Bishop Roman Danylak from Toronto, Canada, (originally from Ukraine) unexpectedly witnessed a Eucharistic miracle during an open-air Mass on the Blessed Mother’s mountain near Naju in late afternoon of September 22, 1995. The Sacred Host Julia Kim just received from the bishop was turning to a lump of bleeding flesh in the shape of a small heart on her tongue. After his return to Canada, Bishop Danylak wrote a testimony, in which he stated:

For the first time, human eyes saw the living Heart of Our Lord and Savior, the Heart that had so loved the world that It offered Itself in the holocaust that we might live and not be lost.

Ad Jesum Per Mariam: Testimonies on Naju,
Mary’s Touch By Mail, 2003

Fr. Joseph Peter Finn from London, Ontario, Canada, who accompanied Bishop Danylak to Korea and also witnessed the same miracle while concelebrating the Mass with him, offered an explanation of why God sent us such a stupendous miraculous sign in a booklet published soon after his return to Canada :

Reliable church authorities openly admit that in all Western Europe the practice of our Catholic faith and consequent love and worship of our Eucharistic Lord is dying out. In our own part of the world Sunday Eucharist is no longer the spiritual highpoint of the week for too many Catholic families. In Ontario, Canada alone it is estimated that at least fifty per cent of baptized Catholic students registered in Catholic high schools scarcely ever attend Sunday Eucharist by themselves or with their parents. Christ Jesus in His Eucharist is not an integral force in their young lives.

And with a loss of the sense of what is sinful as often lamented by John Paul II himself and the marked fall-off in recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a worthy confession, how many sacrilegious Communions take place all over the world today?

The Reality of the Living Presence—
Eucharistic Miracle in Naju, Korea
by Fr. Joseph P. Finn,
published by Ave Maria Centre, Toronto, 1996.
Imprimatur by Bishop Roman Danylak.

Pilgrims from the Philippines also witnessed Eucharistic miracles in Naju

Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD, who came to Naju together with about other pilgrims from the Philippines, also witnessed a Eucharistic miracle through Julia during a Mass in the Naju Parish Church on May 16, 1991. After he saw the Sacred Host turned into visible flesh and blood in Julia’s mouth, he prayed, "Lord, forgive me, forgive us for the many times we took you so for granted in communion." Fr. Orbos knelt before the tabernacle and prayed for a long time together with other pilgrims, several of whom were crying. Fr. Orbos and other pilgrims from the Philippines were blessed to witness still another Eucharistic miracle through Julia Kim in the Naju Parish Church on September 24, 1994.

Despite the infinite and most awesome dignity and sacredness of the Eucharist, a severe erosion of the devotion to it has occurred in many parts of the world in recent decades. The most privileged and sublime experience of Holy Communion has often turned into a matter of habit with superficial devotion and, sometimes, even an occasion for sacrilege.

The cause of the widespread weakening of the Eucharistic devotion has been the loss of firm belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist in the minds of many, which in turn has been, in large part, a consequence of misinterpreting the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on ecumenism. The Council Fathers clearly warned against such a danger: "Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a false irenicism which harms the purity of catholic doctrine and obscures its genuine and certain meaning" (Unitatis Redintegratio, November 21, 1964). Despite this warning, many liberal theologians have used the Council’s emphasis on reconciling with the separated brethren as an opportunity to push ahead their own agenda of diluting the traditional Church teachings, distorting their true meanings, and refraining from vigorous defense and propagation of the authentic Church teachings. These progressive forces in the Church have been advocating unity for the sake of unity even by making compromises on the divine teachings, which were from God and, therefore, are not subject to human alteration according to individuals’ opinions and likings.

Correcting this evil and restoring the splendor of the authentic Catholic Faith is the most urgent task in the Church today. As "the other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1324), the neglect of the Holy Eucharist lies at the heart of the current crisis in the Church, and, by the same token, the restoration of the authentic faith in the Eucharist holds the key to the true reformation needed to overcome the crisis in the Church now. Also as God accomplished His Only Son’s Incarnation through the Blessed Mother and wills to accomplish the Church’s final triumph over evil through her (cf. Gen. 3:13 and True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis de Montfort, #50), the strengthening of the Eucharistic devotion must be accompanied by the restoration of fervent Marian devotion. It is no surprise that the erosion of the two devotions has occurred simultaneously. The restoration of both devotions will also need to occur together. The two are the pillars that uphold our faith in the incarnation of God the Son among us.

"My real, personal and physical Presence in the Mystery of the Eucharist is an indisputable fact. I have repeatedly shown the Eucharist turning into visible Blood and Flesh so that all may believe that the Eucharist, which is a mystery of the infinite love, humility, power and wisdom, is My Living Presence. If certain priests do not believe in this Personal Presence of Mine in the Church, they certainly do not qualify as co-redeemers. When they ignore Me, Who am Christ, true God and true Man, they are publicly denying My Divinity while acknowledging My human nature only. That is because they have lost the ability to discern between good and evil and between authentic and unauthentic" (July 1, 1995, when seven Sacred Hosts miraculously came down on the altar before the Blessed Mother’s statue in the Chapel in Naju during an overnight prayer meeting).

"You cannot win the victory without going through the cross. You must understand the amazing mystery of the Holy Eucharist by which God comes down from Heaven through priests in order to be with you. Therefore, make frequent Confessions to receive the Lord more worthily; open your hearts widely, keep them clean and organized, and love one another so that they may become palaces and tabernacles where the Lord can dwell. Then, the Lord will live in you, who are unworthy, and set a fire in you" (April 21, 1991, when Julia saw a vision of the great chastisement of the world followed by the Blessed Mother’s triumph);

"The Holy Eucharist is the center of all the supernatural events, but is being trampled by so many children through sacrilege, insult and humiliation. Therefore, my messages of love must be made known all over the world more vigorously so that the time of the Lord, Who is present in the Eucharist, and of the New Pentecost may be advanced" (November 24, 1994, when the Sacred Host miraculously descended to the Chapel in Naju twice during the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio’s visit);

"Teach the importance of the Mass, the importance of the Sacrament of Confession and the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist to all the children in the world who do not know them and, thereby, perpetuate the gift of the Paschal Mysteries of the Last Supper and Resurrection. The visible change of the Eucharist shown today was to remind you that Jesus comes to you through the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist, which is a re-presentation of the Sacrifice completed on Calvary, Golgotha, to wash away all the sins in the world with His Precious Blood" (October 31, 1995, when the Eucharistic species of bread and wine miraculously turned into the species of flesh and blood in the shape of a small heart on Julia Kim’s tongue in the presence of Pope John Paul II during a Mass in his private chapel in the Vatican).

"The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: ‘Because Christ our redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1376).

"If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist there are truly, really, and substantially contained the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, but shall say that He is in it as by a sign or figure, or force, let him be anathema" (Council of Trent, Session XIII, October 1551, DS #1651).

"If anyone denies that the whole Christ is contained in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist under each species and under every part of each species, when the separation has been made, let him be anathema." (Council of Trent, Session XIII, October 1551, DS #1653).

"The Eucharist, as Christ’s saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history. . . The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as one gift - however precious – among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work." (Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, April 17, 2003)

God is present everywhere in the universe through His power, knowledge, and goodness and as the first cause of everything that exists. Especially, in a supernatural way, He is present in the souls of the faithful and works through the Sacraments of His Church and His teachings. But, in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, Our Lord’s presence is unique in that it is full, as He is substantially present in it with His Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1374). It is the whole living person of Our Lord, Who suffered and died on the Cross for our redemption and resurrected on the third day as the First Fruit of His Redemptive Suffering, overcoming human sins, death, and all evils once and for all, Who is truly, actually, and fully present in the Eucharist. That is why we give the worship of latria (worship due to God alone) to the Eucharist as it is the Lord Himself, Who is true God and true Man. Also because the Three Divine Persons are totally united with each other in one Divine Nature, we become united with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as well by receiving Holy Communion. We also become closely united with the Blessed Mother, as she is always in union with her Divine Son as His Mother and Associate. Lastly, we also grow in union and harmony with all the Saints and Angels in Heaven, the suffering souls in Purgatory, and the members of the Church on earth as children of God’s Family and citizens of His Kingdom.

This tremendous supernatural, divine reality is hidden behind the sacramental signs of bread and wine. As many people two thousand years ago had difficulty in recognizing the Divinity of Jesus because they did not have faith, people now cannot recognize the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist unless they have the true faith, which is a gift from God to those who humbly respond to His loving call. Why is Christ hiding Himself behind the appearances of bread and wine? It is because He justly expects us to reaffirm our faith in Him and our love for Him before we receive this tremendous gift of infinite holiness and dignity, which is Himself. To test our faith and love, He is only temporarily hiding His glory and dignity. If we do not have faith and love, we are not only unprepared to receive Him but will be insulting Him if we still receive Him in that condition.

"Faith" as a requirement for receiving Holy Communion means that we totally accept and believe the Lord’s teachings through His Church and also that we are baptized members of the Church. "Love", which is union with God, presupposes that we are free from any mortal sins, by which we fall into the state of separation from Him. Even when we are free from serious sins, it is necessary that we have a humble and contrite heart, also filled with love and gratitude, especially as we approach the Holy Communion. As Our Lady sang in her Magnificat, "He has deposed the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he has sent empty away" (Luke 1:52-53), we cannot receive God’s graces through Holy Communion, if our hearts are laden with pride, anger, greed, lust, or other disorderly attachments to ourselves and the world

If we have faith and love sustained by God’s grace, the external barrier of the Eucharist looking like bread and wine will pose no difficulty at all for our recognizing the Eucharist as our loving and mighty Lord. The purpose of this Sacrament is our intrinsic union with Our Lord as well as our worship of Him (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1391). This union with God and worship of Him are the fulfillment of our eternal destiny and the realization of our ultimate happiness. Through this intimate union with us, Our Lord nurtures and strengthens our souls with His divine life and enables us to courageously witness His Truth and Love to the world.

The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration (latria), not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession

Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei, 1965