To love and adore always [Catholic Caucus]

For Catherine Mectilde de Bar, the adoration of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is not an occasional devotion; it is, rather, the direction given to one’s whole life. Adoration is not perpetual because one never leaves one’s prie-dieu before the altar; it is perpetual when one makes the Most Holy Eucharist the treasure of one’s life. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21) In a remarkable conference for the feast of the Epiphany 1694, Mother Mectilde writes:

The Holy Eucharist is the center of every Church where in the form of the consecrated Eucharist the Christ is present: body, blood, soul, and divinity. This is what the early disciples and Church fathers believed. This is shown by a number of miracles attributed to the Holy Eucharist. The story of St. Anthony is telling. Those who don’t accept this central truth, must be classified as heretics.

A popular story springs up about St. Anthony, mention of it is made in the official Butler’s lives of the Saints. It is the story of St. Anthony’s encounter with an Jewish man.

This man contested the “Real Presence of the Eucharist; so one day he approached St. Anthony publicly and after spelling out all of his reasons for not believing in such a “fable” as the Real Presence, he challenged Anthony to a contest. He bet that the Real Presence was a lie, and he proposed to “starve a donkey” for three days-—no hay, and see if the donkey would choose to eat hay or preferred the Eucharist.

St. Anthony, being publicly “put on the spot” accepted the challenge. So the wealthy merchant brought out his donkey, publicly hitched him to a post where he could be observed by all; and proceeding to “starve the donkey” for three days. Simultaneously, St. Anthony went into the forest and “fasted” for three days-—taking no food.

When the day of trial came, Anthony emerged from the forest and sought out a local Church where he took the Eucharist and returned to the spot where the donkey was tied. Meanwhile, the challenger had placed a large pile of hay about 20 ft away from the donkey.

Anthony took out the Eucharist holding it in his hands; the merchant untied the donkey, who needless to say, made a “beeline” for the pile of hay. Just as the donkey was about to reach the hay, St. Anthony elevated the Eucharist and shouted in a loud voice: “Mule, in the Name of the Lord Our God, I command you to come here and adore your Creator ! “ The donkey “reared up” on his hind legs as if someone had pulled him by a bridle; he spun around, and ran to St. Anthony, dropping to his forelegs-— hind legs still extended; and put his head down to the ground-—in a “posture of adoration” before the Eucharist which St. Anthony continued to hold elevated.

The Jewish merchant, stunned by what occurred begged St. Anthony’s forgiveness, converted on the spot, and donated the money to build a new Catholic Church, his newfound faith. On the cornerstone of the Church, he had engraved a picture of St. Anthony holding the Eucharist aloft and the donkey, “kneeling on his forepaws” in adoration of the Body of Christ.

It’s funny that nowadays, people find such things difficult to believe. We have become so sophisticated, so urban, so cosmopolitan. Yet, St. Louis de Montfort once said that when you hear these miraculous stories about the saints; believe them. The worldly find them difficult to believe, but to the faithful, it is not surprising that God does great things for those who truly follow Him.

I've read some of St. Louis de Montfort (he's a favorite of ours, because of his intense love of Mary and her rosary), and our son is named after St. Anthony (and is called on a lot), but I don't recall hearing the miracle about the donkey. It's wonderful, childlike, and powerful. I love it. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

And yes, people have difficulty believing such stories. I'd have to agree with your direction and say that many have even lost a desire for a strong faith; they are jaded. But it can quickly be acquired back in adoration of Our Lord. I'm getting very attached to it myself, and the more one attends (I was going about 5-6 hours a week before Christmas, which for me, was pretty much), the more one wants to attend. It's a desire that pulls at the heart. And that can only come from Our Lord. In fact, our chapel just opened back up an hour ago. I think I might go right now. :) Thanks again!

Salvation, we surely did see that exhibit, and were just blown away by it. It was held in one of our local parishes, Visitation, in Elmhurst, IL. This is a parish that has perpetual adoration, and the Crypt of the Saints, too. The organization that houses the placards is in Lombard, IL, the same town both my husband and I grew up in, and is just a couple towns over from Elmhurst. http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/engl_mir.htm.

Also, the first parish in Cook County (CC covers Chicago and some surrounding areas) to have perpetual adoration was St. John Vianney in Northlake (again, in our area), which also has a Latin Mass on Sundays. Tom interviewed their pastor and the pastor of Visitation years ago about adoration. It's a good read: http://www.fightingirishthomas.com/2011/12/perpetual-eucharistic-adoration-chapels.html

Also, I come to see as of late, that Mother Teresa was a huge proponent of adoration, she and her sisters attending an hour a day (which I knew), but MT would also at times sit in front of Jesus for several hours straight, kneeling, and not moving, only gazing upon Our Lord. She said that is how she acquired the strength to do the work that she did. On the way out of our [new location; we moved in September] chapel, I noticed a letter on the wall from her regarding adoration. Evidently many were written either in thanksgiving or in support of initiating adoration in all parishes. I photographed the letter and it is at this link.

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