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2nd June 2013 - Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Body and Blood of Christ) - UPDATED

On this week’s programme John and Shane reflect on the meaning of Corpus Christi which we celebrate in Ireland this weekend. We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as some liturgical odds and ends, our saints of the week and some local notices.

You can listen to the podcast of this week’s programme HERE.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

 

The Feast owes its existence to Blessed Juliana of Liege, who began devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in around 1230. Largely through her insistence, in 1264 Pope Urban 1V commanded its observance by the universal church. While the Church celebrates the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday because it falls within the solemn and reflective time of the Easter Triduum, Juliana wanted to encourage a joyful celebration of this great gift of our Divine Master to the Church and to the world.  The Feast sums up three important confessions about our Faith. First is that God became physically present in the person of Christ, True God and True Man. Secondly, God continues to be present in His people as they form the Mystical Body of Christ in his church. And thirdly, the presence of God under the form of bread and wine is made available to us on the altar at Mass and preserved there for our nourishment and worship.

Shane and John reflect on the meaning of the feast this week and how it encourages us to recognise that we too are the Body of Christ in the world today remembering the words of St Teresa of Avila, "Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours".The feast itself is one full of tradition and often times public witness to our faith by processions and public benediction. It is a reminder of the centrality of the Eucharist to our faith life, what the Vatican Council called the "source and summit" of our faith.

 

... What you see is the bread and the chalice -

this is what your eyes tell you.

 

But what your faith needs to be informed of -

the bread is the body of Christ, the chalice is his blood.

 

This is why these things are called sacraments,

because in them one thing is seen, but another is understood.

 

If you wish to understand the body of Christ,

listen to what the apostle says to the believers,

'You are the body of Christ and his members.'

 

If, therefore, you are the body of Christ and his members,

it is your own mystery that has been placed on the table of the Lord. It is your own mystery that you receive.

 

To this which you are you respond 'Amen'

and in responding, you accept it.

What you hear is 'the Body of Christ'

and to this you respond 'Amen'.

So, be a member of Christ's body,

that your Amen may be true...."

St Augustine of Hippo
 

Previous posts from the blog on the feast of Corpus Christi including the hymns written for the feast day by St Thomas Aquinas can be read HERE.

Pope Francis homily on Thursday night from the Mass for the feast of Corpus Christi in Rome in St John Lateran.

“Jesus speaks in silence in the Mystery of the Eucharist,” he said, “and every time reminds us that to follow Him means to come out of ourselves and make of our own lives, not a possession, but a gift to Him and to others......Faced with the neediness of the crowd, the solution of the disciples (in the Gospel) is that every man should take care of himself… How many times do we Christians have this temptation?” he asked his listeners. “We do not care for the needs of others, dismissing them with a pitiful, ‘God help you.’” .....

the Pope told his listeners, Jesus calls us to take action and to respond personally to the needs of others. “People should not fear solidarity,” he said. “Because [it is] only in sharing… that our lives will be fecund.”

 

Afterwards Pope Francis walked in procession behind the Blessed Sacrament from St John Lateran to St Mary Major before giving the Benediction.

UPDATE

Last year in the lead up and during the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, the Irish Dominicans held a series of talks and reflections on the great Eucharistic hymns written for the feast of Corpus Christi by Thomas Aquinas which were recorded and can be viewed on their Dominican Interactive website:

• Theologian to the Papal Household, fr Wojciech Giertych OP, preached a homily on the text of one of the best-loved Eucharistic hymns: the 'Pange Lingua', composed by St Thomas Aquinas OP for the feast of Corpus Christi
• Fr Paul Murray OP, Professor of Spiritual Theology at the Angelicum University, Rome, preached on the text of the 'Adoro Te Devote'. Fr Paul is a poet and a theologian, and he shares with us some insights into St Thomas as poet and theologian.
• Fr Terence Crotty's talk on the 'Lauda Sion', the Sequence for the feast of Corpus Christi.
• Fr John Harris OP, the Regent of Studies of the Irish Province of Dominicans, spoke at the final evening session of the 'Adoro Te Devote' programme, held in conjunction with the International Eucharistic Congress. His topic was the 'Verbum Supernum Prodiens', the hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas for Lauds of the feast of Corpus Christi.

Gospel – Luke 9:11-17

Source

With this week’s gospel we return to the synoptic gospels after the marathon of Easter and Pentecost with St John. For the feast day we have presented to us the story from Luke of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. Once again what strikes you about the passage is the abundant love of God for each one of us. The recollection of the event invites to reflect on this love which God has for each one of us, no matter what. All we have to do is respond to it. Christ opened his arms on the Cross to embrace the whole of creation in one redemptive act. And that event continues on today where cross time and space he is reaching out to embrace each one of us. The generosity of that love comes across in today’s gospel and invites each of us to welcome that embrace of God but also to continue to share that love with those we meet.

Other reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflection
English Dominicans
Blue Eyed Ennis here and here
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical Odds and Ends

Liturgy of the Hours: Psalter Week 1, 9th Week in Ordinary Time

Pope’s Intentions for June

General – That a culture of dialogue, listening and mutual respect may prevail among the nations.
Missionary – That where secularisation is strongest, Christian communities may learn to effectively promote a new evangelisation.

Saints of the Week

June 3rd - St Kevin of Glendalough (In Ireland). (On the universal calendar it is the feast of St Charles Lwanga and Companions – the Ugandan martyrs)
June 4th – St Charles Lwanga and Companions – Ugandan martyrs (In Ireland)
June 5th – St Boniface
June 6th - St Jarlath
June 7th – Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (First Friday)
June 8th – Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

26 June 2011 - Solemnity of Corpus Christi

On this weeks show, Fr Phonsie Cullinan takes us through a reflection on Corpus Christi, John and Shane then reflect on the Sunday gospel and go through the Saints of the upcoming week.

The programme is now available as a podcast.

Corpus Christi

Fr Cullinan is the chaplain at Limerick Institute of Technology and is also the Limerick diocesan co-ordinator for the International Eucharistic Congress 2012. Fr Cullinan takes us through the meaning of the feast and highlights the need to be aware of the feast focus's in a special way is on what is before us, the Body and Blood of Christ. He reminds us of the importance of public witness through the procession. He also tells us of the Eucharistic miracle of Orvieto and the institution of the feast.

Gospel Reflection - John 6: 51-58

We draw to the end of an intensive period of liturgical celebration with the feast of Corpus Christi which we celebrate today. The Feast owes its existence to Blessed Juliana of Liege, who began devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in around 1230. Largely through her insistence, in 1264 Pope Urban IV commanded its observance by the universal church.

The Feast sums up three important things about our Faith. First is that God became physically present in the person of Christ, true God and true Man - the Incarnation. Secondly, God continues to be present in His people as they form the Mystical Body of Christ in his church - the community of people who gather every Sunday around the alter of the Lord. Thirdly, the presence of God under the form of bread and wine is made available to us on the altar at Mass and preserved there for our nourishment and worship.

Michael de Vertueil reminds us that we may find the metaphor of eating his flesh and drinking his blood as being very strange, but we should try to enter into it so that it becomes part of our prayer. Remember that in Bible meditation it is not sufficient to get the message of a passage; you must get into the words themselves and grow to love them so that you feel moved to repeat them many times. The metaphor has its origins in "flesh and blood", a biblical expression that means the reality of a human being with special stress on his or her weakness or limitations. For example, when in Matthew 16 Peter made his act of faith, it did not come from "flesh and blood," but as a gift from God. So too St Paul warned the Ephesians that their struggle was not merely against "flesh and blood", but against heavenly forces.

Jesus is still with us completely, his love for us is still there all encompassing to embrace us. Christ embraced the world by opening his arms on the cross.
Paul reminds us that to receive communion we have to be in communion with our community and our God. To be christian is to be in communion in community otherwise we are cut off from a true understanding being part of the Body of Christ. 

The gospel reminds us today that there is also real nourishment available to us to give us real food in our lives. But it is also not enough to say that the communion is there if you want to come back on our terms. Community means we must be willing to be transformed which means we have to reach out to those who have been excluded from communion and seek to invite them back to full participation in the Body of Christ.

Other reflections on today from:

Word on Fire

Godzdogz

Msgr Charles Pope

Deacon Greg Kandra

Sunday Reflections

Saints of the Week

June 27th - St Cyril of Aleandria

June 28th - St Irenaeus

June 29th - Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul

June 30th - First Martyrs of Rome

July 1st - Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (First Friday. Usually celebration of St Oliver Plunkett)

July 2nd - Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (First Saturday)

A Musical Reflection for Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi in Rome

Courtesy of Rocco here's the Vatican's English rendering of B16's homily at yesterday's traditional outdoor Mass for Corpus Christi at St John Lateran.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters!

The feast of Corpus Domini is inseparable from the Holy Thursday Mass of in Caena Domini, in which the institution of the Eucharist is also celebrated. While on the evening of Holy Thursday we relive the mystery of Christ who offers himself to us in the bread broken and wine poured out, today, in celebration of Corpus Domini, this same mystery is proposed to the adoration and meditation of God's people, and the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession through the streets of towns and villages, to show that the risen Christ walks among us and guides us towards the Kingdom of heaven. Today we openly manifest what Jesus has given us in the intimacy of the Last Supper, because the love of Christ is not confined to the few, but is intended for all. This year during the Mass of Our Lord’s Last Supper on Holy Thursday, I pointed out that the Eucharist is the transformation of the gifts of this land - the bread and wine - intended to transform our lives and usher in the transformation of the world. Tonight I would like to return to this point of view.

Everything starts, you might say, from the heart of Christ, who at the Last Supper on the eve of his passion, thanked and praised God and, in doing so, with the power of his love transformed the meaning of death which he was about to encounter. The fact that the Sacrament of the altar has taken on the name "Eucharist" - "thanksgiving" - expresses this: that the change in the substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the fruit of the gift that Christ made of himself, a gift of a love stronger than death, love of God which made him rise from the dead. That is why the Eucharist is the food of eternal life, the Bread of life. From the heart of Christ, from his "Eucharistic Prayer" on the eve of his passion, flows the dynamism that transforms reality in its cosmic, human and historical dimensions. All proceeds from God, from the omnipotence of his love One and Triune, incarnate in Jesus. In this Love the heart of Christ emerges, so He knows how to thank and praise God even in the face of betrayal and violence, and thus changes things, people and the world.

This transformation is possible thanks to a communion stronger than division, the communion of God himself. The word "communion", which we use to designate the Eucharist, sums up the vertical and horizontal dimension of the gift of Christ. The beautiful and eloquent expression "receive communion" refers to the act of eating the bread of the Eucharist. In fact, when we carry out this act, we enter into communion with the very life of Jesus, in the dynamism of this life which is given to us and for us. From God, through Jesus, to us: a unique communion is transmitted in the Holy Eucharist. We have heard as much, in the second reading, from the words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Corinth: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ"(1 Cor 10:16-17).

Saint Augustine helps us to understand the dynamics of Holy Communion when referring to a kind of vision he had, in which Jesus said to him: "I am the food of the mature: grow, then, and you shall eat me. You will not change me into yourself like bodily food; but you will be changed into me"(Confessions, VII, 10, 18). Therefore, while the bodily food is assimilated by the body and contributes to its maintenance, the Eucharist is a different bread: we do not assimilate it, but it assimilates us to itself, so that we become conformed to Jesus Christ and members of his body, one with Him. This is a decisive passage. Indeed, precisely because it is Christ who, in Eucharistic communion, transforms us into Him, our individuality, in this encounter, is opened up, freed from its self-centeredness and placed in the Person of Jesus, who in turn is immersed in the Trinitarian communion. Thus, while the Eucharist unites us to Christ, we open ourselves to others making us members one of another: we are no longer divided, but one thing in Him. Eucharistic communion unites me to the person next to me, and with whom I might not even have a good relationship, but also to my brothers and sisters who are far away, in every corner of the world. Thus the deep sense of social presence of the Church is derived from the Eucharist, as evidenced by the great social saints, who have always been great Eucharistic souls. Those who recognize Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, recognize their brother who suffers, who is hungry and thirsty, who is a stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned, and they are attentive to every person, committing themselves, in a concrete way, to those who are in need. So from the gift of Christ's love comes our special responsibility as Christians in building a cohesive, just and fraternal society. Especially in our time when globalization makes us increasingly dependent upon each other, Christianity can and must ensure that this unity will not be built without God, without true Love. This would give way to confusion and individualism, the oppression of some against others. The Gospel has always aimed at the unity of the human family, a unity not imposed from above, or by ideological or economic interests, but from a sense of responsibility towards each other, because we identify ourselves as members of the same body, the body of Christ, because we have learned and continually learn from the Sacrament of the Altar that sharing, love is the path of true justice.

Let us return to Jesus’ act in the Last Supper. What happened at that moment? When He said: This is my body which is given to you, this is my blood shed for you and for the multitude, what happened? Jesus in that gesture anticipates the event of Calvary. He accepts his passion out of love, with its trial and its violence, even to death on the cross; by accepting it in this way he transforms it into an act of giving. This is the transformation that the world needs most, because he redeems it from within, he opens it up to the Kingdom of Heaven. But God always wants to accomplish this renewal of the world through the same path followed by Christ, indeed, the path that is Himself. There is nothing magic in Christianity. There are no shortcuts, but everything passes through the patient and humble logic of the grain of wheat that is broken to give life, the logic of faith that moves mountains with the gentle power of God. This is why God wants to continue to renew humanity, history and the cosmos through this chain of transformations, of which the Eucharist is the sacrament. Through the consecrated bread and wine, in which his Body and Blood is truly present, Christ transforms us, assimilating us in him: he involves us in his redeeming work, enabling us, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to live according to his same logic of gift, like grains of wheat united with Him and in Him. Thus unity and peace, which are the goal for which we strive, are sown and mature in the furrows of history, according to God's plan.

Without illusions, without ideological utopias, we walk the streets of the world, bringing within us the Body of the Lord, like the Virgin Mary in the mystery of the Visitation. With the humble awareness that we are simple grains of wheat, we cherish the firm conviction that the love of God, incarnate in Christ, is stronger than evil, violence and death. We know that God is preparing for all people new heavens and new earth where peace and justice prevail - and by faith we glimpse the new world, that is our true home. Also this evening as the sun sets on our beloved city of Rome, we set out again on this path: with us is Jesus in the Eucharist, the Risen One, who said: "I am with you always, until the end of world "(Mt 28:20).

Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank you for your loyalty, which sustains our hope. Stay with us, because the evening comes. "Jesus, good shepherd and true bread, have mercy on us; feed us and guard us. Grant that we find happiness in the land of the living". Amen.

Corpus Christi

While in Ireland the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ has been moved to Sunday, in Rome this evening Pope Benedict XVI will lead the traditional Corpus Christi procession after Mass at the Basilica of St John Laterans up along the Via Merulana to the Basilica of Mary Major for Benediction.

A hymn traditionally associated with the feast is Tantum Ergo for which we have two examples of here: