Family in Feast and Feria

My flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. (John 6:55)




This weekend is packed full. First was anniversary on Saturday, then Sunday is both Fathers' Day and the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ). I really enjoy the Sundays in succession with the feasts of Pentecost, Trinity and Corpus Christi -- some of our deepest Mysteries of the Faith brought forth and celebrated.

Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel in Vine and Branches explains the significance of this feast:

On the first Tursday after the Paschal Seasons the Church completes what she was unable to do on Maundy Thursday. "In order that the faithful might celebrate the institution of so great a sacrament with a complete office, Pope Urban IV piously ordained that this should be done on the first Thursday after the octave of Pentecost. This day was chosen in order that we, who receive this sacrament for our souls' health all through the year, might call to mind its institution at the very time when the Holy Ghost taught the hearts of the disciples to understand its mysteries in their fulness. At that time also the faithful first began to frequent this sacrament" (breviary).

For more on Corpus Christi, visit 4Real Learning Forums.

Our parish didn't have a procession, nor did we even pray the Sequence (!), but the choir did sing a lovely Renaissance piece entitled Coenatibus autem illis. The words are taken from the text of Matthew 26:26, composed by Juan de Lienas who was a Spaniard residing in Mexico, written around 1620-1650.

Coenantibus autem illis, accepit Jesus panem, et benedixit ac fregit, deditque discipulis suis: Acciptie et manducate: hoc ist enim corpus meum.

When they were at supper, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples: Take and eat: for this is my body.

Although Fathers' Day is a federally mandated holiday, I find that Corpus Christi and Fathers' Day blend together nicely. Our Heavenly Father generously gives us the perfect and infinite gift of His only Son. We have Jesus' Presence on our altars every day. And in this Eucharistic presence

"We being many, are one bread and one body, all that partake of the one bread and of one chalice" (1 Cor 10:17). The eucharistic bread and wine are the gifts of "unity and peace" (secret) binding the members of the Mystical Body to Christ the Head and to one another, gathering them all into one, replenishing them with Christ-life and that peace which the world can not give. (Hellriegel)

Our family has shared together the Liturgy of the Mass and Holy Communion; we are now bound together. We can show this unity first of all with the members of our family, honoring and thanking our fathers.

I thank God for the blessing of my father, pray for my godfather in heaven, and am very grateful for the most wonderful father my son could ever have.

Happy Fathers' Day to all fathers!