This Sunday, June 14th, we will have our EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION around the church compound immediately after the 12:00 noon Holy Mass.
The feast of Corpus Christi is one time when our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is exposed not just to faithful Catholics but to all the world. This is a time when Catholics can show their love for Christ in the Real Presence by honoring Him in a very public way.
Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Corpus Christi
The Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, occurs 60 days after Easter and thus falls in early summer, in June or July. The Feast was formally established in 1215, when the Church asserted that what occurred during the mass was the miracle of transubstantiation; that is, that the wafer of consecrated bread did not simply represent the body of Christ but actually became it.
The most important ritual of Corpus Christi is that of the PROCESSION. For this event, the entire village, parish or town assembles in finest dress. The Procession is comprised of clergy, special guilds or groups, and families. Often children in First Communion dress precede the Blessed Sacrament dropping rose or other flower petals to create a carpet for the approaching Eucharist. Altar boys, clergy, prominent citizens with guild and society banners of silk, and others process. The Holy Eucharist is itself transported in a processional Monstrance, carried by the priest or bishop. The Monstrance is further protected by an embroidered silk canopy held by four posts, borne by parishioners or altar servers. Publicly proclaiming and reaffirming their devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the entire congregation walks around the church and its grounds to the sound of bells and voices singing sacred hymns. The procession then walks and sings its way to the first of the altars. There the Blessed Sacrament rests while the assembled faithful kneel to pray and sing in adoration of the Holy Eucharist.
The procession then continues on in the same manner to the other altars until finished.
Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart
THE FEAST DAY OF CORPUS CHRISTI (THE BODY OF CHRIST) was requested by Our Lord Himself. It was not a feast day that the Church in its wisdom decided to include in the liturgical calendar. It was a feast day, rather, that Jesus requested through extraordinary means by appearing to his servant Saint Juliana, and showing her a moon that He said was symbolic of the liturgical calendar. And the moon had a dark spot in which He said was symbolic of the feast day that was needed, that He wanted, that He requested, the feast day of Corpus Christi. And Saint Juliana said, “But Jesus, we have a feast day, Holy Thursday.”
And Our Lord explained to her that Holy Thursday is also a feast day that celebrates the institution of the holy priesthood, along with the institution of the Holy Eucharist. He wanted one special feast day set aside in honor of His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament. For He said as the Church progressed in time, faith in His Real Presence would diminish to the point where it would need a feast day to remind the people that He is really here. That the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. That this is NOT A SYMBOL of Jesus, BUT THE REALITY OF JESUS HIMSELF. The same Jesus born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, the same Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, and the same Jesus that rose again on Easter Sunday is really truly, bodily, personally present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
ON FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2009, WE CELEBRATE THE FEAST DAY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. Why do we celebrate Corpus Christi on Sunday and the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday? Again, this is because this is what Our Blessed Lord specifically requested. Through His servant Saint Margaret Mary He requested a feast day in honor of the Sacred Heart, within the octave of the feast day of Corpus Christi, because He wanted to spotlight, highlight, focus, emphasize, dramatize: THE BLESSED SACRAMENT IS THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS LIVING AND LOVING IN OUR MIDST TODAY!
