Let’s get to the heart of the matter.

Since its founding circa 33AD the Catholic Church has taught that consecrated bread and wine become the actual body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the real presence of Christ to his bride, the Church. The Church teaches that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith.

It is disturbing then that every poll taken points out that fewer and fewer Catholics still believe in the real presence. This is especially evident in the growing number of empty seats in the pews during Sunday Mass. If people truly believed that Jesus was actually in Church and that he had brought with him eternal life in paradise for those who believe in him we would have lines out the door. This is the belief the growing Church in Africa has where it is not uncommon to find people walking eight miles in all sorts of weather and danger just to receive him.

There have been a number of “public” revelations that I believe has fulfilled our understanding of the real presence.

In 1996 a consecrated host was found discarded in the back of a Church in Buenos Aries, Argentina. The priest put it in a dish of water to dissolve and put that in the tabernacle. After a few days the host started changing form instead of dissolving. The Arch Bishop of Buenos Aries ordered an investigation. The bishop at the time was Arch Bishop Jorge Bergolio. Most people recognize him today as Pope Francis.

An independent investigator was called in and he took samples to more than one laboratory for analysis. None of the labs were told what the samples were of at the beginning of the investigation. All labs, the lab in Buenos Aries, the one in California, and the lab in New York, all reported the same thing. The sample they received was heart tissue. The scientist who did the study on the sample in New York was a well known pathologist who could tell a lot about how a person died based upon the condition of the heart. He reported that the person whose sample he was given had been greatly tortured and that the man had still been alive when the sample was taken.

What amazed the scientist was that the sample he examined was still alive. When they compared notes from the other labs they found the same conclusions and notes that the sample was alive. These investigations began over two years after the host was placed in the tabernacle after finding it discarded.

God will not force us to believe something if we do not want to. Every miracle comes with the ability to disbelieve. Those who disbelieve this call it a hoax and nothing more than a sham put on by a priest who was trying to become famous or gain money for his parish. But this miracle is not alone. There are many like it. We have the miracle of Lanciano, Italy that happened in the 8^th century which can still be viewed today. Then there is the Eucharistic miracle of Sokolka, Poland. In that miracle the host started to turn to flesh and was shown to be inseparably joined to the bread of the host. There are many, many more of these miracles on record.

The interesting thing about all of these miracles is that when analyzed they all are found to be the same thing – heart tissue from the left ventricle. The left ventricle is the life giving ventricle. It is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the entire body.

If these miracles are indeed true then we get much more than just the real presence when we receive the Eucharist. Church teaching is correct, we do receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus but we receive him in the fullest manner possible. I am not just holding Jesus when I hold the Eucharist. I am holding his very heart in my hands. We have such a loving God that he will allow us to hold his very heart in our hands.