In 1905, on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, a Father Lacombe, who was a priest at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, exposed the Blessed Sacrament for 40 Hours devotion.  While praying in front of the Monstrance, Fr. Lacombe looked up and saw the face of Christ in Agony exposed in the Monstrance.  Fearing that what he was seeing was an optical illusion, the priest said nothing, but could not banish the image from his thoughts.  After he finished praying, a man asked the priest to bless a medal.  Wanting to see if the image of Christ in the Host was an illusion, Father sent the man to look at the Sacred host in the Monstrance.   The man hurried back, crying, that he had seen the face of a Man in the Monstrance.  The altar boys, who Fr. Lacombe had also sent to view the Host in the Monstrance, returned in amazement with the same reports.  A little girl, who was in the church at the same time, also beheld the face, later said, “I will never forget what I have seen, I will always remember the Face of Our Lord…it has made an indelible mark on my life.”  Word of the Eucharistic miracle spread quickly across the island.  People flocked to the church to see the Face of Christ in the Monstrance.  Then, at around 2:00 PM, the image of Christ in the Host changed to that of a crucifix.  This happened in front of hundreds of people.  Crowds continued to gather that afternoon, to adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.  And as they were singing “Tantum Ergo” the image of the Crucifix disappeared before their eyes.  The local Bishop ordered the Miraculous Host preserved for veneration.  The Eucharistic Miracle is recognized by the Catholic Church primarily on basis, that so many people saw the image in that one afternoon.

          Again, I want to remind you, the Eucharistic Miracles are awesome.  They are inspiring. But we do not put our Faith in private revelations or miracles such as these. Our Faith is in Jesus Christ, revealed to us in Sacred Scripture, and in His Holy Church.  We do want to be clear about this.  And yet, these Eucharistic Miracles back up that Faith with such astounding details.

           Today, of course, we are continuing our Bread of Life series from St. John’s Gospel.  These past couple of weeks have given us the opportunity to talk about some of the Eucharistic Miracles, and about the power of the Eucharist.  All of this is to remind us as Catholics, of the great gift that we have received from Jesus, at the Last Supper, when He gave us the Eucharist.  These passages from St. John’s Gospel, chapter six, are meant to remind us that Jesus in the Eucharist is real, and living, and at the heart of what our Faith is all about.

             You know, Vatican II called all Catholics to a “Full, Conscious, Active Participation” in the Mass.

Going to Mass isn’t like going to anything else.  When we come to Mass, we all have an active role to play.  We are to pray.  We are to sing. We are to listen. We are to respond.  We are all to do our part to make the Mass our ultimate form of worship, praise, and sacrifice.  We don’t come to Mass to “watch” the priest “say” Mass.  We come to Mass to pray and worship together, as we have been taught to do since the time of the Apostles.  We must take seriously our roles at Mass.  This means that we can’t just go through the motions.  This prayer is extremely active and involving.  Our participation is counted on, by the Church.  I think that it is good for all of us, even priests, to be reminded of this, from time to time.  We go to Mass so often, and yet, we don’t want to ever forget what we are doing!  We need to prepare ourselves for this Sacred Action.  We need to pay attention.  We need to participate.  We need to get here on time.  We need to stay here until the end of Mass, the end of our prayer.  My brothers and sisters, this is Jesus, here and now at this Mass.  How can we NOT give Him our very best?  And yes, that also includes the way that we dress when we come to Mass.  If I were taking you to meet Pope Benedict, I’m pretty sure that you would dress very nice.  We’d want to look good for the Pope, wouldn’t we?  This is the Pope’s Boss here!  How can we NOT dress our best for Mass?

            We are not all going to see Jesus’ face in the Sacred Host.  That’s probably a good thing, because some of us couldn’t handle it, if we did.  But isn’t it nice to know just how special the Eucharist really is.  Let us treasure this Gift!  Let us honor Him in the Sacrament by our respect and our participation!

May God bless us today,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!