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Q: What does ‘Corpus Christi’ mean?
Chris
Dear Chris,
‘Corpus Christi’ is Latin for ‘Body of Christ’ and refers to the truth that Jesus is really present, in His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, at Holy Mass and, thereafter, in the Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle. During the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, the priest, speaking in the person of Christ, repeats Our Lord’s own words spoken at the Last Supper: “This is my body, which will be given up for you; … This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which will be shed for you” (cf. Lk 22:19-20). With these words the priest consecrates, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the bread on the altar and the wine in the chalice, which makes “sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ’s body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1352)
“The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as ‘the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend’. In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained’.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1374)
Christ’s presence, therefore, is real. It is not simply in our minds and in our hearts; it is not a figure of speech, nor is it some sort of sign or symbol. Christ is present in person, crucified and risen, in his glorified state, even though he remains hidden from our sight and senses under what still looks like bread and wine.
“That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that ‘cannot be apprehended by the senses’, says St. Thomas, ‘but only by faith, which relies on divine authority’.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1381)
This truth is a mystery in the deepest sense of the word whose beauty led the same St. Thomas Aquinas to compose some of the most profound poetry ever written on this subject, which, put to music, has been used in the sacred liturgy of the Church throughout the centuries to this very day:
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.
Since the Holy Eucharist makes Christ present in such a unique and total fashion, it is, indeed, “the source and summit of the Christian life”, as the Second Vatican Council stated (LG 11). The Eucharist is the heart of our faith since Christ instituted it “in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us’.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1323)
In order to become more keenly aware of the gift of Christ’s real presence at Mass the Church has given us the Feast of Corpus Christi, a feast which is usually celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, about ten days after Pentecost. The feast dates back to 13th century Europe where in 1246 the diocese of Liege first adopted its observance based on the fervent devotion and extraordinary graces of St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon in Belgium (1193-1258). At the General Council of Vienna in 1311 Pope Clement V decreed the adoption of the feast which from then on spread quickly throughout Europe. By the end of the century Corpus Christi processions were customary on the feast and Popes Martin V (1417) and Eugene IV (1431) endowed them with special indulgences.
The Feast of Corpus Christi has since enjoyed tremendous popularity and is being rediscovered today as the source of true devotion to and reverence for the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. It is he whom we encounter in person at Mass and who thus invites us to come to the foot of the cross and see him die for us; and to come to the empty tomb and know he is alive.
God bless,
Father Norbert.