I noticed a video on a recent Eucharistic Miracle going the rounds online. As I had visited a number of Eucharistic Miracle sites in the past, I normally would have watched it later. However I don’t know why I chose to view it and as I continued to listen to the speaker I got more interested simply because of how it was presented including the tests done and the discoveries.
This is one reason that I followed my late dad of not receiving communion by hand unless the priest instructed us too. This is simply the body of Christ that I just cannot imagine holding with my hand. It is too sacred to do such. I then searched the web to fully understand the background of this new Eucharistic Miracle.
Below is a brief background of this miracle from the Love one Another magazine, which occurred in Buenos Aires in 1996, in a parish under the auspices of Pope Francis. Then Cardinal Bergoglio, he approved of this Miracle.
A consecrated Host becomes flesh and blood
At seven o’clock in the evening on August 18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro Pezet was saying Holy Mass at a Catholic church in the commercial center of Buenos Aires. As he was finishing distributing Holy Communion, a woman came up to tell him that she had found a discarded host on a candleholder at the back of the church. On going to the spot indicated, Fr. Alejandro saw the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume it, he placed it in a container of water and put it away in the tabernacle of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
On Monday, August 26, upon opening the tabernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host had turned into a bloody substance. He informed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who gave instructions that the Host be professionally photographed. The photos were taken on September 6. They clearly show that the Host, which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had grown significantly in size. For several years the Host remained in the tabernacle, the whole affair being kept a strict secret. Since the Host suffered no visible decomposition, Cardinal Bergoglio decided to have it scientifically analyzed.
On October 5, 1999, in the presence of the Cardinal’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a sample of the bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis. Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he purposely did not inform the team of scientists of its provenance. One of these scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugiba, the well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. Zugiba testified that, “the analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”
Watch this video of Dr. Ricardo Castanon’s talk till the end. He is a reknowned scientist, former atheist, Catholic convert, and author of the book Cuando La Palabra Hiere (When the Word Hurts). He travels the world investigating Catholic mystical phenomena and runs scientific tests to prove or disprove them. His mission began when he decided to disprove one miracle, and ended up a strong believer. He is the president and researcher of the International Group for Peace and, in the video below, is speaking at the 2008 Faith and Science Conference about his scientific investigation of a Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires.
For the unbeliever, it may move you to think. For those who believe, it may strengthen your faith and the significance of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It has English sub-titles.
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