Corpus Christi

Dear Parish Family,

Today we continue to celebrate the marvels of the Lord with the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This celebration offers us the opportunity to focus clearly and deeply on this central mystery of our Catholic Faith – the True Presence of Jesus in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity actually made present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

We are reminded that the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) named the Eucharist and the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the “source and summit of the Christian life.” Everything we do, all the aspects of our Faith, should orient and direct us toward the Eucharist, and from it to derive all we need to adhere to Christ in all things and at all times.

As such, the Sacraments themselves are ordered to this reality, where in the normal course, Baptism, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion are recognized as the initiating moments of one’s journey with the Lord, with Holy Communion in the Eucharist being the crowning of this initiation. We can see this logic in the ordering of the liturgical year itself, where at Easter, there is a heavy emphasis on Baptism; then at Pentecost, we celebrate the particular gift of the Holy Spirit, as in Confirmation; and now we celebrate Corpus Christi, Holy Communion.

A quick note that our Diocese is beginning a period of study and discernment to consider moving to a “restored order” of the Sacraments, wherein children will receive Confirmation before receiving First Holy Communion. This is a topic that deserves its own full article, so I won’t take the time now. But let’s rejoice in the gift of God – his very self and life – given to us through all of the Sacraments, but especially in Holy Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ the Lord.

Peace.

-Fr. Kennell