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SCRIPTURE
READINGS
|
Exodus |
24:3-8 |
| Psalm |
115 |
| Hebrews |
9:11-15 |
| Mark |
14:12-16,
22-26 |
Why
do we have this feast?
It
was due to St. Juliana, an Augustinian nun in the
thirteenth century and then instituted for the Universal
Church by Pope Urban IV in 1246. He requested St.
Thomas Aquinas to compose a special liturgy for
the feast. This included the hymn sequence Lauda
Sion, frequently set to music, which clearly expresses
the institution of the Eucharist by Our Lord and
the doctrine of transubstantiation, the real presence
of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Why
at this time?
It
enables us to celebrate the gift of the Eucharist
as our spiritual food. Placed on the Thursday after
Trinity Sunday because it could not be celebrated
joyfully on Maundy Thursday due to the sadness of
Holy Week and the many themes at that time, among
which we can focus on this one now. Bishops in many
countries have been allowed to transfer it to the
Sunday to enable more people to remember and celebrate
it (including the traditional processions) in the
busy complexities of modern working life.
Why
is it now called the Solemnity of the Most Holy
Body and Blood of Christ?
There
used to be a Feast of the Precious Blood on 1 st
July and this is the dedication of our cathedral.
This feast has now been brought together with Corpus
Christi . It reminds us that the Eucharist is a
making present of the sacrifice of Christ, whose
blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of
sins. It enables us to renew our faith in the teachings
of the Council of Trent which defended the Real
Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament ('there
are contained truly, really and substantially, the
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ together
with the soul and divinity, and therefore the whole
Christ') and also the sacrifice of the Mass (not
' only one of praise and thanksgiving or a mere
commemoration of the sacrifice enacted on the cross.')
It enables us moreover to grasp the insights of
the Second Vatican Council: 'Really sharing in the
body of the Lord in the breaking of the Eucharistic
bread, we are taken up into communion with him and
with one another.' In the Eucharist we receive the
body of Christ to become the Body of Christ, that
is, the Church. In receiving the chalice we may
enter more fully in heart and mind into Our Lord's
self-giving sacrifice.
Fr
Tony Nye, SJ
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