Our Lady of Guadalupe

Date: June, 7

Jesus said to the Jews, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him.” John 6: 53-56

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is celebrated two weeks after Pentecost Sunday.

This Solemnity honors Jesus Christ, Really, Truly and Substantially Present under the appearances of bread and wine.

This Presence happens through the change which the Church calls Transubstantiation (“change of substance”), when at the Consecration of the Mass, the priest says the words which Christ Himself pronounced over bread and wine, “This is My Body,” “This is the chalice of My Blood,” “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, spend time pondering the profound mystery of the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. As we kneel before Him, we truly kneel before His throne in Heaven, despite the reality being veiled from our eyes. As we consume the Blessed Sacrament, we truly consume Christ Himself- Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity- and receive Him into our souls.

Though we might not feel Him with our bodily senses, we must allow our spiritual sense of faith to grow so that our love for Him in this Most Precious Gift exponentially increases. Let’s conclude with the “Tantum Ergo,” which is taken from the last two verses of the beautiful hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the “Pange Lingua:”

Down in adoration falling, Lo! the Sacred Host we hail; Lo! o’er ancient forms departing, newer rites of grace prevail; faith for all defects supplying, where the feeble senses fail. To the Everlasting Father, and the Son who reigns on high, with the Holy Ghost proceeding forth from Each eternally, be salvation, honor, blessing, might and endless majesty. Amen. Alleluia.

PRAYER: 

My Eucharistic Lord, please instill in me a profound love for You Who are truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist. May I always adore You, believe in You, hope in You, and love You. I pray that my faith and devotion to You in this Most Holy Sacrament will more fully unite my soul to Yours and that my love and devotion will be a source of reparation for the indifference with which You are so often treated. Jesus, present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, I trust in You!