Posted on 06/09/2007 10:15:52 AM PDT by markomalley
.- Christ’s incarnation and presence in the Eucharist “puts into crisis the wisdom of men”. So the Pope spoke this past Thursday, at 7 p.m., on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi).
To mark the feast, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, and afterwards presided over a Eucharistic Procession from St. John’s Basilica until the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The Pope greeted the Romans gathered there, together with the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Mons. Camillo Ruini, and other cardinals and bishops present at the celebration.
During the homily, the Pope said: “a moment ago, we have sung in the Sequence: It is certain for us Christians, / that the bread becomes flesh, / the wine becomes blood’. Today we affirm with enthusiasm our faith in the Eucharist, the Mystery which constitutes the heart of the Church.” It is also, “the gift which Jesus Christ makes of himself, revealing to us the infinite love of God for every man.”
Making reference to the counter-Reformation, the Pope noted that the feast has its origins in the desire of the people to reaffirm their belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The purpose of the feast, he said, is “to adore, praise, and thank publicly the Lord, who ‘in the eucharistic Sacrament continues to love us ‘until the end’, to the point of giving his body and his blood.’” The Apostles received the gift of the Eucharist from the Lord in the intimacy of the Last Supper, but the gift was intended for everyone, for the whole world.
Linking Thursday’s celebration with the heightened spiritual tension of the last days of Lent, the Holy Father commented: “This evening’s Eucharistic celebration leads us back to the spiritual climate of Holy Thursday, the day in which Christ, on the eve of his Passion, instituted in the Cenacle the most holy Eucharist. The feast of Corpus Domini constitutes in this way a taking up of the mystery of Holy Thursday, as if in obedience to the invitation of Jesus to ‘proclaim from the rooftops’ what He has said in secret (cf. Mt 10:27).”
As he prepared to begin the Solemn Procession, the Pope declared, “This is why [the Eucharist] is proclaimed and exposed openly, so that everyone may encounter “Jesus who passes” as he passed through the roads of Galilee, of Samaria and of Judea; so that everyone, in receiving him, may be healed and renewed by the strength of his love.”
Calling the assembly’s attention to the miracle of the Eucharist, Benedict XVI noted that “when the priest proclaims after the consecration, ‘This is the Mystery of our faith!’ he proclaims the mystery just celebrated, and manifests his stupor in front of the substantial conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding.”
Noting the disbelief today of many Christians in the real Presence of Our Lord, the Holy Father explained: “Precisely because we are dealing with a mysterious reality which surpasses our comprehension, we should not be amazed if even today many find it difficult to accept the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It could not have been otherwise…Today, just as back then, the Eucharist remains a ‘sign of contradiction’ … because a God who becomes flesh and sacrifices himself for the life of the world puts into crisis the wisdom of men.”
Besides an incredible miracle, the Eucharist is nourishment: “The Eucharist is ‘the bread of pilgrims’… the food which sustains them on their long exodus journey throughout the desert of human existence.” The Holy Father remarked that this world is like a ‘desert’, ‘dried up by ideological and economic systems which do not promote life, but instead put it to death; a world where the logic of power and of having dominate, rather than that of service and of love
As an antidote and answer to the culture of death, the Pope noted that the procession would be made “as if to bring ideally the Lord Jesus through all the streets and neighbourhoods of Rome. We will immerse Him, so to speak, in the ordinariness of our life, so that He may walk where we walk, so that He may live where we live.”
Of course, there were those who had some minor theological disputes with the idea, such as this gentleman:
For your consideration...please pass the ping on as you see appropriate!
My guess that from the look in his eyes and on his face, that was more than a mere "minor theological dispute." It could have been that the photographer caught the man at a bad moment, but still....
Amen.
Gee, and I thought he looked like a FReeper that was involved in one our religion discussions...
LOL!
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REAL PRESENCE PING!!!!!!!! |
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Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas:
“Ad Sacrosanctum Sacramentum”
O sacred banquet at which
Christ is consumed,
The memory of His Passion recalled,
our soul filled with grace,
and our pledge of future glory received:
How delightful, Lord, is Your spirit,
which shows Your sweetness to men,
offers the precious bread of heaven,
fills the hungry with good things,
and sends away empty the scornful rich.
V. You have given them bread from heaven.
R. A bread having all sweetness within it.
Let us pray:
God, Who left for us a memorial of Your Passion in this miraculous sacrament, Grant we implore You, that we may venerate the holy mystery of Your Body and Blood, so that we may ever experience in ourselves the fruitfulness of Your redemption.
You who live and reign, world without end. Amen.
(Translation from The Aquinas Prayer Book, Sophia Institute Press)
“Paging Father Gabriel Amorth. Father Gabriel Amorth please pick up the red courtesy phone.”
Happy Feast of Corpus Christi -
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at Thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.
On the cross Thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here Thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.
I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.
Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what Thy bosom ran
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with Thy glory’s sight. Amen.
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the Divine Office and Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi and what a glorious gem it is.
Glorious!
Sion, lift thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King;
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true:
Dare thy most to praise Him well;
For He doth all praise excel;
None can ever reach His due.
Special theme of praise is thine,
That true living Bread divine,
That life-giving flesh adored,
Which the brethren twelve received,
As most faithfully believed,
At the Supper of the Lord.
Let the chant be loud and high;
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt to-day in every breast;
On this festival divine
Which recounts the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.
At this table of the King,
Our new Paschal offering
Brings to end the olden rite;
Here, for empty shadows fled,
Is reality instead;
Here, instead of darkness, light.
His own act, at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
In His memory divine;
Wherefore now, with adoration,
We the Host of our salvation
Consecrate from bread and wine.
Hear what holy Church maintaineth,
That the bread its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.
Here in outward signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden;
Signs, not things, are all we see:-
Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine;
Yet is Christ, in either sign,
All entire confessed to be.
They too who of Him partake
Sever not, nor rend, nor break,
But entire their Lord receive.
Whether one or thousands eat,
All receive the selfsame meat,
Nor the less for others leave.
Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food;
But with ends how opposite!
Here 'tis life; and there 'tis death;
The same, yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite.
Nor a single doubt retain,
When they break the Host in twain,
But that in each part remains
What was in the whole before;
Since the simple sign alone
Suffers change in state or form,
The Signified remaining One
And the Same forevermore
Lo! upon the Altar lies,
Hidden deep from human eyes,
Angels' Bread from Paradise
Made the food of mortal man:
Children's meat to dogs denied;
In old types foresignified;
In the manna from the skies,
In Isaac, and the Paschal Lamb.
Jesu! Shepherd of the sheep!
Thy true flock in safety keep.
Living Bread! Thy life supply;
Strengthen us, or else we die;
Fill us with celestial grace:
Thou, who feedest us below!
Source of all we have or know!
Grant that with Thy Saints above,
Sitting at the Feast of Love,
We may see Thee face to face. Amen
After Mass today, there was a procession out of the church into the neighborhood. There were four altars set up outside and the procession stopped at each altar for a reading from the Gospel and a blessing with the Most Blessed Sacrament. Then the procession went back into the church and finished the Benediction service. Beautiful!
meant to ping you to reply #14
Ah, the mystery of our faith.
This would be a great catechism lesson.
beautiful. Praised be Jesus Christ.
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