Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “What is the significance of today’s feast of the Body and Blood of Christ?” the Holy Father Benedict XVI asked during his homily at the Mass he presided in the front of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the afternoon of May 22, Solemnity of Corpus Christi. The response is in the carrying out of three main gestures: “First of all,” the Pope explained, “our coming together around the altar of the Lord to be together in His presence, secondly, a procession will take place, which is our walking with the Lord, and finally, our kneeling before the Lord in adoration.” The Pope then proceeded in explaining each of the three gestures in depth, “that they may truly become expressions of our faith and our life.”
The first act, that of “coming together” in the Lord’s presence, was called “statio.” “Let us imagine that in all Rome there is no other altar besides this one, and that all the city’s Christians were invited to come together here, to celebrate the dead and risen Savior,” the Pope said. “This can give us an idea of what it was like at the beginning, in Rome and in many other cities where the Gospel message had arrived, in the Eucharistic celebration: in each particular church, there was only one Bishop and the community gathered with him, in the Mass he celebrated, because there was only one Chalice blessed and one Bread broken.” Emphasizing that “the deepest revolution of human history,” which is experienced precisely gathered around the Eucharist, where “people of different ages, sex, social condition and political ideas gather in the Lord’s presence.” Benedict XVI continued, “The Eucharist can never be a private event, reserved to people chosen on the basis of affinity or friendship. The Eucharist is a public worship that has nothing of esotericism or exclusivity. Here as well, this afternoon...we are united beyond our differences of nationality, profession, social condition, political ideas: we open to one another in order to become a single thing in Him. This has been, from the beginning, a visible sign of Christianity made visibly manifest around the Eucharist, And it is necessary to keep watch always so that the temptations of particularism, even with good intentions, do not head in the opposite direction.”
The second aspect, of “walking with the Lord,” is manifest in the procession held following the Holy Mass, “almost as its natural prolongation.” “With the gift of Himself in the Eucharist,” the Pontiff continued, “the Lord Jesus frees us from our ‘paralyses,’ makes us get up and go forward, take one step, then another, so that we can be on our way, with the strength of this Bread of Life...the Corpus Domini procession teaches us that the Eucharist wants to free us from all troubles and discouragement, it wants to place us back on our feet, so that we can return to the path with the strength God gives us through Jesus Christ. This is the experience of the people of Israel in the exodus from Egypt, the long pilgrimage through the desert...Each one can find his own path, and meet Him who is the Word and Bread of life and let himself be guided by his loving presence. Without the God-with-us, the God Who is near, how can we sustain the pilgrimage of life, either individually or as a society or a family of peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God Who does not leave us to journey alone, but puts Himself at our side and shows us the way. Indeed, it is not enough to keep going, it is important to see where we are going! Progress is not enough if there are no criteria of reference. Indeed, if we go off the road we might fall off a cliff, or at least move away more quickly from the destination. God created us to be free but he did not leave us alone. He has become the ‘Way’ in order that our freedom may have a basis from which to choose and follow the right path.”
Explaining the third element of Corpus Domini, kneeling in adoration before hte Lord, the Pope recalled the beginning of the decalogue, the 10 Commandments: “Worshipping the God of Jesus Christ, who became bread broken for love, is the best and most radical remedy against the idolatries of yesterday and today. Kneeling before the Eucharist is a profession of liberty. He who bows to Jesus cannot and must not bow to any earthly power, no matter how powerful it may be. We Christians bow only before the Holiest Sacrament because in it we know and believe there is the one true God who created the world and loved it so much that he gave his only Son. We prostrate ourselves before a God who, like a Good Samaritan, was first to bow to mankind as a way to rescue and give him new life, who knelt before us to wash our dirty feet. Worshiping the Body of Christ means believing that in that piece of bread there really is Christ, who gives meaning to life, the immense universe and the whole of human history as well as the shortest existence.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 23/5/2008; righe 61, parole 872)
