Highway To Heaven: The Eucharistic Miracles Exhibition Tour In SA

 

An international exhibition on reported Eucharistic miracles of the world has hit South African shores.

The Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibition is an exhibition that was curated in 2005 by Blessed Carlo Acutis. He was a fifteen-year-old Italian who aimed to use new media to evangelise and proclaim the Gospel. He had made the Eucharist a core theme of his life. “Jesus is my friend and the Eucharist is the highway to heaven,” he once said.

He was noted for his cheerfulness, his computer skills, and his deep devotion to the Eucharist. He was beatified on October 10, 2020, two days before the 14th anniversary of his death. He had started compiling the catalogue of miracles onto a website at the age of eleven.  BI Carlo Acutis died of leukaemia in 2006.

The exhibition was brought to South Africa by Ms Mammuso Makoa and Mrs Mapaseka Letho. “We had seen the exhibition on a Eucharistic adoration and education website. We thought it would be a good idea to have it tour our region too. We first acquired the necessary permission to exhibit it locally.

“Due to shipping costs and time constraints, we were not able to physically bring the exhibition over to South Africa. We then decided to download the images and recreate it for the local parishes.” she said.

The exhibition was staged for the first time in SA on July 31 2021 via a WhatsApp virtual event, due to lockdown restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic at the time.

Since then physical exhibitions have been held at various churches in Gauteng and as far away as Lesotho.

The exhibition has acted as a platform for the education of many Catholics thus far in its tour of South Africa. “Many of the faithful were not aware that there are so many of the Church-approved Eucharistic miracles of the world. Many were only aware of the famous ones like the ones of St Francis of Assisi, St Claire, and St Anthony of Padua, amongst others. It is an eye-opener for many Catholics, especially on the significance of the Eucharistic in the Church,” Ms Makoa said.

The miracles forming part of the exhibition are from a variety of countries internationally, and over a vast period of time. These range from miracles in countries such as in Bordeaux in France, in 1822 to more recent miracles such as the one in Betania, Venezuela in 1991. It has since travelled to dozens of different countries across five continents.

The exhibitors hope to reach as many Catholics as possible through the exhibition. “We hope the exhibition will reach as many parishes and church groups as possible, and set afire a zeal for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic. As St Mother Teresa of Kolkota said, “we must not separate our life from the Eucharist. The moment we do so, something shatters,” Ms Makoa pointed out.

The exhibition will be on tour at the following churches in April 2023:

– Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Hercules, Pretoria on 14-16 April.

– Our Lady of the Assumption in Manzini, Swaziland on 29 April.

To find out more on the exhibition, please contact the exhibitors here:

Mammuso Elizabeth Makoa on 083695476. Email address

Mapaseka Lucy Letho 0795280640. Email address