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Corpus Christi: Let Our Praises Resound

We are busily preparing for our celebration of Corpus Christi this Sunday. We will have our first Corpus Christi procession, and seven seminarians will prepare the outdoor altar under our pavilion and will also sing for the High Mass. Afterward, we are having a potluck in the hall. Fr. Borja will be celebrating Mass for us; it will be good to see him again. It’s been at least a year since he visited. Harley 7026 f. 13 Corpus Christi procession

Here is a beautiful hymn from the office of Matins for Corpus Christi:

Let our joys blend with this sacred Solemnity: and let our praises resound from our inmost heart; let old things give way; let all be new, both hearts, and words, and works!

We are celebrating that night’s Last Supper, when, as faith tells, Christ gave to his brethren, the Lamb and unleavened bread, as the law, given to the ancient fathers, prescribed.

After giving them the figurative Lamb, and when the repast was over, we confess with faith, that our Lord, with his own hands, gave his Body to his disciples: and so gave It, that the entire was given to all, and the entire to each.

They were frail, and he gave them his Body as food: they were sad, and he gave them his Blood, for their drink; saying: Take the Cup I deliver unto you! Do ye all drink thereof!

Thus did he institute this Sacrifice, whose ministry he willed should be entrusted to Priests alone; who were so to partake of it themselves, as to give it to others.

The Bread of Angels becomes the Bread of men; the Bread of heaven puts an end to the types; O wonderful thing! he that is poor, and servant, and lowly, eateth the Lord!

We beseech thee, O Triune Deity, do thou so visit us, as we worship thee; lead us by thy ways to the term we aim at,—to the light, wherein thou dwellest.

Amen.

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To Fill the Hearts Which Thou Hast Made

“The great day, which consummates the work that God had undertaken for the human race, has at last shone upon the world. The days of Pentecost, as St. Luke says, are accomplished.” Dom Prosper Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

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Blessings in Bloom in Chelsea did a beautiful job on our “tongues of flame” floral arrangements, composed of red gladiolus and a two-tone rose called High and Magic.

We had a beautiful Pentecost celebration that I will tell you about, but first, here is some helpful background information on this great feast in the form of two questions and answers from Fr. Leonard Goffine’s The Church’s Year:

Why is this day observed so solemnly?

Because on this day the Holy Ghost, having descended upon the apostles, the law of grace, of purification from sin, and the sanctification of mankind, was for the first time announced to the world; because on this day the apostles, being filled with the Holy Ghost, commenced the work of purifying and sanctifying mankind, by baptizing three thousand persons who were converted by the sermon of St. Peter; and because on this day the Church of Jesus became visible as a community to the world, and publicly professed her faith in her crucified Savior.

Why did the Holy Ghost descend on the Jewish Pentecost?

Because on their Pentecost the Jews celebrated the anniversary of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and God would show by sending the Holy Ghost on this day, that the Old Law had ceased and the New Law commenced. God also chose this time, that the Jews who on this day came together from all countries to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pentecost, might be witnesses of the miracle, and hear the New Law announced by the apostles.

And here is how we celebrated at Our Lady of Fatima:

How blessed we were on this Pentecost Sunday to have a family drive from Dallas so the daughter could receive her First Communion. And after mass she was enrolled in the brown scapular. We also had a family visiting from Missouri. It is a wonderful testimony for us to witness the sacrifices families make to travel long distances for the true sacraments.

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Father’s sermon may be found at https://soundcloud.com/user-26633919/pentecost-the-power-and-love-of-the-holy-ghost

 

In Fr. Sandquist’s announcements, he reminded us of the Ember Days this Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Wednesday and Saturday are fast and partial abstinence from meat. Friday is fast and and total abstinence. The usual age conditions apply. Father also said that we will have a Corpus Christi procession on Sunday, June 14th, and that Fr. Borja will be celebrating mass for us that day.

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The First Communion: So beautiful. May God bless Celina with a fervent faith.
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After our Low Mass prayers, Father led us in singing Come, Holy Ghost.

After mass and the brown scapular enrollment, we enjoyed a potluck lunch of chicken, sausage, green salad, corn, mashed potatoes, doughnuts, and cake. Gabriel, one of the young men traveling back to Omaha with Fr. Sandquist, serenaded us at the piano. Virtual things have their place, but they do not replace receiving the sacraments, visiting, and music played in person!

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Our happy first communicant and her cake.
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Doughnuts must surely be the preferred fast breaker of Catholicdom. 😉
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And we close May with one last look at Mary, Our Queen, in all her processional glory.
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The Loving Audacity that Delights the Heart of Jesus

The Penitent Magdalene Comforted by Angels, 1679, Oil on copper, 34 x 42 cm. Private collection

Above all I follow Magdalen, for the amazing, rather I should say, the loving audacity, that delights the Heart of Jesus, has cast its spell upon mine. It is not because I have been preserved from mortal sin that I lift up my heart to God in trust and love. I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broken with sorrow, I would throw myself into the Arms of my Saviour. I know that He loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard His words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning His Mercy and His Love. And I know that all that multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace. ~ St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul

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The Apostles between the Ascension and Pentecost

Ivory Diptych with the Ascension and Pentecost French, 1370-1380 Paris, Musée du Louvre, photo credit: Margaret Duffy, Ad Imaginem Dei blog

On this octave of the Ascension, Dom Gueranger gives us this glimpse into the transformation that has occurred in the apostles:

Before the Ascension the disciples were as inconstant in their love as they were in their faith. Jesus could not trust them. But no sooner had He left them, than they became warmly devoted to Him. Instead of complaining of their bereavement, they returned full of joy to Jerusalem. The thought of their master’s triumph made them forget their own loss, and they hastened, as He bade them, to the cenacle, where they were to be endued with power from on high.

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On the Feast of the Ascension, Thoughts on the Kingship of Christ

The Ascension of Christ, 1496-98, Oil on panel, 342 x 263 cm. Musée Municipal des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

As we celebrate Christ’s Ascension today, we cannot but think of the mission of the Church and establishing the Reign of Christ the King. Here is an excerpt from The Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of St. Thomas Aquinas, by Rev. Denis Fahey.

. . .When an organism perishes and corrupts, it is because it had ceased to be under the action of the causes which had given it its form and constitution. To make it healthy and flourishing again it is necessary to restore it to the vivifying action of those same causes. So society, in its foolhardy effort to escape from God, has rejected the divine order and revelation; and it is thus withdrawn from the salutary efficacy of Christianity, which is manifestly the most solid guarantee of order, the strongest bond of fraternity, and the inexhaustible source of all public and private virtue. This sacrilegious divorce has resulted in bringing about that trouble which now disturbs the world. Hence it is the pale of the Church which this lost society must re-enter, if it wishes to recover its well-being, its repose, and its salvation.

“Just as Christianity cannot penetrate into the soul without making it better, so it cannot enter in public life without establishing order. . . .If it has transformed pagan society. . .so, after the terrible shocks which unbelief has given to the world in our days, it will be able to put that world again on the true road, and bring back to order the States and people of modern times. But the return of Christianity will not be efficacious and complete if it does not restore the world to a sincere love of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the Catholic Church Christianity is incarnate. It identifies itself with that perfect, spiritual, and, in its own order, sovereign society, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, and which has for its visible head the Roman Pontiff, successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and heiress of His Redemption.”