My dear parishioners and visitors,
Have a blessed weekend and happy Feast Day: Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ.
Today we joyfully celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ to honor in very special way the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. This teaching is deeply rooted in the Sacred Scripture: Ex. 16: 1-36; especially in St. John 6: 1-71, Jesus’ own teaching of the Bread of Life, and 13: 1-20,the last Supper also in St. Paul’s letters. The Fathers of the Church: St. Irenaeus, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin, Augustine (just naming a few) and the Church, our Mother, have consistently and clearly taught, for the last two thousands, that Jesus is really and truly presence with us and nourishes us when we celebrate together the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (CCC. 1322-1419).
We, being a Catholic, firmly and faithfully profess our faith in the true and real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist (CCC. 1413) and that the Holy Eucharist is the heart, source and the summit of the life of the Church (CCC. 1407) and of our Christian life (CCC. 1324).
The sequence of this Solemnity, Corpus Christi, beautifully teaches us:
This the truth each Christians learns: bread into his own flesh Christ turns, to his precious Blood the wine. Sight must fail, no thought conceives, but a steadfast faith believes, resting on a power divine. Here beneath these signs are hidden priceless things to sense forbidden. Signs alone, not things, we see: Blood and flesh as wine, bread broken; Yet beneath each wondrous token, Christ entire we known to be.
May we always have a greater love for the Holy Eucharist, then gracefully and devoutly receive this Most Precious Gift: the Body and Blood of Christ, our Bread of life (Jn. 6:51).
God bless. Fr. Peter