Today we celebrate another wonderful feast on the Catholic Church calendar: The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Formerly, this feast was called “Corpus Christi” — Latin for “Body of Christ” and was celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday — 60 days after Easter.  In some countries, it is a Holy Day of Obligation; and in many parishes it is often celebrated with great festivity, including a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets around the church. Although the institution of the Eucharist is celebrated on Holy Thursday during Holy Week, but because that day is linked to Good Friday and thus part of the very somber mood of the Triduum, this feast was established as a separate solemnity to give Catholics an opportunity to honor the Blessed Sacrament with much more pomp and joy. Like many feasts, it has been transferred to the Sunday following: this year on June 6.     

I remember one year when Father Joe and I were in a small town in Italy, the village of Spello near Assisi, we saw many of the residents making canopies out of local flowers to drape the floats for the upcoming procession on the festival day of “The Body and Blood of Christ”. These floral creations were very beautiful and elaborate and filled the narrow streets of Spello with a wonderful fragrance.

The most important aspect of this feast is a reminder that we believe in the “Real Presence”. The Eucharist is not a reminder nor a symbol of Jesus’ Body and Blood, but an actual change from bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.  This doctrine is called “transubstantiation”, that is “the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining”. When we say “Amen” after the words “The Body of Christ” or “The Blood of Christ”, we are saying “I believe . . . I believe that what I see and what I am receiving is truly the body and blood of Christ.”

Besides receiving the Eucharist at Mass — weekdays and weekends — we have other opportunities to honor Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  Once a month, usually on the first Thursday of each month, we have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. with a special hour just for parents and young children from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. And, of course, every day — seven days a week — the Eucharistic Chapel is open from 6:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. 

By the way, there are new summer hours for our Gift Shop: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (noon) and Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Saturdays we will keep the same hours, that is, 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. (noon). Of course, as always, “Gifts of the Spirit” (Gift Shop) will be open before and after all the weekend Masses.

Finally, I, along with many of the Diocesan priests, will be on retreat from Monday through Friday of next week, June 7 through 11.  We are at a new retreat location this year in Southern California: Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Alhambra, California. Please keep all of us in your prayers. Fr. Joe and Fr. Tom will preside at the weekday Masses. Fr. Tom Gross will take care of all emergency sick calls.
 

Have a good week. God bless you.

Each year we are invited to participate generously in the Catholic Stewardship Appeal, so to be good and faithful Catholic stewards. This year, the pandemic has challenged us in living our faith and practicing stewardship like never before. At the same time, this moment of crisis has opened for us new opportunities to evangelize and practice charity. Our pastoral outreach, through televised, taped, and live-streamed Masses, supported by the CSA, has expanded in ways we’ve never dreamed before. And as our parishes open up again, and more faithful assist at Mass and receive the sacraments, we also open up to new stewardship opportunities, strengthening one another in the faith.

Spring & Summer decor out now! Stop by to check it out! 

Tuesday & Thursday 8am - 4pm