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Priest Couldn’t Lift the Chalice During Mass — Was This a Eucharistic Miracle? · The Catholic Couple

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: For this is the chalice of my blood.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: The blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Do this in memory of me.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: What you're watching actually happened during Mass just a few short days ago, where this priest he began to struggle as he was speaking, his hands started to shake, and he was trembling.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: He tried to elevate the holy chalice, and he says that he was physically unable to do that.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what he says he experienced at the altar is truly incredible.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: But before anybody starts calling this a Eucharistic miracle, that is not what the priest actually said happened.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think the real story points us towards something even more important.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because what happened to this priest may have been extraordinary, but what was happening on the altar happens at every single mass.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Father Brett Bowman.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: He is the priest of the Archdiocese of St.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Paul and Minnesota and chaplain of the Chesterton Academy.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: This happened on September 14th.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the first detail that I don't want you to miss.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: September 14th is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And during Mass, Father said he suddenly experienced something extraordinary while praying the Eucharistic prayer.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: But before I show you the entire moment, you need to hear something that he preached right before any of this happened.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think the homily is really what makes what happened at the altar even more powerful.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to listen to what he says about the cross and about our worth.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: The Lord be with you.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: The gospel of the Lord.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: An unavoidable pressure.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: The group chat where everybody's comparing grades or maybe talking snarkily to each other.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Unkind comments.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Perhaps it's the app that measures our likes and followers.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Either way, we're doing this constant quiet math in our head that says, Am I smart enough?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: Am I good looking enough?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Am I impressive enough?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: Do people approve of me?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's an unavoidable pressure.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: And every single day the scorecard resets.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: And the pressure to prove yourself starts all over again.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: This is part of our human condition.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: Most of us struggle in this way.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, this is not one real person who bears this kind of immeasurable pressure, but I think we get the sense of that kind of feeling.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: We know that burden, that the phone, every one of those measurements says the same thing.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: You are worth what you can show.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: And only that.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: But when we look at the crucifix, we hear something completely different.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: Christ gives himself for us while we still have nothing to show.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: While we have never anything to show.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: And while we are most assuredly still sinners.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Works in progress.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: The cross does not measure our worth, it reveals it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: You are loved before you achieve a single thing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: How difficult it is for us to receive that love.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: And how difficult it is to think that we must achieve something before we are to receive it.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: Today the church holds so beautifully an instrument, the instrument of execution, and proclaims it the sign of our salvation.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: As we recognize the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: The cross of our Lord.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: We're not celebrating the cruelty of the cross.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: We're not celebrating the cruelty of the cross.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: We're pretending that suffering is good in and of itself.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: We're celebrating Jesus Christ, whose love enters our suffering.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: And conquers sin and death through his cross and resurrection.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: How difficult it is for us to live this reality.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: We don't.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: What do we see when we look at him on the cross?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Look at him now.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: Not a God who only loves us when we succeed.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: But the God who loves us right now as we are still sinners, figuring it out.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Works in progress.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: My dear students, this challenges us.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: Challenges the constant pressure that I think all of you feel.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: It questions your self-worth, your appearance, your grades, your performance, approval, achievement.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: These things can never measure your dignity.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: The cross tells us, tells you that you are loved before anything else.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: And being by love Christ, by Christ also frees us to love like Christ.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: So as we're still trying to figure out our own self-worth, let us refuse to join in the humiliation of classmates, to tell the truth when dishonesty feels easier.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: To ask for forgiveness without defending our pride.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: These are choices that cost us something.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: But I assure you the suffering with Christ as you offer to him is never wasted.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: Today let us all look upon the crucifix with faith.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: Bring Christ your sins, our fears, our burdens that we cannot explain.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: And let his outstretched arms teach us that love is stronger than everything else.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: That right there is worth taking time and sitting with.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: How successful am I?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: What do people actually think about me?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: How many likes do I have?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: How many shares?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: How many subscribers do I have here on this YouTube channel?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I'm guilty of this as well.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm constantly checking those kind of metrics because that's how we manage our success, right?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we do.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're used to doing.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's how things operate in this world.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't have to be that way.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we should be asking those questions more like what is my state of grace look like?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does my family look like?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: How am I in my relationship to God?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting closer or am I not?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: But we instead ask those questions Am I successful enough?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh am I uh accepted enough?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Am I good enough?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Am I a good husband?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Am I a good enough wife or a good enough father?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the questions that we're always saying.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I'll say even being a good enough Catholic, you know, we're constantly trying to prove something to mostly I guess to other people, but to ourselves.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: But Christianity begins completely different.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: St.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Paul tells us that God proves his love for us while we were still sinners.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Christ died for us when we were sinners.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't do anything to earn it.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: He died while we were still sinners.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let that hit.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: While we were still sinners.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not once we had everything figured out or we had everything perfect, not when everything was right where it was supposed to be, and not after we just finished this great accomplishment either.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Grace comes first.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that really makes me think about the baptism of Jesus.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: We remember the story before Jesus begins his public ministry, before any of the miracles he performed, before the crowds were following him, before he he got to Calvary.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Father speaks and he says, This is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, Jesus is the eternal son of God, and he's completely different than us in many, many ways, but there is something beautiful there for us as well.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Identity before accomplishment.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Through Jesus, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God, but we aren't spending our lives just trying to convince God that he should love us.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture says something totally different.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: We love because he loved us first.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And now think about that.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: What Father Bowman was just preaching about.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: That the cross reveals your worth.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then just minutes later, he stands at that altar and he speaks those words that Jesus Christ spoke over the chalice.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: The blood was being poured out upon that cross.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when this happens.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: For this is the chalice of my blood.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: The blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Do this in memory of me.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to hear his actual explanation.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because after this video was circulating, there was a lot of people saying a lot of things that were incorrect.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a better way to understand what was going on than to listen to the person who actually experienced it.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, rather than me trying to summarize exactly what the experience was, I want you to read his own words, to hear what Father Brett Bowman wrote.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Father Bowman said to the good people of God, praise be Jesus Christ now and forever.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: On Monday, September 14th, I celebrated Holy Mass on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at St.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Gabriel's Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Present were Chesterton Academy students, faculty and staff, and the parishioners of the parish.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And during the Mass, I had a private spiritual experience while praying the Eucharistic prayer over the bread and wine.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to humbly share and clarify what I experienced was all for God's glory and for his praise.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, I also want to correct any misinformation as the Mass recording is now being shared widely online.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: To clarify up front, my experience was not what the Catholic Church considers a Eucharistic miracle.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: The forms of bread and wine retained their accidents, that is, their appearance and taste.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And during this whole entire experience, never did I see real human blood or human flesh with my own eyes.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: My experience was this.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: During the consecration and the prayer over the wine at the altar, as I spoke the words, I was giving what I believed to be an internal knowledge of the power of these words being spoken and the reality of their effect to the point that I had difficulty even speaking.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: With each word, I became more physically overwhelmed, as you have seen in this video.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of God's power coming down upon the altar, and I felt the heaviness of Jesus' substantial presence in the chalice in my hands.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: The chalice became too heavy to hold as I felt it pulled down to rest upon the altar.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: I felt my hands fixed to the chalice of the precious blood, and I could not physically remove it.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Attempting to elevate the precious blood, which I was not able to, at least for a period of time, I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bitter sweetness of our Lord's passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all of our sins.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I believe I experienced this weight in the chalice.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: This spiritual experience emotionally and physically overwhelmed me as evident in the mass recording.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lastly, private spiritual encounters with God like these are completely unmerited gifts and signs of God's abundant love for all his people.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: They are not necessarily a sign of any person's holiness.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: I pray this brief testimony opens all of our hearts to contemplate more deeply the mysteries of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the precious blood.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Father Brent Bowman.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that last part is incredibly important.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Father Bowman isn't saying, look at me, look at this great thing.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: He isn't saying this proves how holy I am or how great I am or how special I am.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: He isn't even saying believe in the Eucharist because something happened to me.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have to get the order correct right here.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: His experience doesn't create the real presence.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: The real presence is what gives context to his experience.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that distinction absolutely matters.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because maybe you're watching this thinking, I've been to hundreds or thousands of masses, and I've received Holy Communion hundreds, maybe thousands of times, and I've had the precious blood, and I've never seen anything like that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've never experienced anything like that.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Neither have I.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've had some mystical experiences, but nothing uh to that nature.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: My first encounter with the Eucharist, I did get a grace that I knew that that was Jesus, but it wasn't something mystical like this experience.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes mass can be incredibly moving.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes I feel nothing at all.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I feel God's presence very deeply.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when I go to daily mass, I get really distracted about the things that I have to do for the day.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when I show up and I'm tired, I didn't get much sleep.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes my mind is just wandering every which direction.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, if we're if I'm honest, I I absolutely feel nothing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the beautiful thing that Jesus does not become present because I feel something or that I'm I'm in it.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our Catholic faith is not built upon goosebumps or feelings.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist isn't Jesus' way to try to make us feel better.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Eucharist is the way that Jesus prefers to enter into our bodies and to give us the grace through that beautiful sacrament.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the Eucharist isn't Jesus when you feel like it, or those moments like this with the with the Father, or the moments where you're over overwhelmed by tears of joy.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he isn't more present because you experienced something in a new different way.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: He isn't less present or more present.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ is always present in the Eucharist, whether you feel it or not.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: That means He's truly there, He's really there, and He is substantially there.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: We know it as He's their body, blood, soul, and divinity every single time we go to holy Mass.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that reality is objective.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not subjective, and it is totally free.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: To know no matter how holy the priest is or how holy I am, that Jesus is there no matter what.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because faith isn't simply saying, I feel you, therefore you must be there.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And what I really like, Father Mike had said one time, is sometimes those are the best masses when you don't get any feelings from it, that you don't go to get something, but you go even when you don't feel something because you're there for the right reasons.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're there for God, not for what he can give you or what he can make you feel like or what he can uh grant you, right?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like a genie, but that you're there for him.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: The mass is about worshiping.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Faith can say, even when I don't feel you, I know you're here.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that is why reverence matters.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Catholics genuflect.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: We recognize whether we feel it or not, that Jesus is there in the tabernacle, where that red candle is lit, we genuflect towards.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we adore.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's why priests treat the sacred species differently after the consecration.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why the church has always called us to this profound reverence around the blessed sacrament, because we believe it truly is Jesus.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because something does change objectively.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't just subjectively.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: The church uses words like transubstation, but we know that the appearance of bread and wine still remain.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: But the substance becomes literally the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Father Bowman's experience didn't make that happen.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe for one brief moment, God simply allowed this priest to experience the mass in some extraordinary way to strengthen his faith, to give him a boost that he was needing.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't understand why God does that and doesn't do that for other people and why this mass, but we know that the weight of this reality that is normally hidden from our senses does happen from time to time.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: And there are thousands of Eucharistic actual miracles where it is transformed into Jesus' heart tissue and actual blood.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to hear from you.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: What did you think about this whole thing?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Were you moved?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: When I first watched this video, I heard the homily first, then I watched the video.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not exaggerating.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: I wept for about 15 minutes.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was so moved, especially that I had gone to mass this morning, then I saw that I know it's been trending.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I was waiting so I can get some time to sit and watch it.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the the weight of his reverence and the emotion and just knowing my true belief in the true presence and my experience with the way that Jesus converted my life, that it really impacted me.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope this helped you.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if this did help you, I would appreciate it if you want to see more content like this to like, share, and subscribe.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Share this with somebody who's maybe struggling with belief in the real presence.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: We know there's studies keep coming out to say only 30% of Catholics believe in the real presence.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Send them this video and say, How do you explain this?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean that you have to believe it because it was a private revelation, but you never know.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sending a video like this to somebody would really help ignite their faith.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know it did for me when I first understood what the Eucharist was, it really changed everything.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, if like I said, once again, if you do like this uh content, please like, share, and subscribe.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Katie will be back on the next episode.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're actually going to be heading to St.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Louis for the beatification of Fulton J.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sheen, soon to be blessed.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be there on the Wednesday, the 23rd, to be at the Fulton Sheen conference, America Saint, with Dr.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Peter Howard and Arthur Brooks and Tammy Peterson.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll put a link to that.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: There, if you can't make it, there's gonna be a virtual uh ticket so you can get to there.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll be there meeting people, or if you're gonna be going to the dome to see this beatification, I'm gonna be there with Purposely Catholic covering what's going on.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But message me on Instagram.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to meet you guys, love to pray together.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely adore Fulton Sheen.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And things like this is the reason why we do those holy hours.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: And belief in the Eucharist is what's going to save our country and our world.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you and have a beautiful night.