The Guardian Angel: Eucharistic Miracle Breges Blood of Jesus and Corpus Christi

We could look at any of the Doctors of the Church and be blessed as Jesus continues to love us in a special way as He makes known His love for us in the Eucharist and his Miracles. St. Albert the Great, Bishop, Confesser and Doctor of the Church writing on the Lord's gift of the Eucharist. "He could not have commended anything more beneficial, for this Sacrament is the fruit of the tree of life. Anyone who receives this Sacrament with the devotion of sincere faith will never taste death. It is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and blessed is he who ho;ds it fast. The man who feeds on Me shall live on account of Me." do we continue to listen to this and embrace this truth out of love for Jesus and for all that He has given us to help lead them to eternity. God help us. To Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, GregoryMary

The Holy Blood of Breges

The oldest documents concerning the Holy Blood of Bruges date back to 1256. The Holy Blood probably was part of a group of relics of the Passion of Christ preserved at the Imperial Museum of Bucoleon in Constantinople (modern Istanbul). In 1203 Constantinople was besieged and conquered by the crusaders. Baldovin IX, Count of Flanders, after being crowned as the new emperor, sent the relic of the Precious Blood to his native country at Bruges. Recent analyses were made on the crystal bottle containing the Holy Blood. The bottle has been dated as of the 11th century. It is also sure it was made in an area near by Constantinople. Although in the Bible there is no explicit mention that the Blood of Christ was ever preserved, in one of the Apocryphal Gospels it is narrated that Joseph of Arimathea preserved some drops of the Blood of Christ. According to an ancient tradition, Count Diederik van den Elzas brought the bottle containing the Blood of Christ from Jerusalem to Bruges during the second crusade. Recent investigations however have pointed out that the relic arrived in Bruges at a later date, probably around 1250 coming from Constantinople. The veneration of the relic is at the origin of the internationally famous procession that is held every year through the streets of the city on the day of the Feast of the Ascension. The citizens of Bruges dress in historical customs and reenact biblical scenes and the arrival of the Count of Flanders who brought the holy relic

Corpus Christi Body of Christ “Even though the Eucharist is solemnly celebrated every day of the year, on one day we pay special honor to the Body of Christ. We may, of course, invoke the Lord with our minds and our spirits at any time, but we do not in this way obtain the Real Presence of Christ. With the Eucharistic commemoration, however, Jesus Christ is actually present with us in his own substance. As the risen Christ told us prior to his Ascension: ‘And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.’ (Mt.28, 20) …He would remain and be with them even by His bodily presence.” Pope Urban IV: TRANSITURUS DE HOC MUNDO Blessed Juliana of Cornillon, who lived in 13th century Belgium, heavenly voice state that the moon represented the Church at that time, and the dark spot showed that a great feast in honor of Corpus Christi was missing from the liturgical calendar. She reported this vision to the local ecclesiastical authority, the Archdeacon of Liège, Jacques Panteléon, who was later to become Pope Urban IV. In 1246, the Bishop of Liège, Roberto of Thourotte, established within his diocese a feast in honor of the Holy Sacrament, and it was celebrated for the first time on June 5, 1249. In 1264, Pope Urban IV (the former Archdeacon of Liège, to whom Blessed Juliana reported her vision) issued a papal bull extending the celebration to the universal Church. He also commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Office for the Mass and Liturgy of the B Hours for the feast. Catechism on the Real Presence Exhortation to Promote the Cult of the Eucharist by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

…104. Against what does Pope Paul VI especially warn the bishops?He warns them to be perfectly loyal to the teaching of Christ on the Real Presence and to promote tirelessly the worship of Jesus Christ who is living among us in the Blessed Sacrament. (MF 75)

105. What is the Holy Father's great hope for the faithful? His hope is that we may come to realize and experience the truth of St. Augustine's teaching about the Real Presence. According to St. Augustine: "He who desires life finds here a place to live in and the means to live by. Let him approach, let him believe, let him be incorporated so that he may receive life. Let him not refuse union with the members, let him not be a corrupt member, deserving to be cut off, nor a disfigured member to be ashamed of. Let him be a grateful, fitting and healthy member. Let him cleave to the body, let him live by God and for God. Let him now labor here on earth, that he may afterwards reign in heaven." All of this is assured those who profess and practice their faith in Christ's eucharistic presence now on earth. (MF 76)

106. To what will this devotion to the Real Presence lead? It will lead to daily participation in the Sacrifice of the Mass and daily reception of Holy Communion. (MF 77)

107. What are the spiritual benefits which this faith in the Blessed Sacrament will produce? It will obtain for us the strength to master our passions to purify ourselves of our daily venial sins, and to avoid the grave sins to which our human weakness is constantly exposed. (MF 77)

108. What does Pope Paul VI encourage the faithful to do every day? He encourages them to make a daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament. He reminds the bishops that the Holy Eucharist is to be kept in a most honorable location in every Church. He declares that such visits are at once a proof of our gratitude, and expression of our love, and a profession of our faith in Christ's presence now on earth. (MF 78)

…110. Is Christ in the Eucharist also to be imitated? Yes, there are especially two virtues that the Eucharistic Christ wants us to imitate. They are humility and love. When God became man, He humiliated Himself by becoming like one of us who are His creatures. But when He dwells in the Holy Eucharist, He reveals a humility that is beyond human description. So Too, God showed the sublimity of His love by becoming man, so that He could suffer and die on the cross out of love for us. Now, He shows His love for us in the Eucharist by allowing Himself to be ignored, desecrated, received by brazen sinners, and brought down on the altar even by priests who may be steeped in sin.

111. How valuable is conversation with Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist?

Pope Paul VI assures us that "there is nothing more consoling on earth, nothing more efficacious for advancing along the road of holiness." The reason is obvious. Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is the same Jesus who gave courage to His contemporaries during His visible life in Palestine. He is the same Jesus who performed miracles, not only in healing human bodies, and even raising people from the dead. He performs miracles of moral conversion and sanctification now through the Holy Eucharist, provided we believe. (MF 80) 112. How is the Eucharist the spiritual center of the Catholic Church

The Holy Eucharist reserved in the Churches and oratories is the spiritual center of a parish, a diocese, a religious community, of the Universal Church, and of the whole human race. Why? Because under the appearance of what looks like bread is contained Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, "by whom all things are and by whom we exist." (MF 81)

…114. What is the single most important means for reuniting a dismembered Christianity? The single most important means is the restoration of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. One reason for the tragic separation of so many people from the Catholic Church in the 16th Century was the widespread loss of faith in the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Present-day Catholics should do everything possible to reunite a sadly divided Christianity. (MF 83)

115. What was the main theme of Christ's long prayerful discourse at the Last Supper? He prayed especially for unity among His followers. This unity is to be maintained, fostered, and, when lost, restored through the Eucharist as Sacrifice-Sacrament, Communion-Sacrament, and Presence-Sacrament. That is why the Holy Eucharist has been especially identified as the Sacrament of unity. It is mainly through the Eucharist that the Church over the centuries has been united as the One, Holy, Catholic Church founded on Calvary. Christ remains the Church's foundation even as He was the Church's Founder by His death on the cross. (M F 86) …117. What Is Mary's role in the Holy Eucharist?

Without the Blessed Virgin Mary, there would have been no Incarnation. It was she who gave her divine Son the flesh and blood which Christ her Son now possesses in the Holy Eucharist. We should especially invoke Our Lady to restore unity among Christians where it has been lost, and strengthen his unity among the followers of Christ who believe that, in the Eucharist, "the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary," as expressed by St. Augustine in speaking of the Real Presence. (MF 88)