What is Corpus Christi?

Glad you asked!

Don’t we all love to be honored on our birthdays and anniversaries. Let it also be true for Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King. But, wait, what is Corpus Christi all about? Glad you asked!

On the heels of other solemnities (Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Holy Trinity), this Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi (Latin for “Body of Christ”). Notice how a solemnity is the highest feast, reserved for the greatest mysteries of our faith. Notice how Corpus Christi is the patronal feast of our church, Blessed Sacrament. We honor the gift of Jesus Himself in Holy Eucharist as the center of the life of the Church. We use the expression “Source and Summit” (CCC 1324) to describe the Eucharist as both food for eternal life and thus worthy of our highest worship.

St. Thomas Aquinas played a prominent role in composing liturgical text for this feast. He wrote the Lauda Sion, the sequence sung at Mass which tells of the institution of the Eucharist. St. Thomas Aquinas also defined for us, “transubstantiation,” a tenet of the Catholic faith. It means the complete change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood, while only the accidents of bread and wine remain. A helpful analogy is to think about the eye’s function versus its color.

We celebrate Corpus Christi with a procession after the 11:00 am Mass. Processions are an act of love; they give glory to God and a public witness to our faith. A procession also symbolizes our earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem. A procession is also an “Acorns to Oaks” event, suitable for all ages. We have made accommodations for the warm weather, too.

Keep asking questions; learn, live, and LOVE your Catholic faith!

Read more at https://www.simplycatholic.com/celebrating-corpus-christi/