Corpus Christi 2023 - The power and witness of the Corpus Christi Procession

 Just a few weeks ago we celebrated the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension. And St. Luke gave us a very interesting detail about the apostles who witnessed the Lord’s Ascension, do you remember? St. Luke told us, “While the apostles were looking intently at the sky as the Lord was ascending into heaven, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. And they said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” As if to say, why are you just standing around. The Church isn’t supposed to just stand around, immobile, paralyzed. Don’t just stand there. It’s time to move. 

Well, tomorrow/this morning, we are going to do just that. We are going to take to the streets, bringing the Lord Jesus in procession out into the world—in our Corpus Christi Procession.

Why will we process with the Eucharist through the streets surrounding our parish church? The procession is an act of homage and worship. We do it because we love the Lord, we want to honor him, we want to spread his glory in the world. We seek to honor God and to extend the thanksgiving and glory we give to God at the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass out in the world. 

It’s also an act of imitation, in a sense. Our Lord went into the highways and byways, preaching. And so we bring the Lord into the streets of our neighborhood, that he may preach through his Eucharistic Presence. 

We may appear strange to unbelievers: carrying enshrined in the elaborate monstrance, what looks to the world as a piece of bread. Why do they do this strange thing, they might ask? But that question sparked by our procession might be the beginning of God’s truth breaking into their lives. So we gladly process with the Blessed Sacrament for the world to see, that the Lord may draw souls to Himself through this act of devotion of his Church.

For finally, the procession is an act of evangelization. Showing to the world that believing in Jesus makes a difference in our lives. Look how he gathers people from all different walks of life, he feeds us all, he invites us all to follow him.

Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 spoke about the power of Eucharistic Processions. He said, “The Corpus Christi procession teaches us that the Eucharist seeks to free us from every kind of despondency and discouragement, wants to raise us, so that we can set out on the journey with the strength God gives us through Jesus Christ.”

There is a lot of despondency and discouragement out there, no? There have been few eras in human history with such discouragement and loneliness. Drugs and alcohol, porn and prostitution, binge watching, binge eating, binge shopping are signs of that loneliness and emptiness in modern society, signs of spiritual starvation. And the Corpus Christi Procession is a countersign to the world that there is something more, something that satisfies, something worthy putting down your iphones, getting out off your couch, out of your house, in order to obtain. It’s a sign that God has visited his people and gives us the food that strengthens us for the challenges of life. 

Pope Benedict goes on. He says, The Corpus Christi Procession witnesses that, we can find our way through this life if we allow ourselves to encounter “the One who is the Word and the Bread of Life” and if we let ourselves “be guided by his friendly presence.” Our humble yet joyful Eucharistic Procession shows that Christ’s presence is a friendly presence, one that invites. After all, we are here today because we have responded to that invitation, and the Eucharistic Procession is one way the Lord extends that invitation to others. 

Finally, Pope Benedict asks, “Without the God-with-us, the God who is close, how can we stand up to the pilgrimage through life, either on our own or as society and the family of peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God who does not leave us alone on the journey but stays at our side and shows us the way. Indeed, it is not enough to move onwards, one must also see where one is going! “Progress” does not suffice, if there are no criteria as reference points. On the contrary, if one loses the way one risks coming to a precipice, or at any rate more rapidly distancing oneself from the goal.”

With all of the confusion and chaos in the world, humanity needs a reference point, needs to know that something is true and good. And if God is not the reference point, then we are distancing ourselves from Him—we are nearing the precipice, the edge of a cliff.  And doesn’t it feel like that right now? Doesn’t it feel like our society is on the edge of a cliff and is dangerously close to falling off? 

But the Eucharist Procession, says, God can lead us through this difficult time. God can lead us through the chaos. It’s not yet too late. Follow Jesus. Trust Jesus. 

When our blessed Lord saw the hungry crowd  he said, “I am sorry for the multitude. They have nothing to eat.” But he fed them. And in the Gospel today, he explains how, he gives not just ordinary physical bread for the sustenance of our bodies. But the Bread of Life for the sustenance of our souls.

And the Church is tasked with feeding the world with both. Feeding the physically hungry. And also making invitation to the table at which the Lord feeds our souls. He sends us out to the spiritually starving multitude of the world, and he sends us out to say, God has food for you, inside his Church, come inside, God sees how hungry you are. The Savior feeds us. Step away from the precipice. God is here. The hungry, lonely night is over. 

“This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever" for the glory of God and salvation of souls.