A remembrance by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades
of Indiana
on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi
Today’s Catholic - May 28th,
2013
The first Mass I served for Pope John Paul II was on the
feast of Corpus Christi in Rome where I was a seminary student… At the end of
Mass, the Holy Father carried the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament in a
procession around Saint Peter’s Square.
Two years later… the Holy Father… carried the Blessed
Sacrament through the Roman streets, in… a mile long procession. Pope John Paul
had brought back a Roman custom that had not taken place for over a hundred
years, a custom that he continued throughout his pontificate and which Pope
Benedict XVI continued. Pope John Paul wanted the Blessed Sacrament carried
into the city, where the people lived, as they did in Poland.
…The popular Corpus Christi procession was banned [in John
Paul’s native Poland] during the Nazi occupation... Later, the Communists were
determined to eradicate this tradition… The communists permitted a truncated
procession… but the procession was forbidden to enter the city. [Later] the
Corpus Christi procession was permitted… along a shortened route in the city.
During these processions in the 1970’s… the future John Paul
II, preached dynamic sermons in which he spoke of the Eucharist and also about
religious freedom and the right to worship…
It is significant that the last encyclical letter written by
Pope John Paul II was on the theme of the Holy Eucharist… In it, he wrote, “The Eucharist… is
the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through
history… Christ walks beside us as our strength and our food for the journey… in
the presence of this mystery, reason experiences its limits, the heart,
enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit… bows low in adoration and
unbounded love.”
As we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi this Sunday,
we thank Christ our Lord for this amazing gift… Every time we receive Holy
Communion, it is an intimate and personal encounter with Jesus who gives
Himself to us. May the power of this sacrament penetrate our lives! Let us
never take for granted the unsurpassable gift and priceless treasure of the
Most Holy Eucharist!
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