presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was
taken. What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the
tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe
stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”
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| Dr. Frederick Zugibe |
The flesh was still alive when the sample was taken, three years after it had been found and it was taken from a body that had been under severe stress, such as a beating, or torture: Jesus on the cross.
Two Australians,
journalist Mike Willesee and lawyer Ron Tesoriero, witnessed these
tests. Knowing where sample had come from, they were dumbfounded by
Dr. Zugibe’s testimony. Mike Willesee asked the scientist how long
the white blood cells would have remained alive if they had come from
a piece of human tissue, which had been kept in water. They would
have ceased to exist in a matter of minutes, Dr. Zugibe replied. The
journalist then told the doctor that the source of the sample had
first been kept in ordinary water for a month and then for another
three years in a container of distilled water; only then had the
sample been taken for analysis. Dr. Zugibe’s was at a loss to
account for this fact. There was no way of explaining it
scientifically, he stated. Only then did Mike Willesee inform Dr.
Zugibe that the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host (white,
unleavened bread) that had mysteriously turned into bloody human
flesh. Amazed by this information, Dr. Zugibe replied, “How and why
a consecrated Host would change its character and become living human
flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to science—a
mystery totally beyond her competence.”
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| St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) who used to suffer the Passion, while celebrating mass. |
Only faith in the
extraordinary action of God provides the reasonable answer—faith
in a God, who wants to make us aware that He is truly present in the
mystery of the Eucharist.
The Eucharistic miracle
in Buenos Aires is an extraordinary sign attested to by science.
Through it Jesus desires to arouse in us a lively faith in His real
presence in the Eucharist. He reminds us that His presence is real,
and not symbolic. Only with the eyes of faith do we see Him under
appearance of the consecrated bread and wine. We do not see Him with
our bodily eyes, since He is present in His glorified humanity. In
the Eucharist Jesus sees and loves us and desires to save us.
In collaboration with
Ron Tesoriero, Mike Willesee, one of Australia’s best-known
journalists (he converted to Catholicism after working on the
documents of another Eucharistic miracle), wrote a book entitled
Reason to Believe. In it they present documented facts of Eucharistic
miracles and other signs, calling people to faith in Christ who abides
and teaches in the Catholic Church. They have also made a documentary
film on the Eucharist—based largely on the scientific discoveries
associated with the miraculous Host in Buenos Aires. Their aim was to
give a clear presentation of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the
subject of the Eucharist. They screened the film in numerous
Australian cities. The showing at Adelaide drew a crowd of two
thousand viewers. During the commentary and question period that
followed, a visibly moved man stood up announcing that he was blind.
Having learned that this was an exceptional film, he had very much
wanted to see it. Just before the screening, he prayed fervently to
Jesus for the grace to see the film. At once his sight was restored
to him, but only for the thirty-minute duration of the film. Upon its
conclusion, he again lost the ability to see. He confirmed this by
describing in minute detail certain scenes of the film. It was an
incredible event that moved those present to the core of their being.
God gives us these
wonderful and mind-blowing events, to help us believe. We cannot
explain them, only accept them on faith, but they are a reminder to
us that the Eucharist is the living Body and Blood of Christ, just as that
heart tissue was alive at the time sample was taken from the
consecrated host, three years after it had first been discovered.
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