Jesus is carried through the streets of Chicago

Today is the feast of the Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This beautiful feast commemorates the Real Presence of the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and has been celebrated since the 13th century to honor Jesus and the truth of the Eucharist taught by the Apostles since the first century of Christianity.

In my parish, St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, we hold a Eucharistic procession after Mass. It's simple but beautiful, today no less than ever.

Altar boys in scarlet cassocks, with incense and bells, lead the way down the middle of the street. Little girls in white dresses strew rose petals behind them. Priests and the deacon take turns carrying a 'monstrance' -a transparent vessel for viewing a consecrated Host- containing the Lord Jesus through the streets of the neighborhood. Four men carry a golden canopy on poles to shelter the monstrance from the sun. Following them are hundreds of faithful singing hymns praising our Lord and King. It's quite a spectacle.

We circle the block, stopping once on each side at temporary altars decorated with flowers and an image of Our Lord or His Blessed Mother. There a priest or deacon reads from the Holy Scriptures something about the great gift of the Eucharist which Jesus has given us. He then offers a few of his own thoughts, and we pray together. Then we continue to the next altar.

Along the way I pick up a rose petal to keep pressed in my missal. I've kept a few from previous years. They've lost their scent, but not their meaning.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo, the sacred Host we hail;
Lo, o'er ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail;Faith for all defects supplying
Where the feeble senses fail.

Fr. Ferrer carries the monstrance, while Deacon Tyluki walks nearby.

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas, Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas; Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit.

I devoutly adore you, O hidden Deity, Truly hidden beneath these appearances. My whole heart submits to you, And in contemplating you, It surrenders itself completely.

It looks like a monstrance containing bread, but it's not. It's a monstrance containing the Lord Jesus Christ.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius; Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.

Sight, touch, taste are all deceived In their judgment of you, But hearing suffices firmly to believe. I believe all that the Son of God has spoken; There is nothing truer than this word of truth.

Deacon Tyluki takes his turn carrying the Lord Jesus.

Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio, Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio: Ut te revelata cernens facie, Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ. Amen.

Jesu, whom now veiled, I by faith descry, What my soul doth thirst for, do not, Lord, deny, That thy face unveiled, I at last may see, With the blissful vision blest, my God, of Thee. Amen.

Altar servers and an usher carrying a ceremonial 'mace' lead the way around the corner.

To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Ghost proceeding
Forth from Each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen.

When we've completed our circuit around the block, we leave the blinding June sunlight of Hermitage Avenue and, singing, proceed up the steps into the entrance of the church. At first the church seems almost too dark to make our way ...but our senses do not always detect what is really present! In the church we have only a few more moments of prayer with Jesus present before us.

Holy feast of Corpus Christ, remain in our memory! Lord Jesus, may we never be separated from You! Live in our hearts forever!

May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection at every moment in all the tabernacles of the world, now and until the end of time. Amen.

If we know how to pray...

"Prayer is what ultimately reveals who we are in relation to God and other people. If we can pray, then we can talk to others; if we know how to pray, then we also know how to relate to others." -Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Riccardo Muti sides with Pope on sacred music

Muti sides with pope against Church 'sing-songs' - ANSA English

"It is possible to modernize holy music," he once said at a concert at the Sistine Chapel. "But this cannot happen outside the great traditional path of the past, of Gregorian chants and sacred polyphonic choral music.

"The pope is right when he says it is necessary to bring our great musical heritage back into churches," said Muti, a former director of Milan's La Scala who is now in charge of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

"When I go to church and I hear four strums of a guitar or choruses of senseless, insipid words, I think it's an insult... I can't work out how come once upon a time there were Mozart and Bach and now we have little sing-songs. This is a lack of respect for people's intelligence."

The Elephant in the Sacristy: homosexuality and the sex abuse scandal

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

As the priestly sex abuse scandal runs its course, we don't appear yet to have reached the point where the bishops openly and honestly deal with homosexuality as an important factor.

Ignatius of Antioch, on the authority of the Roman See

"You [the See of Rome] have envied no one, but others have you taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instructions may remain in force" (Epistle to the Romans 3:1 [A.D. 110])

-St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch

Cyprian of Carthage, on the primacy of Peter

"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.’ . . . On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]).

-Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (d. 258)

St. Gregory Nazianzen, on the primacy of Rome

"Regarding the faith which they uphold, the ancient Rome has kept a straight course from of old, and still does so, uniting the whole West by sound teaching, as is just, since she presides over all and guards the universal divine harmony." (Carmen de Vita Sua, 382 A.D.)

-St. Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 329-389)

St. John Chrysostom, on the primacy of Peter

"He [Peter] was the chosen one of the Apostles, the mouth of the Apostles, the leader of the band...Jesus put into his hands the chief authority among the brethren...For he who then did not dare to question Jesus, but committed the office to another, was even entrusted with the chief authority over the brethren, and not only does not commit to another what relates to himself, but himself now puts a question to his Master concerning another. John is silent, but Peter speaks...for Peter greatly loved John...When therefore Christ had foretold great things to him, and committed the world to him, and spoke beforehand of his martyrdom, and testified that his love was greater than all the others..." (Hom. 88 on St. John).

-St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, c. 349–407.

John Paul II beatified!

-Still inspiring millions

Talmudic Laws for Children

This is too funny not to share. I wish I could give credit to the author, but do not know its source. Can anyone identify the author?

Talmudic Laws for Children

Laws of Forbidden Places:

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippycups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink. But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.

Laws When at Table:

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck: for you will be sent away. When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup.

And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.

Laws Pertaining to Dessert:

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.

On Screaming:

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offence with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die.

Concerning Face and Hands:

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.

Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances:

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of the bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand. Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not the humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.