A Haitian Woman and Saint Thomas Aquinas

As many converts and reverts to the Church often say, there was nothing more powerful in drawing us home to the Catholic faith than the discovery that Christ indeed is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.  Many of us had been seeking Christ most of our lives trying to get close to him, experience him, worship him and become one with him. Realizing that Christ meant what he said to the apostles ("This is my body") the early Christians and entire Christendom accepted this truth pretty much unchallenged for nearly 1500 years. Sadly, this profound truth and "source and summit" of our faith has become lost among many and there are statistics that reveal that large numbers of Catholics either don't understand or necessarily believe that Jesus is indeed truly present in the Mass. That's why we do all that genuflecting upon entering and leaving the sanctuary-someone much greater than royalty is present!
    On my recent medical mission to Cap Haitien, we went to 6 AM Mass in a Church in the city. Before the Mass began,  I noticed an elderly woman walk right up to the tabernacle (where the Eucharistic Christ resides ).  She began to worship silently holding her hands up to the tabernacle, much the same way we did as charismatic evangelical Christians did during our praise and worship services.  It became clear to me by this woman's actions that she truly understood who was residing in the tabernacle. Perhaps she wouldn't be able to explain all the "nitty gritties" of transubstantiation but clearly her actions showed that she understood the Eucharist as Saint Thomas Aquinas, a saint and doctor of the Church did.

       
                    Lord God, give us the faith of this Haitian sister and Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

 "May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen"