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May 31, 2024Corpus Christi
Body of Christ Sunday
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of the body and blood of the Lord. Every year on this Sunday, but in this Eucharistic year especially, Catholics around the country are renewing their belief and faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. No other sacrament has so many names and expressions as Corpus Christi: Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament, the Real Presence, the Holy Eucharist, Viaticum…
Jesus gave Himself and continues to give Himself to us perpetually in the Holy Eucharist. It is truly His body, His blood, His human soul and His divinity. It is not a symbol. Catholics do not receive bread and wine. They receive the Body and Blood of Christ! When a person receives Holy Communion, they are in union with God truly, and also in union with everyone else in the Church throughout the world…and in Heaven. The purpose of the Eucharist is to establish a people who are one body in Christ. This is why a person must be in communion to receive Communion in the Catholic Church. Jesus prayed to the Father “that all may be one.”
To come forward to receive Holy Communion, a person is saying “I am a Catholic Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ and everything He teaches. I believe in all the definitive Catholic teachings on faith and morals. I know that I am not worthy to receive Him (none of us are), but I trust that this most Blessed Sacrament will bring me the healing and forgiveness that I need and desire.” Of course, if a person is conscious of serious or mortal sin, they would go to confession prior to receiving the Body of Christ.
Many sincere Catholics believe that “the Easter Duty” is to go to confession. It is not. The Easter duty is the solemn rule of the Church that every Catholic Christian should receive Holy Communion at least once a year, certainly in the Easter season. And this would be preceded by an examination of conscience and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This rule sounds strange to us because most of us receive Holy Communion every Sunday. But there was a time in the church when most Catholics were afraid to receive Holy Communion too often, worrying that they were not worthy and that they would cause more harm by receiving unworthily. Some of the saints literally begged their parishioners to receive Holy Communion at least once a month!
They were at mass every Sunday, but most did not receive. Jesus does not want us to be afraid of Him, and He does want us to receive the Eucharist. He wants it so much that He has commanded it! “Take this all of you and eat. This is my body.” He loves us and desires to be one with us very intimately. Yet it is also true that many Catholics today do not use the sacrament of confession nearly enough…to make ourselves less unworthy, so to speak! Do you remember me telling you about “Big Fish” when I first arrived? (“Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been 20 years since my last confession.)
St. John Paul II wrote: “Every Eucharistic sacrifice is more powerful than all the evil in the world put together!” The Holy Mass, and the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, is truly the world’s greatest gift from God. As St. Padre Pio said: “It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the sacrifice of the Mass.”
In honor of the Feast of Corpus Christi, there will be a Eucharistic procession today after the 11:00 a.m. Mass, which will travel towards the ocean, turn and move down the beach and then back to the Church. We are bringing Jesus in the Eucharist to the streets and sharing this gift with all of our brothers and sisters here on Tybee, asking the Master to bless us all! Coincidentally, or providentially, this tradition was begun by Fr. Jerry Ragan last year, and he will be here to continue the tradition for the mass and procession!
I will fly to Wichita today to give a retreat to the priests of Dodge City, returning on Friday evening. Fr. Ragan will be covering the parish masses in my absence, and we are so grateful to have him back on Tybee Island.
O Sacrament most holy. O Sacrament Divine.
All praise and all thanksgiving, be every moment thine!
Fr. Brett Brannen
Pastor