Corpus Christi Sunday

This coming Sunday is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is a celebration perhaps better known by the Latin Corpus Christi. At its core, the solemnity is a celebration of the Tradition and belief in the Eucharist as the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Many folks wonder why this celebration is not part of Holy Thursday.  In the past it was and was mixed in with other themes, e.g., institution of the priesthood. And, all this occurs in the shadow of Good Friday. The placement of the celebration was not one that necessarily lends itself to a joyful celebration. While there is a history (see the detailed commentary below), by 1264 the Pope Urban IV instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi as a feast for the entire Latin Rite, by the papal edict Transiturus de hoc mundo. It was the first papally-mandated feast for the world-wide church.

The Sunday gospel is taken from John 6, The Bread of Life Discourse. John, writing well after the other gospel writers, seeing that they had described the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, wrote far more about the meaning and theology of the Eucharist in his gospel (according to Polycarp, a disciple of John). While part of a much larger section, our gospel begins: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

And that is just the beginning of a very rich and compelling gospel. There is a lot more to glean from this Sunday’s Gospel.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel