A long time ago, a pious Augustinian nun named Juliana, in the diocese of Liege, had a vision. The year was 1209. This vision repeated itself many times. What she saw was the moon all in splendor except one dark spot. She finally came to realize that the moon represented all the great feasts of the Church. The dark spot represented the one feast that was missing, a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. This vision was revealed to Archdeacon of Liege, Jacques Panteleon and Bishop Robert of Liege, who instituted a local feast in 1247 but not a feast of the Universal Church.
Sixteen years later, a priest named Peter of Prague was having difficulty believing in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He was on a pilgrimage to Rome to seek a stronger faith. He spent the night in a little town called Bolsena. The next day when he celebrated Mass and said the words of consecration, the host turned into flesh and began to bleed on the corporal. Word was sent to the pope, who was in the neighboring city of Orvieto. Peter then gathered the host and the corporal and went to the pope. When they met on a bridge and the pope saw the Eucharistic miracle he said, “Now there can be no doubt about the Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist.” In August 1264, Pope Urban IV proclaimed the universal feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ) we celebrate today. By the way, his name was Jacques Pantaleon, the former archdeacon of Liege. In divine providence, there are no coincidences. However great that Eucharistic miracle was, it is not as great as what it does for us. It makes us one with Jesus who comes into our soul every time we receive him in the state of grace.
- Fr. Carl
“To content His love, He must needs give himself to us
separately, one by one.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars
