Feast of Corpus Christi
Since the year 1264, the Catholic Church has celebrated the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ with a solemn procession. This celebration takes place on the second Thursday after Pentecost. In
Feast of Corpus Christi
Since the year 1264, the Catholic Church has celebrated the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ with a solemn procession. This celebration takes place on the second Thursday after Pentecost. In many countries, however, "Corpus Christi" takes place on the following Sunday. This celebration recognizes the abiding presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
What does the Bible say?
At every Holy Mass the Church fulfills the mandate of Christ, who on the evening before his death instituted the Holy Eucharist and commissioned his disciples: " Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor 11:24). In doing so, the Church takes literally the words that Christ spoke over bread and wine: "This is my body... this is my blood" (Mk 14:22-24). This faith in the literal presence of Christ (real presence) in the transformed gifts of bread and wine has become ever stronger in the history of the Church, so that the Council of Trent (1545-1563) solemnly defined that in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, are truly, truly and substantially contained. On Corpus Christi, the whole Church publicly confesses Christ's provocative words: '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' (Jn 6:51). In the transformed bread, the world sees the beginning of a transformation that has already begun and will one day encompass all that has been created, for we are expecting a "new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1).
A short YOUCAT-Catechesis
Corpus Christi - all for show?
Martin Luther, as we know, was no friend of the Corpus Christi procession. He said in one of his toasts that he was "of no feast more hostile than this. Because it puts most shame on the holy sacrament, that one puts it on for show, and vainly makes idolatry of it." That's a strong word.
Was this "idolatry", that is, idol worship, - this effort that was made in my home region to make the feast of Corpus Christi the early summer highlight of the whole village? The festive event drew believers and non-believers alike onto the streets - some as spectators, others as participants. Young birch trees were cut, their greenery lined the path of the procession, metre-long flags were hung out of the windows. Mountains of grass were mowed to cover the grey of the pavement. Court entrances became altars. Everywhere, flowers shone in the window niches and candles flickered in the wind, their wax dripping onto preciously embroidered cloths. The people stood in a trellis.
And then the mystical drum approached, wrapped in a picturesque cloud of incense and brass music: the great procession, the carrying cross in front, First Communion children scattering rose petals, delegations of flags of the associations, large fire brigade deployment. Under the "roof" (a portable fabric roof): the monstrance, the holy golden showpiece, which carried the mysterious core for the enormous effort in its middle: a small piece of tasteless bread, multipliable by billions, of course endlessly loaded with meaning through a word of Christ: "This is my body for you...". (1 Cor 11:24)
Is Luther not right? Strictly speaking, the primal scene with Jesus was about a festive supper. In YOUCAT 208 it says: "When we eat the broken Bread, we unite ourselves with the love of Jesus, who gave his body for us on the wood of the Cross; when we drink from the chalice, we unite ourselves with him who even poured out his blood out of love for us.". And shouldn't we just have another festive meal if we want to follow Jesus' invitation: "Do this in memory of me" (1 Cor 11:24)? Instead of running around outside and making a show of it, with some showing their faith and (some just) their clothes, while others mockingly twist their lips?
Is there nothing to see? Just to eat?
From Pierre Rousselot, a young Jesuit who died in the First World War, the word comes from the "eyes of faith"; he meant the supernatural power of knowledge of love. It may be that the one who sees nothing in this piece of bread around which everyt