The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ/Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart

Readings for the Rule of Saint Benedict for the Week: Ch 7:35-59 Humility

I will take up the cup of salvation, 

and call on the name of the Lord.

HEART OF JESUS, TABERNACLE OF THE MOST HIGH,

JESUS, SOURCE OF NEW LIFE,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

MARY, HOUSE OF GOLD,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US. 

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

(John 6:51)

Buon domenica and welcome to Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. What a privileged way to enter the month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart. For all this, we give God the praise.

There is certainly quite a bit to reflect upon today. One line that stood out is found in the first reading at Mass, from the Book of Exodus. It is the people's response to Moses, when Moses came to all the people and related all the words and ordinances of the Lord. With one voice, all the people answered: "We will do everything that the Lord has told us." Hmmm. Are you ready to do everything that the Lord tells you? You might consider something Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote: "Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be." Or as Dante wrote, "In His will is our peace." When you receive Holy Communion today and every day, ask for the grace to do everything that the Lord tells you. May we do God's holy will and find the peace that only the Lord can give.

Our voices for this week are all about the Eucharist. After all, not only is it Corpus Christi, our country is preparing for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress to converge upon Indianapolis, Indiana, yes, the Hoosier State, July 17-21. 

Indeed, the Eucharist is God's response to the deepest hunger of the human heart, the hunger for authentic life, because in the Eucharist Christ Himself is truly in our midst to nourish, console, and sustain us on our journey.

(Pope Francis, Greeting to the Organizing Committee of the National Eucharistic Congress in the United States of America, June 19, 2023)

The Eucharistic sacrifice is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life.

(Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 11)

If the sacred liturgy holds the first place in the life of the Church, then the Eucharistic Mystery stands at the heart and center of the liturgy, since it is the font of life that cleanses us and strengthens us to live not for ourselves but for God and to be united to each other by the closest ties of love.

(Pope Saint Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei, 2)

Keep yourselves free from sin so that every day you may share in the mystic meal; 

by doing so our bodies become the body of Christ.

(Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem, d. 433)

Let us encourage one another to walk joyfully, our hearts filled with wonder, towards our encounter with the Holy Eucharist, so that we may experience and proclaim to others the truth of the words which with Jesus took leave of His disciples, "Lo, I am with you always until the end of the world" (Mt 28:20)

(Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 97)

There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. 

If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us.

(Saint John Vianney, 1786-1859)

Holy Communion is the safest and shortest way to heaven.

(Pope Pius X "Pope of the Eucharist," 1835-1914)

SAINTS MARCELLINUS AND PETER,

SAINT POTHINUS AND BLANDINA,

SAINT CHARLES LWANGA AND HIS COMPANIONS,

SAINT KEVIN,

SAINT CLOTILDE,

SAINT OPTATUS,

SAINT BONIFACE "APOSTLE OF GERMANY", BISHOP, MARTYR,

SAINT NORBERT,

SAINT MARCELLIN CHAMPAGNAT,

SAINT JARLATH,

SAINT COLMAN OF DROMORE,

SAINT ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER,

BLESSED ANNE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW,

SAINT JAMES BERTHIEU,

SAINT WILLIAM OF YORK,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Precious in the eyes of the Lord.

© Gertrude Feick 2024