Second Sunday after Pentecost or Thursday after Trinity Sunday
This solemnity was first established in the diocese of Liege in the 13th century. Pope Urban IV instituted it in 1264 for the whole Church. This feast signifies the consideration for, and devotion to, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. At the Pope’s request, St Thomas Aquinas composed for this day two Offices which have nourished the piety of many Christians throughout the centuries. (Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:262, 269)
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Today we celebrate this great Solemnity in honor of the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. We must give many thanks to God for having remained amongst us, make atonement to him and express to him our joy at having him so close: “Adoro te devote, latens Deitas ... O God-head hid, devoutly I adore thee”, (Hymn, “Adoro te Devote” by St Thomas Aquinas, in Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias [eds], “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, pp214-5) we will repeat to him many times this day from the very depths of our hearts.
When we visit the Blessed Sacrament we will be able to say slowly to Our Lord, with love: I do not see your wounds as Thomas saw them, but I confess that you are my God. “Make me believe thee ever more and more; In thee my hope, in thee my love to store.” (Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias [eds], “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, pp214-5)
It was faith in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist that led to devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass as well. In the first centuries of the Church the Sacred Species were reserved so that Communion could be taken to the sick and to prisoners awaiting martyrdom for professing their faith. Eventually, the faith and love of believers caused them to make both public and private devotion to the Holy Eucharist far richer.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:262, 269)
The love of the Heart of Jesus manifested in the Institution of the Holy Eucharist
Jesus has found means to perform a prodigy impossible to human love -- to die for the beloved object, yet without being separated from it. This he did by institution of the Holy Eucharist. Through this ineffable Sacrament, Jesus Christ dwells really in our hearts, and in our midst, though veiled from our eyes.
Making himself the ‘companion of our exile’, he multiplies his presence worldwide. From the tabernacle he calls to us, “Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Mt 11:28).
Let us take advantage of today’s great feast to offer to the Heart of Jesus our tribute of love, gratitude, and veneration. To make reparation for having so frequently disregarded his loving invitations, so seldom visited him in the Sacrament of his love, so often grieved his Sacred Heart by our coldness and infidelity.
This is the second miracle which the love of our Saviour works for us. Through the Holy Eucharist he renews continually in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the offering which he made on Calvary on Good Friday. As priest and victim, he offers himself by the hands of his minister.
The Sacrifice of the Cross is bloody; on our altars, unbloody, Jesus being slain, theologically, “only by the sword of the words of consecration”. We can conclude “that the Sacrifice of the Mass is of equal value with that of the Cross”. (St John Chrysostom)
The love of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is shown most of all by his consenting to become the food of our souls, thus identifying himself with us. In his own words: “Take ye, and eat; this is my Body.” (Mt 26:26) “He that eats my Flesh, and drinks my Blood, abides in me, and I in him.” (Jn 6:57-8)
Why is it, after so many Communions we are still so ‘unspiritual, so unlike Jesus Christ’? For want of the right dispositions: such as fervor in our preparation, or thanksgiving; or in receiving the Blessed Sacrament?
Mary, more than all other beings together, loves and adores her Son, really present as he is in Heaven and in the Eucharist. She teaches us to have within ourselves the same sentiments she had in Nazareth, in Bethlehem, on Calvary, in the Cenacle.
She encourages us to talk to him with the same love that she adores her Son in Heaven and in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. (cf R M Spiazzi, “Mary in the Christian Mystery”)
[As we emulate Our Lady’s great piety, we repeat: “I wish, Lord to receive you with the purity, humility and devotion with which your most holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervor of the saints.” (“Spiritual Communion” in Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias, “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988 p283)]
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp317-9
The Blood of Christ
At the Basilica of Our Lady of the Precious Blood in Ferrara, Italy there took place on Easter Sunday, 28 March 1171 when it was still a small church, a miracle just before distribution of Holy Communion. At the moment the priest broke the consecrated Host into two, the Host turned into Flesh and from the Flesh, Blood sprayed and splattered on the vaulted dome behind the Altar.
This red stain remains to this day. The incident was immediately reported to the Bishop of Ferrara and Archbishop of Ravenna who declared unequivocally that the irrefutable evidence of the Blood on the wall, is conclusive proof that a Miracle had taken place. On 6 March 1404, Cardinal Migliorati issued a Bull to affirm the miracle.
Ref: Bob and Penny Lord, “Miracles of the Eucharist”, II:25-7
Solitude and Silence Nourish Spiritual Life
Jesus, before beginning his public life, prayed for forty days in the desert. You, too try to bring a little silence into your lives, so as to be able to think, to reflect, to pray with greater fervor and make more decisive resolutions.
It is difficult to create “zones of desert and silence” these days. You are continually being overcome by complications of work, the uproar of events, attraction of the communications media. It is difficult, but possible and important to know how to succeed in it.
Jesus also inculcated the necessity for ‘commitment to overcome evil’. He willed to suffer temptation in order to lay emphasis on its reality and to teach the strategy for fighting it and winning. Being Christian means accepting the reality of life and undertaking the necessary struggle against evil.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, pp260-61
• The Justinian Madonna at Carthage. This church was built by the Emperor Justinian in honor of the Blessed Virgin, to whom he attributed the victories which he gained over the Vandals. — Baronius, year 534. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady Justiniani (Carthage). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (http://mariedenazareth.com)
• Our Lady Justinienne at Carthage (6th Century). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
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