Did a Eucharistic miracle recently occur in India?
The pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Chumukedima, in Nagaland in India Father Johnson Vadakkapurathan reported an alleged Eucharistic miracle on Palm Sunday at his parish. Just three days later on March 27, 2024, Bishop James Thoppil of Kohima intervened.
According to the Matters India report, a Baptist friend of one of the parishioners attended Mass and went to receive communion. Rather than consuming the host, she took it home. The woman said she felt uneasy and later returned the host to parish priest Father Vadakkapurathan.
Father Vadakkapurathan brought the host to the sacristy, broke it into pieces, and placed it in water so he could dissolve and later dispose of it. However, he said the host did not dissolve after several days, whereas this process normally takes about 30 seconds.
Then on Palm Sunday, the priest "found the host intact at the bottom and a layer of something floating over it."
"Shocked, the priest dipped his finger into the cruet to examine it. When he applied force, the layer broke, and blood started oozing out," Matters India reported.
"I looked and I could see the water and bloodlike thing just coming out of that small crack which I already made," Father Johnson Vadakkapurathan told HornbillTV. "Blood came forward and I could see...fresh blood. It was there."
"I was in a state of shock because suddenly, I remembered after [poking it]...it is not normal. I could see the blood on the top..."
Father Vadakkapurathan said "This is something amazing," and he feels honored and blessed.
"We understand God has a plan because we believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. In the Body and Blood of Jesus."
He also reiterated other Eucharistic miracles worldwide, which he says often happen when "people don't respect Jesus in the Eucharist."
"Sometimes when we doubt - either the priest or the people doubt, or people don't respect Him - so He comes there to tell this: 'Believe in Me. I am there.'"
Listen to the priest describe the alleged Eucharistic miracle in India below:
However, Father Vadakkapurathan also emphasized that the proper investigation process must take place before the Catholic Church can officially declare this a Eucharistic miracle.
"There is a process. We don't just say anything is a miracle," Father Vadakkapurathan said. "We have not made an official statement so far. What [the bishop] does and says, we abide by."