FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI-SAINT
BARNABAS
27 I decree that
throughout my royal domain the God of Daniel is to be reverenced and FEARED: “For he is the living God,
enduring forever, whose kingdom shall not be destroyed, whose dominion shall be
without end, 28
A savior and deliverer, working signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who
saved Daniel from the lions’ power.”
This is the summation of the story of Daniel in the
lion’s den. In this chapter Daniel is a type of Christ like figure. He is
falsely accused by those who are jealous of him. They use legal tricks to
entrap Daniel and have him condemned to the lion’s den. He is even put inside;
the den is sealed over with a giant boulder, thus mirroring Christ’s tomb. In
the end Daniel is not eaten by the lions but those who conspired against him
are thrown into the lions and eaten. The story reflects the glory of Christ’s
victory over Satan and the demons.
Decision Making: Choices Confirm or Compromise Values[1]
Daniel when presented with a law that opposed the laws
of God had to decide whether he would submit or stay true to his convictions.
He chose his life principles. He likely followed the principles of:
1.
Weighting
out the options before you.
2.
Ask
if those choses force you to compromise personal values.
3.
Seek
wise counsel.
4.
Count
the cost.
5.
Decide
based on principles.
6.
Act
on your decision swiftly and firmly.
Daniel maintained a set of values and principles that
enabled him to make decisions quickly and confidently. If you take too much
time making decisions often it is too late to act. Do not wait to survey the
pulse of your people and paralyze your organization. Do the right thing!
Corpus Christi[2]
WHY is this day
called Corpus Christi? Because on this day the Catholic
Church solemnly celebrates the institution of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
The name, which is Latin, signifies the body of Christ.
Why is this feast not celebrated on Maundy Thursday?
Because on Maundy Thursday, the day of the institution of this sacrament, the
Church is occupied with the passion and death of Christ, and has no thought of
joy, but gives herself up to grief.
By whom was this feast established?
It was instituted by Pope Urban IV. Persuaded by a devout nun of Liege, who
believed herself to be divinely encouraged to introduce this feast, Robert,
Bishop of Liege, determined, in the year 1247 to celebrate this feast in his
diocese. This intention he was prevented from carrying out by death. In the year
1264 Pope Urban IV commanded this feast to be solemnly celebrated throughout
the whole Church. Clement V confirms the order, at the Council of Vienne, 1311,
and fixed the feast on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday.
For what purpose was this feast instituted, and why
are processions so solemnly held on this day?
1. To declare, openly, to the
faithful the real and substantial presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament of
the Altar.
2. In order to manifest, in the
sight of heaven and earth, honor and adoration for Him before Whom every knee
shall bow.
3. To give public thanks for the
institution of this holy sacrament, and for all the graces thereby conferred
upon the faithful.
4. To repair, in some measure, by
solemn adoration, the wrongs done to Christ, in this sacrament.
5. To bring down God’s blessing
upon the land and upon the people.
6. To show that Jesus, as true God,
dwells not only in temples built by hands, but that He has heaven for His
throne, the earth for His foot stool, and the whole world for His temple.
The Church sings at the Introit of the Mass: He fed
them with the fat of wheat, alleluia; and filled them with honey out of the
rock, alleluia, alleluia. Rejoice to God our helper, sing aloud to the God of
Jacob” (Ps. Ixxx.).
Prayer.
O God, Who in this wonderful sacrament hast left us a memorial of Thy passion,
grant us, we beseech Thee, so to reverence the sacred mysteries of Thy body and
blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption.
EPISTLE, i. COR.
xi. 23-29.
Brethren: For I have
received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke
and said: Take ye and eat: This is My body, which shall be delivered for you:
this do for the commemoration of Me. In like manner also the chalice, after He
had supped, saying: This chalice is the New Testament in My blood, this do ye
as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of Me. For as often as you
shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the
Lord until He come: therefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the
chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of
the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so, let him eat of that bread and
drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh judgment to himself: not discerning the body of the Lord.
GOSPEL.
John vi. 56-59.
At that time Jesus
said to the multitudes of the Jews: My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink;
indeed, he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in
him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father so he that
eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down
from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth
this bread shall live forever.
Why
did Jesus say, this is the bread that came down from heaven? He
wished thereby to teach the Jews that the bread which He would give them, like
the manna, came down from heaven, and was, indeed, the only true bread from
heaven. The manna was but a type and could only prolong the life of the body.
The type was now to be fulfilled; the bread that He was about to give them
would impart to them eternal life, and this bread would be His flesh, Himself,
Who truly came from heaven, to redeem mankind, and to bring them to life
everlasting. Jesus calls His flesh bread, partly on account of its likeness to
the manna, partly on account of its effect; for as bread nourishes the body,
and sustains the earthly life, so the body of Christ, in the Holy Sacrament,
nourishes the soul, and imparts to it, continually, a new, divine, and
everlasting life.
What
is the Holy Sacrament of the Altar? It is that
sacrament in which, after the words of its institution have been spoken by the
priest, Jesus Christ is present, whole and entire, in His Godhead and in His
manhood, under the appearance of bread and wine.
When
and how did Jesus institute this sacrament? At
the Last Supper; In the night, before He was betrayed, He took bread, and,
giving thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples saying, Take and eat, for
this is My body which will be given for you. In the same manner, He took the
chalice and said, Take and drink, for this chalice is the new covenant in My
blood. Do this as often as you drink from it in commemoration of Me.
What
did Jesus affect by these words? He changed bread
and wine into His most precious body and blood.
Has
He given to others the power to do the same? Yes,
He gave this power to His apostles and their successors, the bishops and
priests, in these words: Do this in commemoration of Me.
What
takes place at the words of consecration? Bread
and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and only the
outward appearances of bread and wine remain.
How
is Jesus present in the Most Holy Sacrament? He
is present, truly, really, and substantially, in His divinity and humanity, in
flesh and blood, in body and soul, under the appearances of bread and wine.
Why
do we believe this?
1. Because the words of Jesus do
not reasonably admit of any other meaning: since by them we see
(a) that Jesus gave His disciples a
certain nourishment which they were to eat.
(b) that this nourishment was bread
and wine to all appearances, but Jesus called the bread His body, which was afterwards
to be sacrificed for us, and the wine His blood, which was to be shed for us:
this food consequently was not bread and wine, but, under the appearance of
bread and wine, was indeed His body and blood; since what He gave for our
redemption was not bread and wine, but His true body and His true blood;
(c) that as the body and blood of
Jesus were inseparable from His soul and divinity, He gave Himself up for our
nourishment, whole and undivided, as He hung, bled, and died upon the cross.
(d) that He commanded what He had
done to be continued until He should come again (1 Cor. xi. 26), that is, until
the end of the world; and that He,
(e) on account of this being His
testament, and the New Law, was not at liberty to speak figuratively, but
plainly and distinctly.
2. Because the apostles preached
this very doctrine.
3. Because the Catholic Church, the
pillar and foundation of truth, has thus constantly taught, from the apostle’s
times down to the present day, as the oldest Councils and the Holy Fathers
unanimously testify.
Feast of Corpus
Christi, in the U.S.,
said on the Sunday rather than the Thursday after the Feast of the Holy
Trinity. An adoration of the Food that sustains us on our post-Pentecostal
pilgrimage and "the pledge of our future glory" The history of Corpus
Christi started with a humble
Belgian girl at the age of sixteen, who began having
visions of a bright moon marred by a small black spot. After years of seeing
this perplexing portent, Jesus Christ appeared to her and revealed its meaning.
The moon, He told her, represented the Church calendar, and the black spot the
absence of a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. That nun was St. Juliana, Prioress of Mont
Cornillon (1258), and the Feast she was commissioned by our Lord to promote was
the feast of Corpus Christi.
Even before its universal promotion in 1314, Corpus Christi was one of the grandest feasts of the Roman rite.
At the request of Pope Urban IV (d. 1264), the Mass proper’s and divine office
for this day were composed or arranged by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose teaching on the Real Presence was so
profound that the figure of Jesus Christ once descended from a crucifix and
declared to him, "Thou hast written well of me, Thomas." The mastery
with which Aquinas weaves together the scriptural, poetic, and theological
texts of this feast amply corroborates this conclusion.
Processions & Pageants
Though Maundy Thursday is in a sense the primary feast of the Blessed Sacrament, Corpus Christi allows the faithful to specially reflect on and give thanks for the Eucharist. Hence there arose a number of observances centered on Eucharistic adoration. The most conspicuous of these is the splendid Corpus Christi procession. This public profession of the Catholic teaching on the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was solemnly encouraged by the Council of Trent: there is even an indulgence attached to all who participate in it. By the 1600s, the procession on Corpus Christi had become the most famous of the year. Long parades of faithful walk with the Blessed Sacrament (carried in a monstrance by the priest) while church bells peal and bands play. In Latin countries, the streets are blanketed with boughs and flowers, often elaborately woven together. Sometimes a variation on the custom of Stations is employed (see Stational Churches, etc.), where the procession stops at several points for benediction and adoration. By its very nature, the Corpus Christi procession encouraged pageantry. In addition to the grandeur mentioned above, vivid symbolic reenactments of various teachings became a part of the procession. During the height of baroque piety, people impersonating demons would run along aside the Blessed Sacrament, pantomiming their fright and fear of the Real Presence. Others would dress as ancient’s gods and goddesses to symbolize how even the pagan past must rise and pay homage to Christ. Still others would carry all sorts of representations of sacred history: Moses and the serpent, David and Goliath, the Easter lamb, the Blessed Virgin, etc. But the most popular of all these was the custom of having children dress as angels. Appearing in white (with or without wings), these boys and girls would precede the Blessed Sacrament as symbols of the nine choirs of heavenly hosts who ever adore the Panis Angelicum, the Bread of Angels.
At Holy Trinity German Church, the Corpus Christi procession was the most
important of the year. One witness to the procession of 1851 wrote:
The
girls clad in white, with lilies in their hands, groups of symbolic figures,
with banner and flags, the boys with staffs and rods, all the associations of
the parish with their signs and symbols and burning candles, finally the
flower-strewing little children preceding the clergy -- all these made a
fantastic impression
(from Holy Trinity German Catholic
Church of Boston: A Way of Life, Robert J. Sauer (Dallas, TX: Taylor
Publishing, 1994), p. 49)
Plays
Medieval piety is famous, among other things, for its mystery plays, theatrical pieces held after Mass on great feast days that dramatized the lesson or mystery of the day. These effective didactic tools were enormously popular, but perhaps none so much as those held on Corpus Christi. Shakespeare gives an oblique allusion to them when he has Prince Hamlet speak of the Termagant, a violent, overbearing woman in long robes who appeared often in these productions (Hamlet III.ii). Favorite medieval saints, such as George and Margaret, would often be the protagonists, though the details and plot varied from place to place. Perhaps the most famous of these plays are the Autos Sacramentales (Plays of the Sacrament) by Fr. Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1681).
Day of Wreaths
Hymns
This feast seeks to remind us of Jesus Christ's sacrifice Do this in
remembrance of me - Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians
11:24-25.
In many countries, Corpus Christi is observed on the Thursday after Trinity
Sunday, however where it is not a holy day of obligation, the celebration
occurs on the Sunday that follows.
Feast of Corpus Christi Facts &
Quotes
·
In
the Middle Ages, the priest was the only person who received the elements.
The congregation watched him eat the bread and drink the wine.
·
The
Sacraments are Jesus Christ's presence in us. So, it is important for us
to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion. - Pope Francis via
twitter on Nov 23, 2013.
Feast of Corpus Christi Top Events
and Things to Do
·
If
you're Christian, go to Mass and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of Corpus
Christi.
·
Travel
to the Vatican City and watch the annual procession of the Blessed Sacrament,
headed by the Pope, through the streets of Rome.
·
A
wide range of theologies exist about Holy Communion. Read about how the
elements of bread and wine are related to the body and blood of Christ
depending on your denomination.
Novena to the Sacred Heart[5]
This novena prayer was recited every day
by Padre Pio for all who asked for his prayer. You are invited to recite it
daily, so as to be spiritually united with the prayer of St. Pio of Pietrelcina.
Prayers
I. O my Jesus, You have said "Truly I say to
you, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be
opened to you." Behold I knock, I seek, and I ask for the grace of . . . .
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father... Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all
my trust in you.
II. O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to
you, if you ask anything of the Father in My Name, He will give it to
you." Behold, in Your name, I ask the Father for the grace of . . . .
Our Father,
Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father... Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my
trust in you.
III. O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to
you, heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away."
Encouraged by Your infallible words, I now ask for the grace of . . . .
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father...
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.
O Sacred
Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the
afflicted, have mercy on us sinners, and grant us the grace which we ask of
You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender mother and
ours.
Say the Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina) prayer.
Conclude with St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.
St.
Barnabas[6]
Strictly
speaking, Barnabas was not an apostle, but the title has been bestowed upon him
since very early times. His first name was Joseph; Barnabas (etymology:
"son of consolation") was a surname. He belonged to the tribe of
Levi. He was a Hellenist, that is, a Jew who lived outside of Palestine and
spoke the Greek tongue. Born in Cyprus, he embraced the faith soon after the
death of Christ, becoming a member of the original Jerusalem community. His
first noteworthy deed was to sell his belongings and place the money at the
feet of the apostles. It is to his lasting credit that he befriended the
neo-convert Paul and introduced him to the apostles when everyone was still
distrusting the former persecutor. More noteworthy still was his service to the
universal Church by being the first to recognize Paul's potential for the cause
of Christ; it was Barnabas who brought him from Tarsus to teach at Antioch. The
first missionary journey (about 45-48 A.D.) the two made together, and Barnabas
seems to have been the leader, at least at the beginning (Acts 13-14). Barnabas'
appearance must have been dignified and impressive, otherwise the inhabitants
of Lystra would not have regarded him as Jupiter. He was present with Paul at
the Council of Jerusalem (ca. 50). While they were preparing for the second
missionary journey, there arose a difference of opinion regarding Mark; as a
result, each continued his labors separately. Barnabas went to Cyprus with Mark
and thereafter is not referred to again in the Acts of the Apostles or in any
other authentic source. From a remark in one of Paul's letters we know that he
lived from the work of his own hands (1 Cor. 9:5-6). The time and place of his
death have not been recorded. It is claimed that his body was found at Salamina
in 488 A.D. His name is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass since ancient times.
Excerpted
from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Patron: Antioch; Cyprus; against
hailstorms; invoked as peacemaker.
Things to Do:
- Read the
passages from the Acts of the Apostles about St. Barnabas: Acts 4:36-37;
9:26-29; 11:27-30; 12:24-25; 13:1-12; 13:27-30; 13:44-52; 14:1-14;
14:21-23; 14:36-40.
- Read the
Catholic Encyclopedia's account of the life of St.
Barnabas.
Epistle of Barnabas[7]
CHAP.
I. — AFTER THE SALUTATION, THE WRITER DECLARES THAT HE WOULD COMMUNICATE TO HIS
BRETHREN SOMETHING OF THAT WHICH HE HAD HIMSELF RECEIVED.
Today
is my deceased sister Donna Marie’s (Lady-Mistress
of the Sea) birthday please pray for her intentions.
Daily
Devotions
·
Let all act as they like; you are
to act, as I want you to; let
the opinions of others go by the wayside.
·
do a personal
eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[1] John Maxwell, The Leadership Bible.
[2]
Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[5]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=892
[6]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-06-11
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