When your priest holds up the Eucharist at Mass today, remember exactly what is happening as he says, โThis is my body, which will be given up for youโ.
Have a blessed Sunday.
A video of a Catholic priest breaking down in tears and struggling to raise the chalice above his head while saying the consecration prayers during Mass spread across social media this week, prompting the priest to issue a statement through his diocese.
โTake this all of you and drink from it: For this is the chaliceโฆโ Father Brent Bowman prayed at the altar, followed by a six-second pause while celebrating Mass for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota, on Sept. 14.
He continued the consecration prayer through tears and then sobbed for nearly one minute at the altar, struggling to raise the chalice. He continued to cry as he raised the chalice and was weeping as he knelt before the blood of Christ after the consecration.
Bowmanโs emotional response to the consecration was captured on video because the parish livestreams its daily Masses on YouTube and it spread across social media platforms, with many viewers wondering what prompted the reaction.
In his statement, he explained that he did not witness what the Church considers a โEucharistic miracle,โ such as when the accidents of the bread and wine apparently change in some way along with the substance. Rather, he said, โI had a private spiritual experienceโ during the Mass.
โDuring the consecration prayer over the wine at the altar, as I spoke the words, I was given what I believe to be internal knowledge of the power of these words being spoken and the reality of their effect to the point that I had difficulty speaking,โ Bowman said in his statement.
โWith each word, I became more physically overwhelmed as seen in the video,โ he said. โAt the same time, I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of Godโs power coming down upon the altar, and I felt the heaviness of Jesusโs substantial presence in the chalice in my hands.โ
โThe chalice became too heavy to hold as I felt it pulled down to rest upon the altar,โ Bowman said. โI felt my hands fixed to the chalice of the Precious Blood, and I could not physically move it. Attempting to elevate the Precious Blood, which I was not able to do for a period of time, I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bittersweetness of Our Lordโs Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins.โ
โI believe I experienced this weight in the chalice,โ he said. โThis spiritual experience emotionally and physically overwhelmed me as evident in the Mass recording.โ
Bowman noted that spiritual experiences are โcompletely unmerited gifts and signs of Godโs abundant love for all his peopleโ but โnot necessarily signs of any personโs holiness.โ
โI pray this brief testimony moves all our hearts to contemplate more deeply the mysteries of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the Precious Blood,โ he said.
Although Bowman did not experience a โEucharistic miracleโ in the sense of the bread or the wine altering its appearance, God does perform a miracle at every Mass during consecration, known as transubstantiation.
When the priest consecrates the Eucharist, the โsubstanceโ of bread and wine does not remain, but instead the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ even though it maintains the physical appearance and chemical structure of bread and wine.
โThe presence of Christสผs true body and blood in this sacrament cannot be detected by sense, nor understanding, but by faith alone, which rests upon Divine authority,โ St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the โSumma Theologica.โ
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On Sept. 20, 1918, 108 years ago, St. Pio of Pietrelcina received the stigmata while praying after Mass in the chapel of the Capuchin friars at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
The stigmata are physical marks associated with Christโs Passion, traditionally corresponding to the wounds in his hands, feet and side during the Crucifixion. Some individuals have received these bleeding wounds as a spiritual gift and a participation in Christโs sacrificial suffering.
Padre Pioโs wounds bled daily for 50 years and remained visible for the rest of his life. They healed completely, leaving no scars, shortly before his death on Sept. 23, 1968. Accounts also describe the blood from his wounds as having a floral, perfume-like scentโnot a foul odor.