The Holy Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by seeking the Gifts of Knowledge and Understanding from the Holy Spirit so he can grow in awe and love of the Mass and by building the Virtues of Gratitude and Piety so he can joyously receive Christ’s life-saving Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
Liturgy
Solemnity of the Corpus Christi – Sunday – Cycle B – Mk 14:12-16, 22-26
Commentary
Achieving God’s deliberate plan of salvation, Jesus’ entire life and the three years of His public ministry prefigure and reveal the saving events of His Passion. Jesus begins His Passion at the Last Supper by instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist, His Most Holy Body and Blood.
Beginning on Holy Thursday, Jesus transforms the Passover Seder, a Jewish ritual meal which commemorates the Passover and deliverance from Egypt (Ex 12), into His Eucharist by the transubstantiation of simple bread and wine into His Glorified Body and Blood; Jesus’ transformation of the Seder is complete when He sips wine from the Cross (Jn 19:23-30), the final cup of blessing in the Jewish Seder. Jesus’ death establishes the eternal New Covenant in which those who repent, are baptized in Christ, become adopted children of God, remain free of mortal sin and are fed by His Most Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist, will be welcomed into the eternal joy of Heaven.
After the Ascension, the Apostles continued to emphasize the celebration of the Eucharist (Acts 2:42). As early as the 5th century, the Holy Catholic Church celebrated a special day in recognition of the Eucharist, and by the 12th century established the Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for the Body of Christ). Because Holy Thursday celebrates Christ’s example of the humble act of washing the feet of the Apostles, and the anticipation of the great sorrow of Good Friday, a separate feast day was established to focus on the Divine Gift of the Eucharist. Today, the week after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Catholics around the world celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, glorifying God, giving thanks for His Most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and witnessing to the world by making public Eucharistic processions.
Be awed by Jesus Christ
Be astounded by how Jesus establishes the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Source and Summit of the faith: He amazes, shocks, and confuses His disciples as He prefigures the Eucharist in the Feeding of the 5000 and The Sermon on the Bread of Life (Jn 6); He transforms the 1200 year-old annual ritual of the Passover, including the ritual of thanksgiving (Greek – eukharistos), by becoming the sacrificial Lamb of God in the Crucifixion; Divine Priest, He establishes the Sacrament of Holy Orders, allowing Catholic priests to continually feed Catholics at every Mass with His glorified Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Grow in love and awe of the Mass
Realize: Beginning with the Apostles, Christ’s Holy Catholic Church has grown in understanding and celebration of the Eucharist in the Mass for two millennia.
Believe: Reflect upon the Liturgy of the Eucharist (CCC 1345-1419).
Pray: Holy Spirit, give me the Gifts of Knowledge and Understanding so You help me better know and understand the marvelous Liturgy of the Mass, and I experience overwhelming awe and happiness each time I am blessed to be a witness of Christ’s Passion in the Eucharist.
Joyously receive Christ’s life-saving Body and Blood
Realize: Jesus, with the Divine Wisdom and Power as the Son of God, dies to give every Catholic man His Body and Blood.
Believe: Reflect upon the Eucharist as the Center of the Economy of Salvation (CCC 1333-1344) and is the Source and Summit of the faith.
Pray: Jesus, Holy Eucharist, help me build the Virtues of Gratitude and Piety (parts of Justice) so I grow in gratefulness and piously build a sacramental life, and I have an aching hunger for You and joyously receive Your Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist.
