By Karen Sheehy
Untitled by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay. CC0 Creative Commons
Do you remember your first 3D movie? I do. It was 1982, the year the World’s Fair inhabited my home town of New Orleans. That summer, my family visited the state of the art movie theater in the replicated country of China. The exhibit promised a revolutionary, one-of-a-kind encounter with this far off and mysterious region of the world. Boy, did it deliver!
As the movie opened, we found ourselves looking down from Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world. Confused, I asked my brother if he was seeing what I was seeing, a scene simultaneously visible but out of focus. He laughed, pulled out some crude cardboard glasses, and commented, “Let’s see if these will help.” That day, this new, multi-dimensional technology exploded into our lives and the lives of so many others.
Today, we encounter an ever-increasing interactive world, one which surpasses our wildest expectations. Virtual reality, 3D, and 4D, all are designed to draw us deeper into the ensuing experience. The greater the effect, the more we feel, sense and encounter each scene in a deeper and more profound manner. That day, my brother and I laughed, screamed, dodged, winced and gasped, as the wonders of China reached into our world. Filled with wonder and hope, the great distance between my family and the country of China suddenly seemed a tad bit smaller.
The same interactive experience awaits each of us as we encounter the living God in Sacred Scripture. Today’s first reading delivers God’s words of consolation to the exiled nation of Israel, a nation in great need of hope. Here, Isaiah speaks about a promised Messiah who will restore the land, provide nourishment, protect and shelter, comfort and lift the fallen (Isaiah 49:8-15). Now, put on your 3D glasses, your Christo-centric lenses, and search for the deeper meaning of these words. Discover their ultimate fulfillment in the incarnate Son of God. Jesus is our home, food, shelter, and comfort. He is our sacrificial gift of atonement.
Christ does not simply fulfill the Old Testament prophesies, He transforms and elevates their meaning. He not only sets captives free, He “raises the dead and gives life” (John 5:21). In today’s Gospel, Christ says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He is our “virtual” pathway to eternal life. Jesus is drawing you close, inviting you into the story of salvation, and promising you the gift of eternal life. How will you react? I say, put on your 3D spiritual glasses and dare to hope, to love, and experience the mysterious world of Christian discipleship. I promise, a life with Christ will surpass your wildest expectations, and ultimately decrease the space between our world and the next.
About the Author:
Karen Sheehy is a devout Catholic, wife and mother, motivational speaker, blogger and developer of spiritualsafariguide.com, your passport to a world of spiritual inspiration and understanding. To learn more about Karen Sheehy and her upcoming book entitled, The Healing Eyes of Mercy. A Journey Towards the Light of God’s Love, visit http://www.spiritualsafariguide.com
Great job Karen! I have my 3-D glasses on and ready for the real ride of my life, to eternal life through Jesus! Amen, Amen!!!
Awesome Lori. So glad to be on this ride with you. Have a blessed day. Karen
Modern technology–sometimes it drives me nuts, but at other times, like finding this article, I’m so thrilled:
Eucharistic Miracles Confirm Real Presence of Jesus Christ
by Ryan Fitzgerald April 24, 2016
Two eucharistic miracles 1,300 years apart show same blood type and DNA
by Ryan Fitzgerald
After scientific investigation, a eucharistic miracle in Poland was recently confirmed as authentic by the local bishop of the area. Initially, the Host had fallen on the ground, so it was placed in water, as is customarily done in such cases. Not long afterward, the Eucharist began turning red, as if bloody.
Tests subsequently done on the subject indicated it came from human tissue “most similar to the heart muscle … as it appears under the strains of agony.”
The case is similar to one that occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina years ago. In 1996, when then-Bishop Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) was an auxiliary bishop there under Cdl. Antonio Quarracino. A consecrated Host was found on the ground and soon placed in a glass of water to dissolve. Days later, the Eucharist wasn’t dissolved at all — it had turned into bloody Flesh.
Cardinal Quarracino and Bp. Bergoglio took a photograph of the bloody Host for the record, then stored it in a tabernacle to decompose. In 1999, three years later, that same bloody Flesh remained. That’s when Dr. Ricardo Castañón, a Bolivian neurophysiologist, was called in to have samples from the Host examined in a laboratory environment.
Doctor Castañón took it to the San Francisco Forensic Institute without telling anyone there what it was or where it came from. After testing, he was told the samples constituted heart muscle, specifically from the myocardium of the left ventricle. Further, the tests showed the blood was human, with human DNA, and of the rare AB-positive type — the same as found on the Shroud of Turin.
Following those results, the Host was taken to Dr. Frederick Zugibe, an esteemed cardiologist and forensic pathologist at Columbia University in New York. According to Dr. Castañón, Dr. Zugibe tested the samples he was given and said the person whose heart it came from must have been tortured. Further, Dr. Zugibe was reportedly amazed that when he studied the samples, they were pulsating like a living, beating heart.
When Dr. Castañón first came across the miracle in 1999, he was an atheist. Today, he’s a Catholic.
After that, the results of the tests were compared to samples from another eucharistic miracle that took place in Lanciano, Italy roughly 1,300 years ago. The Body and Blood from that miracle are still preserved at a church in the town. In 1970, they were examined scientifically and, like the Buenos Aires sample, found to be from a human heart with AB-positive blood.
The comparison indicated that the samples from both Buenos Aires and Lanciano must have come from the same man. They both had the exact same DNA.
Church leaders are always careful to test potential miracles and rule out natural causes. Last year, in Utah, a Host that had been dropped and kept in water appeared blood red after days. However, after a thorough investigation, the red substance turned out not to be blood but rather mold. So the Church isn’t quick to label every case like this miraculous. But sometimes, after healthy skepticism and cautious investigation, there’s no other conclusion that can be drawn.
Wow, thank you Kathy for posting this beautiful testimony about Christ’s miraculous presence in the host. What really struck me is the comment about the beating heart tissue seen under examination. Seems that these doctors are using modern technology to further illuminate the unseen mysteries of Christ. How blessed are we to participate in these mysteries as members of His Body.
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