Feast of Corpus Christi
The Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for ‘Body of Christ’) is a Catholic liturgical solemnity celebrating the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the elements of the Eucharist — known as transubstantiation. Two months earlier, the Eucharist is observed on Maundy Thursday in a sombre atmosphere leading to Good Friday. The liturgy on that day also commemorates Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet, the institution of the priesthood and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The feast of Corpus Christi was established to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist, emphasizing the joy of the Eucharist being the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The feast is liturgically celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, “where the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is not a holy day of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity as its proper day”. In the liturgical reforms of 1969, under Pope Paul VI, the bishops of each nation have the option to transfer it to the following Sunday.
At the end of Holy Mass, there is often a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, generally displayed in a monstrance. The procession is followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. A notable Eucharistic procession is that presided over by the Pope each year in Rome, where it begins at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran and passes to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where it concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
The celebration of the feast was suppressed in Protestant churches during the Reformation, because they do not hold to the teachings of transubstantiation. Depending on the denomination, Protestant churches instead believe in differing views concerning the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or that Christ is symbolically or metaphorically part of the eucharist. Today, most Protestant denominations do not recognize the feast. The Church of England abolished it in 1548 as the English Reformation progressed, but later reintroduced it.
Deu 8:2-3,14-16
1 Cor 10:16-17
Jn 6:51-58
“Anyone who eats this bread will live forever…”
Recently, I learnt that my cousin was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is a neurological condition that affects motor neurons — brain and spinal cord nerve cells which control voluntary muscular movement. Voluntary muscles are muscles that we choose to move in order to perform actions such as chewing, walking, and talking. The disease is progressive, meaning that the symptoms worsen over time. There is no cure for ALS, and there is no effective treatment to slow its course. Most patients with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within two to five years of the onset of symptoms. Though, approximately 10% of patients with ALS live for a decade or more.
Whatever the prognosis – it is certainly not easy to comprehend nor accept that one’s life is coming to an end. Sooner than anticipated.
My cousin is a young and fit lad who takes good care of his health. He doesn’t drink nor smoke and has the kind of physique of a well-oiled machine – very lean and muscular, with the ability to contort his body into a pretzel and he walks practically everywhere.
I had just seen him over Chinese New Year this year and he had found out about the illness not long after. By the time I saw him in hospital, he had been dealing with this for 3 months. And the effects were already visible. He is already unable to manage buttons nor have zips on clothing and his arms have gotten so weak that he cannot lift anything with moderate weight.
“I am very angry with God”, were his first words to me. He said this half-jokingly, but I know there is some truth to those words. I told him that I too was angry with God, for what is happening to him. But my ‘right’ to be angry isn’t as justified as his. Life hasn’t been too kind to him… let’s just say. He’s had to deal with plenty. And yet all this while, he went through life as best he can, no complaining and always making a joke of things – his coping mechanism as I later learnt. Now faced with impending mortality and the need to sort out the ‘admin’ for when the time comes, for the care of his teenage child, praying for and searching for the right legal guardians (he’d lost his wife to illness ten years ago)…there’s plenty to cope with. Especially since, with this condition, one doesn’t know what physical state one might be in the next week or month. Time is not on his side.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever…”
When I read this verse in today’s gospel, I asked God. “Really? Live forever?”
I feel guilty for even asking that question. How could I possibly doubt God? I, who receive the Holy Eucharist every Sunday; I, who believe that this small wafer contains the true body of Christ who died for us. God feeds and nourishes us by giving us His Son.
Is it possible that I am such a superficial Catholic that I am only willing to accept this doctrine of consubstantiation when everything is hunky-dory? And when something happens that’s beyond my understanding, this belief goes out the window?
To be honest, while I believe, I still wonder why horrible tragedies happen to nice people.
The age-old conundrum of why God allows pain, and yet today’s verse says whoever eats this bread will live forever. However, the brutal truth of my cousin’s impending mortality remains.
I can only imagine the conflict that he is facing; yet, each day, despite his ‘anger’ with God, he faithfully clings on to His words, sharing with me the little blessings that the Lord sends each day – hospital = free air-con; hospital = getting to see people he hardly meets. That in the midst of incredibly difficult moments, the powerful force that sustains all of us and him – faith. That despite all that is happening – we are all deeply loved by God.
The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble (Proverbs 16:4). I don’t know how this story will pan out, and it may be easy for me to say that everything happens for a purpose. But these are the words of the Lord. And when the unfortunate happens, sometimes, it is God’s way of inspiring us to act and help others. Even Jesus was tortured…and died. His death was Our Father’s greatest gift of love for us.
Jesus says,“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day” (John 6:53-54).
So, today as we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi – let us be intentional and truly focus our attention on the Eucharist and be so grateful for the true presence of Jesus at every mass. That no matter what we are each going through – Jesus is with us.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Geraldine Nah)
Prayer: O Jesus, since You have left us a remembrance of Your Passion beneath the veils of this Sacrament, grant us, we pray, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood that we may always enjoy the fruits of Your Redemption, for You live and reign forever. Amen.
Thanksgiving: Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament you have given us the memorial of your passion: grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries of your body and blood that we may know within ourselves and show forth in our lives the fruits of your redemption; for you are alive and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
OXYGEN 
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