The Catholic Defender: Powerful Novena To Jesus In The Most Holy Eucharist

The Mass is the source of the Purpose, the Passion, and the Power: God the Father is the Purpose, God the Son is the Passion, God the Holy Spirit is the Power. The God of Heaven comes to us in His Eucharistic Presence. Jesus is truly Present Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity.

Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, I thank You for the gift of Your most precious Body and Blood present in the form of bread and wine. This precious and priceless food You have made available, out of Your abundant and deep love for me. I thank You once more for the gift of Your most precious Body and Blood, available to quench my eternal hunger and thirst.

Lord Jesus Christ, I acknowledge your real and full presence in the Most Holy Eucharist. I worship and adore You my God and my king in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Lord Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist, help me to have great and deep longing, respect and reverence for You. I pray with all my heart that all men will come to respect, worship and adore You in the Holy Eucharist. I pray for a change of heart and a deep conversion of all those who despise, reject, mock and refuse to believe and appreciate your presence in the Holy Eucharist. Lord Jesus Christ,

I apologize for all the times I have received Your Body and Blood in a sinful state without considering the great pains I cause You. I console You for the countless abuses and desecrations done to your Precious Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist in various ways and forms. Lord Jesus, I console Your wounded heart present in the Holy Eucharist with all sincerity and love, and I beg You to forgive my sins and those of the world which we have committed and are still grievously committing against You. Forgive me for the times I have been at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass without receiving You, or seeing the need or making efforts to receive you in the Holy Eucharist. Give me the grace to love you more and more and to be devoted to you in the Most Holy Eucharist. Plant oh lord Jesus Christ a deep longing for you in my heart and soul, and let me always find my rest in you.

Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body, soul and spirit to you without reserving or withholding them. In the same way You gave Yourself freely in the Holy Eucharist, I give you myself and everything that has to do with me; my entire will, pleasures, ambitions, plans, marriage, family, work, wealth, children, destiny and all my life. Please accept my offering to you this day and seal it with the powerful sacrifice of Your most precious Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. May I live for you alone from today henceforth and may I seek only your will, glory and happiness in all that I do. Amen.

We pray for America, for our constitution, for those suffering addictions and those in bondage. For those who need Deliverence. We Pray for the Catholic Church, for Pope Francis and all the Clergy.

1. Catholic Defender: Eucharistic Miracle of Blanot, France 1331

The Eucharistic miracle of Blanot took place during the Easter Mass of 1331. During Communion, a Host fell to a cloth that was held below the communicant’s mouth. The priest tried to pick up the Holy Eucharist, but it was not possible. The Host had transformed into Blood, resulting in a stain the same size as the Host, on the cloth. That cloth is preserved today in the village of Blanot. In the 14th Century, Blanot was a small village in the center of France and part of the diocese of Autun. The bishop of this town, Pierre Bertrand, was involved in certain canonical discussions with an official of his curia, Jean Jarossier, which resulted in documentation that gives us many details about this Eucharistic miracle. The miracle occurred on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1331, at the first Mass of the day, which was offered by Hugues de la Baume, the vicar of Blanot. One of the last people to receive Communion was a woman named Jacquette, the widow of Regnaut d’Effour. The priest placed the Host on her tongue, turned, and started walking toward the altar. He did not notice that a Particle from the Host fell and landed upon a cloth that covered the woman’s hands. Thomas Caillot, who was assisting at the Mass went to the altar and said: “Father, you must return to the rail because the Body of Our Lord fell from the mouth of this lady onto the cloth.”

The priest immediately went to the woman, still kneeling at the railing, but instead of finding the Host on the cloth, he saw a small spot of Blood. When Mass was over, the priest took the cloth into the sacristy and placed the stained area in a basin filled with clear water. After washing the spot and scrubbing it numerous times, he found that it had become darker and larger (reaching about the size and shape of a Host). Moreover, the water in the basin turned Bloody. The priest took a knife and, after washing the cloth, cut from it the piece bearing the Bloody imprint of the Host. He held up the Sacred Host and said: “Good people: here is the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I sought in every way to wash and to wring the stain from the cloth, and in no way was I able to do so.” This square of cloth was reverently placed in the tabernacle. Every year, on the feast of Corpus Christi, the relic is solemnly exposed in the church of Blanot. An additional note: The Hosts that remained in the ciborium after the distribution of Holy Communion on that Easter Sunday were also returned to the tabernacle, never to be distributed. Hundreds of years later they were found to have been perfectly preserved.

Lord, with Mary we pray:

Our Lady of Africa:

Protect all those committed in the fight against human trafficking. That they may be joined by thousands of others who desire to commit themselves as well in that fight. Grant us and all our brothers and sisters, determination in the fight for dignity, justice and liberation of the oppressed.

Our Lady of Africa, pray for us

Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

Reading 1 Acts 9:1-20 Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He said, "Who are you, sir?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, that he may regain his sight." But Ananias replied, "Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name." So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, "Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength. He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 117:1bc, 2 R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. or: R. Alleluia. Praise the LORD, all you nations; glorify him, all you peoples! R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. or: R. Alleluia. For steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever. R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. or: R. Alleluia.

Alleluia Jn 6:56 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood, remains in me and I in him, says the Lord. R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 6:52-59 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my Flesh is true food,

and my Blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Saint of the Say: Saint Peter Channel A missionary to Oceania

Chanel was the fifth of eight children born to a farming family in southern France in 1803. The country was ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time and was suffering the terrible aftermath of the French Revolution.

Anyone who has worked in loneliness, with great adaptation required and with little apparent success, will find a kindred spirit in Peter Chanel.

Born in France, Peter’s interest in the missions began in school, when he read letters missionaries to America sent back home. As a young priest, Peter revived a parish in a “bad” district by the simple method of showing great devotion to the sick. Wanting to be a missionary, he joined the Society of Mary, the Marists, at 28. Obediently, he taught in the seminary for five years.

Then, as superior of seven Marists, he traveled to Western Oceania. The bishop accompanying the missionaries left Peter and a brother on Futuna Island northeast of Fiji, promising to return in six months. He was gone five years.

The one thing that marked his priestly vocation, though, was his desire to spread the Catholic faith to those who had never received it. From a very early age he wanted to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), as Christ commanded, and he would have his chance.

A desire to share the Gospel with those who never heard of Christ brought St. Peter to the French controlled island of Futuna. He and his companion, a French lay brother, were in store for a difficult and arduous task in the mission field there. Although St. Peter struggled to learn the language, he went on to master it. And there were the difficulties with a new culture and isolation on a remote island. St. Peter wrote how he believed the local religion was Satan’s work, but he was patient and willing to work slowly for their conversion.

This fact turned out to be Peter Chanel’s undoing. After three-and-a half years of his peaceful presence among them and his self-sacrificing charity, Fr. Chanel began to win over the sentiments of the community. It looked as if the people would eventually accept Baptism, threatening the entire religious-cultural system, which had the king at the center and pinnacle of power.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was very personal. When the king’s son announced that he was going to receive Baptism from the missionary, the king had a sort of “Thomas Becket moment” (Beckett was the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, 1172). Niuliki complained about Chanel’s evangelizing efforts in the presence of his chieftains, and, like King Edward II of England did with Beckett, insinuated that he would be glad to be rid of the meddlesome cleric.

The death blows were not long in coming. On April 28th, 1841 a small group of armed men broke into his shack and brutally clubbed Fr. Chanel to death out of hatred for the Christian faith he preached.

The priest’s lay brother companion escaped to safety and told the story to those who rescued him. It took another year for word of Chanel’s death to reach France.

The Pacific islands had been officially declared mission territory by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836. Peter, who was thirty-three years old by then, joined the newly formed missionary order, the Marists, and off to the Pacific he went. He was one of a group of seven men who departed on Christmas Eve that year after consecrating themselves to the Virgin Mary at a local shrine.

There is a fascinating follow-up story that comes from the oral traditions of the Futunan people. A French warship brought the new missionaries to the island, and the king expected the ship to make war on him in reprisal for the death of Fr. Chanel.

But the missionaries forbade any retaliation whatsoever. The king – the murderer of Peter Chanel – was so impressed by the example of Christian forgiveness that, in time, even he accepted Baptism.

Chanel was declared a martyr and beatified in 1889. He was canonized on 12 June 1954 by Pope Pius XII. Chanel is recognized as the protomartyr and patron saint of Oceania. His feast day is 28 April, which is a public holiday in Wallis and Futuna.

Meanwhile, Peter struggled with this new language and mastered it, making the difficult adjustment to life with whalers, traders, and warring natives. Despite little apparent success and severe want, he maintained a serene and gentle spirit, plus endless patience and courage. A few natives had been baptized, a few more were being instructed. When the chieftain’s son asked to be baptized, persecution by the chieftain reached a climax. Father Chanel was clubbed to death.

Within two years after his death, the whole island became Catholic and has remained so. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1954. Peter Chanel is the first martyr of Oceania and its patron.