By Nicolás de Cárdenas
ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 07:00 am
A priest’s quick thinking prevented a man from walking away with an unconsumed consecrated Host during a Mass commemorating the second anniversary of the St. Lucy shrine in the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras.
Father Nery Adalberto Gómez Pérez, the parish priest of St. Mark the Evangelist in Ocotepeque, was invited to celebrate Mass at the St. Lucy shrine on Friday, Dec. 13, the feast day of the saint. A large crowd of faithful had gathered for the occasion.
During the Communion part of the Mass, a man with a mustache, taller than average, wearing a white T-shirt and a baseball cap, approached the priest to receive the Eucharist.
As the priest offered the consecrated Host, the man made an unusual gesture by attempting to take it from the priest’s hand with his mouth, rather than receiving it on his tongue as customary. This act was captured on video on Channel 16’s Facebook page in Ocotepeque.
With the Host in his mouth, the man hesitated, looking nervously at the priest. Without consuming the Eucharist, he turned back to his seat, but the priest immediately recognized the situation.
