On Corpus Christi

THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR.
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It is Thursday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and it is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ or just Corpus Christi.

The universal Church celebrates today one of the important Holy Days of Obligation, that is, one has to attend the Holy Mass in honor of the celebration, and today it is the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is a celebration of one of the most important event in the history of our Christian Faith: the institution of the Holy Eucharist, which the Lord Jesus Christ himself established during the Last Supper, on Maundy Thursday, but which we cannot fully give much attention to due to the fact that our focus is on the great sacrifice which He also offered on Good Friday. 

So usually, Maundy or Holy Thursday, the night when the Lord gave us His body and blood by instituting the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, is mainly celebrated as some kind of a preparation for Good Friday without its own significance, except for the celebration of the Chrism Mass in memory of the institution of the Holy Orders which is directly connected with the institution of the Holy Eucharist for without priests, there would be no transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why the Solemnity of Corpus Christi was established in 1246 in the Diocese of Belgina of Liege in Belgium after a synod called for the purpose by the Bishop, Robert de Thorete, at the suggestion of a nun, St Juliana of Liege.  who had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament ever since her childhood. In 1264, Pope Urban IV issued the Bull Transiturus which established the Feast of Corpus Christi as a universal feast of the Church to be celebrated on the Thursday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. However, at present, episcopal conferences are allowed to celebrate the Feast, which makes it already a Solemnity, on the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity Sunday. [That's why our reflection for today was based on the Gospel reading of Ordinary Thursday and not on the Feast of Corpus Christi.]

What is the significance of this Feast-Solemnity for us Christians? It is a celebration of one of the most important and most fundamental articles of Christian Faith: the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist - the enduring memorial of His great love for us all. We are not celebrating mere bread and wine, we are celebrating the Lord's real presence in the bread and wine which retain their accidental forms but possess changed substantial realities. Celebrating Corpus Christi is indeed a proclamation of the Holy Eucharist, of the Lord's being the Bread of Life, a teaching so hard to understand for many of His disciples that they left Him but which made manifest the deepening faith of the Apostles [see John 6].

The Jews ate manna in the desert and through that food they were sustained for days during their sojourn in the desert. But the Holy Eucharist is far greater than manna for the Lord himself told the Jews that though their ancestors ate manna, they died in the desert, that is, they were not able to enter the Promised Land. But we who worthily partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Eucharist, have been assured by the Lord a place in the Father's house [John 6; 14: 2-3].

May we always remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is always present in the Holy Eucharist, in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Hence when we enter a church or a chapel, we must look for the twinkling lamp that signifies that the Blessed Sacrament is being prominently kept in the tabernacle somewhere around the altar, the table where the sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, and is usually attached to the altarpiece, also called reredo, that is, the wall behind the altar. When we see that lamp, which also symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ as the light of the world, we must offer our most solemn respect and adoration for we are in the presence of holy ground. But even if He is not presently kept there for some important reason, we must still give reverence to His temple. Usually, a single genuflection is required when the Blessed Sacrament is inside a closed tabernacle; while double genuflection is obligatory when the tabernacle is open or when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed through a monstance for public adoration. And when we go out of the church or chapel where adoration is taking place, it is irreverent to turn your back on the Lord! More about exposition of the Blessed Sacrament here.

So let us give the Lord who is present in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament, the fullest respect and honor for it is a great source of blessing to be present where He is present! If we give due honor and respect to others who are superior to us in some manner, how much more with the Lord, our God?

A blessed Feast of Corpus Christi to you all, dear friends.