NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL
YEAR OF PARISH REVIVAL
June 11, 2023 - July 17, 2024
General Resources
The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church
Whispers in the Pew (for families with children)
Prayer Resources
Daily Eucharistic Meditation - Knights of the Holy Eucharist
Eucharistic Miracles
Every time we attend Mass, something wonderful occurs.
In the words of the Credo of the People of God:
“Christ cannot be thus present in this sacrament except by the change into his Body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into his Blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Church transubstantiation.”
In other words, the Church teaches that the “substance” of the bread and wine are changed at consecration, but the “accidents” remain the same. Before and after consecration, the Body and Blood smell, look, taste and feel like the bread and wine they were before.
Ordinarily.
Sometimes, very rarely, during a Mass, the accidents of the bread and wine apparently change in some way along with the substance. These are known as Eucharistic miracles.
Blessed Carlo Acutis created a website listing Eucharistic Miracles around the world. Here are summaries of a few.
Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano
Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires
Meditation
“The Eucharist is alive. If a stranger who knew nothing about the Eucharist were to watch the way we receive, would he know this? When you and I approach the Eucharist, does it look like we believe we are about to take into our bodies the living person, Jesus Christ, true God and true man? How many times, Lord, have I forgotten that the Eucharist is alive! As I wait in line to receive you each day, am I thinking about how much you want to unite yourself with me? Am I seeing your hands filled with the graces you want to give me? Am I filled with awe and gratitude that you love me so much as to actually want to come to me in this incredibly intimate way? Or am I distracted, busy with other thoughts, preoccupied with myself and my agendas for the day? How many times, Jesus, have I made you sad, mindlessly receiving you into my body, into my heart, with no love and no recognition of your love? How many times have I treated you as a dead object? The Host that we receive is not a thing! It’s not a wafer! It’s not bread! It’s a person – He’s alive!”
—Vinny Flynn, An Excerpt from 7 Secrets of the Eucharist (p. 8)