Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, that is, the Feast of the Body of our Lord,
truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
And this feast goes back to the 13th century, when it was first instituted in the Diocese
of Liege in 1247.
And there, there happened to be the archdeacon of the same diocese by the name of Jacob Pantaleon,
who later became Pope Urban IV, and then he instituted the feast for the entire church
in the year 1264.
And the purpose of this feast is to celebrate the great gift and mystery that our Lord has
given us of himself in the Blessed Sacrament, his body, blood, soul, and divinity truly
present in the Eucharist.
One of the ways in which we celebrate this feast and we honor our Lord is by means of
Eucharistic processions.
In fact, the Holy Father.
Every year on this day takes the Eucharist in procession from the Basilica of St. John
Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Majors, where our friars are fortunate enough to have
charge of the sacristy.
And so then when the Holy Father arrives at St. Mary Majors, he has to come into the sacristy
to unvest.
And all of our friars get to meet the Holy Father.
And to show him reverence and kiss his hand and his ring.
So it's a great grace for our friars there in Rome today.
The purpose of the Eucharistic procession is to express our faith in a public manner.
And the procession has its origins, we can already see, or is prefigured in the Old Testament,
when the Israelites would take the idol.
The idol was the Ark of the Covenant in procession.
And inside the Ark of the Covenant was the manna from the desert.
And the manna itself is a prefiguration of the Eucharist, the manna being a miraculous
food which sustained the lives of the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert, up until
the time when they entered the Promised Land.
And so.
In a similar way, the Eucharist, a miraculous food, sustains God's people in this world,
sustains them spiritually, up until in the desert of this world, up until we arrive in
the Promised Land, which is heaven.
And so the Eucharistic procession, we manifest our public, our faith publicly, and in this
way.
And so, strive to give thanks to our Lord, for this gift of himself in the Eucharist,
to render him homage and honor, again in a public way, and also to make reparation for
all of the offenses committed against our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Especially sacrilegious communions, those who receive our Lord while in a state of mortal
sin.
7.
what saint paul talks about in the epistle that we read from today when he says therefore whosoever
shall eat this bread or drink of the chalice of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body
and of the blood of the lord for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh
judgment to himself this eating and drinking of the body and blood of our lord unworthily
refers to receiving our lord in the state of mortal sin not in the state of grace
we see how one can't approach the sacrament and receive in the state of mortal sin because
there's essentially a contradiction between what one is doing
and what one is not doing and what one is not doing and what one is not doing and what one is not doing
the outward action and the interior disposition because the outward action expresses love for god
and love tends toward union here in the case of the blessed sacrament physical union with our lord
and of course the person in a state of mortal sin has committed a sin against the love of god
against charity has destroyed the love of god against the love of god against charity
destroyed charity in his soul and so there is no love of god if it hasn't yet been restored
by means of sacramental absolution then he can't approach the blessed sacrament there's a
contradiction and so we make reparation for those sacrilegious communions and also
all kinds of irreverence for the blessed sacrament all kinds of profanation and this
also calls to mind the prayer of the angel at fatima in the third apparition of the angel at
fatima as lucia writes in her memoirs she said the angel was holding in his left hand a chalice
and over it in the air was a host from which drops of blood fell into the
chalice and he was holding in his left hand a chalice and over it in the air was a host from
The angel leaves the chalice in the air, kneels near us, and tells us to repeat three times,
Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer you the most precious body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ,
present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences by which he is offended,
and by the infinite merits of his most sacred heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.
This prayer of the angel is a perfect prayer that we should all pray today, this Feast of Corpus Christi.
In this prayer is expressed adoration of our Lord, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, adoration, also faith that he is in fact present,
and the desire, of course, to make reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences.
So let's say this prayer today in union with all Catholics throughout the world in honor of our Lord.
In the Blessed Sacrament, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In the Blessed Sacrament.
In the Blessed Sacrament.