Part 3: Life in Christ (1691 - 2557)
Section 1: Man's Vocation — Life in the Spirit (1699 - 2051)
Chapter 1: The Dignity of the Human Person (1700 - 1876)
Article 2: Our Vocation to Beatitude (1716 - 1729)
I. THE BEATITUDES ⇡
The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward is great in heaven.12
12.
The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.
II. THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS ⇡
The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it: We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated.13
How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.14
God alone satisfies.15
13.
St. Augustine, De moribus eccl. 1,3,4:PL 32,1312.
14.
St. Augustine, Conf. 10,20:PL 32,791.
15.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. in symb. apost. I.
The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith.
The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano
Pastor’s Column
Corpus Christi
June 22, 2014
One of my favorite Eucharistic Miracles, and the most famous of them all, is the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, Italy. Almost 1300 years ago a priest was celebrating mass, just as we do today. But he had doubts – could it be that our Lord is really present in the bread and the wine? “How can this be?” he asked himself – and he asked our Lord for a sign to help them with the unbelief that he was struggling with.
Then, at the consecration, as happens in every Catholic Mass, the bread turned into Christ’s body and the wine into his blood. Of course, it is our belief as Catholics that this happens every time we celebrate Mass – though we don’t always see a miracle in the physical sense. But this time, the change became visible – the flesh became real, the blood became real. It was a Eucharistic miracle; everything was visible to all who were in attendance at the miracle that day.
I want to tell you a few details about this miracle because I believe our Lord provided this precisely for us in our scientific age. In 1970, the Archbishop of Lanciano submitted the miracle to a very detailed scientific analysis. What was determined was that the 1300 year-old Eucharist was one continuous piece of authentic human flesh consisting of a human heart muscle, shaped in such a way that would have been next to impossible to have done in the 9th century!
The “miraculous blood” is truly human blood as well. In both the flesh and the blood we find the same blood type – AB-- which is the most common blood type for those human beings of Middle Eastern origin. The blood contains proteins that are distributed in exactly the same proportions as normal fresh blood would have. In all, over 500 tests were performed. The conclusion was that in no way could the flesh in Lanciano and the blood be likened to embalmed tissue. There was no evidence of any sort of preservative or embalming type fluids used. In fact, there is no scientific explanation as to why this flesh and blood is still with us at all, for any normal flesh and blood without preservatives would have deteriorated long ago.
Considering that it was unprotected in any way to the elements, other than a glass case, makes it even more inexplicable. We are connected in time and space with the people who assisted at this Mass in Lanciano so many years ago because there is really only ONE Mass and ONE Sacrifice, that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Mass is a re-presentation of the last supper, brought to our time so that all Christians might be sacramentally present with him on that Holy Thursday night and later, on the cross.
Father Gary