For many of us, we have developed a mindset that coming to Sunday Mass after it starts is perfectly OK.  We were busy doing other things or just forgot the time or maybe Mass hasn’t been very meaningful for us lately.  Perhaps our mindset would change if we knew we were going to the most amazing event in the entire universe, which happens every day where we live and in every other part of the world.   What I’m saying is that I’m hoping to make that statement a game-changer for those reading and studying this writing.

Jesus is waiting to meet us when we walk into the church.  He also wants to heal our infirmities and transform our lives to ones that are pleasing to Him.  Church is the one place where we can give ourselves entirely to our Creator, who in His human nature died on the Cross to save us and to share eternity with Him.  The Mass is the celebration of the Eucharist that Jesus celebrated at the Last Supper, but it is so much more than that.

The Consecration of the Mass is not merely symbolic, but is a reenactment of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We are actually experiencing Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross again at every single Mass we attend.  On Calvary, Jesus offered Himself in a bloody manner, and now at the Consecration of the Mass He offers Himself in an unbloody manner.  The priest is the voice we hear, but in reality, Jesus is proclaiming the Words of the Consecration, just as He did at the Last Supper:

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU. 

TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. 

With these words the substances of bread and wine are changed into the real Body and Blood of Christ, and this transformation is called transubstantiation.  That is, Jesus is incarnating Himself in each Host that is being consecrated on the altar.  The amazing event taking place is as Jesus pronounces the Words of the Consecration, and without leaving Himself, creates Himself in that bread and wine.  God the Father, moved at the tender and affectionate voice of the Son, descends from Heaven, and united with the Holy Spirit, concurs with the Son.  This occurs at every Mass celebrated throughout the world.

Each consecrated and unreceived Host remains with Jesus’ presence, and is placed in the Tabernacle of the church.  A burning Sanctuary light watches over every Tabernacle where Jesus resides.  For those who still don’t believe that a consecrated Host contains the true presence of Jesus, let me share the following incredible story with you:

A story from 1995 reports that when St. Pope John Paul II was visiting the United States, on his last day in Baltimore, the pope said that after greeting seminarians outside St. Mary’s Seminary, he wanted to spend some time inside, to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

Security had not planned for this, so they sprang into action. They quickly swept the building, putting an emphasis on the chapel, where the pope wanted to go to pray.

Security personnel brought with them highly trained dogs — dogs that could find people under collapsed buildings or track the scent of any person hiding in a building.

Quickly, the dogs worked through the halls and offices, and then went up to the chapel. When reaching the tabernacle, the dogs stopped, barked, and as trained wouldn’t leave the spot. They had scented that a living person, Jesus, was inside the tabernacle.

Besides this story, there are many examples of Eucharistic miracles that have taken place through the centuries.  Here are several examples:

During the eighth century In Lanciano, Italy, a priest had doubts about the Real Presence; however, when he consecrated the Host it transformed into flesh and blood. This miracle has undergone extensive scientific examination and can only be explained as a miracle. The flesh is actually cardiac tissue which contains arterioles, veins, and nerve fibers.  The blood type as in all other approved Eucharistic miracles is type AB, which is the same type discovered in the cloth of the Shroud of Turin! 

In Orvieto, Italy, a priest had difficulty believing in the Real Presence, and blood begins seeping out of the Host upon consecration during one of his Masses.

During Mass a priest in Betania, Venezuela looked down at the paten and saw that one of the pieces of the Host that he had divided was showing a red spot and from It a red substance began to emanate, similar to the manner in which blood escapes from a wound.  After Mass, he took the Host and preserved It safely in the sacristy. The next day he went to see the Host and verified that some blood continued to flow that a little later began to dry.  That blood was found to be AB positive.

As wonderful as these miracles are, the greatest of all, transubstantiation, has to be viewed with the eyes of faith.  We have to truly believe Jesus’ presence in the bread and wine.