{UAH} What is God Trying to Tell Us With This New Eucharistic Miracle in Poland?

What is God Trying to Tell Us With This New Eucharistic Miracle in Poland? 

by Philip Kosloski 04/20/2016 Comments (28)

The chalice and paten of Bl. Charles de Foucauld ("Photo-Monique", CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

On April 17, Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski of Legnica, Poland announced the approval of a Eucharistic miracle in his Diocese. The miracle happened about two years ago when, "a consecrated Host fell to the floor [during the distribution of Communion and] was picked up and placed in a container with water. Soon after, red stains appeared on the host."

The miracle was tested and the "Department of Forensic Medicine found: 'In the histopathological image, the fragments were found containing the fragmented parts of the cross striated muscle. It is most similar to the heart muscle.' Tests also determined the tissue to be of human origin and found that it bore signs of distress."

What is interesting is how this Eucharistic miracle differs from other miracles, such as the miracle at Lanciano. Often the Eucharist is changed into blood after the words of consecration and at the altar in response to a lack of faith from the priest.

This time, the miracle occurred after a Precious Host was dropped during Holy Communion. The miracle itself would have happened in the sacristy when they put the host in the water (as is proper procedure), but it appears one cause of the miracle was a lack of care for the Blessed Sacrament.

Now, accidents do happen and I am not trying to single out the person or priest who dropped the host. However, it does bring up an interesting topic: the use of patens.

In the Catholic Church, the paten is typically a gold disk that is used by an altar server to hold under the mouth or hands of the person receiving Communion. It is meant to catch any hosts or particles from the host from falling to the ground.

The practice has been abandoned by most in the Church for the past few decades, but the document, Redemptionis Sacramentum, cites this instruction, "The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained, so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling."

This document was prepared by the "Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II in collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was approved by the same Pontiff on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, 19 March 2004."

Paul Mugerwa
mugerwas5@aol.com