The Catholic Defender: The Healing Communions of Saint Didacus

St. Didacus gave great diligence and reverence towards the Holy Eucharist.

He miraculously restored many of of the sick to health by merely making the Sign of the Cross over them. And presenting the Eucharist brfore them.

On a hunting trip, Henry IV of Castile fell from his horse and injured his arm. In intense pain and with his doctors unable to relieve his agony, he went to sought St Didacus and called for him to pray for a cure. The king felt the pain disappear and his arm immediately regained its former strength.

On one occasion it is told he rescued a young boy who was playing in an oven when his mother, inadvertent to his being inside, lit it.On another occasion he cured someone's sight by anointing his eyes with oil.

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.

It is reported that a Eucharistic Miracle occured when a child was witnessed coming from the tabernackle as a consuming fire fell among the faithful at Mass.

Jesus Said: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever;…Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and…remains in me and I in him. (John 6:51, 54, 56)

In the gospels we read that the Eucharist was instituted at the Last Supper. This is the fulfillment of the covenants in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the Last Supper narratives, Jesus took, broke and gave bread and wine to his disciples. In the blessing of the cup of wine, Jesus calls it “the blood of the covenant” (Matthew and Mark) and the “new covenant in my blood” (Luke).

This reminds us of the blood ritual with which the covenant was ratified at Sinai (Ex 24) -- the sprinkled the blood of sacrificed animals united God and Israel in one relationship, so now the shed blood of Jesus on the cross is the bond of union between new covenant partners -- God the Father, Jesus and the Christian Church. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, all the baptized are in relationship with God.

The Catechism teaches that all Catholics who have received their First Holy Communion are welcome to receive Eucharist at Mass unless sin a state of mortal sin.

Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance. (CCC 1415)

Many of the sicj and disabled were brought before St. Didicus as the Lord worked great deeds among the people through him.

The Church warmly recommends that the faithful receive Holy Communion when they participate in the celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges them to do so at least once a year. (CCC 1417)

Receiving the Eucharist changes us. It signifies and effects the unity of the community and serves to strengthen the Body of Christ.

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.

Saint Didacus offerred the Eucharist for the faithful in his time. Today we receive the same miracle of the Eucharist at each Mass. May we receive conversion and healing as those in St. Didacus time. Amen

As he was dying, Didacus looked at a crucifix and said: “O faithful wood, O precious nails!You have borne an exceedingly sweet burden, for you have been judged worthy to bear the Lord and King of heaven”