The True Presence
Whoever eats this bread will live forever! (John 6:51)
Today, we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: The Most Holy Eucharist. So often when I think about the Eucharist (which I have celebrated in the Mass every day of my 26 years as a priest, except for one day when I was literally traveling for 24 hours) I, too, like every priest and every Catholic come ‘face-to-face’ with this great Divine Mystery: that the very same Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who became Incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is perfectly and substantially Present in the Holy Eucharist, whom you and I receive in Holy Communion.
This great truth and mystery of the Eucharist can certainly seem almost too impenetrable to both our human imagination and reason – which is why the Church gives us both the definitive teaching as well as the clear instructions of how every priest and the people are to celebrate the Holy Mass to confirm His Presence. Yet we have the beautiful examples of so many believers – living and deceased (in purgatory or heaven) – who can ‘urge’ us on to a complete and definitive faith!
Yes, after the greatest Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrated only this past Sunday, the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist is ‘equal’ – if you will! – in awe and splendor to the Mystery of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery(the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ), and it prepares us for the eternal ‘Beatific Vision’ of the Christian life, for all eternity!
In fact, if we need help in coming to believe or simply to strengthen our belief in the Eucharist as the very Body and Blood of Christ (or Corpus Christi) we can turn to the ‘saints’ – both living and deceased – who are around us each and every day. These saints may be both those ‘canonized’ and recognized by the Catholic Church or simply the holy ones living around us. In fact, some of those ‘saints’ are children who can help us by both their example and their intercessions.
One of the greatest young saints of the Eucharist was St. Tarcisius, a third century boy, whose story – even if unconfirmed outside of simple legends – unfolds during one of the fiercest reigns of Christian persecution by the Roman Empire. Tarcisius was entrusted with bringing the Holy Eucharist in a pyx – very much as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion do today when they bring the Eucharist to the homebound, hospitalized or imprisoned – to condemned Christians unjustly imprisoned. Along the way, he was attacked and beaten so badly by thugs for not ‘revealing’ the Eucharist, that he died on the spot. Simply, understood, Tarcisius absolutely knew the Eucharist was the Son of GOD, and he guarded Him with his very life until death!
Three more children in the last century who had a great devotion to Jesus truly present, yet ‘hidden’ in the Eucharist, were the three children of Fatima: Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Venerable Sister Lúcia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos. In 1916, in preparation for the Apparition of the Blessed Mother to these same three children in 1917, the Angel of Portugal appeared to them and taught them this beautiful prayer:
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee
the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles
of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences whereby He is offended.
And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg
of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”
This beautiful prayer is now most often said during Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which the children experienced when in the hands of the Angel appeared – miraculously – a Host and a chalice with the Most Precious Blood! From that day on, the three children devoted their lives to great acts of penances for the souls who offend Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the youngest two children offering up their own very painful illnesses and eventual deaths for this reparation.
Of course, the newest young ‘saint’ – all of us know! – to inspire us was a little girl named Christina Dangond, whose love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist needs no more testimony, for her most compelling witness was her simple daily prayer throughout all of her suffering for Him: “Jesus, I Trust in You!”
Yes, there are many who testify to the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist – and so many more are needed! May we join them more so today than ever before to one day join Christina and all the saints and angels in Heaven who now ‘behold’ the Glory of GOD, no longer hidden from their sight!
Fr. Ed was ordained to the priesthood in May 2000 for the Archdiocese of Boston. He held three different parish assignments in the Archdiocese from 2000-2010 before his appointment to the Faculty of Saint John’s Seminary as Dean of Men and Director of Pastoral Formation from 2010-2022. In 2022, Fr. Ed was appointed Chaplain to the Catholic School Office, and then Administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Waltham, MA. In 2025, he was appointed Rector of the Lazarus Center for Healing Shrine in Wakefield, while remaining the Spiritual Director & Liaison for the Office for Homeschooling for the Archdiocese of Boston, and Spiritual Director for the World Apostolate of Fatima within the Archdiocese. He is a perpetually professed member of the Institute of Jesus the Priest of the Pauline Family.
