THE WONDERFUL WORK OF GOD Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum.  . . . He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works. I (Psalm cx. 4.) THE Eucharist is the work of a measureless love that had at its service an infinite power, the omnipotence of God. Saint Thomas calls the Eucharist the wonder of wonders, the greatest of miracles, maximum miraculorum. To be convinced of this we need but meditate on what the faith of the Church teaches us concerning this mystery. I THE first of the wonders wrought in the Eucharist is Transubstantiation. Jesus, and after Him His priests,-----by His command and institution,-----take bread and wine, pronounce the words of the consecration over them, and immediately all the substance of the bread and all the substance of the wine disappear; they are changed into the Sacred Body and the adorable Blood of Jesus Christ. Under the appearances of the bread as also under the appearances of the wine the glorified Body of our Savior is truly, really, and substantially present. Nothing remains of the bread and wine except the appearances: color, taste, and weight. The senses tell us it is bread and wine: faith tells us it is the Body and Blood of Jesus, concealed beneath the appearances which subsist only by a miracle. This is a miracle which the Almighty alone can perform, for it is contrary to the ordinary laws of nature for the qualities of a body to exist without the body itself which sustains them. That is the work of God. Their existence depends on His will just as our own existence does. God can do everything He wills to do. One thing is as easy for Him as another. That is the first wonder of the Eucharist. II A SECOND wonder, included in the first, is that this miracle is renewed at the mere word of a man, the priest, and as often as he wants. For such is the power which God has imparted to him. He commands that God be on the altar, and on the instant, God is there. The priest works absolutely the same wonder that Jesus Christ worked at the Eucharistic Supper. He holds his power from Jesus Christ and acts in His name. Our Lord has never disobeyed His priest, a miracle of the power of God! A weak, mortal creature gives birth to our sacramental Jesus! III IN THE desert Jesus took five loaves of bread. He blessed them, and the Apostles had enough to feed five thousand men. This was but a faint idea of the third wonder of the Eucharist, the miracle of its multiplication.  Jesus loves all men. He wishes to give Himself personally and in His entirety to everyone of them. Everyone will have his share of the manna of life. He must therefore multiply Himself as many times as there are communicants desirous of receiving Him, and as often as they shall so desire it. The Eucharistic Table must, so to speak, cover the world. Through His power this marvel becomes a reality. All receive Him whole and entire, with all that He is. Every consecrated Host contains Him. Divide a Sacred Host into as many fragments as you like; Jesus is present whole and entire in each fragment. Instead of dividing Him, the breaking of the Host multiplies Him. Who can tell the number of Hosts which Jesus has placed at the disposal of His children since the Cenacle! IV NOT only is Jesus multiplied with the Sacred Particles, but by a wonder that follows from that of the multiplication, He is present at one and the same time in an infinite number of places. During the days of His mortal life Jesus was present in one place only; He dwelt in one house only. Few persons were privileged enough to enjoy His presence and listen to His words. But today in the Most Blessed Sacrament, He is, so to speak, present everywhere at one and the same time. In a way His humanity shares the prerogative of His Divine immensity which fills all things. Jesus is present in His entirety in an infinite number of temples and in each one of them; Since all the Catholics scattered throughout the world are members of His Mystical Body, it does seem necessary that He, as the soul of it, should be everywhere, present throughout the whole body, giving it life, and sustaining it in each one of His members. Lord Jesus, we adore Thy power which has multiplied "wonderful works," thereby enabling Thee to dwell in the midst of Thy children, to come down to their level, and to be all their own. Contact Us HOME---------------THE HOLY EUCHARIST DIRECTORY-----------------------BLESSED SACRAMENT VISITS www.catholictradition.org/Eucharist/real-presence11.htm