Jubilee Holy Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope
June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
From your heart let praises burst.
HEART OF MARY, UNITED TO THE HEART OF JESUS,
SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,
PRAY FOR US.
HEART OF JESUS, TABERNACLE OF THE MOST HIGH,
HAVE MERCY ON US.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
Alleluia.
Welcome to Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, a feast instituted by Pope Urban IV in 1264. I believe, help my unbelief.
In the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time, still in the month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we have the privilege of celebrating the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on June 24th, followed by the celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 27th, followed by the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary on June 28th. My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord who has been bountiful to me (Psalm 13). How about this from 17th century Camaldolese hermit Dom Roberto: "The precise will of God is that we serve, honor, and tenderly love Mary." Heart of Mary, most humble, pray for us.
There are certainly more than a few Eucharistic processions happening throughout the world today. Among other ones, both small and large, there is the one in Orvieto, Italy. It is a marvel to behold. Hundreds and hundreds of locals arrayed in medieval attire process through the streets with the Holy Eucharist and the Sacred Corporeal "The Miracle of Bolsena." About the Sacred Corporeal, it is said that Peter of Prague, a Bohemian priest, a doubting one at that, while on his way to Rome in 1263, stopped in Bolsena to celebrate Mass. During the celebration of the Mass, drops of blood started falling from the communion bread he was holding; the drops stained the corporeal. When Pope Urban IV heard of this, he had the sacred corporeal moved to Orvieto, where it is kept at the Cathedral of Orvieto* (awesome), in the Chapel of the Corporeal. My favorite image of Our Lady hangs there, Madonna de Raccomandati, loosely translated as Our Lady of Mercy. In it, Our Lady, surrounded by angels, spreads her protective veil over men and women of the medieval period. I have had the holy card in my monthly missal for years. Our Lady of Mercy, Our Lady of those recommended to her, cover us in your protective veil. May we receive the "grace of a deeper gratitude for what we receive in the Holy Eucharist" (Magnificat, June 22, 2025, Prayer of the Faithful). BTW, Peter of Prague no longer doubted. However, I am not sure. ☺
My nearly 100 sheets of voices include many who have something to say about the Eucharist. I include a few and conclude with a doozy from Pope Benedict XVI, some of which I had the privilege of proclaiming at Vigils last night.
The Eucharistic sacrifice is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life.
(Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium Christ is the light of the nations, 11)
Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth, the Blessed Sacrament. There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth.
(J.R.R. Tolkien, 1892-1973)
Very bread, good shepherd tend us,
Jesu, of your love befriend us,
You refresh us, you defend us,
Your eternal goodness send us
In the land of life to see.
(Sequence for Corpus Christi Laud, O Zion "Lauda Sion")
Every consecrated host is made to burn itself up with love in a human heart.
(Saint John Vianney, 1786-1859)
Christ gave us the sacraments in order that we might better keep the two great commandments. You will learn about Catholic belief by studying the sacramental life of the Church. The center of this is the Eucharist ... I believe what the Church teaches-that God has given us reason to use and that it can lead us toward a knowledge of Him through analogy; that He revealed Himself in history and continues to do so through the Church, and that He is present (not just symbolically) in the Eucharist on our altars. To believe all this I don't take any leap into the absurd. I find it reasonable to believe, even though these beliefs are beyond reason.
(Flannery O'Connor, 1925-1964, in The Habit of Being, ed. Sally Fitzgerald)
By the Mass and Communion, I must become more and more like Christ.
(Marcel Callo, 1921-1945)
At last God is mine and I am His! Now, let all go its round-I have received Him.
(Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1774-1821, after receiving Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time)
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)
To be always close to Jesus, that is my life's plan.
The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.
The Rosary is the ladder to climb to Heaven.
(Blessed Carlos Acutis, 1991-2006, will be canonized September 7, 2025)
Jesus Eucharistic is a conqueror ... He wants to subject the universe to His gentle sway.
(Saint Peter Julian Eymard, 1811-1868)
Here is some of what Pope Benedict XVI preached on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, June 23, 2011.
Saint Augustine helps us to understand the dynamic of Eucharistic communion when he mentions a sort of vision that he had, in which Jesus said to him: "I am the food of strong men; grow and you shall feed on me; nor shall you change me, like the food of your flesh into yourself, but you shall be changed into my likeness" (Confessions, VII, 10, 18).
Therefore, whereas food for the body is assimilated by our organism and contributes to nourishing it, in the case of the Eucharist it is a different Bread; it is not we who assimilate it, but it assimilates us in itself, so that we become conformed to Jesus Christ, a member of His Body, one with Him. This passage is crucial. In fact, precisely because it is Christ who, in Eucharistic communion changes us into Him, our individuality, in this encounter, is opened, liberated from its egocentrism and inserted into the Person of Jesus who in His turn is immersed in Trinitarian communion. The Eucharist, therefore, while it unites us to Christ also opens us to others, makes us members of one another: we are no longer divided but one in Him. Eucharistic communion not only unites me to the person beside me and with whom I may not even be on good terms, but also to our distant brethren in every part of the world.
As I said, it's a doozy.☺ Until next time, keep the faith and keep going. And day by day, the list of saints of to intercede for us grows ...
SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST,
SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA,
SAINT THOMAS MORE,
BLESSED BASIL HOPKO,
SAINT JOSEPH CAFASSO,
SAINT ETHELDREDA,
SAINT LUAN,
SAINT WILLIAM OF VERCELLI,
BLESSED MARY JOSEPHINE CATANEA,
SAINT JOSE MARIA ESCRIVA DE BALAGUER,
SAINT PELAGIUS,
SAINT CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA,
SAINT JOHN SOUTHWORTH.
OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR,
BLESSED NYKYTA BUDKA,
BLESSED VASYL VELYCHKOVSKY,
SAINT LADISLAS,
SAINT ELIZABETH OF SCHONAU,
SAINT IRENAEUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR, MARTYR,
SAINT VINCENTIA GEROSA,
SAINTS PETER AND PAUL,
THE FIRST MARTYRS OF THE SEE OF ROME,
SAINT JUNIPERO SERRA,
SAINT OLIVER PLUNKETT,
BLESSED NAZJU FALZON,
SAINT OTTO OF BAMBERG,
SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE,
BLESSED JOHN CORNELIUS,
BLESSED MARIA CROCIFISSA CURCIO,
BLESSED PIER GIORGIO FRASSATTI,
SAINT ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL,
SAINT ANTHONY MARY ZACCARIA,
OUR LADY OF BUDSLAU,
BLESSED GEORGE NICHOLS, RICHARD YAXLEY, THOMAS BELSON, HUMPRHEY PRITCHARD,
SAINT MODWEN,
SAINT MARIA GORETTI,
SAINT MONNINE,
BLESSED PETER TO ROT,
SAINT MAELRUAIN,
BLESSED MARIA ROMERO MENESES,
SAINT KILIAN,
SAINT WITHBURGA,
SAINTS AQUILA AND PRISCILLA,
THE MARTYRS OF GORCAM,
SAINT AUGUSTINE ZHAO RONG AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS,
SAINT VILLEHAD, MARTYR,
SAINT LEO IGNATIUS, PRIEST, MARY ZHU WU AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS,
BLESSED JANE SCOPELLI,
BLESSED EUGENE III, CISTERCIAN POPE,
VENERABLE AUGUSTUS TOLTON,
SAINT CANUT, KING AND MARTYR, PATRON OF DENMARK,
MARTYRS OF DAMASCUS,
PRAY FOR US.
*See www.duomodiorvieto.it.
Today's photo: From d and John's garden of delights. Blessed be God Most High.
© Gertrude Feick 2025
