• Holy Mass is offered every day at St. Raphael’s.  See Mass schedule.

• The Blessed Sacrament is exposed for Adoration in the church:  Tuesdays, 6:45–8:00 p.m. (Benediction at 7:45); and Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. (Benediction at 7:15).

• Parents who wish to have their child prepare to receive First Eucharist, are asked to contact Mary Beaudoin, Director of Religious Education, at 301-762-2143 ext 124 .  Preparation for First Penance and First Eucharist is generally a two-year process. Children typically begin the formal process in first grade and receive both sacraments in second grade, but children and teens may begin formal preparation for sacraments in any grade. Preparation includes both Religious Education class (or Catholic school religion class) and completion of “at-home” preparation materials.

• Adults who wish to receive First Eucharist are asked to enroll in the RCIA program.  Please contact Linda Poindexter at 240-864-2542.  For RCIA in Spanish (RICA), please contact Luis and Maruja Quezada at 301-330-5982.

• If you are a St. Raphael’s parishioner who is homebound and you wish to receive Holy Communion, please contact Eileen Kutchak at 301-762-2143 ext 110.

There have been 126 Church-approved Eucharistic miracles in the history of the Church, pointing to the real presence of Jesus, including three since the year 2000. Time and again the Host from Mass turned into human flesh, the Eucharistic blood into human blood.

One such miracle involved a monk in Lanciano, Italy, in the 8^th century who doubted the real presence as he said Mass one day. Then, just after the consecration, he noticed that the host had been transformed into a circle of flesh and the wine was changed into visible blood. As he began to weep with joy he announced to the congregation:

Oh fortunate witnesses to whom the Blessed God, to confound my unbelief, has wished to reveal Himself visible to our eyes! Come, brethren, and marvel at our God, so close to us. Behold the flesh and blood of our most Beloved Christ.[1]

The congregation quickly came forward to see the miracle and after Mass, went out to spread the news. The flesh stayed intact and the blood coagulated into five unequal parts. The five parts together were found to weigh the same as each part separately. The relics were kept in the cathedral for the next several hundred years.

In 1970 the Archbishop of Lanciano along with the Conventual Franciscan Provincial at Abruzzo, with Vatican permission commissioned Dr. Edward Linoli,  director of the hospital in Arezzo and professor of anatomy, histology, chemistry, and clinical microscopy to perform a thorough examination of the relics. He published his report on March 4, 1971. The results, in summary, included the following:

1. The “miraculous Flesh" is authentic flesh consisting of muscular striated tissue of the myocardium [heart].

2. The “miraculous Blood" is truly blood. The chromatographic analysis indicated this with absolute and indisputable certainty.

3. The immunological study shows with certitude that the flesh and the blood are human, and the immuno – hematological test allows us to affirm with complete objectivity and certitude that both belong to the same blood type AB– the same as that of other Eucharistic miracles and the type most characteristic of Middle Eastern populations.[2]

Dr. Linoli's report was published in "Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori" #3 in 1971. It drew a good deal of attention, including from the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO named a scientific team to validate Linoli's results. They pursued this effort for 15 months and performed 500 tests. They discovered the fragment of flesh was alive insofar it responded to their tests as a living organism. The blood is divided into 5 unequal-sized parts, yet each weighs exactly 15.85g, and all parts together weigh same, 15.85g.Their results were in complete accord with Linoli's findings. They published their results in 1976 in New York and Geneva. Their conclusion? "Science, aware of its limits, has come to a halt, face to face with the impossibility of giving an explanation."[3]

For a comprehensive list of Eucharistic miracles go to www.carloacutis.com.