Corpus Christi

Today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This is a uniquely Catholic feast, and predates the reformation by a few hundred years. St. Juliana of Mount Cornillon, d. 1258, was the first to start praying for this feast to come about due to her devotion to the Holy Sacrament.  The Council of Vienne (1311) ordered the feast to be celebrated, but it took a while for everyone to get on board.

St. Thomas Aquinas was instrumental in the composition of the Office, and promoting its adoption.  For me, the feast points to two things:  the reality of the incarnation, and the reality of Christ in the Eucharistic elements.  Tomorrow I will spend the greater portion of the day at the monastery, sitting before the Sacrament in the chapel, because I simply can't wait to spend that time with Christ in the form that I can see!

Yes, Christ is always with us, but is Christ always visible to us?  When the Sacrament is positioned on the altar, Christ is visible to us, and as real as any of us sitting in that chapel.  With the gradual removal of myself from public life, the time spent with Christ is ever more precious.  I look forward to the day when I may keep the Sacrament in my home chapel.  

The last thing today is to share with you the last verse of the responsory of Office of Readings.

Drink this sacred blood, the price he paid for you,
so that you may never lose heart because of your sinfulness.