Category: Corpus Christi

CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Encyclical Letter Ecclesia De Eucharistia of His Holiness Saint Pope John Paul II, On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church” – Saint John Paul II/VaticanVa

Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Sacraments
Saint Pope John Paul II file photo, adapted from image at archives.gov

“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope. The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’ …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST” – Catechism of the Catholic Church/ VaticanVa

Catechism, Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Faith Links, Headlines
View of St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican from River

“… 1324 The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”136 “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.”137

1325 “The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.”138

1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia” – Saint John Paul II/ VaticanVa 2003

Catholic, Catholic Faith, Christ, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Faith Links, Headlines, Saint Pope John Paul II
Saint Pope John Paul II file photo, adapted from image at archives.gov

“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope.

The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”.1 “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”.2 Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love. …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Celebrating Corpus Christi A look at the feast’s history, customs and current practices” – Our Sunday Visitor/ Michael R. Heinlein

Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist
Priest Lifting Host at Mass

“The fact that the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ makes good sense, given the Eucharist’s centrality in the life of the Church, neatly described by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the “sum and summary of our faith” (No. 1327). And there’s the Second Vatican Council’s famous reiteration of this reality in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, calling the Eucharist the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, No. 11). …”

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CATHOLIC FAITHLINK: “Are You a Mouse or A Man? A Homily for The Feast of Corpus Christi” – Msgr. Charles Pope/ Archdiocese of Washington

Catholic, Catholic Faith, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, Faith Links, Headlines
Last Supper by Duccio, adapted from image at openi.nlm.nih.gov

“In many places this Sunday, the (moved) Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Our Lord is celebrated. …”

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