Corpus Christi
Sunday, June 6 is the Feast of Corpus Christi [Ecclesiastical Latin: Dies Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Domini Iesu Christi]. ‘Day of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ the Lord’ also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
It is a Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Western Orthodox liturgical solemnity celebrating the real presence of the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements of the eucharist.
Two months earlier, the institution of the eucharist at the last supper is observed on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday . The liturgy on that day also commemorates Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet, the institution of the priesthood, and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Corpus Cristi — the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ — is a feast honoring Jesus Christ really, truly and substantially present in bread and wine.
This presence happens through the change which the church calls transubstantiation [change of substance] — when at the consecration of the mass the priest says the words attributed to Christ himself.
At the last supper, when he pronounced over bread and wine, “This is My Body,” “This is the chalice of My Blood,” “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
When Jesus consecrated bread and wine at the last supper, he said these gifts — his body and blood — would be given up for us as they were on Good Friday and that our eucharistic celebration was to continue in his memory.
The gift of faith we received is now ours to give. In word and deed we are called to give our lives, becoming the living bread that we consume, that heals our world and welcomes all to salvation in Christ.
A truly apt and timely message this month of June — as we celebrate Pride Month for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Originally published at http://diywellbeing.blogspot.com.
