Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

My dear friends in Christ,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, our Parish Feast Day. Historically known by the Latin name, Corpus Christi, it celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in The Holy Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It’s the Church’s official act of homage and gratitude to Christ, who by instituting the Holy Eucharist gave to the Church her greatest treasure. Holy Thursday, assuredly, marks the anniversary of the institution, but the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion that very night suppresses the rejoicing proper to the occasion. Today’s observance, therefore, accents the joyous aspect of Holy Thursday. The Mass and the Office for the feast was edited or composed by St. Thomas Aquinas upon the request of Pope Urban IV in the year 1264. St. Thomas Aquinas writes about this great Feast: “My dearly beloved, is it not beyond human power to express the ineffable delicacy of this sacrament in which spiritual sweetness is tasted in its very source, in which is brought to mind the remembrance of that all–excelling charity which Christ showed in His sacred passion? Surely it was to impress more profoundly upon the hearts of the faithful the immensity of this charity that our loving Savior instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper.” “O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.”

We welcome our guests who are with us for our celebration of Corpus Christi this weekend. We welcome in a very special way the Clergy (Priests, Deacons, and Religious) who have served our Parish over the years.

May God bless you all!

Father John