Testimony of life in the Eucharist
Exposure of the Eucharist
Early this year I found myself in engulf by a parade of global and domestic events that I found contradicted my moral and religious beliefs. But I like many have become sanitized to the propaganda spewed by the media and government. I must admit that through the years my Christian faith had become watered down. I no longer believed that I had to go to church or take the Eucharist to be in communion with God and his son Jesus. I did pray at home every day and at times with my husband, but I had walked far away from my Lord and God, without even realizing it. Who brought me back to the table and the house of my Lord Jesus? Blessed Carlo Acutis.
In the middle of this hot summer, I read a media story that a new saint was going to be canonized, and that he was dubbed, “God’s Influencer.” The news report was brief with very little information about it. I did not investigate the article any further, but it kept nagging at me for over 2 months. Finally, one day I made time to find out more about “God’s Influencer.” It was not hard to find online information about this person. It turned out to be a young, 15-year-old teenager that had lived with the mission “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan” … “To live with Jesus, for Jesus, and in Jesus.” (Carlo Acutis.org). This young man had learned to love Jesus from a very young age because the nanny that took care of him in Italy would take him to church. The parents were Catholic, but they did not attended mass in the early years of his life. Fast forward, Carlo Acutis had a mission to develop an online proof that Jesus was present in the consecrated sacrament of the Eucharist. Blessed Carlo Acutis developed a website with an extensive catalog collection of all the times that Christ had exposed his heart and blood in the Eucharist to non-believers. St. Acutis was well educated about many extensive topics about the Eucharist and often was asked by the Catholic church to explain the topics to other people and his peers. Saint Carlo Acutis died at the age of 15 of Acute promyelocytic leukemia.
I visited Blessed Carlo Acutis website, which chronicles by countries and dates the miracles of transformation of the consecrated host from plain bread and wine to the physical body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is based on the words that Jesus said to his apostles during the last supper of his passion, and the night before he was crucified and killed. In fact, Christ was not merely saying that the bread was his body; he was decreeing that it should be so and that it is so (catholic.com/magazine). I read 1 to 2 documented transformation stories in Acutis website, and I knew in my heart that I had failed to recognize that Jesus was present in the consecrated host for years. My cold abandonment had hurt Jesus, and I felt a heavy heart immediately. Jesus forgave my coldness and embraced me back into this heart. I have not looked back since I acknowledged, repented, and invited Jesus in my heart.
I also want to discuss that one of my early objections to eating the host was that I had been diagnosed with an allergy to gluten but not wheat, and I had convinced myself that the Eucharist made me sick. Early last year, I decided to reintroduce wheat into my diet, but I had less than desirable result. My intestines revolted to eating wheat bread after 3 weeks, and wheat had also affected my short-term memory, which did not make sense because, I have a very good memory with an average GPA of 3.7 to 4.0. I knew I had to stop eating bread. But when I ate the consecrated host, I did not have any digestive issues or short-term memory losses. In fact, my health has improved, and I have the thyroid blood work to prove it, and most importantly, my heart is at peace.
Therefore, I want to share that I have changed how I view the Eucharist. The consecrated Eucharist is the real physical body and blood of our savior Jesus Christ. To obtain Jesus graces, one must live through him, for him, and all our daily actions must be made to please Jesus and God. This is the only way to pass from death into life. Now my mission is to please Jesus, and to take his body and blood daily.
Works Cited
https://www.carloacutis-en.org
https://www.mariavision.it/santuario-spogliazione-assisi