Feast of Corpus Christi

Today the Church celebrates the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Our pastor gave a homily on how we are "fed" in the Catholic Church. We receive our nourishment both from the Word in Scripture and from Jesus directly as the Sacrament of the Altar.
"We take Jesus into our body and therefore we should bow slightly in the Communion line before we receive the King of Kings and Lord of Lords," Father R. said. What would we do if we were "receiving" the Queen of England? We certainly would bow to honor her, even if we weren't a royal subject. Well, we know someone much greater than the Queen of England is in every Catholic Church at each Mass. The feast of Corpus Christi reminds the faithful of this reality.
Many Churches today will have a procession through the streets of their cities bearing Christ in the monstrance held by the priest at the head of the procession. I hope for a day when our Church has a Eucharistic procession down the streets of this sleepy little town of Emmaus where I live. It is my prayer, that others will see Jesus in the "breaking of the bread" as he revealed himself so many years ago on the way to Emmaus. Two years after I moved to Emmaus, I saw Him in the breaking of the bread as those disciples had and reverted to the Catholic Church. To my surprise and joy, there is a Catholic Church we can walk to from our house. It was not on my intention when we first moved here to be looking for a house close to a Catholic Church, but God knew!

Mass Readings

Book of Genesis 14,18-20.

Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words: Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Psalms 110,1.2.3.4.

A psalm of David. The LORD says to you, my lord: "Take your throne at my righthand, while I make your enemies your footstool."
The scepter of your sovereign might the LORD will extend from Zion. The LORD says: "Rule over your enemies!
Yours is princely power from the day of your birth. In holy splendor before the daystar, like the dew I begot you."
The LORD has sworn and will not waver: "Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever."


First Letter to the Corinthians 11,23-26.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 9,11-17.

The crowds, meanwhile, learned of this and followed him. He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, "Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here." He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people." Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of (about) fifty." They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Prayers

“The bread of angels becomes food for pilgrims, true bread of God’s children” (Sequence of the feast)

Almighty and ever-living God, I approach the sacrament of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I come sick to the doctor of life, unclean to the fountain of mercy, blind to the radiance of eternal light, and poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth.

Lord, in your great generosity, heal my infirmity, wash away my defilement, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness. May I receive the bread of angels (Ps 78:25), the King of kings and Lord of lords (1Tm 6:15), with humble reverence, with the purity and faith, the repentance and love, and the determined purpose that will help to bring me to salvation.

May I receive the sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood, and its reality and power. Kind God, may I so receive the Body of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which was born from the womb of the Virgin Mary, that I be received into his mystical Body and numbered among his members.

Loving Father, as on my earthly pilgrimage I now receive your beloved Son under the veil of a sacrament, may I one day see him Face to face in glory, who lives and reigns with you for ever. Amen.