Corpus Christi

Jesus, living Bread that came down from heaven, have mercy on us.

Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, instituted by the Catholic Church to solemnly commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist.

"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, Who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire His blood, which is love incorruptible.

"Come together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may obey the bishop and the priests, and break one Bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ."

- Saint Ignatius of Antioch (+ AD 110)

The Feast of the Sacred Heart is on the ninth day starting from today. Let us pray to him with trust and humility.

A Novena to the Sacred Heart of our Lord and Savior (Day One)

Cor ad cor loquitur

Pause, set aside your sorrows and preoccupations as well as you can for the moment, still your heart, recall that God, from the abundance of His love, offers you the medicine of immortality for the healing of your soul. Then speak from your heart to your Creator:

O most holy Heart of Jesus,
fountain of every blessing,
I adore Thee, I love Thee
and with a lively sorrow for my sins,
I offer Thee this poor heart of mine.
Make me humble, patient, pure
and wholly obedient to Thy will.
Grant, good Jesus,
that I may live in Thee and for Thee.
Protect me in the midst of danger;
comfort me in my afflictions;
give me health of body,
assistance in my temporal needs,
Thy blessing on all that I do,
and the grace of a holy death.
Within Thy Heart I place my every care.
In every need let me come to Thee
with humble trust saying,
Heart of Jesus help me.

A Litany in Reparation...

... to Our Lord in the Eucharist

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.

Sacred Host, offered for the salvation of sinners,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, annihilated on the altar for us and by us,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, despised by lukewarm Christians,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, mark of contradiction,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, delivered over to infidels and heretics,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, insulted by blasphemers,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, Bread of angels, given to animals,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, flung into the mud and trampled underfoot,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, dishonored by unfaithful priests,
Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, forgotten and abandoned in Thy churches,
Have mercy on us.

Be merciful unto us,
Pardon us, O Lord.
Be merciful unto us,
Hear us, O Lord.

For the outrageous contempt of this most wonderful Sacrament,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For Thine extreme humiliation in Thine admirable Sacrament,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For all unworthy Communions,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the irreverences of wicked Christians,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the profanation of Thy sanctuaries,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the holy ciboriums dishonored and carried away by force,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the continual blasphemies of impious men,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the obduracy and treachery of heretics,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the unworthy conversations carried on in Thy holy temples,
We offer Thee our reparation.
For the profaners of Thy churches which they have desecrated by their sacrileges,
We offer Thee our reparation.

That it may please Thee to increase in all Christians
the reverence due to this adorable Mystery,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to manifest the Sacrament of Thy Love to heretics,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to grant us the grace to atone for their hatred
by our burning love for Thee,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee that the insults of those who outrage Thee
may rather be directed against ourselves,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee graciously to receive this our humble reparation,
we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to make our adoration acceptable to Thee,
we beseech Thee, hear us.

Pure Host, hear our prayer.
Holy Host, hear our prayer.
Immaculate Host, hear our prayer.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

V. See, O Lord, our affliction,
R. And give glory to Thy Holy Name.

Let Us Pray:
O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who dost deign to remain with us
in Thy wonderful Sacrament
to the end of the world,
in order to give to Thy Father,
by the memory of Thy Passion,
eternal glory,
and to give to us the Bread of life everlasting:
Grant us the grace to mourn,
with a heart full of sorrow,
over the injuries which Thou hast received in this adorable Mystery,
and over the many sacrileges which are committed by the impious,
by heretics and by bad Catholics.

Inflame us with an ardent zeal to repair all these insults
to which, in Thine infinite mercy,
Thou hast preferred to expose Thyself
rather than deprive us of Thy Presence on our altars,
Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit
livest and reignest one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Offered on the Feast of Corpus Christi, AD 2007)

Corpus Christi, observed

Today is the day on which the Catholic Church in the United States observes the feast of Corpus Christi. It is not the traditional day, which was last Thursday, but still, as an expression of the Church's faith, it is within the Church's powers to change when the day is celebrated. Moving the day from Thursday to Sunday, we lose some of the connection to Holy Thursday, but gain more worshippers for the Lord.

Last Thursday, Corpus Christi as traditionally observed, the American bishops very fittingly announced their approval of corrections to various mistranslations in the Mass. Since this was the day on which we particularly honor our Lord's True Presence in the Holy Eucharist, one might think that our bishops would have paid particular attention to the words of consecration. One would be mistaken. Fixing lesser errors, the good bishops left our Lord's (supposed) words in the consecration of the Precious Blood at variance from what He actually said. But it is not in the Church's power to change what He said!

From today's first reading:
Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do." Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of His."
(Exodus 24:7-8)

From today's Gospel:
Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is My blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many."
(Mark 14:23-24)

+++

A bright note at the meeting of the American bishops mentioned above was the address by the relatively new chairman of ICEL, the Right Reverend Arthur Roche. He spoke with the sensitivity to the sacred one hopes for from a man in his position:

...Another example is found in the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer in the phrase the fruit of the vine in the Institution Narrative. Currently we say he took the cup filled with wine, as you know, and some argue that the fruit of the vine means the same as the single word wine, and that the simpler expression should be preferred. But we hear the words the fruit of the vine on the lips of the Lord himself in all three synoptic Gospels – which I would consider as being more than enough reason to respect their form.

...The prayers of the Mass, including the anaphoras, are mainly inspired and formed from Sacred Scripture, and the Commission of ICEL has accepted one very important point found in Liturgiam authenticam and accepted it as being crucial, namely the significance of the language of Sacred Scripture in our translation of the Mass. One good example of this is the translation of the Domine non sum dignus as, Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, with its reminiscence of the Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant.

The link between the Liturgy and Scripture, on which Liturgiam authenticam lays emphasis, seems so obvious, important and valuable. ...

I cannot help but think that what is being asked of us bishops today is no less vital than what was being asked of Paul when, in the face of the cacophonous Church at Corinth, he wrote:

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, ...

Corpus Christi

"I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven, that, if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is My flesh for the life of the world."

John 6:48-52



Corpus Christi Sequence
by St. Thomas Aquinas

Zion, to Thy Savior sing,
To Thy Shepherd and Thy King!
Let the air with praises ring!

All thou canst, proclaim with mirth,
For far higher is His worth
Than the glory words may wing.

Lo! before our eyes and living
Is the Sacred Bread life-giving,
Theme of canticle and hymn.

We profess this Bread from heaven
To the Twelve by Christ was given,
For our faith rests firm in Him.

Let us form a joyful chorus,
May our lauds ascend sonorous,
Bursting from each loving breast.

For we solemnly record
How the Table of the Lord
With the Lamb’s own gift was blest.

On this altar of the King
This new Paschal Offering
Brings an end to ancient rite.

Shadows flee that truth may stay,
Oldness to the new gives way,
And night’s darkness to the light.

What at Supper Christ completed
He ordained to be repeated,
In His memory divine.

Wherefore now, with adoration,
We, the Host of our salvation,
Consecrate from bread and wine.

Words a nature’s course derange,
That in Flesh the bread may change
And the wine in Christ’s own Blood.

Does it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of light transcending
Leaps to things not understood.

Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden;
Signs, not things, are all we see.

Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine,
Yet is Christ in either sign,
All entire confessed to be.

And whoever of Him partakes,
Severs not, nor rends, nor breaks:
All entire, their Lord receive.

Whether one or thousand eat,
All receive the self-same meat,
Nor do less for others leave.

Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food:
But with ends how opposite!

With this most substantial Bread,
Unto life or death they’re fed,
In a difference infinite.

Nor a single doubt retain,
When they break the Host in twain,
But that in each part remain
What was in the whole before;
For the outward sign alone
May some change have undergone,
While the Signified stays one,
And the same forevermore.

Hail! Thou Bread of Angels, broken,
For us pilgrims food, and token
Of the promise by Christ spoken,
Children’s meat, to dogs denied!

Shown in Isaac’s dedication,
In the Manna’s preparation,
In the Paschal immolation,
In old types pre-signified.

Jesus, Shepherd mild and meek,
Shield the poor, support the weak,
Pity all who pardon seek,
And who place all trust in Thee,
Fill them with Thy Charity!

Source of all we have or know,
Feed and lead us here below.

Grant that with Thy Saints above,
Sitting at the feast of love
We may see Thee face to face.

Amen. Alleluia.