Today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, traditionally called Corpus Christi.

The Catholic Church in the United States begins today a “Year of Eucharistic Revival”. Sadly, many Catholics do not understand the amazing truth that the Holy Eucharist is really and truly Jesus. Even if Catholic understand and believe this amazing truth, too often they don’t appreciate its meaning. Receiving the Eucharist can become routine and we can receive without enthusiasm. The Church has established this Year of Eucharistic Revival to encourage Catholics to study the faith and to acknowledge that the Eucharist is not a mere symbol but Christ’s real presence and to stir up in us a hunger for communion with Christ through this sacrament. 

The ancient Church believed what we Catholics believe today, that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist—body, blood, soul and divinity. Jesus, true God and true human, is present in the Eucharist and he comes to dwell in us. In fact, in the early Church when there was a dispute about whether Jesus was truly and fully God, some of the Church Father referred to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist to prove that Jesus must be God. After all, how could Jesus be present in the Eucharist if he was only human? Read this quote from Saint Hilary of Poitier (315- 368 AM):

When we speak of the reality of Christ's nature being in us, we would be speaking foolishly and impiously -- had we not learned it from Him. For He Himself says: "My Flesh is truly Food, and My Blood is truly Drink. He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood will remain in Me and I in Him." As to the reality of His Flesh and Blood, there is no room left for doubt, because now, both by the declaration of the Lord Himself and by our own faith, it is truly Flesh and it is truly Blood. And these elements bring it about, when taken and consumed, that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Is this not true? Let those who deny that Jesus Christ is true God be free to find these things untrue. But He Himself is in us through the flesh and we are in Him, while that which we are with Him is in God.

We hope to have our own Eucharistic Procession in Center City on September 24. There will be a one day Eucharistic Congress at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA on September 30. Also there will be a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, 2024. I hope to go to Indianapolis with Saint John’s parishioners. Please mark your calendar for these three important opportunities to honor Jesus in the Eucharist. More details to follow.