In the presence of the Sacred Host, would animals recognise the Real Presence?

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sapphire778

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Just wondering, if Jesus came down from Heaven in all His glory there is no doubt that all of creation would kneel down to worship Him.
What about animals, do you think they are capable of acknowledging the Body of Christ under the appearance of bread?

I once read about a Eucharistic miracle where an animal bowed down before the Blessed Sacrament, but I was just thinking if any animal species would do the same if presented with the Host anytime…

What are your views? 🙂
 
Interesting. Could you post a link to this Eucharistic miracle where an animal could actually acknowledge Christ in the Eucharist?

I don’t think it’s entirely impossible (nothing is impossible for God, after all). By God’s grace animals can recognize goodness in the Christian religion. One such example is in the life of my patron, St. Francis of Assisi. He once reconciled a man-eating wolf with the townspeople of Gubbio. He would preach to his sister birds and the birds would listen. They would even crowd around him to hear about Christ. St. Francis even admonished ants for storing grain in advance and not trusting in God to feed them.

I just love these anecdotes about saints and animals. It really is wonderful to see creation in harmony. So if by God’s grace animals can recognize a saint, I think they would be able recognize Christ in the Eucharist by that same grace. 🙂

Ave Maria! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
 
Nope.

To animals, just like to many Protestants, the host is merely a piece of bread.

Should the Almighty decide to use an animal in some sort of Eucharistic miracle, that’s his business. The animal itself has no appreciation for the significance of the true presence, as they have neither the intellectual nor spiritual capacity to do so.
 
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui

Using the words from Tantum Ergo as an example, I propose to you that humans cannot visually tell the difference between ordinary bread and the Blessed Sacrament. This is partly why the consecrated sacrament is reserved in a special place, in order to set it apart from the altar bread that lacks the Real Presence.

Catholic teaching is that after transubstantiation, all the accidents of bread and wine remain, while the essence of the gifts change to that of the Eucharist. Because all the accidents are still present, no mortal man, even aided by microscope or spectroscope can distinguish between bread and Eucharist.

That a man, or especially an animal might discern the Real Presence and worship it is miracle indeed.
 
sapphire778 said:
Just wondering, if Jesus came down from Heaven in all His glory there is no doubt that all of creation would kneel down to worship Him.
What about animals, do you think they are capable of acknowledging the Body of Christ under the appearance of bread?

I once read about a Eucharistic miracle where an animal bowed down before the Blessed Sacrament, but I was just thinking if any animal species would do the same if presented with the Host anytime…

What are your views? 🙂
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o personally believe the animals know the truth about God cause it does say all shall bow down or proclaim the Lord
 
therealpresence.org is a site devoted to Eucharistic miracles and the Vatican Exhibit of approved miracles. I was blessed to see this exhibit and there were instances of mules. lambs and even fish being involved in Eucharistic miracles.

Recently, while walking my dogs in front of our church. I said :“look there’s Jesus.” They ran to the front door looking through the (glass )door towards the tabernacle and reacted as excitedly as they do when their beloved “grandma” gets out of her car. Do I think they new Jesus was in the tabernacle? Who knows! Just them and Jesus I guess.

But the exhibit is amazing. Check it out if you havent.
 
Were I to escort you into a room, at one end of which was consecrated host, and at the other end an unconsecrated host, would you recognize before which one you should kneel and adore?

If you could not, why would you suppose an animal could do so?

tee
 
I’m not sure, but I can tell you a story:

I am a church secretary. We had a priest here for awhile who had a dog. She was a “puppy mill” dog, had been kept to procreate & had not been treated as a pet before he got her. Therefore, she was undisciplined & difficult. One afternoon, he had to take his mother to the doctor, so asked if I could watch Star while he was gone. Star got out of my office & went on the run. The custodian was cleaning in the church & she ran in there, with me in hot pursuit! (If our pastor would have seen it, he would not have been happy!) Anyway, as I was chasing her, I nearly tripped over her because she all of a sudden made a sudden stop & stared–at the Tabernacle (right in front of it). It was almost as though she was listening…& then she meekly let me grab her collar & walk her out of the church. It was interesting!🤷
 
tee_eff_em said:
If you could not, why would you suppose an animal could do so?

tee
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I just thought it might be different for animals, since they were created fully for the purpose of worshipping and glorifying God, unlike us humans who were too, but fell from sin with free will, so perhaps they could discern our Lord’s presence in whatever form He took up…🤷

Edit: I meant to say, for us to believe that the Host is the Body of Christ, it requires faith. But by default, all animals are created such that they are (I believe) able to respond appropriately (worship) should Jesus appear before them, without such thing as conscious belief or disbelief, or whether or not He appeared undertaking the form of bread or perhaps… a table.

Website for the mule bowing down before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/oem_mh.htm
 
sapphire778 said:
I just thought it might be different for animals, since they were created fully for the purpose of worshipping and glorifying God, unlike us humans who were too, but fell from sin with free will, so perhaps they could discern our Lord’s presence in whatever form He took up…🤷

Edit: I meant to say, for us to believe that the Host is the Body of Christ, it requires faith. But by default, all animals are created such that they are (I believe) able to respond appropriately (worship) should Jesus appear before them, without such thing as conscious belief or disbelief, or whether or not He appeared undertaking the form of bread or perhaps… a table.
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But if your supposition were true, humans would not need faith to believe in the Real Presence! It could be empirically tested for, using any handy animal as a Real-Presence-Detector.

FTR: I do not believe animals to be capable of a metaphysical calculus which eludes humans. I maintain it requires greater faith to aver the Real Presence without recourse to empirical proofs. :twocents:

tee
 
tee_eff_em said:
But if your supposition were true, humans would not need faith to believe in the Real Presence! It could be empirically tested for, using any handy animal as a Real-Presence-Detector.

FTR: I do not believe animals to be capable of a metaphysical calculus which eludes humans. I maintain it requires greater faith to aver the Real Presence without recourse to empirical proofs. :twocents:

tee
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Yea, what I mean is humans need faith not just in the belief of the Eucharist alone, but in all areas of faith matters where “science” has not found a definitive answer for. In the absence of animals therefore, it would still require the faith of men to believe in the Real Presence because what they have is not what they see. Of course then, it would be a wonderful testimony for the Church if animals could be used to distinguish between the consecrated and unconsecrated hosts, proving the doctrine of the Real Presence to be true.

I don’t remember the Bible having mentioned any animals who recognised and worshipped God when He took on a form of an unglorified human man when He walked on the earth 2000yrs ago, not having been resurrected, but now that He is glorified in the flesh as well, shouldn’t it not cause too much excitement when we hear of such news of animals bowing down before the Host as this is what all of creation does to his Creator-worship Him?

I only just wonder why such instances are so rare…
 
sapphire778 said:
Of course then, it would be a wonderful testimony for the Church if animals could be used to distinguish between the consecrated and unconsecrated hosts, proving the doctrine of the Real Presence to be true.
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I (respectfully) disagree: It would be a great detriment to faith if animals could perceive the Real Presence.

:twocents:
tee
 
sapphire778 said:
…What are your views? 🙂
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You might find this interesting:

bettnet.com/blog/index.php/weblog/comments/police_dogs_recognize_christ_in_the_eucharist/
On the evening of the last day of his October 1995 visit to the United States, John Paul II was scheduled to greet the seminarians at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. It had been a very full day that began with a Mass at Oriole Park in Camden Yards, a parade through downtown streets, a visit to the Basilica of the Assumption, the first cathedral in the country, lunch at a local soup kitchen run by Catholic Charities; a prayer service at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore; and finally a quick stop at Saint Mary’s Seminary.
The schedule was tight so the plan was simply to greet the seminarians while they stood outside on the steps. But the Pope made his way through their ranks and into the building. His plan was to first make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.
When his wishes were made known, security flew into action. They swept the building paying close attention to the chapel where the Pope would be praying. For this purpose highly trained dogs were used to detect any person who might be present.
The dogs are trained to locate survivors in collapsed buildings after earthquakes and other disasters. These highly intelligent and eager dogs quickly went through the halls, offices and classrooms and were then sent to the chapel. They went up and down the aisle, past the pews and finally into the side chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved.
Upon reaching the tabernacle, the dogs sniffed, whined, pointed, and refused to leave, their attention riveted on the tabernacle, until called by their handlers. They were convinced that they discovered someone there.
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churchsecretary said:
I’m not sure, but I can tell you a story:

I am a church secretary. We had a priest here for awhile who had a dog. She was a “puppy mill” dog, had been kept to procreate & had not been treated as a pet before he got her. Therefore, she was undisciplined & difficult. One afternoon, he had to take his mother to the doctor, so asked if I could watch Star while he was gone. Star got out of my office & went on the run. The custodian was cleaning in the church & she ran in there, with me in hot pursuit! (If our pastor would have seen it, he would not have been happy!) Anyway, as I was chasing her, I nearly tripped over her because she all of a sudden made a sudden stop & stared–at the Tabernacle (right in front of it). It was almost as though she was listening…& then she meekly let me grab her collar & walk her out of the church. It was interesting!🤷
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what a great story.
Deo Gratias!
 
When my parents were alive we used to have home visits for Communion. Our cats, who usually make themselves scarce when visitors come, used to sit in front of the table where the Blessed Sacrament was placed in a pyx. Sometimes they would meow so much we used to tell them to be quiet. When Communion was over they would just leave and go back to doing whatever cats do. Once one of them was outside and screamed until we let him in. Then he made his way to the table and sat there staring as usual. These cats didn’t look at us, they were concentrating on the host.
 
When my husband and I used to be EMHC to the homebound we had one elderly lady that lived with her daughter who had a house full of pets including a large cage filled with birds. There were times when we came to the house and the birds were making all kinds of noise and it was difficult trying to get through the prayers. But when my husband lifted up the Host and said, " This is the Lamb of God…" It suddenly got quiet. Co-incidence? I don’t know, but it happened on more than one occassion and similar occurances in another home that had only a couple of birds.

Below: Dog watching Corpus Christi Procession 2009
i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh139/zitabennett/th_dogwatchingprocession001.jpg
 
While it doesn’t pertain to the Eucharist itself:

The first Cat (siamese) that my Wife and I had used to join me in the spare bedroom when I was praying the Liturgy of the Hours. When I started, she would lay at my feet with her front paws crossed and quietly watch. She did not move until I was finished and closed the book.

Our second Cat (also siamese), likes to sit on the chair next to me and pull on the ribbons of the LOTH. He is much more mischeveous, but in general doesn’t cause too much mayhem while I am praying. You should see the little teeth marks in the ribbons however!

Two different responses, but God is still in all!
 
churchsecretary said:
I’m not sure, but I can tell you a story:

I am a church secretary. We had a priest here for awhile who had a dog. She was a “puppy mill” dog, had been kept to procreate & had not been treated as a pet before he got her. Therefore, she was undisciplined & difficult. One afternoon, he had to take his mother to the doctor, so asked if I could watch Star while he was gone. Star got out of my office & went on the run. The custodian was cleaning in the church & she ran in there, with me in hot pursuit! (If our pastor would have seen it, he would not have been happy!) Anyway, as I was chasing her, I nearly tripped over her because she all of a sudden made a sudden stop & stared–at the Tabernacle (right in front of it). It was almost as though she was listening…& then she meekly let me grab her collar & walk her out of the church. It was interesting!🤷
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That is an interesting thing to hear; on a sidenote I laughed a little as I read this, because it reminded me a lot of a movie I used to watch with my grandparents growing up called “The Bells of St. Mary’s” starring Bing Crosby. In the movie there is a little dog that wandered into the church and sat in a pew behind a man in prayer, and started whining, and startled the man. Anyways back to the topic. I know that there are times in scripture when God has used animals to display his power; for example he spoke through the mouth of a donkey. The Eucharist, which is substantially and miraculously transformed into the body of Christ, is by its very nature a miraculous thing, and I see no reason why such a thing might not be recognized by an animal, although it would have to be miraculous, that is, out of the ordinary.
 
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