Corpus Christi

From the Pastor:    Corpus Christi


       This weekend, although the traditional feast day was this past Thursday, we celebrate Corpus Christi. In the Novus Ordo Mass, the liturgical calendar doesn’t mention it on Thursday, whereas the Traditional calendar shows it being celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday and then again on Sunday as an external solemnity. Does any of that matter to most Catholics? Probably not. But it is interesting to some people, at least. The old (previous translation) Novus Ordo Missal says, “Where Corpus Christi is not celebrated as a Solemnity it is transferred to the Sunday following Trinity Sunday.” This sometimes throws the foreign priests for a loop, for they expect that, as important as Corpus Christi is “back home” it should be a big feast day here, too! While in many (most?) countries Corpus Christi is a Holy Day of Obligation, in the US we don’t celebrate it as a Solemnity, therefore, is it transferred rather than repeated in the New Mass. Corpus means body and Christi means Christ, so the feast day is celebrating the Eucharist, wherein is the fullness of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
       It was just a couple of weeks ago that we celebrated First Holy Communion at the parish and the children (and some adults!) were all filled with excited wonder at receiving Him for the first time in this Adorable Sacrament. They had all passed my test and knew without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is fully present in His humanity (Body, Blood, and Soul) as well as in His Godhead (Divinity) in either of the Species (the Consecrated Bread and the Consecrated Wine). Further, they knew that He is fully present even in the smallest particle of the Host or the smallest droplet of the Blood. But, while they were all thrilled to profess their faith when they were showing me that they really believe what the Church teaches regarding the Eucharist, I was later told a story that warmed my heart even more, as it showed that at least one little girl really got it. At the Traditional Latin Mass, the Eucharist is only distributed under the Species of the Host. She received Our Lord with great love and devotion two weeks in a row here but the following week the family was going to be attending a Novus Ordo Mass where Holy Communion is distributed under both Species. She was told excitedly, “This time you are going to be able to receive Jesus’ Blood, too!” Her simple reply showed faith greater than that of today’s average (non-Epiphany!) Catholic. “But I’ve already received His Blood!” She knew that every time she received the Host she received, repeat this after me, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Not just His Body, as if one part of His humanity can be separated from the other two parts and from His Godhead. No, she knew and professed with simple confidence that in receiving under both Species she would not be receiving “more” of Jesus. Oh, if only the rest of the Catholic world would learn from her! Many a well-meaning Catholic has come to the Traditional Latin Mass at Epiphany for the first time and asked the question, “Why don’t we get the wine at this Mass?” They never understand my answer, “Nobody ever receives wine at any Catholic Mass anywhere in the world.” They invariably argue, “We do at my parish!” Our little First Communicant would easily correct them with a statement of fact, “At your parish, you may receive the Precious Blood, which is no longer wine, along with the Sacred Host, but even here we receive—repeat this after me—the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus!” She would, I am sure, further be able to explain how those with severe Celiac disease, who cannot receive even a low-gluten Host, can receive the Precious Blood from a separate chalice that has not had the particle of the Host added to it and they, too, would receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus! (I forgot to write, “Repeat this after me,” but I trust that you get it by now.) I wonder if those who (especially amongst the older clergy) call the two Species “bread” and “wine” and think you are somehow getting gypped if you don’t receive both would eagerly distribute/receive from two more “Communion Stations” things like a piece of fruit and a whiff of oxygen if they were told that that is how they can receive even more of Jesus by receiving His Soul and Divinity under those two extra signs. Just think of how many more Extraordinary Ministers of Something or Other we could have gathered around the altar and spread around the church! [“Are you the minister of the bread today?” “No, I have the scuba tank this morning!”] I jest, of course, but if a Jesuit ever gets such an idea in his befuddled brain it might take off like wildfire. Maybe this idea could be taken up in the next Synod meeting. What do you think? Would California or Germany be the first to implement this New and Improved Whatchamacallit?
       So here we are, at Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi (I suspect that you are reading this during my homily!). The Eucharist, reserved in the tabernacle and confected upon the altar, is—because It is truly Jesus—the source and summit of our Faith. We will have a Eucharistic Procession following the 10:30 Mass glorifying and honoring the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May we all be blessed with and pass on to others the simple and profound Faith shown by the little girl who knows exactly Who she recieves in Holy Communion!

With prayer for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka