Catholics witness to their faith, Archbishop reports Eucharistic miracles

Thousands of Catholics across the country publicly witnessed to their faith in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Thursday, June 19, processing through streets, displaying religiosity, undaunted by blazing sunshine or rainfall.

“No Christian from the early Church would have ever imagined that you could have Christian worship and fellowship without having the Eucharist,” Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon said as  he presided at Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. An altar was erected at the forecourt of the Cathedral and visiting clergy in T&T for the Marriage Encounter Convention concelebrated. Heavy rainfall fell as the liturgy began but dissipated within an hour.

Tracing the centrality of the Eucharist to the Christian faith, Archbishop Gordon said in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus fed 5,000 and this shows He “can do fantastic things with bread”. He can turn the bread “into the very substance of Himself”.

On Corpus Christi, Catholics celebrate the miracle of the feeding and, “in every place for the last 2,000 years, every time a priest comes to the altar, what we have is a major miracle, but we have to have eyes to see.”

Pointing to the altar Archbishop Gordon said when the sacred words handed down by Jesus are said by the priest, the Holy Spirit transforms the bread and wine into the substance of Jesus—His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Archbishop Gordon disclosed that at the Eucharistic Congress [held at the Queen’s Park Oval, May 10], people experienced the Eucharist in a new way. He added, “We’ve had miracles reported to us. Each time I hear one, I say to the people ‘go to your doctor, have your doctor certify that you have this condition and now you don’t have it and write a testimony and bring it back to us’.”

He added that miracles happened because people believed “it is really, truly, substantially Jesus Christ.” He instructed the large congregation gathered in the church and under tents on the Brian Lara Promenade, to close their eyes and reflect on the gift of Eucharistic faith and to open their hearts to see in the Eucharist, the presence of Jesus Himself.

A procession comprising the faithful including students of Catholic primary and secondary schools, moved from the Cathedral around the city reciting the rosary and prayers. The large monstrance and host—first seen at the Eucharistic Congress—was transported on the back of a truck.

The procession paused at the Holy Rosary RC Church and on Nelson Street, where Kyle Dardaine of the Companions of the Transfigured Christ and Deborah de Rosia of the Eternal Light Community spoke to the community.

Dardaine targeted statements to men of the area, telling them they are beloved, “you were created and shaped and made man by the image and likeness of God. God has His sign of love in your life”.

The procession ended at the Cathedral with Benediction, final prayers, and dismissal of the congregation.

Other processions took place in parishes including Sangre Grande, Couva, Penal, San Fernando, and Petit Valley. A motorcade took place in Scarborough, Tobago. —LPG