A massive 7.1 earthquake rocked Mexico City and its surrounding areas yesterday, causing devastation and killing at least 217 people. But in the midst of this tragedy, a viral post on social media has been giving people hope.
Right after the earthquake, some Catholics who were nearby Toluca Cathedral decided the best thing to do was to head inside and pray before the Blessed Sacrament for God’s mercy and help.
According to a viral post on Facebook, that’s when something amazing happened:
“At the moment we were praying to the Blessed Sacrament, those who were present saw how the monstrance turned red and we could see on the cross the blood of Christ,” Lili Orozco Días wrote on Facebook. “It was an awesome experience. I offer these photos that I took myself. Glory to God for such a miracle.”
So the person is claiming that the monstrance turned blood red where it hadn’t been red before. As of this writing, the post has been shared more than 24,000 times.
Here’s one of the pictures:
The same post included this video of people singing before the Eucharist:
But is this really a miracle? Or just an optical illusion?
It’s impossible to know for certain what these people saw. But if the supposed miracle is simply that the monstrance turned red, there wouldn’t seem to be any miracle in that, since the monstrance was already red. We tracked down a picture of the monstrance before the earthquake, and here’s a comparison:
Some people say that the border of the monstrance, which was originally gold, miraculously turned red. And indeed, in some of the pictures, the border sort of looks red. But that might be due to the poor lighting and the poor quality of the pictures.
In any event, the Eucharist itself is a miracle, and we know that Jesus is always with us in the midst of tragedy even without a special Eucharistic miracle.
Pray for the people of Mexico!
[See also: Secrets of the Saints: 5 Powerful Prayers to Jesus in the Eucharist]
[See also: 3 Ways Many Catholics Are Receiving the Eucharist Wrong]