Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

by Fr. John Granato  |  06/02/2024  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

Today is the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, more commonly known as Corpus Christi. Even though Catholics have been a minority in the United States since our founding, yet still Catholics, especially the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, were responsible for much of the missionary work. We see this in the names of cities throughout what is now the United states; places like San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Santa Clara (all in California), St. Louis Missouri, St. Paul Minnesota, St. Augustine Florida and San Antonio and Corpus Christi Texas. Corpus Christi, in Latin, means Body of Christ.

This is an easier Latin phrase to be able to understand without struggling to translate it because the word corpus gives us corpse and Christi is Christ. This feast is very important for the life of the Church. In fact, in some countries it is a Holy Day of Obligation on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops decided to move it from Thursday to the Sunday after Trinity Sunday. Many places will have a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets after one of the Sunday Masses as a way of honoring our Lord present in the Holy Eucharist.

During these final weeks of the National Eucharistic Congress, we are also witnessing four different processions from four corners of the United States that will all converge in Indianapolis for the culmination of the Eucharistic Congress. Many of our parishioners from the Archdiocese of Hartford, including several from our own parish of Our Lady of Hope, will be attending the congress in Indianapolis.

Something needs to be done by our bishops, priests, deacons, and lay leaders to reinvigorate our belief in the Real Presence. We are blessed at our Lady of Hope to offer many different times for Eucharistic Adoration throughout the week. We also offer kneelers for those who wish to kneel to receive Holy Communion, which was the normative way to receive for almost 1500 years. Whether you receive only from the Host or only from the Chalice, you are truly receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord. You do not need to receive from both to receive the full Jesus. It is true that the priest consecrates the bread and wine separately, but once the bread and wine receive the Words of Consecration and become the Body and Blood, both the Body and Blood of Christ are present in each Eucharistic species. Jesus Christ is alive. His body is alive as he sits at the right hand of the Father. Since he is alive, the flesh and blood of our Lord are united together in the Sacred Species.

Let us continue to prepare ourselves for the proper and reverent reception of our Lord at Holy Communion as we gather together as the Body of Christ, united to our Head, Jesus Christ, in the Church at the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God bless.