-
The Feast of Corpus Christi

There was a programme on a number of years ago called Sorry I think it was with Ronnie Courbet. IF you remember he was an older man still living with his Mother and Father? The famous line from that programme is that every time was “language Timothy” anytime he got something wrong.

We have to be careful with the language we use because sometimes like the sitcom we can confuse people. This is especially true with the Blessed Sacrament. Today’s feast celebrates the greatest gift Jesus gift of himself in his body and blood and so it demands the greatest respect and devotion As the CCC says “Because God is truly present in the consecrated species of bread and wine, we must preserve the sacred gifts with the greatest reverence and worship our Lord and Redeemer in the Most Blessed Sacrament”

The History of this feast day comes from the time when the Church was under attack in the Reformation it was to remind people of the importance and what the Church believed about the Blessed Sacrament. IT seems to me that it is just as important today. We need to be able to be able to use appropriate language about the Blessed Sacrament. We have in some hymns use inappropriate ways of expressing the mystery of the Eucharist. We have for example a version of the Lamb of God that states “In this bread and wine we share” after the Eucharistic prayer and the consecration which just confuses people and the whole situation. We must strive to use language that is appropriate to what actually happens during the Mass.

The other thing that happens is that our reverence for the Eucharist can be less than adequate. I remember once when I was giving out communion at a Mass for FHC a man came up and instead of saying Amen after I had given him communion said “Cheers mate” I know that this is an extreme but maybe we have times when we have a lack of devotion by not praying quietly and recognizing the presence of Christ here at Mass or in the way that we receive the blessed sacrament.

This week I had the privilege to take part in the Blessed Sacrament procession in the Cathedral and the castle grounds at Arundel. What struck me was that we were taking Christ into the streets and people were watching from afar and meeting Christ on the streets. The Pope has said that we should take Christ into the streets: this is what we did.
Today we can again rededicate ourselves to looking and how we may receive Christ and how we might live our lives knowing that we receive Christ on our tongues and how we by our example and devotion show it to others.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year of Service

-
Image
  This last weekend I was able to look back with friends at the wonderful year I had with the Vincentian Volunteers. Looking back I can see that there are many elements to this year that have remained always with me. These I can now see and after reflection have shaped my life since this most formative year. From this year I went on to train for the priesthood and became a priest. After 16 years I left ministry and now try my best to live my Christian values and life in the world. In a recent upgrade to my CV I realised that my whole adult life has been in some sort of service to others and usually to the most vulnerable and those on the fringes of society. From working in Top Shop to ministry to the Hospital to the work I now do in education. This all stems from this year I had with the community and putting Love in action. Yes I have made mistakes on the way and my human frailty has been evident but this life was never going to easy and straight forward.  When I look back on that yea
Read more

Easter

-
Image
  Over the last few years I have had major issues with the Catholic Church. I think that my issue is the authority of the Church and how many clergy, not all, use and abuse their power and class the laity as stupid idiots. I can say this as for 16 years I was a priest and caught up in the system. When you're in the middle of it you can't aways see what is going on around you. I could not see what the Church as a structure was doing to peoples lives. Until I was out I realised that the Church and Im talking about the Catholic Church here is full up of repressed men who are scared of change scared of themselves and scared of the laity. Those who speak out especially clergy who want significant change are laughed at by others and classed as trouble makers. This includes Pope Francis himself who wants change but sometimes can't get it because of what he has inherited. It is an issue that has gone on your centuries.  This does not allow for a healthy functioning Church. There ne
Read more

What have we learnt? Covid and the last year.

-
Image
Over the last year since the start of the Covid pandemic there has been much in the press about the affects on society. We have seen that there are many people who are anxious, feel alone and worried about the future. So I looked on the Internet for the Christian response to the Pandemic. I was not surprised to see that there were many articles to suggest that the Christian Church as a whole has failed in this time.  In the first Lockdown the Churches were asked to close and there was no public worship. As the infection rate went down the Churches could open for private prayer. In the recent lockdown many places of worship have remained open although the infection rate being a lot higher. I have maybe been a thorn in peoples sides by asking why. I even wrote to the Cardinal  to ask him why. I argued that they should be left shut because of the demographic that tend to go. I got a standard reply back. When I looked in newsletters I read many times about how to give your collection and t
Read more