On December 8, 1991, on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Eucharistic miracle occurred at Our Lady’s shrine in Finca Betania, Venezuela. This is yet another clear sign given to us by Christ to strengthen our faith in His real presence in the Eucharist.
The Marian shrine’s custodian, Fr. Otto Ossa Avistizabel, was saying Holy Mass to a large group of pilgrims at the conclusion of the vigil leading up to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, he broke the large host into four parts. One of these, he consumed, and then noticed that one of the other parts had begun to bleed profusely. So as not to cause an unneccessary sensation, he set the Host aside, saying nothing about it to the assembled faithful. After Mass, he placed the bleeding Host in the tabernacle. He describes the extraordinary event as follows: “I broke the Host into four parts. When I looked at the paten, I could not believe my eyes: a red stain appeared on the Host, then real blood started to flow from it, as if it had been gashed open. When Mass was over, I took the bleeding Host and placed it for safekeeping in the tabernacle. The next day, at 6:00 a.m., I went to see the Host. I noticed that blood was still dripping from it. For three days the blood remained in a fluid state; after that, it began to congeal. I was very much struck by the fact that the blood was not absorbed into the Host, which was quite thick.”
Bishop Bello, the local ordinary, was immediately informed of this extraordinary phenomenon. Though the bishop believed Fr. Otto’s testimony, he was obliged to call a special commission, in order to subject the bleeding Host to a series of scientific tests, including a laboratory analysis of the blood at Caracas. The tests determined that the phenomenon was scientifically inexplicable. The blood flowing from the Host was real human blood of the AB group. This is a very rare blood group, which only 5% of the population share. Noteworthy is the fact that this is the same blood group as found by scientists on the Shroud of Turin, the linen sheet that wound the dead body of Jesus. The same blood group has been identified in the sacred species of the Eucharistic miracle at Lanciano in Italy.
Dr. Baima Ballone, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Turin, determined that the blood on the Shroud was real human blood. ABO tests showed that the blood belonged to the AB group. Similar studies were made in 1981 by Drs. John H. Heller and Alan D. Adler of the New England Institute in America. They determined independently that the blood stains on the Shroud were of human blood of the AB group. Adler, who was Jewish, was unaware that he was testing a sample of the Shroud. Only when he determined that blood sample was undoubtedly human blood, did one of his colleagues inform him that it had come from Shroud of Turin. Adler, who was religiously indifferent, said: “My God! The fact that the Shroud bears traces of blood is as obvious as the fact that it flows in our veins.”
Of extraordinary interest are the results of studies conducted on the sacred species of the Eucharistic miracle at Lanciano in the province of Chieti. A marvelous event took place in this small Italian town in the eighth century. A Basilian monk doubted the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. While he was saying Mass, during the consecration, the host became Flesh in the hands of the doubting monk, having lost the appearances of bread; in the same way, the wine turned into Blood, like human blood.
In 1970, Pope Paul VI had the sacred species examined scientifically. The tests were conducted by a group of scientists under Dr. Odoardo Linioli, professor of anatomy, pathological histology, chemistry, and clinical microscopy at the University of Siena. The results of the tests caused a sensation, making headlines in the Italian dailies. It turned out that the host, which, according to the eighth century records, had turned into Flesh, consisted of the muscular tissue of a human heart (with no incision marks). The tissue consisted of myocardium of the left ventricle, endocardium, and the vagus nerve. Analysis of five globules of coagulated blood extracted from the tissue (the very fact that these have survived intact to this day remains an insoluble riddle to science) showed it to be real human blood of the AB type.
Three years after these tests, on November 3, 1974, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla came to Lanciano to spend a night in prayer and adoration of the Eucharistic Species. Later, as Pope John Paul II, we would write the following eloquent note in the visitor’s book, in Latin: “Fac nos Tibi semper magis credere, in Te spem habere, Te diligere” (“Make us believe in you ever more, place our hope in you, and love you”).
Eucharistic miracles are signs by which the Risen Christ wishes to awaken and strengthen our faith in the fact that He remains with us “always to the close of the age”; that He is truly present in the mystery of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the supreme spiritual good of the Church and all of humanity, for it is Christ Himself under the appearances of bread and wine. In the Blessed Sacrament “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained” (…). The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1374; 1377).
The Risen Christ gives us Himself in the Eucharist to transform us with His love and lead us to perfect happiness. He appeals to our hearts in the words that St. Faustina records in her Diary: “Oh, how painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust Me. I wish to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat Me as a dead object, whereas My Heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain, imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a feeble image and likeness of My love” (Diary, 1447).
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