Some people watch movies and play videos games for entertainment. As for me, I watch the weather, especially when it's violent, and making lots of tornados.
Friday, March 31, 2023 was one of those days where tornados were being spawned all across the United States by a cold front that moved in from the west. The excitement started in those states just west of the Mississippi River, and quickly moved across. Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa had the most storm activity early on, then it moved eastward rapidly. At one point, there were at least eighteen tornados on the ground simultaneously, in several states!
Ryan Hall predicted this would happen several days ago, and when the storm started, he went live, and stayed live on YouTube for nearly twelve hours, giving everyone who watched real-time information on the position of every tornado that they detected.
I spent several hours keeping tabs on this very broadcast. What a night!
On March 5, 2023, there was a Eucharistic miracle - multiplying of the Host - during the distribution of communion... it was reported immediately by an extraordinary minister who was a last-minute substitution for the Pastor (whose thumb was bandaged before the Mass).
The Pastor is Rev. Joseph Crowley of the St Maximilian Kolbe Parish at St Thomas Catholic church in Thomaston, CT. This parish was previously known as St Thomas Parish until a merger and was the last parish served by Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus.
This video is the beginning of the 3/12/23 Homily where Fr Crowley reviews the details of the Miracle that he witnessed at the 3/5/23 10am Mass.
I don't really pay much attention to eucharistic miracles, because they can often times be more of a distraction than a blessing, but I think this little miracle at St Thomas Catholic Church is significant, and for real.
As far as miracles go, this was a small one: communion hosts kept multiplying in the chalice, instead of running out as communion was being served. And it happened to just one minister. That's it. That's the whole miracle. No, it's not a big deal, but it's significant.
Miracles like this point to "multiplication" stories reported in the gospels:
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
- John 14:13-21 ESV
There are two very important spiritual lessons to be learned from these stories:
1. JESUS WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU, IF YOU KEEP YOUR ATTENTION ON HIM. Five thousand men, not including woman and children, followed Jesus out in the wilderness to hear Jesus teach. They were not concerned about food, for they were hungry for something far more important than food: spiritual truth. But Jesus, seeing their "hunger" for the word, had compassion on them, and gave them food for their stomachs as well as food for their souls. By following Jesus, all their needs were taken care of.
2. JESUS HONORS THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIS COMMANDMENTS. Jesus had a few of his own "commandments" that he issued, in addition to those made famous by Moses in regards to "The Ten Commandments". One of those commandments was to remember his sacrifice on the cross whenever you broke bread and drank wine. Despite all its problems and failings, the Catholic Church is really good at following and obeying that particular command of Jesus. Hence, Jesus wasn't going to allow a Eucharistic minister to run out of hosts in his willingness to follow Jesus' command. So the minister witness a small miracle, just to let him and the congregation know that Jesus appreciates their act of obedience.
While some, including Father Joseph Crowley, the priest in this video, will say that "transubstantiation" is the bigger miracle of the Eucharist, we can wonder if that's really true. Transubstantiation is the doctrine that states that the host and wine really do become the body and blood of Jesus when the priest blesses the elements. The problem is that doctrines and dogmas are not miracles, but teachings of facts and information. And obeying the teachings of Jesus are not miracles either, that's just what you should be doing as a believer.
But the multiplication of hosts, even though it's a very small miracle, is still a miracle, in that it flies in the face of nature itself, as miracles should. By consuming a substance, you do not, under any circumstances, get more of it. That's how you know a real miracle has taken place. There is no doctrine or dogma that states that communion hosts must multiply during a mass.
So what's the message of this miracle? What's the point? It's just Jesus way of letting his church know that he appreciates their obedience to his commands. And that by doing so, he will certainly take care of all their needs. It's no more complicated than that.
We are conditioned to think that miracles only occur if they are prayed for. But in the biblical texts, there are multiple cases of miracles occurring without anyone asking for one. God does not need us to ask for miracles, sometimes he just sends one because he wants to bless people. Most likely, that's what happened at St. Thomas Catholic Church.
So, if you have a need, ask God to help out. Maybe he will take care of you like he took care of the Eucharistic minister in Connecticut.
As for me personally, there is a bigger message here. St Thomas is apart of the parish of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. St Kolbe was a Polish priest who was martyred at a concentration camp during World War II. I think I need to pay closer attention to this saint, and learn more about his life and ministry.