Two Questions

[DojoGrant]

If the Flesh and Blood present at Lanciano are not of Christ, then are people who go there and adore it committing idolatry? I was under the impression that the Church approved this miracle.

Second, I often hear that to be Catholic, one need simply submit to the Creed. If you believe everything in the Creed, then you accept the basic Catholic beliefs. But this doesn't seem right, because it doesn't include such dogmas as the Assumption of Mary. Or are we just to assume that if you submit to the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church then you would by necessity also believe in these dogmas?

Edited May 7, 2004 by DojoGrant

[Adeodatus]

Dojo,

I understand that the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano is displayed in an ostensorium, and that people can climb up steps and peer at it close up. It does not seem to be displayed for adoration, but only for veneration.

I use those two words carefully: adoration meaning 'worship due to God' (i.e. latria), and veneration for the honour we pay to saints and holy things (i.e. dulia). In the Eucharist, the one we worship is Christ, the eternal Son, the Word-made-flesh, who is our Lord and God and Saviour. We adore our God [i]sacramentally[/i] present in the Eucharist.

If people worship anything in a Eucharistic miracle (such as Lanciano), then the worship is directed to Christ. There may be a mistaken belief on the part of some that the corporeal flesh on display is the Risen flesh of Christ, but I don't think that counts as idolatry. Idolatry involves worshipping what is not God as God. Here the True God is worshipped, but under the wrong and mistaken appearance.

To re-cap why I believe the Eucharistic miracle is not the real Body of the Risen Christ:
1) Christ's flesh and blood in their [i]natural[/i] mode are in heaven.

2) This miracle (at Lanciano) is the change of the appearances of bread and wine to flesh and blood. So you could call it 'trans-accidentiation' I suppose. But it is not the GREAT miracle of transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is unique---there's nothing else like the Eucharist. 'Trans-accidentiation' happens all the time, e.g. if I take eggs, milk, and flour and mix them up, I get an unappetising slurry; if I bake it, I get a cake. The ingredients haven't changed, but the appearance (the 'accidents') have changed, i.e. transaccidentiation.

3) If the Church really thought this was Christ's true body and blood, she would not have allowed scientists to destroy a portion in their analyses.

4) It is not impossible (if this miracle is true and authenticated) that the flesh and blood at Lanciano belong to Christ, like 'cloned' flesh and blood. Christ left bits of his flesh and blood on earth which were not restored to Him at the Resurrection, e.g. the blood on the Turin shroud (if it's His!), all the skin cells and hair He shed in His earthly life, His foreskin, etc. All these bits of flesh and blood may have His DNA, but they are not united to the Divinity. They are not parts of the glorified and risen Saviour. And we may venerate them, if we find them, but we do not worship them. We worship Him, and we worship Him in His true flesh, united body and soul to the Divinity. We worship the one and the same Jesus naturally in heaven, and sacramentally in the Eucharist.


We have to keep our perspective here. The Eucharist and the sacraments are part of our faith. They are Christ's gifts to us, gifts we have received handed down from the Apostles, but also gifts which Christ [b]today[/b] gives to us. Even now, it is Christ Himself who gives us Himself as our food in the Eucharist; it is Christ Himself who washes away our sins and makes us a new creation in Baptism; it is Christ Himself who unites husband and wife to share in the union and bliss of His union with the Church, etc. Eucharistic miracles are [b]not[/b] part of our Faith. they are poor shadows of the [b]real[/b] miracle, which is Christ in the Eucharist.

Think about these [i]greater[/i] miracles: by eating the Eucharist
1. we receive our God as sacramental food;
2. we become 'divinised', become more and more like Christ;
3. we have our venial sins forgiven and increase in divine charity;
4. we are in communion with the whole Church;
5. we are impelled to charity, especially the care of the poor;
6. we receive the food of eternal life;
7. we receive the pledge of our future bodily resurrection;
etc.

These are the [i]greater[/i] miracles of the Eucharist. Let's keep our proper perspective on these things, especially the Eucharist, God's dear gift of Himself to us.