Sequence for Corpus Christi
The Sequence
Zion, praise your Savior. Praise your Savior. Praise your leader and shepherd in hymns and canticles. Praise him as much as you can, for he is beyond all praising and you will never be able to praise him as he merits.
But today a theme worthy of particular praise is put before us — the living and life-giving bread that, without any doubt, was given to the Twelve at table during the holy supper.
Therefore let our praise be full and resounding and our soul’s rejoicing full of delight and beauty, for this is the festival day to commemorate the first institution of this table.
At this table of the new King, the new law’s new Pasch puts an end to the old Pasch. The new displaces the old, the reality the shadow and light the darkness. Christ wanted what he did at the supper to be repeated in his memory.
And so we, in accordance with his holy directions, consecrate bread and wine to be salvation’s Victim. Christ’s followers know by faith that bread is changed into his flesh and wine into his blood.
Man cannot understand this, cannot perceive it; but a lively faith affirms that the change, which is outside the natural course of things, takes place. Under the different species, which are now signs only and not their own reality, there lie hid wonderful realities. His body is our food, his blood our drink.
And yet Christ remains entire under each species. The communicant receives the complete Christ — uncut, unbroken and undivided. Whether one receive or a thousand, the one receives as much as the thousand. Nor is Christ diminished by being received.
The good and the wicked alike receive him, but with the unlike destiny of life or death. To the wicked it is death, but life to the good. See how different is the result, though each receives the same.
Last of all, if the sacrament is broken, have no doubt. Remember there is as much in a fragment as in an unbroken host. There is no division of the reality, but only a breaking of the sign; nor does the breaking diminish the condition or size of the One hidden under the sign.
Behold, the bread of angels is become the pilgrim’s food; truly it is bread for the sons, and is not to be cast to dogs. It was prefigured in type when Isaac was brought as an offering, when a lamb was appointed for the Pasch and when manna was given to the Jews of old.
Jesus, good shepherd and true bread, have mercy on us; feed us and guard us. Grant that we find happiness in the land of the living. You know all things, can do all things, and feed us here on earth. Make us your guests in heaven, co-heirs with you and companions of heaven’s citizens. Amen. Alleluia.
Was checking out some Google links to the sequence for the feast of Corpus Christi and found your blog. I will come back when I have more time but this ad (pasted below) at the top of the page caught my eye and I just have to comment. I guess Google does what it does, but I thought they could have chosen a more neutral product to promote than some “Dial a Lawyer” looking for victims of child abuse on a priest’s blog. I would be inclined to cancel the subscription to the Google ads.
Kay
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Hi,
I have a question. I am a writer that is going to write a story about a priest character in a war zone. I was wondering if a priest had to defend themselves by killing the enemy, if they were aloud to do this? Or maybe you know of cases? I have goggled but turned up nothing.
Thanks a lot for your answer Father. It helped me out heaps.
Father,
Our local priest gave a homily on Corpus Christi in which he emphasized that the bread and wine do not physically become the Body and Blood of Christ, but that they are really and truly His Body and Blood spiritually. He affirmed that what happens results in a Real Presence, but denied that the Real Presence is physical. What I want to know is whether there is any way to understand this statement to make it agree with the “body, blood, soul and divinity” and “substantially present” configuration in the Catechism.
Thank you, Father. This was very helpful. Yes, he has referred to Jesus’ “sacramental presence” in his sermons before, but I can’t remember if he used it in this one, and I’m pretty sure he’s never defined it in a homily. He used the analogy of a wedding ring being more than the metal it was made of (though perhaps this was a poor choice for an analogy). He started out saying that “years ago, in another parish, some ladies who were the self-appointed guardians of orthodoxy came to me and accused me of not believing Christ was physically present in the Eucharist because I never preached on the subject. And I never will!” So now I think I can see where he was coming from with this homily–probably trying to avoid people becoming superstitious or fundamentalist in their understanding of the Eucharist. I still think he tends to run “on the edge” of things sometimes, but we do like him, and he’s definitely better than the other priest in town, who told us that parents have no right to sit in on their teenagers’ CYO classes about sex & sexuality. (These being led by a 22-year-old who said–in front of my 10-year-old– that pre-marital sex was a good and helpful thing.)
Father,
Thank you for all your help. In our case, the priest I talked to was also the pastor. I did call the diocesan office to ask if there were any policies in place to address this issue. Unfortunately, the person in charge of Religious Ed. was also a relative of the priest in question, and I knew from hearing people talk that this family always backed each other up. Our bishop came from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and seems to be a less extreme version of Cardinal Mahony, so we weren’t especially optimistic that he would see our point of view. In the end, we chose to attend the other parish in town, homeschool our children, and pray for better days.
Actually Jesus was talking symbolically, not literally. Jesus isn’t in the bread, he’s seated at the right hand of the Father. The holy spirit is IN us, when we repent of our sins and put our faith and trust in Jesus. Jesus also said He was the door… that wasn’t literal either.