Corpus Christi Sunday - The Real Presence of Christ
St. Thomas Aquinas: “The Eucharist is the
sacrament of love: It signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the
consummation of the whole spiritual life.”
St. Euphrasia: “To speak of the Blessed
Sacrament is to speak of what is most sacred. How often, when we are in a state
of distress, those to whom we look for help leave us; or what is worse, add to
our affliction by heaping fresh troubles upon us. He is ever there, waiting to
help us.”
St. Francis de Sales: “When the bee has gathered
the dew of heaven and the earth’s sweetest nectar from the flowers, it turns it
into honey, then hastens to its hive. In the same way, the priest, having taken
from the altar the Son of God (who is as the dew from heaven and true son of
Mary, flower of our humanity), gives him to you as delicious food.”
St. John Chrysostom: “It is not the man who is
responsible for the offerings as they become Christ’s Body and Blood; it is
Christ himself who was crucified for us. The standing figure belongs to the
priest who speaks these words. The power and the grace belong to God. ‘This is
my Body,’ he says. And these words transform the offerings.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “Since Christ himself has said, ‘This is my Body,’ who shall dare to doubt that it is his Body?”
St. Maximilian Kolbe: “If angels could be jealous
of men, they would be so for one reason: holy Communion.”
St. John Vianney: “I throw myself at the
foot of the tabernacle like a dog at the foot of his master.”
St. Pio of Pietrelcina: “A thousand years of
enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly communing with
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
St. Angela of Foligno: “If we paused for a moment
to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the
thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into
a fire of love and gratitude.”
St. Francis of Assisi: “O sublime humility! O
humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God,
should humble himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for
our salvation.”
St. Augustine: “What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction.”
It's the Sunday of All Saints for us, in which the Church through her own sacrifices joins herself to the sacrifice of Christ.
ReplyDeleteYour Church, O Christ our God, clothed itself in the blood of Your martyrs from throughout the world, as though it were a robe of linen and purple; through them, she cries out to You, "Send down upon Your people compassion, grant peace to Your commonwealth, and to our souls, great mercy."
The world offers You, the author of all creation, as the first-fruits of nature, the God-bearing martyrs. O most merciful, by their intercessions, through the Theotokos, maintain Your Church in perfect peace.
For Roman Catholics, All Saints Day is celebrated on the 1st of November.
DeleteIt's well past the time for the churches to synchronise their liturgical calendars!
But 1 November is the feast of Cosmas and Damianos the Holy Unmercenaries and their mother Theodota!
DeleteI wouldn't envy anyone the task of synchronising the calendars.
Isn't the Ukrainian Orthodox Church changing its calendar to the revised Julian calendar, and will celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25th? the change will not apply to Easter as its date fluctuates. Granted the change is part of the country's efforts to distance itself from Russia, but its a start.
DeleteWon't the calendar change apply to Easter? I thought the rule, dating back to the reign of Constantine, was the same in the East and the West alike -- the Sunday next after the first full moon after March 21. The difference is that the Julian March 21 comes a few weeks later than the Gregorian March 21. So if they've changed from Julian to Gregorian, that ought to affect Easter too.
DeleteReports are that they've changed to the "revised" Julian calendar, not the Gregorian.
Delete@ Jack - it's the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) that's allowed Christmas to be celebrated in December (in line with most other Orthodox Churches). The OCU was granted autocephalous status by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 2019, which is partly why the Russians fell out with the rest of the Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, which refuses to recognise the OCU.
DeleteThey've OCU claimed it was an experiment in seeing what worshippers want and nothing to do with politics at all. They also held services on the traditional January date, so people could choose.
@ Ray - no, it wouldn't change Easter. The Orthodox Church, regardless of what calendar is used locally, continues to calculate Easter by the Julian calendar through sheer bloody mindedness - I mean, through faithful adherence to the decisions taken at Nicaea. As far as I can see, the inherently moveable nature of Easter would mean that it's actually much easier to align Easter with the rest of Christendom than it is Christmas, which would mean changing public holidays etc. in Orthodox countries. On the other hand, I imagine that such a move would be fiercely opposed by Russia and the Orthodox Church would then be celebrating Easter on two different dates herself.
@Lain, I’ve lost track of all the churches that coexist in Ukraine. You have explained about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), but what about Catholic churches there? I know there’s an Eastern rite Catholic Church, but is there also a Latin rite Catholic Church?
Delete@ Ray - I don't blame you, I can't keep track either. I suppose it's indicative of how disputed that territory has been historically.
DeleteWikipedia says that about 10% of the Ukrainian population is Catholic (approx. 3.6 million: 9% Eastern Catholic and 1% Latin according to the Catholic News Agency. Wiki says: 'The Catholic Church in Ukraine consists of members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as well as the Latin Church, Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, and the Armenian Catholic Church.
The majority of Ukrainian Catholics belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church [a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See]. The Latin Church in the territories of modern Ukraine has been strongly associated with Poland and Poles, but the church has emphasized a Ukrainian identity since the nation's independence from the Soviet Union.'
A quote from your link: Ukraine is also home to the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo
DeleteNo doubt about it, it's a maze to get lost in and never find your way out.
The church that switched the date of Christmas just a week or so ago, I think that was an Eastern rite Catholic church, wasn't it? Or has one of the Orthodox churches switched as well?
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church announced in February that it was switching to the Gregorian calendar for feats that occur on fixed dates, such as Christmas, although movable ones like Easter will still be calculated by the old calendar. I think that's a net benefit ecumenically, but I'd be sadden if it were politically motivated by trying to distance Ukraine from Russian practices.
DeleteIt's all very confusing. Technically, it's not the date that's been changed, it's the calendar. All Orthodox Churches celebrate their feasts on the same date (i.e., 25 December), it's just that they use different calendars to work that date out so it occurs at different times to one another: the Old Calendar's 25 Dec is the New Calendar's 7 Jan (e.g., today is 30 May in the old calendar).
As far as I was aware, most Eastern Catholics follow the Gregorian dating, but this forum post seems to suggest a bit more diversity (although it's from 2007, so things have possibly changed - they have in Ukraine's case, at least).
Ruthenian Eastern Catholics in the US & Canada celebrate on December 25th.
Ukrainian Eastern Catholics are divided into Old Calendar and New Calendar parishes. In the US, the vast majority are New Calendar parishes and celebrate on the 25th. The Old Calendar parishes will celebrate on January 7th.
In the “Old Country”, meaning Slovakia and Ukraine, those living in Slovakia celebrate on the 25th and those living in Ukraine celebrate on the 7th.
I’ve also heard that Latin Rite Catholics living in Russia celebrate on January 7th so as to celebrate with the rest of the population but I can’t confirm this…
It makes one want to lie down in a darkened room.
And I seem to remember Gadjo saying that everyone has to celebrate Easter (and maybe Christmas) by the old calendar dates in Romania by law, even his Baptist church.
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