Saturday 21 June 2014

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

This solemnity was first called Corpus Christi, yet is now called The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ to better signify the fuller meaning we see in bothe the Body and the Blood. In the celebration of the Eucharist God d provides for us today, as he provided "manna" in the desert for the people of Israel during the Exodus.
God chooses to remain with the Church in the Eucharist not because God needs us - 
but rather it is we who have need of God!


Here are some thoughts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist: 
1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."
1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."
1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.
1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking."

1382 The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood. But the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself for us.
See you at the Picnic!
Peace 

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