There’s a scene in the movie A Walk To Remember. The main character, Landon, is flipping through a high school yearbook. He lands on the picture of the girl who has recently caught his interest: Jamie Sullivan.
The camera focuses in on the subtitle below her name:
“Ambition: To witness a miracle.”
A pretty great ambition, I thought. If only I would be so lucky to witness one.
However, in my foolish human way, I forgot that I have witnessed a miracle. This miracle goes on, not once, not twice, but every day that the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered.
Sure, this miracle is not particularly spectacular—you do not see any transformation. You do not see any great change like the appearance of healing or the dancing of the sun. In fact, it is completely imperceptible to all the human senses of sight, taste, touch, and feeling. We only can know that transubstantiation occurs through Christ’s words: “This is My Body… This is My Blood.”
Still, The Eucharist is the greatest and most important miracle that we will ever witness in our lives. Why? Because the Eucharist is not merely a sign of God. It is God. Every time the priest speaks the words of consecration, the bread and wine change into Our Lord. God at the Last Supper instituted the Eucharist so we could receive him and be fully united with Him.
God gives Himself so fully; He loves us so much that He holds back none of Himself. So often we find ourselves incapable of completely loving Him. Our love, our affection, our attention is divided, pulled in so many directions upon so many things of earth. Weary and stretched thin, we come and give God whatever love and affection we have left. We struggle to completely give of ourselves body and soul. God, in His infinite Goodness and Love, does not divide Himself—He gives His entire Self, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Perhaps we find it odd that the Eucharist is God’s greatest miracle. After all, would the miracle not be greater if God showed Himself to us as He truly is?
Two things to consider.
First, for God to show us as He truly is, or rather, for us to truly experience Him, then we must be fully united with Him. We can only do this in heaven when we experience the Beatific Vision. On earth, we are not fully united to God and are not quite ready to fully receive Him. God understands this limit we have. At the same time, he understands our burning desire to be united with Him. Through the gift of the Eucharist, God meets us halfway so we can be united with Him more fully here on Earth.
Second, perhaps God, by hiding Himself in the Eucharist under the accidents of bread and wine, paradoxically is revealing something about Himself. God gives quietly to those who will love Him. When Christ was born, he was not born in a palace surrounded by kings and queens. He was born in a stable, hidden away from all men, save Mary and Joseph. Christ instituted the Eucharist not in front of a large crowd of people but in the Inner Room of a house surrounded by his loving Apostles. In the Eucharist, God gives Himself to us in this quiet manner. God, despite being hidden, reveals Himself to those who will love Him, to those who are attentive enough to hear and see Him.
Oftentimes, a miracle is “merely” a manifestation of the goodness and beauty of God. The Eucharist is a truly miracle and the truly most beautiful of all miracles. For when we witness the sacrifice of the Mass, we witness the transformation of bread and wine into Christ, who is Goodness and Beauty Itself.
Whenever we receive the Blessed Sacrament, for a brief time, we are united with the Good and Beautiful Himself. We may not perceive Him, but it is truly God. Though hidden, imperceptible to our senses, we must remember His greatest gift, his greatest miracle is there in the Monstrance, in the tabernacle of the church: Christ’s gift of Himself.
Beautifully written.