A moment of Paradise...

On June 29, 2011, we displayed on the altar of the Basilica of the Mother of the Eucharist the hosts of some Eucharistic Miracles that occurred in the thaumaturgic place where they are kept.

When our Lord bestows his gifts, they are not aimed just at the one receiving them but they have a beneficial effect also on those who are ready to accept them with humbleness and benevolence. These gifts do not have effects only in the time immediately following their completion, but spread over time. Just think of the great miracles Jesus Christ worked during his public life and, after two thousand years, they still provide benefits to the Christian community and are occasions for conversion.

Our community is unique from this point of view, it received many gifts from God. First of all it was made partaker of the apparitions of the Mother of the Eucharist, through our dear sister Marisa: souls away from God were converted, faithful who used to live prayer and Holy Mass in a detached way have learned to savor the beauty of it with meditation and inner silence; many believers found the way of the Lord, in Italy and around the world, learning to love the Church and the Eucharist till death, fighting against all odds.

We have witnessed many Eucharistic miracles, some with bloodshed. Once more Christ offered himself by giving us his body in the Eucharistic species, thus imparting a unique character to our little community. Christ has redeemed the world through his passion, death and resurrection, a mystery that is realized and actualized in every Mass that is celebrated at any time and anywhere in the world, a mystery that is just as effective as the first sacrifice that took place two thousand years ago.

The first Eucharistic miracle took place on September 14, 1995, during the procession held to mark the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, this was followed by 190 more miracles, 12 of them with bloodshed.

Don Claudio and Marisa taught us to live and appreciate these wonders with all due respect, not as exclusive gifts for our community, but as an offering our Lord gave to the whole world as our Lord's action has no limit of space and time. Our Lord always manages to surprise and astonish us with his infinite love. In the premises of our movement we preserve, in an appropriate place, some of the Eucharistic miracles our Lord has worked in the thaumaturgic place.

Here they are ordered by date:

1. February 18, 1996

2. March 22, 1998

3. May 17, 1998 (1st bleeding) and June 6, 1999 (2nd bleeding)

4. November 11, 1999 (1st bleeding) and May 18, 2000 (2nd bleeding)

5. May 16, 2000 (1st bleeding), April 6, 2002 (2nd bleeding) and December 30, 2003 (3rd bleeding)

6. January 15, 2004

Community members know very well the particle that bled on March 22, 1998 because the Bishop, every third Sunday of the month, after the H. Mass, used to arrange the blessing of the sick with this host, brought by Jesus. Christ's faithful know equally well the particle that bled twice: on May 17, 1998 and June 6, 1999 because it is the host placed in an alabaster monstrance which is enthroned on a pulpit and solemnly led in procession on the occasion of the feast of Jesus, Our Lady and on special celebrations of our community.

Because it is good to freshen up every now and then the visual memory, besides that of the mind, we decided to organize a day entirely devoted to these Eucharistic miracles where everyone could enjoy, rejoice and worship the body of Christ in his real presence in body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.

Then our community, on June 29, experienced a moment of Paradise. To enjoy Paradise is to enjoy the beatific vision of God, to taste God's infinite love and we, members of the Movement Commitment and Testimony Mother of the Eucharist, enjoyed once more, from a worldly point of view, this infinite love.

The whole community enjoyed the proclamation of this day looking forward to the splendor of a spiritual moment enshrining love and sacrifice, joy and suffering, passion, death and resurrection. The organizers decided to place all hosts on the basilica altar, placing them on wooden pedestals made for this purpose; some community members adorned the altar with the most beautiful tablecloth and decorated the pedestals with harmoniously embroidered doilies.

All this was complemented by floral decorations, display of flags of some nations of the world, the flag with the Papal insignia and the one where Don Claudio and Marisa are portrayed on the occasion of his Episcopal investiture.

Here the course of events that occurred on June 29 last.

10.00 am - Lauda Jerusalem dominum

The basilica was fully opened to partially relieve the very strong heat typical of summer; the community friends were not intimidated by the weather because they all wanted to assemble around Christ Sacramental and ask for the graces each of them needed.

"Let the little children come to me"

For this exercise the children were also involved: Samuele, Emanuele, Sara and Mariasole who, with great joy, wanted to participate by wearing the typical white vest of the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, in order to carry the candles escorting Christ in the Basilica.

"The triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem"

Six of the Eucharistic extraordinary ministers, appointed by the Bishop in June 2000, taking their turn, and according to the chronological order when the miracles occurred, brought Christ in procession from the little chapel to the Basilica altar; the children were holding candles with love and concentration. Each of the Eucharistic extraordinary ministers, slowly and prayerfully, accompanied the Christ in the Basilica, passing through the central corridor while all the faithful were contemplating and on their knees; once at the foot of the altar, the ministers exposed to all the faithful, by raising it up in the air, the particle and enthroned the Eucharist in its own stand present on the altar. Every little Eucharistic procession winding along the garden was accompanied by music and by the story of how each miracle occurred. Once all the Eucharistic miracles were enthroned, chants and prayers were raised to the Lord, as a sign of gratitude and faith for the gifts the Lord has given us in many years.

At the end of Eucharistic adoration, which was marked by moments of deep silence to allow everyone to have an intimate conversation with Christ, all the particles were shown to the faithful of the community by slowly going through the central aisle of the Basilica and thereafter brought back to the place of origin.

The emotions unleashed on this day were strong and intense. Every Eucharistic miracle that was carried in procession was the Christ who once more was passing among us, every monstrance that was raised was Christ taking us by hand and saying: "Courage!" Every enthroned particle was Christ triumphing in the Church and in the world. Each one of us experienced extraordinary sensations and went back home with a heart full of love. Surely Don Claudio and Marisa, as well as Our Lady, St. Joseph and grandmother Iolanda, participated in this Eucharist triumph prepared with love and dedication.

Once again we must thank God that we enjoyed a moment of Paradise on Earth.