At Mass on Saturday, Fr. Mike Schmitz’s homily focused on the very heart of Jesus present in the Eucharist and challenged us as to whether we are willing to give our whole heart back to Him.
Lacking Heart
How hard is it to put our whole heart into things! Putting our whole heart into things means that we are risking our very selves. Fr. Schmitz noted that it is that very risk that prevents many people from living with heart.
The same is true when it comes to our relationship with Jesus and the Mass. Fr. Schmitz said that 43% of Catholics don’t believe they can have a personal relationship with God and only 27% of Catholics go to Mass on Sunday.
The Eucharist, The Heart of Jesus
Fr. Mike shared the stories of three Eucharistic miracles. The first miracle was in Lanciano, Italy. A priest experienced a crisis of faith about the Eucharist in the middle of Mass. During the consecration, the bread literally became flesh and the wine literally became blood. These are still present in the church in Lanciano. When the consecrated host was analyzed under a microscope, it was found to be the heart tissue of a human man.
A second Eucharist miracle happened in the 1990’s in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After Mass, a priest found a consecrated host that had fallen on the ground. The priest picked it up and put it in a glass of water for it to dissolve. A couple of days later, however, instead of dissolving, it was still there and had five red spots on it. It was examined by several doctors who were not told where it came from. They concluded that the cells came from heart tissue of a human man. More specifically, it was myocardial tissue, the tissue in the heart that pumps oxygen into the rest of the body.
Fr. Mike shared a third story of a Eucharistic miracle in Orvieto, Italy. During Mass, the Eucharist began bleeding. Some of the blood fell onto the corporal (the cloth on the altar) and some fell on the marble floor. Decades later, the blood on the corporal was sent to doctors who determined it was AB blood from a man. One of the doctors, an atheist, wanted to know where the sample was from. When he found out, he was shocked and puzzled. The blood cells were still alive, even though usually blood cells die after mere hours outside the human body. Moreover the blood which hit the marble actually penetrated that stone. The Blood of Christ went deeper than stone.
Jesus Gives Us His Heart
We often come to Mass without heart, or even if we do bring our heart, it is often a stony heart. However, we should have hope that God’s blood can even penetrate stone.
Fr. Mike pointed out that at every Mass, Jesus gives us His very heart. Jesus wants to give us everything. The only question is: will you show up and give Him your heart back?
Quotables
Putting your heart into things means you’re risking your life.
At every single Mass we don’t just have our heart, we have God’s heart.
Receive love from an unstoppable God.
Leave a Comment