Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church

Easter - Week Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi

(From Conversation with God, Fernandez Carvajal)

Today we celebrate this great Solemnity in honour of the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. On this day the liturgy itself and popular piety, which have spared no efforts in their search for inventiveness and beauty, come together to sing to the Love of loves. For this day Saint Thomas Aquinas composed those very beautiful texts of the Mass and of the Divine Office. Today we must give many thanks to God for having remained amongst us, make atonement to him and express to him our joy at having him so close to us.

It was faith in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist that led to devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass as well. In the first centuries of the Church the Sacred Species were reserved so that Communion could be taken to the sick and to those who were in prison awaiting martyrdom because they bad confessed their faith. As time went by, the faith and love of believers caused them to make both public and private devotion to the Holy Eucharist far richer. Their faith led them to treat the Body of Christ with the greatest possible reverence and this also led to greater public devotion. We can find many testimonies in the most ancient documents of the Church to the veneration by the early Christians which later was to make way for the feast we celebrate today.

Our Lord and our God is in the Tabernacle. Christ is in the Tabernacle, and it is there that we must show him our adoration and our love. This veneration for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is expressed in many ways: Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, processions, prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, genuflections that are real acts of faith and of adoration. Amongst these devotions and various forms of worship, particularly worthy of mention is the solemnity of Corpus Christi as a public act by which the Church seeks to pay homage to Christ present in the Eucharist. The Church and the world have great need of Eucharistic devotions. Jesus is waiting for us in this sacrament of Love. Let us not be sparing in the time we spend going to meet him in adoration, in contemplation filled with faith, and let us be prepared to make reparation for the many grave faults and offences committed against him in the world. May our adoration never cease. Today especially has to be filled with acts of faith and of love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

If we take part in the day's procession, accompanying Jesus, we will be like those simple people who joyfully followed the Master during the days of his life on earth, and who with great naturalness told him of all their needs and about the sufferings they endured. We too will experience the happiness and the joy of being with him. If we see him pass through our streets exposed in the Monstrance, we will tell him from the depths of our hearts how much He means to us. Adore him reverently and devoutly; renew in his presence the sincere offerings of your love. Don't be afraid to tell him that you love him. Thank him for giving you this daily proof of his tender mercy, and encourage yourself to go to Communion in a spirit of trust. I am awed by this mystery of Love. Here is the Lord seeking to use my heart as a throne, committed never to leave me, provided I don't run away. Jesus is happier on this throne of my heart than in the most magnificent Monstrance.