Corpus Christi - for the world's salvation! ...

 Solemnity of the 
Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

(Corpus Christi)

"This Solemnity does not only celebrate the Eucharist but solemnly

 bears it in procession, publicly proclaiming that the sacrifice of Christ 

is for the salvation of the whole world." - Pope St John Paul II

 Jesu, of Your love befriend us,
You refresh us, You defend us,
Your eternal goodness, send us
In the land of life to see.
Sequence for Corpus Christi

 

"Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee,
truly present beneath these veils:
all my heart subdues itself before Thee,
since all before Thee faints and fails." 

Adoro Te Devote, St Thomas Aquinas

 

"Be the apostle of the divine Eucharist, 

like a flame which enlightens and warms, 

like the Angel of His heart who will go to proclaim Him 

to those who don't know Him and 

will encourage those who love Him and are suffering."

St. Peter Julian Eymard

to Mme Antoinette de Grandville

July 4, 1859

"We have Him so near in the Blessed Sacrament,

where He is already glorified and

where we don't have to gaze upon Him as being

so tired and worn out, bleeding, wearied by His journeys,

persecuted by those for whom He did so much good,

and not believed in by the Apostles . . . .

Behold Him here without suffering,

full of glory ...

strengthening some, encouraging others,

our companion in the most Blessed Sacrament."

St. Teresa of Avila

Pope's homily forthcoming later today (Mass/Procession: Sunday eve, Rome)

Click here: Are You a Mouse or A Man? A Homily: Feast of Corpus Christi - (Msgr Charles Pope)

Click here: Spiritualdirection.com || Corpus Christi Sunday: A Symbolic Solemnity?

 

A special plenary indulgence is available for Corpus Christi:

Grant #7.1.3

Eucharistic Adoration and Procession

Plenary indulgence

The faithful who piously participate in solemn Eucharistic procession, either inside or outside of a Church, especially on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, may receive a plenary indulgence.

1 and 1 and 1 is One...

"The Best ideal is the true and other truth is none. 

All glory be ascribed to the holy Three in One."  
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

"All three in a great dynamic of love, 
are so close that they are One God." ~ Fr. John Foley, S. J.

Trinity Sunday, officially "The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity," is one of the few feasts of the Christian Year that celebrates a reality and doctrine rather than an event or person. On Trinity Sunday we remember and honor the eternal God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Trinity Sunday is celebrated the Sunday after Pentecost, and lasts only one day, which is symbolic of the unity of the Trinity. The Eastern Churches have no tradition of Trinity Sunday, arguing that they celebrate the Trinity every Sunday. Westerners do as well, although they set aside a special feast day for the purpose.

"O Trinity, eternal Trinity! Fire, abyss of love

was it necessary that you should give
even the Holy Trinity as food for souls?

You gave us not only your Word
through the Redemption and in the Eucharist,
but you also gave Yourself
in the fullness of love for Your creature.

St Catherine of Siena

Painting above:  Holy Trinity ~ Jacquemart de Hesdin

O Sisters, if we would only comprehend the fact 
that while the Eucharistic Species remain within us, 
Jesus is there and working in us
inseparably with the Father and the Holy Spirit
and therefore the whole Holy Trinity is there."

St Mary Magdalene di Pazzi

"In the communion of grace with the Trinity, 
man's 'living area' is broadened

and raised up to the supernatural level of divine life."

Pope St John Paul II

Click here: What is the Trinity? - (2:24 mins) Bishop Robert Barron

Click here: 1 and 1 and 1 is One – A Homily for Trinity Sunday (Msgr Charles Pope)

Click here: you tube - holy trinity  (2:40 mins)

All glory be to the Father

and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

St Norbert, defender of the Eucharist! ...

"You will never enjoy the sweetness of a quiet prayer unless you
shut your mind to all worldly desires and temporal affairs." - St Norbert

The Defenders of the Eucharist ~ Peter Paul Rubens (1625)

In the sixteenth century, the denial of the Real Presence occurred again, along with a repudiation of the Mass as making present the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus. The Church’s response through the Council of Trent strongly reaffirmed these Eucharistic truths and sponsored the revival of Eucharistic devotions initiated in the Middle Ages.

Perhaps the greatest Eucharistic artwork from this period is Peter Paul Rubens’s oil painting entitled The Defenders of the Eucharist, created in 1625. Rubens reached back to the golden age of the Church Fathers as well as to  outstanding saints of the Middle Ages and assembled seven of them in one scene, united in the one faith of the Church witnessing their unity through the centuries of faith in the Eucharistic presence of Christ.  Today that painting is on display in the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida.

Beginning on the right side of the canvass, Rubens pictures St. Jerome, dressed as a cardinal receiving Communion. Next to him stands St. Norbert, clothed in his white habit and carrying the Eucharist beneath his robes. St. Thomas Aquinas stands in the center holding a book and extending his other hand to heaven, a gesture proclaiming his defense of the Eucharist. Beside him is St. Clare of Assisi, holding a monstrance that displays the sacred Eucharistic host. To her left is St. Gregory the Great, the pope who wrote so many works contained in the Mass. Then comes St. Ambrose, who wrote about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Rubens finishes his gathering of defenders of the Eucharist with St. Augustine, who included his reflections on this sacrament in his famous treatise on the Holy Trinity.

Rubens produced this painting during the Church’s Counter-Reformation efforts to defend and reclaim the authentic teachings about the Eucharist and the devotions that assisted believers to deepen their commitment to this mystery of faith.

The seven saints represented in this painting summarize our belief in the Eucharist. It is a sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus made present in a sacramental way. It is a sacrament of the abiding presence of Christ in the transformed bread and wine become his Body and Blood. It is a sacramental meal begun on Holy Thursday and available to us in Holy Communion.
This sacrament is available to members of the Catholic Church who are in the state of grace. It is a transforming sacrament. The term “transubstantiation” means that the substance of bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. In receiving Communion, we too undergo a gradual transformation into Christ and are called to spread His love given to us throughout the world.  

Excerpt of Text from article: The Saints and Eucharistic Devotion

by Norbertine priest - Fr. Alfred McBride

St Norbert

Germany ~ 1080 - 1134

Bishop, Founder of the Norbertine Order*

Zealous preacher

Unswerving loyalty to the Church

Wholly devoted to Holy Eucharist,

tirelessly defended sanctity of Blessed Sacrament

Known as "Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament"

Incorrupt

Feast Day - June 6

On the occasion of his ordination to the priesthood, Norbert said,

"O Priest! You are not of yourself 

because you are the servant and minister of Christ. 

You are not your own because you are the spouse of the Church. 

You are not yourself because you are the mediator between God and man. 

You are not from yourself because you are nothing.

What then are you? Nothing and everything. O Priest! 

Take care lest what was  said to Christ on the cross be said to you: 

'He saved others, himself he cannot save!'"

Click here: St. Norbert, Bishop, Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament (2 mins)

Click here: Vignette of Norbertine Life at St. Michael's Abbey - YouTube (5mins)

Click here: Norbertine Sisters in Americas - YouTube (25 mins)

St Norbert, pray for us!