One of the unexpected joys of life in seminary and in ministry has been the ability to live life according  to the liturgical calendar. The rhythm of feasting and fasting, preparing and rejoicing, chanting and seeking silence is written into our hearts and it finds its place in the life of the Church. What I have only recently appreciated, however, is how that pattern of life  has developed over centuries. I cannot imagine   liturgical life without Feasts  like Divine Mercy or memorials of more contemporary saints like     Maximilian Kolbe or John Paul II, and yet it was not so long ago where these were absent from the Church. Even today’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord has been celebrated   for less than half of the Catholic Church’s
August history.

In the thirteenth century, a cloistered nun from   Belgium had a vision from God that sought the    institution of a Feast dedicated especially to the Blessed Sacrament. The liturgy of Holy Thursday, which commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, is certainly beautiful, but because it is in the midst of the Triduum and the holiest days of the year, it should not be the only time set aside for special worship of and gratitude for the Eucharist. Through her work and collaboration with the local bishop, who later went on to become Pope Urban IV, this celebration of the Body and Blood of the Lord grew to become a great feast and a Holy Day of obligation for the universal Church.
 
The history of today’s feast can teach us two important lessons about the importance of the Eucharist in our faith. First, it is nigh unto impossible to have too much interior reverence    for the Blessed Sacrament. That Belgian nun, St. Juliana, heard from the Lord that more reverence was needed for the Blessed Sacrament, even though Mass was celebrated every day throughout Christendom and there were certainly many souls who were devoted to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Second, and perhaps more pertinent for today:  the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament that was built up and strengthened at the dawn of this Feast day and its various processions and devotional practices, was sorely needed, and did not go to waste. In the centuries following the institution of Corpus Christi, Christianity’s belief in the Real Presence was challenged and ultimately rejected by many new sects of believers. God     began the work of building up trust and devotion in the Blessed Sacrament in the age leading up to this sad division, and who knows how many souls continued in unity with Our Lord only because of the strength and grace they had received in Communion and Adoration?
 
We live in an age in which the Body and Blood of Our Lord are misunderstood, disdained, and completely ignored by many who have some    connection to the Church. It is obviously not an ideal situation, but if God could bring about widespread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament 700 years ago and prevent further schism,         then He can certainly do so in our own present day.  On this great feast day, I pray that each one  of us remembers that our witness to the Blessed   Sacrament, the way we worship, the way we    pray, and the way we talk to others about our Eucharistic Faith, might be the difference between someone rejecting the love that Our   Lord pours out for us under the appearance of bread and wine, or opening their hearts and being converted more deeply to Him.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC