Becoming Christ's Body
Corpus Christi
Announcements for June 5, 2021:
With due cause, we are pushing into post-pandemic life at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Please keep in mind that our efforts to return to normal here will present different challenges and obstacles to different people. Please be patient and loving to your fellow parishioners. And feel free to be in touch with me with questions and concerns as we move forward.
We are now collecting your intentions for our Father’s Day remembrances. If you are not using envelopes, you can find the place to donate in the parish campaigns section of our beyond the tithe webpage.
The Corpus Christi food drive begins virtually this weekend. To participate, visit Catholic Charities' website to make a monetary donation, or to shop online to have items shipped directly to their food pantries.
Our diocesan appeal this month is for Latin & South American ministries and Catholic Relief Services. For more information the appeal, and to give online, visit our Monthly Appeals page.
As always, check out the Parishioner Portal for more announcements.
Please be in touch with me if you need anything at all, or if you'd like to share any questions or concerns.
Dear Saints,
This Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
The Feast reinforces what the Church teaches about the Eucharist, especially the reality of transubstantiation: that Jesus' words, "This is my Body... This is my Blood...," change bread and wine into his Body and Blood.
And so, Jesus is present whole and entire - body, blood, soul, and divinity - in the Eucharist.
When we receive Holy Communion - whether we only eat the sacred host (or any tiny piece thereof), or only drink from the chalice (or any small drop therefrom), or we both eat and drink - what we receive in the Eucharist is nothing more and nothing less than the actual body, blood, soul, and divinity of our risen Lord in its entirety.
This truth and more is contained in the great hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas composed for the Feast of Corpus Christi at the request of Pope Urban IV. Check it out here in anticipation of hearing it again on Sunday:
Thomas Aquinas: Laud, O Zion
(Corpus Christi Sequence)
So, that's the skinny on the what of the Eucharist, but what can we say about the why of the Most Blessed Sacrament?
Saint Augustine, I think, said it best. Preaching in the 4th and 5th centuries, he reflected on "one of the deep truths of Christian faith: through our participation in the sacraments, we are transformed into the Body of Christ, given for the world."
The point is that every time we receive the Body of Christ, we are transformed - or should be transformed - a little more fully into what we receive, so that the divine love that flows into us by our communing with Jesus might flow through us into the world.
Here's to our being and becoming the Body of Christ! What a tremendous gift... what a tremendous calling!
In the Love of our Eucharistic Lord,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
PS Want more on Sunday's feast? Give my bulletin article a look. How about the Real Presence? Check out this collection of teachings from the Fathers of the Church (dating back to 90AD) on the Eucharist.
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
The Solemnity of
the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Christ the Saviour with the Eucharist
Juan de Juanes, 1545-50