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This weekend, Sunday, June 11, Catholic churches throughout the world celebrate a solemn feast in honor of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, better known as Corpus Christi, which is Latin for "Body of Christ." I'd like to share with you some information which might help you understand what this means to many of your fellow Christians.
This feast is relatively new in the history of Christianity having only become a universal celebration in 1264. Whereas there is ample evidence that the bread and wine consecrated during the celebration of the Lord's Supper was accepted by early Christians as the true Body and Blood of Jesus, public expressions of respect were slow in developing.
Shortly after the end of the Roman persecution, devotions to what was later called the Blessed Sacrament began to spring up in various places throughout Christian lands including processions through the streets. It came about in part by the growing awareness that, if this truly is the Body of Jesus Christ, then our Lord and God is actually present before us and He is deserving of our adoration. Hence the birth of a special day dedicated to the "Body of Christ," Corpus Christi.
In the thirteenth century, motivated by the deep love of St. Dominic and St. Francis for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, their followers known as Dominicans and Franciscans were particularly influential in spreading devotion to our Lord present before us.
By the fifteenth century public processions on the feast of Corpus Christi had acquired a splendor equaling the pageantry of royal processions draped in rich materials with canopies born aloft, banners flying from balconies along the way and crowds throwing flowers. Although such extravagant processions are rare in our own country, they still flourish in other lands. Within our local churches public devotion to our Lord's Body and Blood is more personal. Daily, Christians gather to worship the Lord's Body and Blood, sometimes slipping into the church alone to pray quietly before the Blessed Sacrament.
Once a month they spend an hour after Mass in prayer and adoration of the Lord's Body visible in simple splendor upon the altar for all to see within a glass case centered in a sunburst holder.
Such fervent conviction is not easy to come by. It takes a great deal of Faith to believe what our senses cannot tell us; "We walk by Faith and not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7). Polls have shown that the majority of Catholics in our country deny this belief. On the other hand, it should impress everyone that millions of American Catholics claim to believe that Jesus is truly fully present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Whatever your personal belief, this weekend is a good time to meditate on the gift of our Lord's Body and Blood offered at the Last Supper and given to us upon the Cross.
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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week's column comes from Rev. Fr. Joseph Orr of Holy Spirit Catholic Parish, Lock Haven.