Sunday, June 3, 2018

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Readings of the day: RB 7:44-48
Mass: Ex 24:3-8; Resp Ps 116; Heb 9:11-15; Sequence (Laud, O Zion), Mk 14:12-16, 22-26


O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVINE,
ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING BE EVERY MOMENT THINE.

This morning we break out in song with a few verses of O Sacrament Most Holy:

O Jesus, we adore you, Who, in your love divine,
Conceal your might Godhead In forms of bread and wine

O Jesus, we adore you; Come, live in us we pray,
That all our thoughts and actions Be yours alone today.

O come, all you who labor In sorrow and in pain;
Come, eat this bread from heaven; Your peace and strength regain.

The gift of the Eucharist, ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ (Lumen Gentium, 11). Today, let us be mindful of the many women and men of the faith who go without the Eucharist on Sundays, let alone on a daily basis. We are a privileged people and have responsibility to give witness to the Sacrament of Love. We recall the words of Pope Francis in a recent catechesis on the Mass:

Every time I go to Mass, I must leave better than I entered, with more life, with more strength, with a greater desire to give Christian witness. Through the Eucharist, says the Holy Father, the Lord Jesus enters in us, in our heart and in our flesh, so that we can ‘express in life the Sacrament received in faith’…The Mass, then, finds its fulfillment in the concrete choices of one who is personally involved in Christ’s mystery. We must not forget that we celebrate the Eucharist to learn to become Eucharistic men and women. What does this mean? It means to let Christ act in our works: that His thoughts be our thoughts, His sentiments ours, His choices our choices. And this is holiness: to do as Christ did is Christian holiness…Christians are men and women that let their soul be enlarged with the strength of the Holy Spirit after having received the Body and Blood of Christ. Let your soul be enlarged! (April 4, 2018).

‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.’ Pierce my heart, enlarge my soul, heal my wounds, and grant me the strength and courage to reach out in love, mercy, and forgiveness to all of my sisters and brothers.

Jesus’ presence burns our selfish attitudes like fire and ignites the desire to make us, in union with Jesus, bread broken and blood poured out for our brothers and sisters.
(Pope Francis, General Audience, June 3, 2018)

O SACRAMENT MOST HOLY, O SACRAMENT DIVINE,
ALL PRAISE AND ALL THANKSGIVING BE EVERY MOMENT THINE.

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