Sunday 25 May 2008

Corpus Christi

This afternoon the 40 Hours ends with Vespers for the feast of Corpus Christi - or, to give it its full English title, the Body and Blood of Christ. There will be a short procession with the Blessed Sacrament before Benediction. The Host will be carried and people will walk with it: a powerful image of our desire to walk with the Lord in our daily lives.

Today's feast is a celebration of the greatest gift Christ left with us: the Eucharist. He gives us His Body and Blood in the form of bread and wine so that He remains with us; the Eucharist is also a memorial of His Passion, so that when we celebrate it we receive grace given by His suffering and death. Above, people come forward to receive Holy Communion; as on any Sunday, they come to be united with the Lord who gives Himself to us.

At the end of Mass this morning there was chance for the whole congregation to spend a short time in adoration of Christ.

The Cathedral's monthly Tridentine Mass also took place today. It is appropriate that it did, for the differing forms of the Mass are all centred on the one reality which is celebrated at Corpus Christi: that Jesus Christ gave up His life for us and now gives us Himself to sustain us on our journey to heaven.