News is spreading like wildfire on Catholic social media: A magnificent miracle, one that occurred on a Novus Ordo altar no less, was captured on video in real time! Take a look for yourself:
Wow. Just wow.
I mean, you did see it, right?
Now, granted, it wasn’t exactly the parting of the Red Sea, the raising of Lazarus, or the Transfiguration, but c’mon.
While words escape me, John-Henry Westen of LifeSite News, reporting on what he called the “absolutely stunning breaking news,” summed it up thus:
During mass on September the 14th, that’s the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a Fr. Brent Bowman, the chaplain for the Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, Minnesota, very devout Catholic school, had difficulty lifting the chalice during mass.
I know, I know… you’re probably not absolutely stunned, not yet any way, but just wait until you hear the inside scoop.
According to Westen:
Patrick O’Hearn, whose written books for Tan Books, just put up a video on Instagram. He said, “I was told today by a friend whose grandchildren attended the Mass that Fr. Brent witnessed the wine change to blood. Hence the title says possible Eucharistic miracle.
Again, just wow!
Are you paying attention? The Grandpappy of some high school kids who were at the Mass told a friend of his what he had heard and his friend was so impressed that he made a video about it. With testimony like this, who needs a Devil’s Advocate?
John-Henry, however, immediately cast a little shade on that account, saying:
A the LifeSite reporter was given an update, that Fr. Brent did not see the consecrated wine change appearance or taste, according to the pastor Fr. Paul Havverstock. Instead, Fr. Brent was given a particular grace by the Lord. He received experiential knowledge of the knowing, of knowing on a deeper level, that truly Christ’s blood was shed for us and that its weight is profound, according to Fr. Paul. Hence, Fr. Brent had difficulty lifting the chalice.
Disappointed? According to John-Henry, you shouldn’t be. Preparing his audience for viewing the video for the first time, he said:
As you watch this video … As he’s weeping and weeping, let us take from this beautiful miracle the testimony of the truth that the real miracle is Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. His Blood shed for us, we needed to lift up. Finally, and here it comes, with this beautiful, beautiful miracle. It’s a miracle either way.
Some may be moved to defend Westen’s take, saying: But Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament is miraculous!
OK, fine, but that certainly isn’t the “breaking news” that Westen took to social media to announce. That said…
Even though the third hand (possibly fourth, fifth, or tenth hand) report that “Fr. Brent witnessed the wine change to blood” had already been debunked by the pastor who indicated that Fr. Brent had an interior experience that somehow deepened his knowledge of Our Lord’s Sacrifice, it was, according to John-Henry, a beautiful, beautiful miracle either way.
Now are you absolutely stunned?
I am, not by whatever it was that Fr. Bowman experienced, nor by his genuine emotional response to it, but by the sensational reaction of certain Catholic commentators of which Westen is but one among many.
To be clear, despite the tongue-in-cheek tone of this post (for which I will likely be criticized), I don’t mean to make fun of, much less attack, either John-Henry Westen or Fr. Bowman. It’s not personal.
I don’t actually know Westen, but based on his public persona, what I perceive in him is a sincere Catholic commentator in search of truth, a man who is gradually coming to see the Novus Ordo / conciliar enterprise for exactly what it is, a counterfeit church under the direction of a series of anti-popes.
Sure, he has a way to go (as do I and everyone else), but I have reasonably high hopes that he is level-headed and genuine enough to eventually draw that unavoidable conclusion, and will even pay the price for saying so publicly when the time comes.
I still believe that, but at the same time I really am absolutely stunned that he threw prudence to the wind and jumped on the miracle train as quickly as he did. More stunning still is that he clung to that train like a hobo on vacation even after it became clear that it’s not going where he evidently wanted it to go.
About the actual destination of that miracle train…
Subsequent to Westen’s video, the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis posted a statement from Fr. Bowman describing exactly what he experienced. He writes:
I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of God’s power coming down upon the altar, and I felt the heaviness of Jesus’s substantial presence in the chalice in my hands. The chalice became too heavy to hold as I felt it pulled down to rest upon the altar … Attempting to elevate the Precious Blood, which I was not able to do for a period of time, I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bittersweetness of Our Lord’s Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins.
To his credit, Fr. Bowman concluded his testimony saying:
Private spiritual encounters with God like these are completely unmerited gifts and signs of God’s abundant love for all his people. They are not necessarily signs of any person’s holiness. I pray this brief testimony moves all our hearts to contemplate more deeply the mysteries of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the Precious Blood.
So, evidently what really happened is that Fr. Bowman had a personal experience of some sort. As for exactly what sort of experience it was, if we look at the matter through a traditional Catholic lens, not even Fr. Bowman can say with certainty.
What we most definitely cannot say – and this applies to all concerned – is that the video captured a beautiful miracle; a mystical experience attributable to God, much less can we presume to say that it was granted for a specific purpose, like the infusion of sensory knowledge, etc.
And God forbid anyone should point to this event as proof that the Novus Ordo finds favor with Christ (although I am all but certain that some already have).
About that traditional Catholic lens, Doctor of the Church, St. John of the Cross, addresses such experiences as the one described by Fr. Bowman in Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II, Chapter XI, writing:
Although all these things may happen to the bodily senses in the way of God, we must never rely upon them or accept them, but must always fly from them, without trying to ascertain whether they be good or evil; for, the more completely exterior and corporeal they are, the less certainly are they of God. . . .
St. John explains:
Bodily sense judges and makes its estimate of spiritual things by thinking that they are as it feels them to be . . . So he that esteems such things errs greatly and exposes himself to great peril of being deceived . . . they very easily become the means whereby error and presumption and vanity grow in the soul.
So, what is one to do if and when such things may happen to the bodily senses?
The Mystical Doctor, as St. John of the Cross is also known, warns:
These representations and feelings, therefore, must always be rejected; for, even though some of them be of God, He is not offended by their rejection . . . nor should the soul take upon itself to believe that they are of God.
No doubt many will dismiss the cautionary counsel given by St. John of the Cross as outdated and excessively harsh. Those who do so are also very likely the same sorts of persons, sincere though they may be, who are cranking out content declaring that the video is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life! (Actual quote from a Catholic YouTuber.)
All of that said, I singled out John-Henry Westen, not to pick on or make fun of him, but simply because he is well known and reaches a considerable audience. I’ve no doubt he meant well but, regrettably, his commentary missed the Catholic mark.
As for Fr. Bowman, in no way do I wish to belittle him or discount what he experienced. It is most unfortunate that the Mass was recorded, and even more unfortunate that it went viral. As it is, I can understand why he may have considered himself obligated to offer some sort of explanation. That said, the one he offered exceeded the bounds of prudence.
In conclusion, we should have every confidence that God will bring good from this matter for those who love Him (cf Romans 8:28), while stopping well short of predicting what that good will be.
