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.

East and West: Will the thousand year division end in our lifetime?

"The Pope Is the First Among the Patriarchs" Just How Remains to Be Seen -Chiesa News

With Benedict XVI, for the first time in history, the Orthodox have agreed to discuss the primacy of the bishop of Rome, according to the model of the first millennium, when the Church was undivided...
There are some who say that ecumenism has entered a phase of retreat and chill. But as soon as one that looks to the East, the facts say the opposite. Relations with the Orthodox Churches have never been so promising as they have since Joseph Ratzinger has been pope.
...

First in Belgrade in 2006, and then in Ravenna in 2007, the international mixed commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches started meeting again.
And what rose to the top of the discussion was precisely the question that most divides East and West: the primacy of the successor of Peter in the universal Church.
...
Since then, the discussion on controversial points has advanced at an accelerated pace. And it has started to examine, above all, how the Churches of East and West interpreted the role of the bishop of Rome during the first millennium, when they were still united.

The full article reveals some encouraging signs that the discussions are serious, positive, and in good faith. They seem to be "getting traction".

It would be pretty nice if the churches of the East and West would find their way to reunite before Jesus returns. I'm pretty sure He'd be happy to see that sort of progress.

It could almost be like a surprise party for Him. -except He's always known that it was going to happen.

Musings of an Expagan » Orthodoxy, sadness, and Eastern Christianity.

Musings of an Expagan » Orthodoxy, sadness, and Eastern Christianity.

My friend, You wrote,

“Half measures do not work, when those who find Orthodoxy in union with Rome scratch the surface they find a thin veneer of orthodoxy. And wanting to steep themselves more deeply they find they cannot get this within the Eastern rites so they have to go to the Orthodox. Even the Vatican has told the Eastern rite Catholics that where we are lacking in our spirituality we must go back to the Orthodox. Even the Vatican realizes that on some level that due to miscalculated meddling that the Eastern rite Catholics have been robbed of many of their authentic traditions. In the end, the ultimate goal, should be the total reincorporation of the Eastern Catholic Churches with those Orthodox Churches that they once were part of. The separation from our roots, and our brothers, is killing us.”

I do believe that there is much of great value that Eastern rite and Orthodox Christians have preserved in their liturgy and tradition, as have Latin rite Christians. These things should be rich soil for nurturing the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Yet are these things really the “roots” of the faith, or are they rather its food, its clothing, its shelter, its cultural heritage, and its proofs?
One could become so concerned with the cultural and historical divisions of the Church that one might lose sight of its essential unity. The divisions are terrible, yet they are temporary. The unity will last, because Christ will triumph -has already triumphed. And he has given His Church an apostolic foundation and a vicar to serve as a visible principle of unity.

“Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome ‘which presides in charity.’” (CCC 834)

None of us have been called to communion with a Church already completely healed of its divisions and fully purified of its past, any more than are its members yet perfected. But we have received a faith that Jesus delivered through His apostles in union with Peter and his successor, the bishop of Rome. In union with him we have access and anchor to a truly “orthodox” faith.

It’s one thing to acknowledge the depth and beauty of Christian diversity, and to draw benefits from the treasures preserved by various Christian traditions. But it would seem to me a tragedy for a friend to abandon unity with Peter in search of some other, elusive, unity which apart from Peter can not truly exist. Dividing from Peter can not further unity with Christ, nor bring closer that coming day of unity among believers that Jesus so much prayed for.

Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia.

Getting to know Christ

On the first day of the week, at dawn, the women came to the tomb. They found the stone rolled back and a messenger who said:

"Why do you search for the Living One among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised up. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee- that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again" (Lk 24:5-7).

The new Life that has burst forth in the Resurrection is the world’s only hope.

In the name of Christ, in the name of the Church, in the name of needy humanity: I encourage you to have that new Life in you! Be witnesses of that new Life to the world around you.

-Pope John Paul II, Address to World Youth Day, Denver, August 13, 1993

...Wherever young men and women allow the grace of Christ to work in them and produce new Life, the extraordinary power of divine Love is released into their lives and into the life of the community. It transforms their attitude and behavior, and inevitably attracts others to follow the same adventurous path. This power comes from God and not from us.

-Pope John Paul II, Address to World Youth Day, Denver, August 14, 1993

-Saint Josemaría Escrivá, 9 November 1972.

The fire of Christ

"Don't let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the torch of your faith and your love. With your apostolic life, wipe out the trail of filth and slime left by the corrupt sowers of hatred. And set aflame all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you bear in your heart."

-The Way, n. 1, St. Josemaría Escrivá.

Make a little time –perhaps five or ten minutes before bed- to consider these things in God’s presence. And ask Him to help You prepare Your heart for the Holy Spirit... He’ll do it.

Pope: "The Christian faith is this: encounter with Christ"

EWTN.com - Pope Tells Young People: You Are the Hope of the Chruch

"As he did with Augustine, so the Lord comes to meet each one of you. He knocks at the door of your freedom and asks to be welcomed as a friend. He wants to make you happy, to fill you with humanity and dignity. The Christian faith is this: encounter with Christ, the living Person Who gives life a new horizon and thereby a definitive direction."

"The Lord calls each of us by name, and entrusts to us a specific mission in the Church and in society'. He constantly renews His invitation to you to be His disciples and His witnesses. Many of you He calls to marriage, and the preparation for this Sacrament constitutes a real vocational journey. Consider seriously the divine call to raise a Christian family, and let your youth be the time in which to build your future with a sense of responsibility. Society needs Christian families, saintly families!"

"...And if the Lord is calling you to follow Him in the ministerial priesthood or in the consecrated life, do not hesitate to respond to His invitation. In particular, in this Year for Priests, I appeal to you, young men. ...The Church in every country, including this one, needs many holy priests and also persons fully consecrated to the service of Christ, Hope of the world."

"Hope! This word, to which I often return, sits well with youth. You, my dear young people, are the hope of the Church! She expects you to become messengers of hope."

-Pope Benedict XVI, message to young people at Melnik, Czech Republic, 28 September 2009

Give Yourself to Him

Universalis: Today:

"Do not receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament so that you may use him as you judge best, but give yourself to him and let him receive you in this Sacrament, so that he himself, God your saviour, may do to you and through you whatever he wills."

St. Cajetan (1480-1547)

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Ave verum corpus, natum de Maria Virgine, vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine, cuius latus perforatum unda fluxit et sanguine: esto nobis praegustatum in mortis examine.

Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for man, from whose pierced side flowed water and blood: Let it be for us a foretaste in the trial of death.

Make me believe Thee ever more and more,
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

-Saint Thomas Aquinas

And here is the Great Secret, the greatest reason of all to be Catholic, to be Christian, to be human, to be alive: Jesus present to us in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. And not only present to us, but united to us personally.

This is the promise of eternal life. This is Life in abundance, a life not content to wait until heaven, but bursting open within our hearts today.


Since the thirteenth century Catholics around the world have observed a solemn feast day in honor of "Corups Christi" -the Body (and Blood) of Christ, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.

After Mass today at Saint Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago, we observed this solemnity with our annual Corups Christi procession honoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Hundreds of people accompanied Jesus as He was carried in turn by His priests and a deacon down the street, and around the block. A gold canopy, incense, and a squad of altar boys marked His way. Young girls who had just recently received Jesus in their first Holy Communion carpeted His path with thousands of scarlet and yellow rose petals. Boys in black suits marched alongside. And the faithful followed close behind, singing Tantum Ergo Sacramentum and other hymns, praising the One Who turned bread and wine into Himself, so that He could remain with us in invisible glory until He visibly returns in glory. At the happy spectacle neighbors opened their doors, stood on their porches, or watched from their windows as the King of the Universe passed by cloaked in the humble appearance of bread.

On each side of the block the priests paused at a temporary altar, prayed aloud with the faithful, and elevated the Lord to receive the love and adoration of the crowd.


Finally returning to the church building, we ascended the steps, and the Lord stopped briefly to bless us at the altar before returning to His repose in the tabernacle.

Lord, how good it is to be here! How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord!