Daily Devotions
FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI
“Do
not be AFRAID,” David said to him, “I
will surely be kind to you for the sake of Jonathan your father. I will restore
to you all the lands of Saul your grandfather, and you shall eat at my table
always.”
David
is showing compassion to Mephibosheth; Jonathan’s disabled son following the
civil war between Israel and Judah. In the end David reigns over all of Israel.
Israel with David’s leadership then quickly defeats the Jebusites taking
Jerusalem; defeats the Philistines and brings the Ark to Jerusalem and God
makes his Covenant with David. Thus, David’s heart was full of gratitude. David
now can return the favor of his old friend Jonathan to his son and restores his
lands and David orders his servants to cultivate Mephibosheth’s lands,
providing him with food, income and a place in the court. Gratitude cultivates
generosity. This is the law of the Picture.[1]
The law of the picture summarizes
what is often observed in human nature. People tend to mimic the behaviors of
their leaders. When a leader demonstrates behaviors that lead to success,
people that follow mimic those behaviors and succeed as well. The picture
consists of vision, mission, and strategy. When the leader lives the vision,
the leader models the vision making it real and alive.
Nothing
is easier than saying words. Nothing is harder than living them, day after day –
Arthur Gordon
Good leaders recognize the importance
of the example they set. [2]
1. People watch what you do.
As a leader, recognize that people tend to model behaviors that you display.
People tend to believe what they see not necessarily what they hear. You
convince people by what you do not by what you say.
2. Teaching what is right is easier than
doing what is right. Leaders must be willing to make
sacrifices that are painful and personal.
3. Change yourself before trying to
improve others. As a leader, you need to lead yourself
first. Set high standards of excellence for yourself. Work the hardest and
longest on improving yourself. Failing to lead by example creates a fuzzy
picture to those you intend to lead.
4. A leader’s example is the most value
gift a leader can give. People desire leaders where
espoused beliefs and actions align. People learn best from watching good
leaders in action. Many leaders emerge by observing and replicating the
behaviors of leaders that mentored them.
Apostolic Exhortation[3]
Veneremur
Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of
Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My
beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Part II
II. Faith perceives what our
senses fail to grasp
52. Our Catholic faith passed on to us
from the Apostles affirms that after the words of consecration, what seems to
our senses to remain just simple unleavened bread and wine really become the
Son of God and Savior of the world. For this reason, Saint Thomas Aquinas
through his beautiful Eucharistic hymn “Adoro Te Devote” invites
us to have a greater trust in Jesus’ words about His Body and Blood, even if
the reality may seem too good to be true: “Sight, touch, taste fail
with regard to Thee, but only by hearing does one believe surely; I believe
whatever God’s Son said: nothing is truer than the word of Truth.” And
in the hymn of “Tantum Ergo,” he invites us to beg the Lord
for this needed faith: “May faith supplement what our senses fail to
grasp.”
53. Faith makes all the difference in
how we experience God’s saving and transforming grace in the Eucharist. Faith
is the key we hold in our hands to open the treasures of God’s love and grace
entirely at our disposal for our sanctification. Beg the Lord to strengthen
your faith: “Make me always believe in you more and more” (Hymn Adoro
Te Devote).
54. The Lord Jesus invites us to
respond with faith like Peter, “To whom shall we go, you have the words
of everlasting life” and make a commitment not just to believe His
words that He is the Bread from heaven, but to build our lives according to
that belief. Jesus is asking us to make Him the “source and summit” of all
Christian life (Lumen Gentium, no. 11). He is asking us to choose him
who has chosen to dwell among us and has made the promise and commitment to
always be with us.
To be continued…
Corpus Christi[4]
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.
Body of Christ[5]
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
In some places of Europe Corpus Christi is known as the Day
of wreaths. Exquisite wreaths of flowers are used in the pageants, either
perched on banners, houses, and arches that stretch over the street, or worn by
the participants of the procession. The monstrance containing the Blessed
Sacrament could also be adorned with a bouquet of flowers. After the
solemnities these beautiful decorations would be taken home as keepsakes and
posted over gardens and fields for blessing and protection.
Hymns
Special mention must be made of the exquisite hymns written
by St. Thomas Aquinas for this feast and their subsequent popularity. Aquinas
wrote four: Verbum Supernum Prodiens (for Lauds), Pange Lingua
Gloriosi (Vespers), Sacris Solemniis (Matins), and Lauda
Sion Salvatoris (Mass sequence). Parts of these, in turn, were used as
separate hymns. The famous Tantum ergo Sacramentum used at Benediction
is taken from Pange Lingua and O salutaris hostia is taken from Verbum
Supernum, while Panis Angelicus is taken from Sacris Solemniis.
These hymns have become cherished treasures of Catholic devotion and worship
and should be sung with gusto on this great feast.
Thursday Traditional Corpus Christi[6]
The Feast of Corpus
Christi commemorates the sacrament of Holy Communion in the Roman Catholic
Church. This includes the receiving of the Eucharist which Catholics know
is the body and blood of Christ.
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.
Today as Catholics we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi or the body of Christ. As Catholics the one thing that has always been consistent in the church is the taking of the body of our Lord.
While they
were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and
said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks,
and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is
my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. (Mark 14:22-24)
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[7]
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.
Daily Devotions
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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