Lecturer’s report October 13, 2022, by Greg Brown

Miracles!

Do you believe in miracles? When was the last time you witnessed a miracle?

I believe, and I believe I witnessed one earlier this very day. Many of us believe in the power of prayer and that it often yields miracles. But I am talking about a miracle that happens every day, right here at Holy Spirit and at all Catholic churches throughout the world. You might have guessed by now what I am talking about. It is, of course, the Eucharistic miracle of transubstantiation, the changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at the hands of the priest through the power of the Holy Spirit. Although this is a fantastic fact, it happens all the time and thus loses some of its power. We tend to lose sight of its majesty and wonder. What a fantastic thing to happen, and it happens to us! And we get to consume our Lord and become one with Him. He is really present to us substantially.

Here’s a story from Bishop Robert Barron, one of my favorite authors.

In 1950, Flannery O’Connor was brought by friends to a dinner with the prominent author Mary McCarthy and her husband. At the time, O’Connor, who would eventually blossom into one of the greatest Catholic writers of the twentieth Century, was just commencing her career, and there was no question but that she was a junior member of this elite circle of conversation. In fact, in a letter describing the scene, she commented, “Having me there was like having a dog present who had been trained so say a few words but overcome with inadequacy had forgotten them.” As the evening drew on, the talk turned to the Eucharist, and Mary McCarthy, who had been raised Catholic but had fallen away from the Church, remarked that she thought of the Eucharist as a symbol and “implied that it was a pretty good one.” She undoubtedly intended this condescending observation as a friendly overture to the Catholic O’Connor. But O’Conner responded in a shaky voice, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.” One can only imagine that the elegant dinner party broke up rather soon after that conversational bomb was dropped. In its bluntness, clarity, and directness, Flannery O’Connor’s remark is one of the best statements of the Catholic difference in regard to the Eucharist. For Catholics, the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus, and any attempt to say otherwise, no matter how cleverly formulated or deftly articulated, is insufficient.

That’s the end of Bishop Barron’s story.

Well, with that, I might add that if it is not a symbol, then it has to be a miracle!

For future meetings I would like to hear about your experiences regarding the Eucharist. If you would like to share your experiences please let me know and I will schedule you. I might be so bold as to ask you individually to do so.

Let’s conclude with our prayer for the canonization of Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney.