ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

             With great delight, I extend a heartfelt welcome as well as my gratitude to all who have come to celebrate this solemn feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  In a very special way, I welcome the boys and girls who recently received their First Holy Communion.  Congratulations!  The joy of that occasion continues even today as we thank Jesus for coming into your hearts.  I also thank all of the parents and guardians for coming today to the Cathedral, but especially, dear friends, I thank you for leading your children to Jesus and teaching them about the wonderful gift which Jesus gives us in the Holy Eucharist.
           
Today, as we listened to the Liturgy of the Word, we are reminded of the events of Holy Thursday, that sacred evening when Jesus gave us two sacraments:  the Holy Eucharist, in which He makes himself present to us, and Holy Orders, the sacrament by which men are ordained priests and receive the wonderful ability from God himself to make Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist.  The gospel passage just proclaimed summarized that moment when, at the Last Supper on the night before He died, Jesus took bread and declared, “This is my Body, which will be given up for you.”  In the same way, Jesus took the chalice filled with wine and said:  “This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which will be shed for many.”  Jesus then commanded His apostles:  “Do this in memory of me.”  At that moment, through the apostles, Jesus entrusted to His Church the gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist, and He gave the Church the Priesthood so that, in the Eucharist, Jesus would always remain with us. 
           
Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Divine Office which he composed in the 13th century for the Feast of Corpus Christi, wrote these beautiful and poetic words:  “How holy this feast in which Christ is our food; his passion is recalled; grace fills our hearts; and we receive a pledge of the glory to come.”
           
When we love people very much, we want to be near them.  Being with them makes us joyful, and when we are away from them, we experience their absence.  Therefore, we have mementos, objects which make present to us memories of people whom we love as well as events which we deeply enjoyed.  In our homes, we can find gifts which were given from loved ones.  We also have photographs of people whom we love and of important events―like weddings, baptisms and First Holy Communion celebrations―which we never want to forget.  These mementos and photographs stir pleasant memories, memories which we always treasure. 
           
On the night before He died, Jesus gave us the Eucharist.  Along with that gift, He commanded us:  “Do this in memory of me.”  The greatest act of love ever performed was when Jesus offered Himself on the Cross.  His Death forgave our sins and made it possible for us to become the adopted children of God.  What wonderful love Jesus showed us and He wants us never to forget just how much He loves us.  That is why, at each Mass we celebrate, we remember the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  The Mass, which is the Church’s greatest prayer, not only recalls but makes present to us the events and the sacrifice through which Jesus redeemed us. 
           
Yes, the Eucharist is the memorial of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus; but, through the Eucharist, Jesus is also truly present to us.  His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity are truly present, hidden under the forms of bread and wine.  Why?  Because Jesus loves us so much!  He first proved his love by becoming one of us―a man, human like us in all things but sin, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Jesus also proved his love by suffering and dying for us so that our sins could be forgiven and we could become the adopted children of God.  He further proved his love for us by giving us the Holy Eucharist, for, through the Eucharist, Jesus remains with us always.  He wants always to be with us until we can finally be with him in heaven.    
           
When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, He gives us special graces.  He strengthens us to live our Christian life with greater fervor.  His presence within us turns us away from sin and increases within us our desire for greater holiness.  The more often we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, the more we want to be like Jesus!  In this sacrament, Jesus also gives us greater charity, the wonderful ability to love others in the same way in which Jesus loves us.  Holy Communion also unites us intimately with Jesus and with all the members of the Church―with all those who hold our holy Catholic Faith.  At the same time, when we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we have a greater desire to share the gift of faith with others, to help bring to faith all who do not yet know Jesus as well as to work for unity with those Christians who are separated from us.  We pray, as Jesus prayed, “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). 
           
When, through Holy Communion we unite ourselves with Jesus, we also have a foretaste, a glimpse of heaven.  In heaven, we will be completely united with God.  Until then, we have the awesome gift of Jesus himself, veiled in the form of bread and wine.  Holy Communion makes us long for heaven, and, as Pope Saint Pius X stated:  “Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven.”
           
The feast of Corpus Christi also reminds us of our need to adore Our Eucharistic Lord, present in our tabernacles or exposed solemnly in the monstrance.  Saint Augustine taught us that:  “No one eats that flesh [of Christ] without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it” (quoted in Sacramentum Caritatis, 66).  Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us:  “The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 66).  When we spend time in prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we long to receive him.  Each time we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we long to spend more time with him.  Eucharistic Adoration and Holy Communion, then, become inseparable.  Our beloved Saint John Neumann expressed beautifully his love for Eucharistic Adoration:  “I have one desire, that of being near Thee in the Blessed Sacrament…“  The holy Bishop prayed further:  “My Jesus, my love, my all, gladly would I endure hunger, thirst, heat and cold to remain always with Thee in the Blessed Sacrament” (His Favorite Prayers).
           
Our observance of Corpus Christi also provides us with the opportunity to give witness publicly to our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  At the end of Mass, we will process outdoors, carrying Our Eucharistic Lord in the Monstrance.  This special procession is a wonderful act of faith.  It is also a means by which Our Eucharistic Lord showers his blessings upon our streets and our homes.  Pope Benedict XVI explains that:  “The Corpus Christi procession is no longer just walking to the Eucharistic celebration; it is walking with the Lord … The Lord who has become our bread is thus showing us the way, is in fact our way, as he leads us” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God is Near Us:  The Eucharist, the Heart of Life, p. 111). 
           
Today, then, dear friends, as we worship Jesus in the Eucharist, may we receive him in Holy Communion with love.  As we process with Jesus, may we pledge anew our desire to follow him in this life, that we may live with him forever in the next.  May we be ever grateful to Jesus for the great gift of himself in the Blessed Sacrament.   
           
May the Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored and loved, with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.  Amen!