THE WORLD'S GREATEST SECRET
John Mathias Haffert
table of contents
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE SECRET MADE PERSONAL
Nothing in the catacombs
cries more eloquently from the past than an inscription written on the tomb of
Tarcisius: "Carrying the sacraments of Christ, he chose rather to suffer
death than to betray the heavenly Body to raging dogs." That inscription
and a boy's skeleton were all that remained to tell the modern world, when the
archeologists found them, of a faith in the Eucharist and a heroism that makes
fifteen hundred years of united faith in the Eucharist understandable. We can
easily recreate what happened. In those early centuries, Christians had to
assemble in stealth to celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy. And between
celebrations the Eucharist was carried to the sick, to the imprisoned, to
those about to face martyrdom, to those in hiding. Tarcisius had the Blessed
Sacrament on his person. He was probably taking it to someone in prison, or
perhaps even caught in the act of approaching a Christian soon to be put to
death. He was seized and beaten to reveal the Christian Secret. What was it he
was carrying? Why was he coming to see a Christian who looked forward to
receiving him so eagerly that it was evident that he carried something
important, something that gave him away? Rather than permit that they should
know, and there ore perhaps dishonor Our Lord in the Blessed Sacranent,
Tarcisius let them beat him to death.
2 And all they Found was
what looked like a piece of bread... "This is the bread that comes down
from heaven," Our Lord had taught them (Jn. 6:50). Tarcisius had never
seen Christ. He had never seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes or the
resurrection of Lazarus, or perhaps even the glorified Christ Himself. He died
almost two hundred years after the Last Supper. So where did he get such faith
out of a world of secrecy and persecution? Again, we do not have to study back
two thousand years. We have the evidence in persons all about us. To write
this one chapter, the writer scanned the biographies of more than a hundred
canonized saints.* Each book, without exception, proved to have two chapters:
One on the saint's "outstanding" or "heroic" or
"unique" devotion to the Eucharist; the other on "special"
devotion to the Blessed Virgin. And most of the chapters were written in such
a way that the author seems to feel that these devotions were the
distinguishing characteristics of the person of whom he was writing. It is
safe to say that there is not a single canonized saint* who has not shown
special devotion to the Eucharist, even though some saints manifested the
devotion more markedly and obviously than others. We can call them Eucharistic
saints (though the term is a bit misleading), or saints who were very
particularly devoted to Christ in the Eucharist. To describe all the
Eucharistic saints would take hundreds of pages and but a few examples will
do. St - John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, lived back in the fourth
century when Christianity was first daring to break its three-and-a-half
centuries of stark secrecy, a thousand years before the Reformation.
3 In his homily no. 50 on
the subject of the Eucharist he writes: "Believe therefore that now the
same supper is being celebrated as that one at which He presided. This one is
no different from that one. And when you see the priest who stretches out (his
hand) to you, do not think it is the priest doing it, but the hand of Christ
Himself." One of the saint's homilies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, no.
82, is dedicated to the Last Supper. To those who ask why Christ instituted
the Blessed Sacrament during the feast of the Pasch, he replied that the
events of the Old Testament, of which the Pasch was one, were only shadows and
figures of that mystery. He established the reality where the image alone had
been. Then he argues that whereas Christ's word cannot err, our senses can and
do easily err. Explaining about the bread and wine of the Eucharist, he writes
that if we had not been created bodies, He would not use material things to
transmit His graces. But "since the soul is united to the body, He gives
you spiritual graces by means of sensible things." In preparing for
Communion, says the great Bishop, strive "to be purer than the rays of
the sun," and "think what an honor has been given you, what a
banquet you have on hand! That what the angels dread to look on, nor gaze at
without fear for the splendor which It emits, such is the food with which we
are nourished, with which we mingle ourselves, and for which we are made one
body and one flesh with Christ." As Jesus was born of the same substance
as ourselves and entered into our nature, thus did He come to all of us, but
He likewise comes to each of us separately and in particular.
4 St. John puts it this way:
"Jesus unites Himself to each one of the faithful, and He with Himself
nourishes them and does not trust them to others. In this manner He proves
that He has received your flesh." Then leaping over the centuries we can
choose a modern example: Saint John Neumann, Bishop of Philadelphia. Loving
his Eucharistic Lord and wishing to dramatize the Blessed Sacrament and to
center spiritual life in his diocese around Him, he dreamed of bringing the
Forty Hours Devotion' to the United States. At first the idea was received
coldly. People on all sides told him: "You can't do that! If you left the
Blessed Sacrament exposed in churches for over forty long hours, don't you
know what would happen? The ignorant and the impious would profane and
dishonor It." The idea might have died there except for what happened one
night. The Bishop had been writing letters for hours and he grew so weary that
he fell asleep at his desk. When he awoke an hour or so later his papers were
a charred mass. Whether a puff of wind had blown a letter into the flames of a
candle, or whether the candle had overturned, he could not tell. Only one
letter remained intact, except for charred edges. Picking it up, he saw that
it was the only letter he had written that evening about the Forty Hours
Devotion.
5 At this discovery he
dropped to his knees. It seemed to him that a voice was telling him: "As
this writing was saved from the flames, so shall I preserve My Son , present
in the Blessed Sacrament, from profanation and dishonor. Wait no longer. Carry
out your plans." The Bishop again eagerly took up his pen. Letter after
letter he wrote on through the night, ordering the celebration of the Forty
Hours Devotion in every church of his Philadelphia Diocese. The custom spread
and today the devotion is practiced throughout the entire United States.
Having almost at random chosen two Saint Johns who are centuries apart, may we
now turn to two Thomases? The great thirteenth century philosopher and
theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, has sometimes been called the Eucharistic
Doctor, for he is known not only for his monumental theological work on the
Eucharist in Summa Theologica, but also for incomparably beautiful hymns to
the Blessed Sacrament. It was he who was chosen to write the Proper parts of
the Mass and the Office (or official prayers) for the feast of Corpus Christi,
the feast on which we honor the Body of the Lord and celebrate, as on Holy
Thursday,* the institution of the Blessed Sacrament. The learned doctor used
to go to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament whenever he had a special problem. On
his deathbed he made a profession of faith which should be recorded whenever
the Blessed Sacrament is discussed. He who is bracketed with Aristotle and
Plato as one of the greatest philosophers of all time, said just before he
died: "If in this world there be any knowledge of this mystery keener
than that of Faith, I wish now to affirm that I believe in the Real Presence
of Jesus Christ in this sacrament, truly God and truly man, the Son of God,
the Sol, of the Virgin Mary.
6 This I believe and hold
for true and certain." The second Thomas we chose is Saint Thomas More.
When he was Chancellor of England some of his friends reproached him for going
to Communion so often. With all his duties and responsibilities they thought
that this piety took up too much of his time. He answered their objections
with these words: "Your reasons for wanting me to stay away from Holy
Communion are exactly the ones which cause me to go so often, My distractions
are great, but it is in Communion that I recollect myself. I have temptations
many times a day; by daily Communion I get the strength to overcome them. I
have much very important business to handle and I need light and wisdom; it is
for this very reason that I go to Holy Communion every day to consult Jesus
about them." Now, let us choose two men named Francis. We can begin with
Saint Francis Assisi. Even when as a young man he was more interested in feats
of chivalry than in spiritual matters, his devotion to Christ in the Blessed
Sacrament led him to send expensive chalices to poor Priests. Later, when he
turned from worldliness, his F eucharistic devotion grew. Christ had spoken to
Francis from a crucifix and said: "Mend my Church," so the Young
gallant, with scarcely a backward glance at the old life, rushed off to
restore the literally crumbling parish church of St. Damian. He begged enough
oil for it to keep a light burning night and day before the Blessed Sacrament.
Soon afterwards, God called Francis to found his Order of friars, which today
we call the Franciscans. As the leader of his little group of men, Francis
wrote letters giving advice and instructions. Five of eight letters of Francis
of Assisi which have come down to us treat of the Blessed Sacrament, either
entirely or in part.
7 In
one of them he exhorts the clergy: "Keep churches clean, altars and
everything belonging to the celebration of Mass and the administration of the
Sacraments ... how wretched are the chalices, corporals* or other linens where
the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ is sacrificed ... Our Lord is
loving enough to entrust Himself to our hands and we handle Him and receive
Him on our lips day after day." He taught his friars that whenever they
saw a church they should bow low to salute the Presence inside, and whenever
the Blessed Sacrament was being carried anywhere, he added: "Let all the
people on bended knee render praise, honor and glory to the Lord God, living
and true." In yet another letter he said: "Let everything in man
halt in awe, let all the world quake and let heaven exult when Christ the Son
of the living God is there on the altar in the hands of the priest." Then
he writes: "In this world I see nothing bodily of the most high Son of
God except His most holy Body and Blood," and he reminded his priests to
preach the reception of the Sacrament. Meanwhile he himself would never become
a priest because he did not feel worthy of such a high state. Often he speaks
of the reverence in which priests should be held, even bad ones. After all, he
says, "their hands have touched the Lord." He deemed no dignity
greater than that of the priesthood, "because of its sublime privilege of
consecrating the Body and Blood of Christ. "
8 To priests themselves he
urged dedication and devotion because they are "chosen by the great King
to bring to the nations of the earth what they themselves have learned and
gathered, especially before the tabernacle." His own devotion to the Real
Presence was extraordinary and his first biographer, Thomas de Celano, writes:
"Every fiber of the heart of Francis was aglow with love for the
Sacrament of the Body of Christ." One could go on and on about Francis of
Assisi, but we turn again to another Francis, separated by centuries of time:
Saint Francis de Sales. This gentle, courteous French bishop is described as
"one of the finest bishops and most attractive men that Christianity has
ever produced . In his book Introduction to a Devout Life he writes:
"When you have received It (the Host) excite your heart to come and
render homage to this King of salvation; speak to Him of your most intimate
affairs; contemplate Him within you where He has come for your happiness;
finally give Him the best welcome possible and behave in such a manner that by
all your acts it may be known that God is with you." Of frequent
Communion he said: "If worldly folk ask You why you communicate so often,
say it is in order to learn to love God, to purge yourself of your
imperfections, to free yourself from your miseries, to console Yourself in
your afflictions, to support yourself in your weaknesses. Say that there are
two kinds of people who should communicate often: the perfect, because being
so well-disposed, they would do great wrong if they did not approach the
Source and Fountain of Perfection, and the imperfect with the end of being
reasonably able to aspire to perfection; the strong, that they may not become
weak, and the weak to become strong; the sick that they will be cured, and the
healthy that they may not fall sick; and that you, imperfect, weak and sick,
need to communicate often with Him Who is your perfection, your strength and
your doctor...
9 Say that you receive the
Holy Sacrament in order to learn how to receive it, for one never does well
that in which one has not had practice. " However, does such stress on
the Eucharist in the lives of holy persons imply that the Eucharist is the one
means of grace and the only mark of Christian heroes? No, because if this were
true the only Christian saints would be those who have access to the
Eucharist. And Christ did not promise to say: "Possess the kingdom, for
you have received Communion often." Rather He will say "Possess the
kingdom... for I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you
gave me to drink... " But during twenty centuries of Christian history we
find greatest devotion to the Eucharist in those who did feed the hungry
heroically, those who visited the imprisoned, those who gave their own lives
to save others, those who truly loved their fellow men as Christ taught. And
this is so universally true, of those Christ-like persons who had access to
the Blessed Sacrament, that almost any of them might be singled out for
exceptional love of Christ in the Sacrament of His Love. Pope Leo XIII
remarked of Saint Paschal Baylon: "Of all the saints who have been known
for their extraordinary devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament, Saint Paschal
occupies first place." In his Apostolic Letter Providentissimus Deus, Leo
declared Saint Paschal the patron of Eucharistic Congresses* and
associations.
10 But what about Saint
Peter Julian Eymard, Saint John Eudes, etc.? It almost seems that Pope Leo had
chosen at random. We have not yet mentioned women who were outstanding
Christians. One of the most famous was Catherine of Siena. Known principally
for her ambassadorial missions and her part in persuading the Pope to return
from Avignon to Rome, she deserves rather to be known for her exceptional
devotion to the Eucharist. It was closeness to Christ in the Eucharist which
made all her feats possible. Then again leaping the centuries we come to
Elizabeth Bayley Seton of the United States who, as a young Episcopalian widow
visiting Italy attended Mass with Italian friends and heard an Englishman
mutter at the Elevation of the Host: "This is what they call their Real
Presence. " She was deeply disturbed by the remark and later wrote in her
diary of the "unfeeling interruption. " Shortly afterward she wrote
her sister-in-law: "How happy we would be if we believed what these dear
souls believe, that they possess God in the Sacrament and that He remains in
their churches and is carried to them when they are sick! Oh, my! When they
carry the Blessed Sacrament under my windows, while I feel the loneliness and
sadness of my case, I cannot stop my tears at the thought: My God, how happy I
would be, even so far away from all so dear, if I could find You in the Church
as they do ... The other day, in a moment of excessive distress, I fell on my
knees without thinking when the Blessed Sacrament passed by and cried in an
agony to God to bless me if He was there, that my whole soul desired only
Him.
11 When she returned to New
York she attended her own church as usual, but chose a side pew which faced
the Catholic church opposite. She records that she constantly found herself
speaking to the Blessed Sacrament there. Later, after her subsequent
conversion, she burned with faith at no time more strongly than when she was
about to receive Communion. She wrote: "God is everywhere, in the very
air I breathe, yes everywhere, but in His Sacrament of the Attar He is as
present actually and really as my soul within my body; in His Sacrifice daily
offered as really as once offered on the Cross." Mrs. Seton later founded
the beginnings of the Catholic elementary school system in the United States,
and also a community of sisters, later united with the Daughters of Charity
founded by Saint Vincent de Paul in France. On New Year's Day, 1821, Mother
Seton was near death. To receive Communion in those days, one had t abstain
from food and drink from midnight, and when nurse requested the dying saint to
take a beverage, she said: "Never mind the drink. One Communion more and
then eternity." Thus in the face of death she reminded us that only on
this earth is Eucharistic union with Christ possible ... an honor even the
angels cannot enjoy. It is a union not to be compared to the beatific vision
but it has the merit of being voluntary. To see God is t love Him, but the
average person who receives the Eucharist sees nothing but the appearances of
bread a wine. Women who have become Eucharistic saints are 1i the stars,
innumerable. Some of them lived miraculous on no other food but the Eucharist.
12 Saint Catherine of Siena
whom we just mentioned was one who lived for months on the Eucharist alone.
Saint Angela of Foligno was another, and in her case this miraculous state
lasted twelve years. In our own day, Alexandrina. Maria da Costa, who died in
1955, lived for 167 months with the Eucharist as her sole food.' Who can doubt
the promise made nearly two thousand years ago: "Behold, I am with you
all days, even to the end of the world"? Aren't those who cannot believe
prompted to cry out like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton': "Jesus, bless me if
You are really there, for my whole soul desires only You! "? in our
introductory remarks to this book, we noted that because it is for everyone,
it cannot satisfy every ,-one: "it will seem too skimpy for the
professional." And perhaps this is nowhere more evident than in the
chapter on proofs (or miracles) and in this chapter. Well over a hundred
miracles were prepared. Only three were used. In the end, the truth of one
miracle should be as strong as that of a hundred, and the example of one saint
should be as compelling as those of a hundred. But there is one miracle and
one final example of a completely Eucharistic life which we feel compelled to
include.
12 High up in the mountains
just to the north of Beirut Lebanon, is the body of a priest which exudes when
seems to be a mixture of blood and water. When h tomb is opened each year, the
body actually is floating i the liquid which in twelve months has accrued to a
dept of about three inches. The body itself, as described in official doctor's
report witnessed by this writer, is though it had been dead only a few days.
Miracles per~ formed at the tomb are so startling and so numerous that they
remind one of the miracles of Lourdes. We ourselves visited there in the
spring of 1967 to examine the evidence and talk with witnesses. It was our
conclusion, after journeys around the world and more than fifty trips to
Europe, that this was perhaps the greatest single phenomenon of our time. One
of the unusual aspects of this phenomenon is the very fact that this priest,
on a mountain almost 5,000 feet straight up from the sea, was never heard of
at all in the outside world during his life. He was a Maronite monk whose life
was his daily Mass. Near the monastery was a hermitage where the monks could
go for several days of quiet retreat. It had no heat, very small cells, and a
tiny chapel. This priest asked frequently to spend days at the hermitage and
finally obtained permission to remain there constantly for twenty-three years.
Other priests took turns sharing the hermitage with him. They never recorded
anything very extraordinary except that he chose to say his Mass about eleven
o'clock in the morning so that he could have all the morning to prepare for
the Mass, and then have the rest of the day for thanksgiving.
13 And at the elevation of
the Host, since 14c was of the Oriental rite, he had permission to add the
words: "most Holy Trinity, receive Thy Divine Son for the conversion of
sinners!" it was while he held the Host elevated, his heart speaking this
prayer, that he collapsed at the altar in 1898 A priest assisting at the Mass
had to pry the Blessed Sacrament from the saintly monk's clenched fingers.
Eight days later, after suffering which seemed to be a perpetuation of that
moment of Calvary, he died on the bare floor in a room behind the chapel. Like
all the other monks, he was buried in the general cemetery. It was to be
expected that he would soon be forgotten. But a light was seen around the
tomb. Finally, in 1950, the monks asked permission to have the body exhumed,
During the subsequent years the body has been exhumed and buried several times
until finally a part of the old monastery was set aside where the tomb is now
above ground. Previously, although the body remained absolutely, incorrupt and
constantly exuded liquid, the very coffins themselves disintegrated. Even the
bottom of an exterior zinc coffin split beneath the feet of the body.
Attestations of the various doctors which were placed in the tomb after each
examination remained intact until the exhumation of 1976. The very paper,
which normally would have yellowed, remained fresh even though iron boxes in
which these attestations were placed disintegrated. The monastery began to
keep records of miracles performed through the intercession of this priest
from 1950 Onward. Within two years they recorded over twelve hundred.
Obviously God had a special reason for performing miracles to call the
attention of the world to this obscure Priest of the mountain whose whole life
centered in and around the Eucharistic Liturgy.
14 Pope Paul VI declared him
Blessed on May 12, 1965, prior to the final session of the Ecumenical Council.
His body had been exhumed and found incorrupt for the first time only fifteen
years before. In 1977, Pope Paul VI canonized this priest of the Eucharist. He
is now Saint Sharbel Makhlouf.* The miracle of Saint Sharbel reminds the world
of the center of this man's entire life: the Eucharist. It is noteworthy that
he stands at the bridge of the world between the East and the West, himself of
an Eastern rite and Semitic race, in that part of Asia where the East and West
truly meet. The actual prayer which Father Sharbel recited at the time of the
elevation probably was longer than given above but it is as Father Ciade
quoted: "The essence of Saint Sharbel's thought... the offering of the
Eucharist to the Trinity for sinners."
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