Orlando Cardinal Quevedo's Thoughts to Live by

Fr. Cardinal Quevedo :

Today's Thoughts to Live by, 2 June, 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi):

Liturgy of the Word --

Ex. 2:3-8;

Ps. 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18;

Heb. 9:11-15;

Mk. 14:12-16, 22-26.

1. Some Notes on Corpus Christi: As Catholics, we believe that Christ is really present in the Holy Eucharist, that his sacrifice on the Cross is repeated at every Mass, and that he gives himself to us at Holy Communion as food for eternal life. By instituting the Holy Eucharist, Jesus entrusted to the Church, his beloved Spouse, "a memorial of his death and resurrection, a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity" (CCC, 1323).

2. Three of the four Gospels record the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Mt. 26:25-29; Mk. 14:22-25; Lk. 22: 19-23. The earliest record is by St. Paul, whose 1 Cor. 11:23-25, predates the Gospels. However, in Jn. 6:51, John had already reported what Jesus told the Jews in Capharnaum: "I myself am the Living Bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world."

3. It was Pope Urban IV who established in 1264 the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ for the whole Church.

The Pope acknowledged the efforts of St. Juliana of Liege, France, who for years had visions of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus gave her a message to plead for the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi. In 1263, the Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena confirmed the visions of St. Juliana. A German priest on pilgrimage celebrated Mass in Bolsena. He was having doubts in the Real Presence. At the Consecration, blood started seeping from the consecrated host onto the altar and corporal. Pope Urban IV authenticated the miracle. The sacred host and the blood stained corporal now remain at Orvieto.

4. The Pope instructed the Angelic Doctor to write the hymns for Corpus Christi.

The two verses, Tantum Ergo, sung at Benediction, are the last 2 verses of the hymn, Pange Lingua. The two verses, O Salutaris Hostia, are the last two verses of the hymn, Verbum Supernum Prodiens. And the beautiful hymn, Panis Angelicus, is the last stanza of the hymn Sacris Solemniis. St. Thomas Aquinas also composed the Sequence for Corpus Christi, Lauda Sion Salvatorem.

5. The feast honors the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist, that Jesus Christ is substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine. The process of changing substance is called "transubstantiation." This takes place at the Consecration of the Mass, when the priest says the words which Christ himself pronounced over the bread and wine: "This is my Body," "This is the chalice of my Blood," "Do this in memory of me."

6. St. Augustine said: "Receive what you are and become what you receive; be flesh and blood given for the life of the world." How striking it is that Jesus would use two very mundane and common place items, bread and wine, "fruit of the earth" and "work of human hands," to become, by mythis very self, his body and blood, his soul, mind, and heart, his humanity and divinity. And these ordinary products of human work proclaim the beauty and magnificence of God's Creation, his gift to us as our common home, whose integrity and development we need to care for.

7. Become what you receive. It is in being broken and in being shared in self-sacrificial love and service of others that we become like Jesus whom we receive.

8: Gospel, Mk. 14: 12-16. 22-26: "On the 1st day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover Lamb" (v. 12), the Lord Jesus gathered his disciples for the Passover meal (v. 15). "While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' And he took a cup of wine and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they drank all of it and he said to them, 'This is my blood of the New Covenant which is poured out for many'" (vv. ).

9. Jesus' sacrificial death is signified by the separate consecration of bread and wine. The event anticipates the actual breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood on the cross. He himself is the sacrificial Passover lamb offered to the Father in a New Passover and the sign of a New Covenant with God. The Eucharist then is the memorial of our liberation from sin and marks our passage to a life of grace. Through the Eucharist a New Covenant between God and a new people of God is forged.The Eucharist is simply the sign of God's eternal ever-present love for us.

10. Prayer -- O Jesus, you left us a wonderful memorial of your Passion in this sacrament. Grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption. This we pray in your most holy name. Amen. (Today's Collect simplified).

Prayers, best wishes, God bless!