Lord, I believe...

...help my unbelief. While I was attending college at Texas A&M, I received the greatest gift in my life....the gift of my Catholic faith. One of the fundamental teachings of this faith is that of Christ's Real presence in the Eucharist.... Fr. John Hardon states what we as Catholics believe:

"The simplest way to express what Christ asks us to believe about the Real Presence is that the Eucharist is really He. The Real Presence is the real Jesus. We are to believe that the Eucharist began in the womb of the Virgin Mary; that the flesh which the Son of God received from His Mother at the Incarnation is the same flesh into which He changed bread at the Last Supper; that the blood He received from His Mother is the same blood into which He changed wine at the Last Supper. Had she not given Him His flesh and blood there could not be a Eucharist.

We are to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ - simply, without qualification. It is God become man in the fullness of His divine nature, in the fullness of His human nature, in the fullness of His body and soul, in the fullness of everything that makes Jesus Jesus. He is in the Eucharist with His human mind and will united with the Divinity, with His hands and feet, His face and features, with His eyes and lips and ears and nostrils, with His affections and emotions and, with emphasis, with His living, pulsating, physical Sacred Heart. That is what our Catholic Faith demands of us that we believe. If we believe this, we are Catholic. If we do not, we are not, no matter what people may think we are."


And so, since receiving this gift of faith, I have never once doubted this truth...not once. I say this not to say ooooh wow, look at me, what a great believer I am, but more to emphasize that my faith truly is a gift!

So where exactly I am going with all of this?? Last night something happened to me that I also can only say was a great gift from our Lord...something that I NEVER thought I would get to witness.... There is a hospital here in Laredo that has a chapel where our Lord is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament for Eucharistic Adoration. Last night, we received a phone call from a family member informing us that Christ's image had miraculously appeared on the Host! When I first heard the news, I was a bit surprised of course, as this does not happen every day. But I didn't think immediately, wow I really want to go see it! Then Enrique's mom suggested we could go and Enrique's dad offered to stay home with the kids. I left him Gerardito, since it was his bedtime anyway and brought Enriquito with us. We had to wait in line, but not too long, until we entered the chapel and processed up towards the altar where there our Lord was waiting in the Host displayed in the monstrance. And sure enough, I was able to see the image of His Holy Face in the Host. It was a sweet and quiet moment, very much like many of the other times that I have gone to visit our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration. And I guess, that was the sweetest part about it. This experience was no different. Our Lord was there, as He ALWAYS is. The only difference this time was that you could see His Face. When I saw His Face on the Host, I literally thought, "Oh, wow..there He is!"..but then, much to my surprise, something inside me wasn't that surprised or amazed..something inside me said, "..but wait..you've always known He was there" This thought just made me smile. He is there..it's as simple as that! He is there and we can go and visit Him in any Catholic Church in the Tabernacles where He resides and waits for us to visit Him all the time!

And so, I go back to my beginning statement..Lord, I believe...I believe you are truly present in the Holy Eucharist...I believe that You love us so much and that you desire for us to reciprocate that Love and spend time with you in Adoration, but in my weakness, dear Lord, help my unbelief...help me to show you my love, help me, dear Lord, for by myself I cannot love Thee as I ought!


****It is my understanding that the chapel there in the hospital had adoration from 8 am to 8 pm daily. Yet they were struggling to find people to spend time with our Lord in Adoration.....to make sure He was never left alone. So they were thinking of no longer having adoration available in the chapel. It was then that Jesus, in His Divine Mercy, made Himself visible for all to see and believe that He really is there waiting for us...apparently God had other plans! Blessed be God!

For more information on the Real Presence, visit this website