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Priest Cries During Consecration, Calls It 'Spiritual Experience
Confirmed
In Short: Father Bowman wept during the consecration of a Mass, describing it as a private spiritual encounter.
Father Bowman, a priest at Chesterton Academy, experienced a highly emotional moment during the consecration of a Mass, which was captured on video and went viral online. He was seen crying as he raised the chalice and struggled to speak through his tears.
Bowman explained that during the consecration prayer over the wine, he felt an overwhelming sense of the power and reality of the words being spoken. He said, 'I believe I experienced this weight in the chalice,' referring to the profound spiritual significance of the moment.
The priest continued the consecration prayer through tears and sobbed for nearly a minute at the altar. He emphasized that this was a private spiritual experience, not a public spectacle. 'I had a private spiritual experience,' Bowman clarified.
Bowman's emotional reaction was shared with the students, teachers, and staff of Chesterton Academy, as well as others who attended the Mass. He later wrote a statement to help people understand his experience, which he felt was necessary due to the widespread attention it received.
Father Bowman stressed that private spiritual encounters with God are unmerited gifts and signs of God’s love. He expressed discomfort with the unwanted attention that came with his experience, stating, 'I don’t want to confuse people.
What's confirmed
- “During the consecration prayer over the wine at the altar, as I spoke the words, I was given what I believe to be internal knowledge of the power of these words being spoken and the reality of their effect to the point that I had difficulty speaking,” Bowman said in his statement.
What's still developing
- Bowman’s emotional response to the consecration was captured on video because the parish livestreams its daily Masses on YouTube and it spread across social media platforms, with many viewers wondering what prompted the reaction.
- Although Bowman did not experience a “Eucharistic miracle” in the sense of the bread or the wine altering its appearance, God does perform a miracle at every Mass during consecration, known as transubstantiation.
- When the priest consecrates the Eucharist, the “ substance ” of bread and wine does not remain, but instead the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ even though it maintains the physical appearance and chemical structure of bread and wine.
- As this unfolded before a congregation that remained silent, he began to have an interior experience of the real presence of Jesus in the Precious Blood.
- As word spread about his experience and more people began watching the video, he received lots of attention that led to his wanting to clarify the experience.