This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (also known by its Latin name: Corpus Christi). This feast was introduced into the Church in the Thirteenth Century during a time when the legitimacy of the doctrine of the Real Presence (that Jesus is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist) was being questioned. A priest traveling from Prague on a pilgrimage to had stopped in the town of Bolsena, Italy to celebrate Mass. As he was elevating the host during the consecration, the host suddenly appeared in a visible way as true flesh, sprinkled with red blood. This Eucharistic miracle inspired Pope Urban IV, who investigated and approved its legitimacy, to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264, commissioning Thomas Aquinas to compose prayers and music to celebrate the feast. The hymns, Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris that we use even today for Eucharistic Adoration, are among the fruits of Aquinas’ work in response to the Pope’s request.
Today also marks the beginning of a three-year long national movement to focus on and reignite belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted last year to launch a National Eucharistic Revival to invigorate belief in the Real Presence of Jesus and to encourage growth in love for his Eucharistic Presence. Recent studies reveal that only approximately 31 percent of American Catholics fully understand and believe that the Eucharist is actually the Body of Christ, rather than just a symbol. The hope is that by focusing on our teaching about the Eucharist as well as hosting additional opportunities for worship and devotion to Christ present in the Eucharist, Catholics might be inspired to grow in our understanding of and love for the Eucharist.
Beginning this Sunday, June 19th and continuing through June 11th of next year, we will be focusing on our devotion to the Eucharist at the Archdiocesan level. Archbishop Blair will lead a Eucharistic Procession in Waterbury this Sunday at 2pm, starting in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception with Exposition and a reflection on the Eucharist. The procession will then move out into the streets of Waterbury, stopping briefly at Our Lady of Lourdes Church for another reflection, before finishing at the Shrine of St. Anne with Benediction. All throughout the Archdiocese are invited to participate in this procession.
From June 11, 2023 through July 17, 2024, the focus will shift to the parishes of the Archdiocese where there will be opportunities to learn and reflect more deeply on the meaning of the Eucharist as well as the Mass, regular Holy Hours and other focused prayer and devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. This will culminate on July 17 - 21, 2024 in a National Eucharistic Congress to be held in Indianapolis. (The last Eucharistic Congress to be held in the U.S. was in 1976 in Philadelphia.) Following this, all Catholics in the country will be encouraged to spend the next year 2024-25 going out on mission.
More details will be shared about all these events and opportunities as plans are firmed up. In the meantime, let us all take the time to renew our commitment to prayer and worship of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and allow him to transform our lives through his Real Presence.