Corpus Christie

I know I should have written this on Thursday-but here it is anyway.

Sadly the bishops of England and Wales moved this beautiful feast to Sunday. I have to say I do not understand this move which seems to impky the Faith is a Sunday only obligation.

Surely Catholics are crying out for a challenge-a Faith that really MEANS something.

So what is CORPUS CHRISTIE all about?

It is the feast of the Body of Christ, when we renew our gratitude to God for his Passion and the institution of the Eucharist. This is the supreme gift Christ has given to us-to His bride the Church. he gives His Body, Bloood, Soul and Divinity. Isn't that the most astonishing gift?

THIS IS MY BODY, He said and THIS IS MY BLOOD and then as St. Augustine pointed out, He held Himself in His own hands and gave Himself to the apostles at the Last Supper. I cannot begin to imagine what went through the minds of those men as they shared the consecrated brad-the Lamb of God between them.

Jesus said clearly that we must eat his body and drink his blood (John 6) if we are to have life in us. He offered this to all and yet so many walked away-and so many still walk away from this stunning gift.

I have always beleived in the real presence even in those days when I had huge doubts about the Church. When I was younger I could sense the warmth of God's Presence in a tabernacle so much that I could sense the absence in those churches that did not have Him there. Protestant churches simply felt empty.

I never really knew how to describe this properly-but it can't be just me as I recently read A Cry of Sone by Michael o'Brien and he desribes the Presence as a beating heart, which is not quite how I sensed it, but very close.

Christ wants us to beleive and come to Him.

Eucaharisitc miracles are to be found all over the world. Hosts bleed and cardiac tissue forms in the centre of them, the consecrated wine turns to blood so that it can be seen and tested. These miracles still occur today as faith in the Real Presence diminishes and more and more people think they have a right to 'take' Communion even while not in a state of grace. Have they not seen the miracles? How do people explain them away when scientific study cannot?

The horrifying sight of public sacriligious reception of Holy Communion is painful in the extreme.

Fr Tommy Lane explains it all so much better than I could.

I was very tempted to leave the Church during my wilderness years, but each Sunday when I knelt before that Christ truly present-I just couldn't leave. In the end He brought be fully home and I am so grateful.