This Sunday we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, or the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This solemn celebration of the Eucharistic Mystery invites us to a renewed gratitude for this greatest of gifts, that of Jesus himself, body, blood, soul and divinity in the most sacred mystery of the Eucharist. As Pope Francis observed in this Angelus address of 2018, the gift that we receive inspires us to reflect in our lives the self-giving love of Jesus:
“Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, through this most sober and also so solemn Sacrament, we experience the New Covenant which fulfils the communion between God and us. And as participants in this Covenant we, although small and poor, cooperate in building history as God wills. For this reason, while constituting an act of public worship of God, every Eucharistic celebration refers to life and the tangible events of our existence. As we are nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, we are assimilated with him; we receive his love within us, not to hold it back selfishly, but rather to share it with others. This logic is inscribed in the Eucharist: we receive his love within us and we share it with others. This is the Eucharistic logic.”
(Image: Jean-Henri Marlet, Corpus Christi procession, parish of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, Paris, c. 1825.)