Dear Parishioners of St. James:
Praised be Jesus Christ!
The Most Holy Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Today’s solemnity, called Corpus Christi, highlights the great mystery of faith: Jesus Christ, Our Lord, on the night before He died, left us His true Body and Blood to eat and drink until He comes again. The Lord continues to provide His precious Gift through the ministry of priests in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension are made present in Holy Mass so that we may have access to Christ’s saving Food for our salvation.
Normally, after the consecration by the priest at Holy Mass, the Body and Blood of Jesus remain hidden by the appearances of bread and wine. However, in order to strengthen the faith of unbelievers, Our Lord sometimes makes visible His Flesh and Blood in what are called Eucharistic miracles. Over one hundred Eucharistic miracles have been documented in the Church’s history and dozens have been scientifically proven to be true flesh and true blood.
Do you believe that the bread and wine that are offered at Holy Mass truly become the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ? Belief in this great mystery separates the faithful from the unfaithful. If you believe you would never miss Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy days of obligation (without a very good excuse). If you believe that the Eucharist is the true Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ, then you would give Him the greatest reverence. If you believe that eating His Flesh and Blood gives you eternal life, then you would never receive Him in mortal sin. If you believe that receiving Him increases divine life in you, then you would want to receive Him frequently so as to grow in greater likeness to the One you love.
May our faith grow deeper each day in the ineffable mystery of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and cry out with all other believers, “O Sacrament Most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!”
God bless you,
Fr. Geary
Saint James Catholic Church 