Daily miracle right before our eyes
We usually associate miracles with very rare and out-of-the ordinary cures or some uncommon phenomenal happenings in the environment. They invariably elicit amazement, awe and other strong emotions.
But there's actually a miracle that happens every day and, in fact, many times during the day. And it happens all over the world. To top it all, compared with the other miracles, this one, in fact, is infinitely far greater with effects that can last forever and that can lead us to our eternal life. All the other miracles are subordinated to this one great miracle.
I am referring to the miracle of the Holy Eucharist when with mere bread and wine, we 'produce' nothing less or no one less than Jesus Christ himself. Not only that, with the Holy Eucharist, we bring to the present the whole drama of Christ's redemptive work that ended with his passion, death and resurrection, and the merits he derived from his Father for this sacrifice are abundantly showered on us.
In other words, with the Holy Eucharist the whole reality of who Christ is and what he does for us–that is to say, the whole Christological and soteriological dimensions of Jesus–is made present right under our very noses. Do you think there can be a more impressive miracle than this?
And this miracle happens because Christ himself said so, and it's meant for all time. "This is my body…This is the chalice of my blood…Do this in memory of me…" These words, spoken by one who is both God and man and with the view of our redemption, can only be true no matter how unbelievable they are if taken only with our senses, instincts, and reasoning sans faith.
Let's remember that Christ as God can only speak words that have eternal value and effectiveness. They can never be words that can become obsolete over time. When he said, "Do this in memory of me," he meant that what took place at a certain point of time will take place, is made present, once what was commanded is carried out.
That's why we need to enliven our faith if we want to feel the whole impact of this tremendous miracle that happens to us every time Mass is celebrated, or Holy Communion is received, or an adoration and visit to the Blessed Sacrament is made.
If our faith is functional enough, we actually cannot help but be overwhelmed by the reality of this miracle, discerning how much God through Christ loves us to madness, how Christ makes himself completely available to us even at the expense of doing away the limitations of space, time and our other material and earthly conditions just to be with us and to save us.
Of course, human as we are who want to understand mysteries, we try to explain this phenomenon by coming out with the concept of "transubstantiation." It's a concept that refers to the reality of how each material being is composed–that is, that they are made of substance (what the thing is) and accidents (qualities and other properties that inhere in the substance, like color, taste, size, etcetera.)
We actually do not see the substance. What we see are the accidents, but from them we can discern the substance.
In transubstantiation, what happens is a substantial change while the accidents remain the same. There are no changes in the quality, size, taste, color, etc. When Christ said over the bread and wine that "this is my body" and "this is the cup of my blood," then the bread and wine cease being bread and wine substantially, though the accidents of bread and wine remain.
The substance of the bread and wine is now changed into the body and blood of Christ, or Christ himself, the second person of the Blessed Trinity who became man to save us, "born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, and on the third day, rose from the death."
This tremendous event of the transubstantiation is what happens in the consecration at the Holy Mass, when the priest, conformed sacramentally to Christ, repeats the words of Christ and carries out what Christ told the apostles to "do this in memory of me."
Again we can perceive this great miracle only if our faith is alive and working. And if so, then that faith will lead us also to correspond with that madness of love that God has for us by loving him in return also with madness.
Oh, if we only realize what we have in the Holy Eucharist!
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