Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Sunday Within The Octave Of Corpus Christi
(Second Sunday After Pentecost).
Semi-Double.
White Vestments.
Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
For The Feast of Corpus Christi, The Church has chosen The Thursday between The Sunday on which she speaks of God's Mercy towards men and the consequent duty of fraternal Charity among Christians (First Sunday after Pentecost), and this Sunday, when she resumes the same thread of thought (Epistle) and presents The Kingdom of Heaven in the form of The Parable of the Supper (Gospel). [This Mass was in existence, composed of its present parts, before Corpus Christi was instituted.]
Nothing could be more appropriate to The Blessed Eucharist, as the banquet where all Souls are united by love to Christ their Spouse and to all members of His Mystical Body; no time could have been chosen better than when the history of Samuel is being read in The Breviary; Samuel, who was Consecrated to God from his earliest childhood to dwell near The Ark of The Lord and to become Priest in The Sanctuary of The Most High.
In The Liturgy for this Season, we see how this young child, offered to God by his mother, served The Lord in the Temple with a pure heart and nurtured himself on God's Truth.
"In those days," The Breviary tells us, "The Word of The Lord was precious . . . there was no manifest vision"; for Heli was at the same time proud and weak; and his two sons, Ophni and Phinees, were faithless to God and slack in His Service. Yet, at that very moment, The Lord revealed Himself to the child Samuel, for, as Our Lord tells us, He reveals Himself to "little ones", and hides Himself from the Proud.
"It is to the humble," says Saint Gregory, "that the secrets of The Divine Plan have been revealed, and that is why Samuel was called as a child." God foretold to Samuel the punishment which would fall on Heli and his house, and, as a matter of fact, soon after, The Ark was taken by The Philistines, Heli's two sons were killed and Heli, himself, died.
Moreover, Almighty God had withheld His revelations from The High Priest, because he and his sons made too little of Heavenly Joys, symbolised by "the great supper" spoken of in today's Gospel, and were more attached to the delights of the body than of the Soul.
Applying to them a passage from Saint Gregory in today's Sermon, we may say that they "had reached a state in which they had lost all appetite for interior joys, for the very reason that they had held aloof from them and had long lost the habit of relishing them. Since they were not willing to enjoy interiorly the sweetness offered them, they loved the hunger that came upon them from without."
Heli's sons had, in fact, been taking the meats offered to God and eating them themselves, and Heli, their father, had let them go their own way. It was in Divine Consolations, alone, that Samuel, who had always lived with Heli in the Temple, found his delight. The food of which he partook was that supplied by God Himself, when He told him His secrets in Contemplation and Prayer.
"The child slept, which means," says Saint Gregory, "that his Soul was at rest without care for Earthly things." The Saint explains in his commentary on today's Gospel that "the joys of the body, which kindle in us beforehand an ardent desire for their possession, soon bring disgust upon him who tastes them, by the very fact of his satiating himself with them, while, on the contrary, Spiritual Joys arouse contempt before they are possessed, but stir up desire for them when once they have been obtained; so that he who has tasted them is the hungrier, the more he is fed".
And this explains how Souls, who find all their delight in the pleasures of this World, refuse to share in the banquet of The Christian Faith, wherein The Church nourishes all with the teaching of the Gospel. "Taste and see," continues Saint Gregory, "that The Lord is sweet. By these words, the Psalmist expressly tells us: You do not know His sweetness if you do not taste it, but touch the food of life with the palate of your heart, that, experiencing His graciousness, you may be able to love Him.
"Man lost these delights when he sinned in Paradise, out of which he came when he had closed his lips to the food of Eternal Sweetness. It follows from this that, having been born in the pains of this exile, we reach such a state of disgust with our life here below, that we no longer know what we ought to desire" (Matins).
But, by the Grace of The Holy Ghost, "we have passed from death unto life" (Epistle), so that, like humble little Samuel, we, the weak, the poor, and the lame of the Gospel, should seek our joys near Our Lord's Tabernacle and in intimate communion with Him.
We must avoid Pride and Earthly things, that we may be instructed in the fear and love of God's Holy Name (Collect), and, thus, constantly directed by Him, "our life on Earth may more and more be likened to that of Heaven," that "it may be vouchsafed to us who have received The Sacred Gifts, that the more often we assist at The Celebration of these Divine Mysteries, the more surely they may avail to the salvation of our Souls" (Postcommunion).
Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
"Pange Lingua".
Sung during The Corpus Christi Procession.
Available on YouTube at
The Solemn Celebration of this Feast is, in some places, observed on the following Sunday.
After the Dogma of The Holy Trinity, The Holy Ghost reminds us of the Dogma of The Incarnation of Our Lord, in Celebrating with The Church the greatest of all Sacraments, summing up the whole Life of The Redeemer, giving Infinite Glory to God and applying The Fruits of The Redemption at all times to ourselves (Collect).
It was on The Cross that Our Lord redeemed us, and The Holy Eucharist, instituted on the night before Our Lord's Passion, remains its Memorial (Collect). The Altar is the extension of Calvary ["The Celebration of The Mass has the same value as The Death of Jesus Christ on The Cross", Saint John Chrysostom.]; The Mass "shows The Death of The Lord" (Epistle).
Jesus is there in the State of a Victim, for the words of the Double Consecration mean only that the Bread is changed into The Body of Christ and the Wine into His Blood. On account of this double action with different effects, which constitutes The Sacrifice of The Mass, we are entitled to speak of Our Lord's Presence, under the appearance of Bread, as that of The Body of Christ, although, since He can die no more, the whole Christ is there contained; similarly, we may speak of the Presence under the appearance of Wine as that of His Blood, although He is contained there whole and entire.
"The Eucharist in a Fruit Wreath ", by Jan Davidsz de Heem, 1648,
(from the Blog "Ars Orandi: The Art and Beauty of Traditional Catholicism").
Through His Priests, Our Lord, Himself, The Principal Priest of The Mass, offers in an unbloody manner His Body and Blood, Which were really separated on The Cross, but, on the Altar only in a representative or Sacramental sense, the matter and words used and the effect produced being different in the two Consecrations.
Besides, The Eucharist was instituted under the form of food (Alleluia), that we may be united with The Victim of Calvary, so that The Sacred Host becomes the "wheat" which feeds our Souls (Introit).
THE SEQUENCE FOR CORPUS CHRISTI.
Solemnity of The Body and Blood of Christ. Holy Mass, Procession to Saint Mary Major and Eucharistic Blessing. Basilica of Saint John Lateran, 23 June 2011. Solennità del Santissimo Corpo e Sangue di Cristo. Santa Messa, Processione a Santa Maria Maggiore e Benedizione Eucaristica. Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, 23 Giugno 2011.
Sequentia: Lauda Sion Salvatorem.
Available on YouTube at
Moreover, Christ, as The Son of God, receives The Eternal Life of The Father; in the same way, Christians share in that Eternal Life by uniting themselves to Christ, through The Sacrament, which is the symbol of unity (Secret), and this possession of The Divine Life, already realised on Earth through The Eucharist, is the pledge and the beginning of that in which we shall fully rejoice in Heaven (Postcommunion). As The Council of Trent puts it: "That same Heavenly Bread that we eat now, under the Sacred Veils, we shall feed upon in Heaven without Veil."
We should regard The Mass as The Centre of all Eucharistic Worship, seeing in Holy Communion the means instituted by Our Lord to enable us to share more fully in this Divine Sacrifice. In this way, our Devotion to Our Lord's Body and Blood will effectively obtain for us The Fruits of His Redemption (Collect).
English: Corpus Christi Procession.
Oil on canvas by Carl Emil Doepler.
Deutsch: Carl Emil Doepler the Elder
(1824 Warszawa or Schnepfental - 1905 Berlin): Fronleichnamsprozession.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Concerning the Procession, which regularly should follow The Mass, we remember how the Israelites revered The Ark of The Covenant, which was the Presence of God among them. When they carried on their victorious marches, the Ark went before, borne by the Levites in the midst of a cloud of incense, accompanied by the sound of musical instruments and of the songs and shouts of the multitude.
We Christians have a treasure far more precious, for, in The Eucharist, we possess God Himself. Let us feel a holy pride in forming His Escort and extolling His Triumphs, while He is in our midst.
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Cibávit eos.
Sequence: Lauda Sion.
Creed: Is said.
Preface: Of Christmas. Also, throughout The Octave.
Regularly, The Sacred Host, carried in The Procession, has been Consecrated in The Mass and exposed in The Monstrance immediately after The Communion of the Priest.
Sometimes, however, The Procession is a separate function in the afternoon.
When the Priest leaves the Altar, the Choristers intone the Vesper Hymn Pange Lingua. If time allows, other Eucharistic Hymns are also sung, to be found among The Benediction Hymns, e.g: Sacris Solemniis and Verbum Supernum. Also, the Hymns for The Ascension, Salutis Humanae, the Canticles Benedictus or Magnificat. On the return of The Procession, The Te Deum is usually sung.
When the Celebrant is arrived at the Altar, the Choristers intone the Tantum Ergo and Benediction is given.
Preface: Of Christmas. Also, throughout The Octave.
"Lauda Sion Salvatorem".
(Sequence for Corpus Christi).
Available on YouTube at
THE PROCESSION.
(Indulgences are granted to those who take part in The Procession.)
Regularly, The Sacred Host, carried in The Procession, has been Consecrated in The Mass and exposed in The Monstrance immediately after The Communion of the Priest.
Sometimes, however, The Procession is a separate function in the afternoon.
Capilla de Música de la Catedral de Pamplona: "Sacris Solemnis".
Available on YouTube at
When the Priest leaves the Altar, the Choristers intone the Vesper Hymn Pange Lingua. If time allows, other Eucharistic Hymns are also sung, to be found among The Benediction Hymns, e.g: Sacris Solemniis and Verbum Supernum. Also, the Hymns for The Ascension, Salutis Humanae, the Canticles Benedictus or Magnificat. On the return of The Procession, The Te Deum is usually sung.
When the Celebrant is arrived at the Altar, the Choristers intone the Tantum Ergo and Benediction is given.
"Verbum Supernum".
Sung during The Corpus Christi Procession.
Available on YouTube at
The "Magnificat".
The Canticle of Mary.
Sung during The Corpus Christi Procession.
Available on YouTube at
The Solemn "Te Deum"
(5th-Century Monastic Chant).
Sung when The Corpus Christ Procession
has returned to The Church.
Available on YouTube at
