The Solemnity of Corpus Christi – The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Sunday, June 11, 2023
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June 10, 2023The Solemnity of Corpus Christi – The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Sunday, June 11, 2023
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
This feast is set aside to remind us of the great gift we have from the Lord Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The night He was betrayed by sin and hate, ourselves included, He did the opposite and instituted for us the Most Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Love. This was done on Holy Thursday. The next day on Good Friday what was begun at the Last Supper was completed on the Cross, when Our Lord cried out: “It is finished.” Thus the Holy Eucharist is primarily the renewal of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross in an unbloody manner under the appearances of bread and wine.
From the very beginning the celebration of the Holy Mass, and thus the Holy Eucharist, has been at the heart of the Church. The early Christians first gathered in the synagogues to listen to the Scriptures, and then in their homes for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. There was not even the consideration of gathering in church buildings since Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire. Yet there is clear evidence that even these early Eucharistic celebrations were considered important and were celebrated with dignity and devotion. After a relatively short period, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist were united in one celebration, with the gradual inclusion of the New Testament Scriptures. Early accounts of Roman confiscation of Christian Mass items show that the Christians of the first centuries gave their best to God in worship. This is contrary to what some might think. Yes, even then there were gold candle sticks! Remarkable! Early Church practices in no way justify some contemporary attempts to secularize the Mass or to surround it with the cheap and common. And this was during the centuries before Christian Churches became legal.
Pope Benedict XVI often reminded us that for evangelization to take place, which requires a renewal of faith among believers, the proper celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, particularly the Holy Mass is essential. We have nothing to offer, but what we have received. Every Mass is an encounter with God, who is transcendent yet immanent, ready to open heaven to earth. Only by entering the Holy of Holies can we take up the Cross and follow the Lord. To diminish our sense of the sacred and to deny that our worship is primarily for the greater honor and glory of God is to follow a dead end path that cannot bear good fruit. Those Catholics who fail to assist at Mass regularly are part of the problem, not some how part of an enlightened, new era in the Church. Not to be present at Sunday Mass is to begin to slide down the slippery slope that leads to secularism and relativism. In order for souls to find the Lord there must be the faithful and vibrant witness of Catholics who live their day to day lives in union with the Eucharistic Christ.
On this special feast day we renew our faith in the Real Presence, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Holy Mass. May we always approach these sacred mysteries with purest souls, praying that His Body and Blood will preserve us unto life eternal.
Yours in the Lord,
The Rev. Mark G. Mazza
Pastor
