I think the greatest Eucharistic miracle that has ever happened, occurred in the 8th century, in Lanciano, Italy. An unknown priest was giving the Eucharist to the parishioners – until to their amazement the Eucharist was no longer in the form of bread and wine, but a piece of meat and blood! The Church has preserved this since then, but in 1970, they opened this up to the scientific community. Their findings were shocking! They determined that the piece of meat and blood was the blood the piece of a heart of a human - who just recently died! Mind you, this piece of tissue is about 1200 years old! If the Church had planted this there, how did it remain fresh as if it was from a person who just died?
In 1970-'71, and taken up again partly in 1981, there took place a scientific investigation by the most illustrious scientist Prof. Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy. He was assisted by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena.
The analyses were conducted with absolute and unquestionable scientific precision and they were documented with a series of microscopic photographs.
These analyses sustained the following conclusions:
- The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood.
- The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species.
- The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart.
- In the Flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium.
- The Flesh is a "HEART" complete in its essential structure.
- The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood-type identical to that which Prof. Baima Bollone uncovered in the Holy Shroud of Turin).
- In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood.
- In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium.
- The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html
In 1973, the Higher Council of the World Health Organization (WHO) appointed a scientific commission to verify the Italian doctor's conclusions. The work was carried out over 15 months with a total of 500 examinations. The conclusions of all the researches confirmed what had been stated and published in Italy.
The extract of the scientific research of WHO's medical commission was published in New York and Geneva in 1976, confirming science's inability to explain the phenomenon.
Today, Linoli participated in a congress on Eucharistic miracles organized by the Science and Faith master's program of Rome's Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, in cooperation with the St. Clement I Pope and Martyr Institute, on the occasion of the Year of the Eucharist under way.
http://www.zenit.org/article-12933?l=english
In Sienna, Italy, 1730, thieves broke into a church and stole the golden ciborium with the Eucharistic hosts inside. Two days later, a priest, after praying, noticed the hosts in the offering box (this offering box was opened only once a year). The church decided never to consume the hosts, and we have them to this day. The amazing thing is that after almost 300 years, the pieces bread have never deteriorated. Again, this was opened to the scientific community:
The commission agreed that unleavened bread, if prepared under sterile conditions and kept in an airtight, antiseptically cleaned container, could be kept for an extremely long time. Unleavened bread prepared in a normal fashion and exposed to air and the activity of micro-organisms would remain intact for no more than a few years. It was concluded that the stolen Hosts had been both prepared without scientific precautions and kept under ordinary conditions which should have caused their decay more than a century before. The commission concluded that the preservation was extraordinary, ". . . e la scienza stessa che proclama qui lo straordinario."
Professor Siro Grimaldi, professor of chemistry at the University of Sienna and director of the Municipal Chemical Laboratory, as well as the holder of several other distinguished positions in the field of chemistry, was the chief chemical examiner of the holy particles in 1914. Afterward, he gave elaborate statements concerning the miraculous nature of the Hosts, and wrote a book about the miracle entitled Uno Scienziato Adora (A Scientific Adorer). In 1914 he declared:
The holy Particles of unleavened bread represent an example of perfect preservation ... a singular phenomenon that inverts the natural law of the conservation of organic material. It is a fact unique in the annals of science.
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html
See also Eucharistic Miracles by Joan Carroll Cruz
Atheists always argue that there is no scientific evidence to prove the existence of God (as if God can be studied under a microscope!). Well here is the next best thing! Here we have a miracle that has been verified by science! This is amazing. Unfortunately, since Protestants do not believe that the Eucharist is the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ, this miracle is often ignored. That is most unfortunate, because this miracle not only validates Catholicism, it validates Christianity as well.
Compare this evidence for Christianity to the most popular evidence for Christianity among Protestants – the resurrection of Christ. All the evidence examined for the resurrection of Christ is 2,000 years old. That is a very long time! But even though this miracle occurred 1200 years, the evidence for the miracle is still with us. Anyone can go to Italy and still see this Eucharist. Not only that, but this miracle was recently confirmed by a team of scientists. The Protestant apologist Josh McDowell once wrote a book called Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Well, what about the evidence for this Eucharistic miracle? Is this not also evidence that demands a verdict? How can we Christians criticize skeptics for their refusal to look at the evidence of the resurrection of Christ if we Christians refuse to look at the evidence for these Eucharistic miracles?
I was a Baptist minister for three years. Then we had our differences over something, and they asked me to leave. I was completely devastated. I felt I was betrayed, and I felt abandoned by God. I was suffering with severe depression. I tried everything to restore my relationship with God, but nothing worked. I tried to re-dedicate myself to Christ, I had ministers pray for me. But nothing worked. I started to drift away from God.
I went back to school and eventually became a computer programmer. I met a woman; she was Catholic. I decided to go to her church instead of mine because my church gave me too many bitter memories. So my wife and I went to a Catholic Church; but we did not take communion. That lasted for 10 years; but then seven years ago we went forward to receive communion. WHAM! After I took communion, there was a thought that constantly came into my mind – Paul, you need to go to confession. So then I went to confession. I confessed all my sins throughout my life. WHAM! In spite of all my Protestant preaching on how we are justified by faith alone, I never felt as forgiven as I did when the priest absolved me of my sins. I not only had my relationship with God again, but it was much deeper than I ever had as a Protestant. It was not just a feeling – but also a very deep desire to obey God in all areas of my life. I was able to forgive those who had hurt me in the past. I found I could pray for hours. It is wonderful.
And it all started by my taking that “silly little wafer” (as one Protestant friend said to me). I have taken communion in many different Protestant denominations – Baptist, Lutheran, Assemblies of God. And in all cases, taking their communion did not significantly change me. But when I took the Catholic Eucharist, it did.
As a Protestant, it really bothered that the Lord instituted this supper. I figured that it must be important, otherwise why would Jesus institute it? And why did He make this the last thing He did with all the apostles before he died? But as a Protestant, the Lord’s Supper did not do much for me. I was taught that it was a mere metaphor, that it was there to remind me that Christ died for my sins. But I thought of how there were other things that reminded me much better of Christ’s death – a good sermon, a good song about the Lord’s death, a good book on the doctrine of salvation. To be honest with you, as a Protestant I found the Lord’s Supper being low on my list of what to use to bring me closer to Christ and to remind me of his death.
I have heard and read many Protestant testimonies on how they were touched by God. I heard them say God changed their lives through someone’s preaching, through someone’s song, through Bible-reading, or through fellowship. And those are great! But never did I ever hear from a Protestant that God changed his life through the Lord’s Supper. It just seems to me that many Protestants observe the Lord’s Supper only because our Lord commanded it; not because they get anything out of it. That was my attitude as a minster. We had the Lord's Supper maybe once every three months. The reason we did it so infrequently was because we really did not see much need for it. We did it only because the Lord commanded it. The New Testament Church was devoted to "the breaking of the bread" (Acts 2:42). In fact, they performed the breaking of the bread daily (Acts 2:46). The phrase "breaking of bread did not mean just having a meal together; it signified the supper instituted by our Lord (The phrase in verse 42 has two definite articles (ho) in the Greek. It is not just meaning "a breaking of some bread", but "THE (ho) breaking of THE (ho) bread". It is not just any kind of meal. See also Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 24:30 and 35, Acts 20, 11). But yet I have never found any church but the Catholic Church being so devoted to the Lord's Supper that it has it every day. I do not think that this is due to a lack of devotion to God in those other churches. It is just that they do not get much out of it to see the need to have it every day.
Since the Lord instituted it just before He died, then it must be very important for us. But the only ones who seem to actually say that the Eucharist changed their lives were Catholics. Don’t get me wrong. I know some very wonderful and committed Protestants. They have Bible devotions every day, because they see how much God works on them through their devotions. And that is great! I do that as well. But no Protestant takes the Lord’s Supper every day. Why not? Because they do not see the spiritual benefits of that. But there are some faithful Catholics who take Communion every day before they go to work. They do not do this because they have to. The Catholic Church only requires that they go to Mass once a week, not daily. They go to Mass daily because they see the benefits in them. They see how God touches them and makes them better Christians through the Eucharist.
That is the point I am making – the proof is in the pudding. All this theological arguing can make us miss the whole point of why Jesus instituted this. He instituted it so that we can be closer to Him, and obey Him more. So I want to encourage everyone here to really ask whether your Church version of the Eucharist is causing a deep change in your life. Let’s not reduce the Lord’s Supper to a mere theological discussion. Is God touching you through it?
And some the strongest arguments for the truthfullness of Christianity are the miracules produce by Christ in the Eucharist. If your church does not have any miracles from the Lord's Supper, maybe that is because your church's version of the Lord's Supper is not the one instituted by our Lord. But the Eucharist is a very strong evidence that Jesus is who He said He is - our great God and Savior!
