In the 1850's a seven-year-old boy by the name of George went to visit an uncle in a small French village. While there, the lad, who was not a Catholic, saw for the first the celebration of the Fete-Dieu, the Feast of God, as the French call Corpus Christi.
The fluttering flags, the golden garments, the flower-strewn streets, the kneeling crowds, the saluting soldiers, the soulful music, the billowing incense, the dancing candles - all of this - entranced the child's mind. He wanted to take part. In some way that boys have of doing such things, he persuaded one of the lads in the choir to loan him his red cassock and surplice so that he could march in the procession.
He watched the others and did exactly what they did. Nobody seemed to notice the non-Catholic youngster.
When it was all over he rushed home and shouted to his father, a man of decidedly anti-Catholic feelings:
"Oh, father, what fun I had! Do you know - I was scattering flowers before the great God!"
The boy, a nephew of the great Cohen convert, the Carmelite Father Herman of the Blessed Sacrament, later became a convert himself, chiefly through the drawing power of the Divine Sacrament.
If a lad of seven summers, with little or no knowledge of what it all meant, could enter so full-heartedly into the keeping of Corpus Christi, then you and I, who know its beautiful meaning, must make this an outstanding festival of the year.
Corpus Christi means the Body of Christ. This feast helps us to re-live that Holy Thursday when Jesus gave us His Body. As the last Supper occurs in the week that is called "Holy," when we weep over the wounded heart and body of our Lord, Mother Church has picked another day when we can think about and honor in a special way the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament.
The story of that ancient Thursday is ever fresh and appealing. The Jewish Feast of the Pasch or Passover was at hand. Devout Jews that they were, Jesus and His apostles wanted to observe the anniversary of the "passing over" of their people.
The Twelve had asked our Lord where they should prepare for the celebration. He told them to go to Jerusalem. that there they would meet a man carrying a pitcher of water, that they should follow him to a certain house, and tell the man who lived there that the Master wanted a room to keep the feast of the morrow. The disciples followed directions. They made the room ready.
As the apostolic group gathered that evening, the Master spoke to them:
"I have greatly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you that I will eat of it no more, until it has been fulfilled in the kingdom of God." St. Luke, 14:15,16.
He washed the feet of His chosen twelve, drying them with a towel. After washing their feet, He sat down at table with them. They were eating together, when Jesus slowly and solemnly took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to His apostles, saying:
"Take and eat; this is my body."
He then took a cup of wine, and, after rendering thanks, He gave it to His apostles with these words:
"All of you drink of this; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is being shed for many unto the forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father." St. Matthew, 26:26-29.
According to His promise of a year before, Christ had changed the bread into His Body and the wine into His very Blood, really and truly and substantially. Finally He gave to His apostles and to all their successors in the Catholic priesthood, the power to do the same as He had done:
"Do this in remembrance of me." St. Luke, 22:20.
This simple and sublime story of the most glorious gift of God to man - Himself in the Eucharist - is the theme of this Feast which Mother Church has set for the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. In many American churches it is kept on the following Sunday.
Until the thirteenth century there was no such feast. God's instrument in establishing a special day to honor the Blessed Sacrament was a special lover of the Eucharist, St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon, Belgium.
Born in 1183, this Augustinian nun died in 1258. Her favorite devotion was to the Blessed Sacrament. She longed for a special feast in honor of our Lord in the Eucharist. To her Christ gave instructions with regard to the new day of Eucharistic devotion:
"Juliana, what disturbs you is that a feast is wanting in My Church militant, which I desire to establish. It is the feast of the Most high and most holy Sacrament of the Altar. At present the celebration of this Mystery is observed on Maundy Thursday; but on that day My sufferings and death are the principal objects of consideration. I desire another day to be set apart. . . for three reasons:There are the reasons, right from the heart of Christ, we ask you to attend Mass, to receive Holy Communion, to visit and honor Him in the Eucharist on this Feast of God with us, the day dedicated to the Body of Christ. Amen."First, that faith in this divine mystery, which is beginning to be attacked and will in future times be still further menaced, may be more confirmed and reassured.
"Secondly, that the faithful who believe and seek the truth may be fully taught and convinced, and enabled to draw from this well of life the strength necessary to carry them on in the way of virtue.
"Thirdly, that reparation may be made for the irreverence and impiety shown toward the Divine Majesty in the Blessed Sacrament, by a sincere and profound adoration of the same."
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Adapted from Occasional Talks
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)
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