Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HOLY COMMUNION, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PARTIAL Indulgence, QUOTES on CONSOLATION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, Quotes on SALVATION, SACRED HEART ASPIRATIONS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The INCARNATION, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 6 June – Could anything be of more intrinsic value? St Thomas Aquinas

One Minute Reflection – 6 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” –St Norbert O. Praem. (c 1080-1134) Bishop, Confessor, Founder of the Premonstratensians –The Octave Day of Corpus Christi – 1 Corinthians 23-29, John 6:56-59 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

He who eats this Bread shall live forever.” – John 6:59

REFLECTION – “Since it was the Will of God’s Only-Begotten Son that men should share in His Divinity, He assumed our nature in order that, by becoming Man. He might make men gods . Moreover, when He took our flesh. He dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered His Body to God the Father, on the Altar of the Cross, as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed His Blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed, from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, He left His Body as food and His Blood as drink, for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet which brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law, it was the flesh of calves and goats, which was offered but here, Christ Himself, the True God, is set before us as our food! What could be more wonderful than this? No other Sacrament has greater healing power; through it, sins are purged away, virtues are increased and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all, may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no-one can fully express the sweetness of this Sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which, we renew the memory, of that surpassing love for us, which Christ revealed in His Passion.

It was to impress the vastness of this Love, more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful, that our Lord instituted this Sacrament at the Last Supper. As He was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with His disciples, He left it as a perpetual memorial of His Passion. It was the fulfilment of ancient figures and the greatest of all His Miracles, while, for those who were to experience the sorrow of His departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.” – St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Dominican Priest and Theologian, Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from On the Feast of the Body of Christ).

PRAYER – To God, Who made blessed Norbert, Thy Confessor and Bishop, a brilliant preacher of Thy Word and through him, enriched Thy Church with a new religious family, grant, we beseech Thee, that by his prayerful intercession and Thy help, we may be able to do what he has taught us by his words and deeds. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

O HEART of love, I place all my trust in Thee; for though I fear all things from my weakness, I hope all things from Thy mercies. – Ejaculation of Saint Margaret Mary – Indulgence 300 Days, Everytime – Raccolta 180 St Pius X, 3 June 1908.

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 6 June – The Golden Arrow

Our Morning Offering – 6 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – The Octave Day of Corpus Christi

The Golden Arrow

This prayer was revealed by Jesus Himself to a Carmelite Nun of Tours in 1843 as a Reparation for Blasphemy. “This Golden Arrow will wound My Heart delightfully” He said “and heal the wounds, inflicted by blasphemy.”

May the Most Holy,
Most Sacred,
Most Adorable,
Most Mysterious
and Unutterable Name of God
be always praised,
blessed, loved, adored
and glorified in Heaven.
on earth and under the earth,
by all the creatures of God
and by the Sacred Heart
of our Lord Jesus Christ
in the most Holy Sacrament
of the Altar.
Amen

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, HOLY COMMUNION, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PARTIAL Indulgence, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, SACRED HEART ASPIRATIONS, The HOLY CROSS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The HOLY GHOST, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 June –  ‘ … They clothe themselves with the Lord Jesus Christ …’

One Minute Reflection – 4 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – St Francis Caracciolo CRM (1563-1608) Confessor –Within the Corpus Christi Octave – 1 Corinthians 23-29; John 6:56-59.– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

For as often as you shall eat this Bread and drink the Cup, you proclaim the Death of the Lord, until He comes.” – 1 Corinthians 11:26

REFLECTION – “In our offering of the Holy Sacrifice we fulfil the Command of our Saviour, as recorded by the Apostle Paul: The Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, took bread and after He had given thanks, broke it and said: This is My Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. The same way, after the supper, He took the Cup saying: This Cup is the New Covenant in My Blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you shall proclaim the Death of the Lord until He comes.

This Sacrifice is offered, then, to proclaim the Lord’s Death; it is offered in remembrance of Him, Who laid down His Life for our sake. As He says: Greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for his friends. Because Christ died for us out of love, we ask, when we make remembrance of His Death, at the time of Sacrifice that we too may be granted love through the coming of the Holy Ghost. We pray, that by the Love which Christ had for us, when He braved the Cross, we may receive the grace of the Spirit and be crucified to the world and the world to us. The Death Christ died, He died to sin, once for all but the Life He lives, He lives to God. Let us imitate our Lord’s Death and also live a new life. Strengthened with the gift of His Love, let us die to sin and live for God.

For God’s Love has been poured out in our hearts, through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us. Indeed our sharing in the Lord’s Body and Blood, when we eat His Bread and drink His Cup, teaches us, that we should die to the world and that we should keep our life hidden with Christ in God, crucifying our flesh with its vices and evil desires.

That is why all the faithful who love God and their neighbour, truly drink the Cup of the Lord’s Love even though, they may not drink the cup of His Bodily Suffering. And becoming inebriated from it, they put to death, whatever in their nature is rooted in earth. They clothe themselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not indulge fleshly desires. They do not fix their gaze on visible things but contemplate things, which the eye cannot see. Thus they drink the Lord’s Cup by preserving the holy bond of love – without it, even if a man should deliver his body to be burned, he gains nothing. But the gift of love enables us to become, in reality, what we celebrate as Mystery in the Sacrifice.” – St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c462 – 533) Bishop, Father (An excerpt from Against Fabianus).

PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Thou Who have given Thy servants, in the confession of the true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of that Majesty, to adore its unity, grant, we beseech Thee, that in the firmness of this faith, we may ever be protected from all harm. And may the example and intercession of Thy Confessor, St Francis Caracciolo ever assist us on our journey to our eternal home. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

MAY the HEART of JESUS be loved everywhere. 100 Days, Indulgence Once a day – Bl Pope Pius IX 23 September 1860

Posted in CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, HOLY COMMUNION, I BELIEVE!, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on LOVE, St Francis de Sales, The COMMUNION of SAINTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The RESURRECTION

Quote/s of the Day – 3 June – The Holy Eucharist is …

Quote/s of the Day – 3 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” –

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love.
It signifies Love,
It produces love.
The Eucharist is the consummation
of the whole spiritual life.

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor angelicus/Doctor communis

The Holy Eucharist
is the perfect Communion of Saints,
for it is the food common to Angels
and sainted souls in Paradise
and ourselves – it is the true Bread
of which all Christians participate.
The forgiveness of sins,
the Author of forgiveness being there, is confirmed;
the seed of our resurrection sown,
life everlasting bestowed. …
This very belief in the Most Holy Sacrament,
which, in truth, reality and substance,
contains the true and natural
Body of Our Lord,
is actually the abridgment of our Faith,
according to that of the Psalmist:
“He had made a memory of His wonderful works.

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, HOLY COMMUNION, I BELIEVE!, INDULGENCES, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PARTIAL Indulgence, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on FAITH, SACRED HEART ASPIRATIONS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 3 June – He who eats this Bread shall live forever. John 6:59

One Minute Reflection – 3 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Within the Octave of Corpus Christi – 1 Corinthians 23-29; John 6:56-59– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

This is the Bread that has come down from Heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this Bread shall live forever.” – John 6:59

REFLECTION – Christ is “the bread of life” for those who believe in Him: to believe in Christ is to eat the Bread of Life, to possess Christ within one, is to possess eternal life…
I am the Bread of Life,” He says; “your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they are dead” (Jn 6:48f). By this is to be understood ,spiritual death. Why are they dead? Because they believed in what they saw and did not understand what they could not see… Moses ate manna, Aaron ate it and many others, too, who pleased God and are not dead. Why are they not dead? Because they understood, in a spiritual fashion, they were spiritually hungry, they tasted the manna spiritually, so that they might be spiritually satisfied. “This is the Bread that came down from Heaven: whoever eats It will never die” (v.50).
This manna – that is to say, Christ, who Himself spoke like this … was prefigured by the manna but was able to do more than manna could. For manna could not, of itself, prevent dying spiritually… But the righteous saw Christ in the manna, they believed in His coming and Christ, of Whom manna was the symbol, grants to all who believe in Him that they should not spiritually die. Hence He says: “This is the Bread come down from Heaven; whoever eats it will never see death.” Here on earth, here now, before your eyes, your eyes of flesh: here is to be found the “Bread from Heaven” (v.51). The “Bread of Life” we spoke of a moment ago is now called “Living Bread.” Living Bread because it contains, within Itself, the life which abides and can deliver from spiritual death and bestow life. First He said: “Whoever eats It will never die” now He speaks clearly, concerning the life He gives: “Whoever eats this bread will live for ever” (v.58). Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury (c 1125-1190) Cistercian – The Sacrament of the Altar II

PRAYER – Grant, O Lord, that we may always fear and love Thy holy Name, for Thou never fail to guide those whom Thou firmly establishes in Thine Love. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

SACRED Heart of JESUS, Thy Kingdom come!
Indulgence 300 Days. Everytime Raccolta 178 St Pius X, 4 May 1906.

Posted in DEVOTIO, GOD ALONE!, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, SACRED HEART QUOTES, SACRED HEART REFLECTIONS, The ADORABLE HEART of JESUS

Thought for the Day – 2 June – On the Nature of the Devotion

Thought for the Day – 2 June – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Little Extracts from The Adorable Heart of Jesus

On the Nature of the Devotion

If we desire to enter into the designs of Jesus Christ, we must not seek this idea of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, outside the revelation itself, from which it derived its origin and, since it has pleased this amiable Saviour to give an explanation Himself on this subject, it is from His own words that we must gather the real idea which we seek.
It will not be difficult, since Jesus Christ has spoken very clearly.
… But , we must here also allude to a circumstance which is essential to the nature of our Devotion and, that is, that the Love with which the Divine Heart of Jesus is inflamed, must be considered as a Love despised and wounded by the ingratitude of men.
This circumstance is expressed in these words which our Lord
adds :
And in return, I receive, for the most part, only ingratitude, contempt, irreverence, sacrileges, in the indifference which they manifest towards Me in the Sacrament of Love.”

The Heart of Jesus must, therefore, here be considered under two aspects – on the one hand, as burning with Love for men and, on the other, as cruelly wounded by the ingratitude of these same men.
These two motives united, must excite in us two feelings, both of which are equally essential to Devotion to the Sacred Heart, that is love which corresponds to Its Love and grief , which would leads us to make reparation for the insults it endures through the hard-heartedness of men!

Finally, the practices prescribed by Jesus Christ in fulfilment of this double duty, are laid down in these last words :
I ask of thee that the first Friday after the Octave of the Blessed Sacrament, should be dedicated as a special festival to do honour to My Heart, by devout acts of reparation and satisfaction, by communicating, on that day, to expiate the indignities it received whilst exposed on the Altar.
Jesus Christ contents Himself with explaining here the principal exercise of the devotion which He desires to establish but, it is
not the only practice which must be employed, to do honour to the Divine Heart. There are many others which will be mentioned further on.

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HOLY COMMUNION, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 2 June – Lauda Sion Salvatorem

Our Morning Offering – 2 June – The Solemnity of Corpus Christ, The Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ

Lauda Sion Salvatorem
Sion, Lift Up thy Voice and Sing

(Excerpt)
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor Angelicus / Doctor Communis

Sion, lift thy voice and sing,
Praise thy Saviour and thy King,
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true,
Dare thy most to praise Him well,
For He doth all praise excel,
None can ever reach His due.

Special theme of praise is Thine,
That true living Bread divine,
That life-giving flesh adored,
Which the brethren twelve received,
As most faithfully believed,
At the Supper of the Lord.

Let the chant be loud and high,
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt to-day in every breast;
On this festival divine
Which recounts the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.

St Thomas Aquinas wrote the Liturgy for Corpus Christi when Pope Urban IV added the Solemnity to the universal Church’s Liturgical calendar in 1264. He provided a great sequence, one of the great poems chanted or recited before the proclamation of the Gospel.
Lauda Sion is one of only four medieval sequences which were preserved in the Roman Missal published in 1570 following the Council of Trent (1545–1563)—the others being Victimae Paschali Laudes (Easter), Veni Sancte Spiritus (Pentecost) and Dies irae (requiem masses).
(A fifth, Stabat Mater, would later be added in 1727.)
Before Trent, many feasts had their own sequences. The existing versions were unified in the Roman Missal promulgated in 1570.
The Lauda Sion is still sung today as solemn Eucharistic hymn, though its use is optional in the post-Vatican II Ordinary form.
As with St Thomas’s other three Eucharistic Hymns, the last few stanzas of the Lauda Sion are often used alone, in this case, to form the “Ecce Panis Angelorum”.

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi Sunday within the Octave, Pentecost II, Madonna delle Lacrime / Madonna of the Tears, Bergamo, Italy (1511), St Marcellinus and Companions and all the Saints for 2 June

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi
Sunday within the Octave

Pentecost II

St Honorata
St Humatus
St John de Ortega

St Photinus of Lyons (c87-177) 7 Companions Bishop Martyr
St Rogate
Bl Sadoc of Sandomierz
St Stephen of Sweden

Posted in CATECHESIS, EUCHARISTIC, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HOLY COMMUNION, ONE Minute REFLECTION, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 June – ‘ … Who will dare … to dispute it? …’

One Minute Reflection – 1 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Within the Octave of Corpus Christi – St Angelica de Merici (1474-1540) Virgin – 1 Corinthians 23-29; John 6:56-59 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

For My flesh is food indeed and My Blood is drink indeed.”- John 6:56

REFLECTION – “Take and eat; this is My Body… Take and drink; this is My Blood.” (Mt 26:26.) Since then, Christ Himself clearly described the Bread to us in the words “This is My Body” who will dare henceforward, to dispute it? And since He has emphatically said, “This is My Blood” who will waver?… So let us partake with the fullest confidence that it is the Body and Blood of Christ. For His Body has been bestowed on you in the form of bread and His Blood in the form of wine, so that by partaking of Christ’s Body and Blood, you may share with Him, the same Body and Blood… This is how, in the blessed Peter’s words: “we become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4).

Christ once said in conversation with the Jews: “Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you have no life in you” They were scandalised because they did not interpret His words spiritually… Even in the Old Testament, there were “Loaves of the Presence” but since they belonged to the old dispensation, they have come to fulfilment. But in the New Testament, the Bread is of Heaven and the Chalice brings salvation, (Jn 6:41; Ps 115:4) and they sanctify the soul and the body; for, as the bread relates to the body, so the word harmonises with the soul…

The Blessed David will inform you of the meaning of the Eucharist when he says: “Thou hast laid a table before me against those who oppress me” (Ps 22:5)… The only thing he can mean is that sacramental, spiritual table which God has made ready for us against the evil spirit… “And the chalice which inebriates me, how godly it is” (Ps 22), here he mentions the chalice which Jesus took in His Hand and giving thanks said: “This is the Blood which is poured out for many, for the remission of sins” (Mt 26:28)… David was speaking of this long ago when he sang: “Bread strengthens the heart of man, that he may make his face glad with oil” (Ps 103:15). So strengthen your heart by partaking of that spiritual bread and gladden the face of your soul.” – Catechesis to the Newly Baptised of the Church in Jerusalem (4th Century) No 4.

PRAYER – O God, Who willed that through blessed Angela a new family of holy Virgins should flower in Thy Church, grant us through her intercession, to lead angelic lives, so that, foregoing all worldly pleasures, we may be found worthy to enjoy eternal appiness.Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, HOLY COMMUNION, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 1 June – O Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

Our Morning Offering – 1 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Within the Octave oif Corpus Christi

O Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
By The League of the Sacred Heart
1929 (Ireland)

O Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,
overflowing with gentleness,
tenderness and charity,
I bury in the abyss of Thy Mercy,
all my iniquities and all my negligence.
I offer Thee
my labours and my sufferings,
my sorrows and my miseries,
I recommend to Thee
my life and my death.
Solace my doubts Sweet Jesus,
calm my fears
and grant, that day-by-day,
I may become more united to Thy Sacred Heart,
learning Thy love and Thy holiness.
Amen

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, HOLY COMMUNION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 31 May – Corpus Christi

Quote/s of the Day – 31 May – Within the Octave of Corpus Christi

He who eats My Flesh
and drinks My Blood,
abides in Me and I in him.

John 6:57

The Saviour has instituted
the most glorious Sacrament
of the Eucharist,
which truly contains His Body and His Blood,
so that, whoever eats it will live forever.
Therefore, those who receive it frequently,
with devotion, strengthen their spiritual life
and well-being, to such an extent,
that it is almost impossible for them
to be poisoned by any kind of evil attachment.

(Introduction to the Devout Life, Part II, Chapter 20)

I often speak with my Teacher, Jesus,
in the Blessed Sacrament
because I learn from Him.
Jesus is the Teacher of the science of holiness.
I go to Him because I would like to learn,
from Him, how to become a Saint.
Of what use to me is all knowledge
and education, if I do not become holy?

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HOLY COMMUNION, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Quote/s of the Day – 30 May – The Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Quote/s of the Day – 30 May – The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Receive the Body and Blood of Christ
very frequently. The sight of a Christian’s lips
red with the Blood of Christ terrifies the enemy.
He immediately recognises the sign of his own ruin.
He cannot stand the Instrument of Divine Victory,
by which he was taken captive and cast down.

St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Doctor of the Church

Everything in us which is strong, steadfast,
firm, happy and joyful to carry out God’s commands,
bear with misfortune, act obediently, stand up for justice –
all these things come from this Bread’s strength,
this Wine’s gladness.
Happy are they whose deeds are strong and joyful!
And since no-one can do it of themselves,
happy are they who have an eager desire
to cleave to what is just and right
and to be strengthened in everything
and rejoice through Him
… ”

Baldwin of Canterbury (c1125-1190)
Cistercian Abbot of Forde Monastery and
Archbishop of Canterbury

Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium
Sing, My Tongue
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Eng trans – Fr Edward Caswell CO (1814-1878)
(Excerpt on the image – the 4 last stanzas)

Sing, my tongue, the Saviour’s glory,
Of His Flesh, the Mystery sing;
Of the Blood, all price exceeding,
Shed by our Immortal King,
Destined, for the world’s redemption,
From a noble Womb to spring.

Of a pure and spotless Virgin
Born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
Stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
Then He closed in solemn order
Wondrously His Life of woe.

On the night of that Last Supper,
Seated with His chosen band,
He, the Paschal Victim eating,
First fulfils the Law’s command;
Then as Food to all His brethren
Gives Himself with His own Hand.

Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature
By His Word to Flesh He turns;
Wine into His Blood He changes,
What though sense no change discerns.
Only be the heart in earnest,
Faith her lesson quickly learns.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo, the Sacred Host we hail,
Lo, o’er ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail,
Faith for all defects supplying,
When the feeble senses fail.

To the Everlasting Father
And the Son Who comes on high
With the Holy Ghost proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honour, blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen. Alleluia.

Written by St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) the Angelic and Common Doctor of the Church, for the very first Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this Hymn is considered the most beautiful of Aquinas’ Hymns and one of the seven great Hymns of the Church.

The last two stanzas make up the Tantum Ergo (Down in Adoration Falling) which is used at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The Hymn is also used on Maundy Thursday during the procession from the Sanctuary to the Altar of Repose, where the Blessed Sacrament is kept until Good Friday.

“As mountain hares become white in winter
because they neither see. nor eat
anything but snow,
so, by adoring and feeding on
beauty, purity and goodness itself
in the Eucharist,
you will become altogether
beautiful, pure and good.”

Nowhere do we find our Saviour
more tender or more loving,
than here [in Adoration]
where He, so to speak,
annihilates Himself and reduces Himself
to Food, in order to penetrate our souls
and to unite Himself
to the hearts of His friends.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

O Divine Jesus!
Lonely in So Many Tabernacles

By St Pope Pius X (1835-1914)
Pope of the Blessed Sacrament

O Divine Jesus!
Lonely today in so many Tabernacles,
without visitor or worshipper,
I offer Thee my lonely heart.
May it’s every beat be a prayer of love to Thee.
Thou are ever watching under the Sacramental Veils,
in Thou love, Thou never sleeps
and Thou are never weary of Thy vigils for sinners.
O Loving Jesus!
O Lonely Jesus!
may my heart be a lamp,
the light of which shall burn and beam
for Thee alone.
Watch, Sacramental Sentinel!
Watch for the weary world,
for the erring soul
and for Thy poor lonely child.

O Jesus, my God, I adore Thee,
here present in the Sacrament of Thy love.
Amen

Indulgences:
100 days each time before the Tabernacle
300 days each time before the Blessed Sacrament Exposed
(St Pope Pius X – 3 July 1908)
Prayers to the Sacred Heart

15th Ed 1936

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/06/11/quote-s-of-the-day-11-june-he-left-his-body-and-his-blood/

Posted in EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HOLY COMMUNION, ONE Minute REFLECTION, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

One Minute Reflection – 30 May – ‘ …Christ the Lord, for Whom we should ceaselessly hunger! …’St Columban

One Minute Reflection – 30 May – The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ – 1 Corinthians 23-29; John 6:56-59– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

For My Flesh is food indeed and My Blood is drink indeed.” – John 6:56

REFLECTION – “Beloved brethren, quench your thirst at the waters of that Divine Spring we want to tell you about – quench it but do not extinguish it; drink but do not become satisfied. The Living Spring, the Source of Life, calls us and says: “Let anyone who thirsts come to Me and drink” (Jn 7:37). Understand what it is you are drinking. Let the Prophet tell you and let the Source Itself tell you: “Listen to the word of the Lord, they have forsaken Me the Source of Living Water” (Jer 2:13). So the Lord our God Himself, Jesus Christ, is He Who is that Source of Life and that is why He invites us to come to Him so that we might drink Him. Whoever loves Him, drinks Him; whoever feeds on the Word of God, drinks Him. … Drink, therefore, from this Source that others have forsaken!

That we might eat of this Bread and drink from this Spring … He refers to Himself as “the Living Bread which gives life to the world” (cf. Jn 6:51) which we are to eat. … See from where this Spring flows! see from where this Bread comes down! For one and the same person is both Bread and Spring, the Only-begotten Son, our God, Christ the Lord, for Whom we should ceaselessly hunger!

It is our love which gives Him as food to us, our desire which makes us eat Him and when we have been satisfied, we desire Him still. Let us go to Him as to a fountain and drink of Him in our overflowing love, let us drink Him always with ever-new desire, finding our joy in the sweetness of His Love. The Lord is gentle and good. We eat and drink Him without ceasing to hunger and thirst for Him, for we cannot exhaust this Food and Drink. We eat of this Bread yet do not run out of it; we drink at this Spring, yet it does not run dry. This Bread is eternal; this Stream flows without end!” – St Columban (543-615) Father of the Church, Monk, Irish Missionary, Abbot, Writer, Reformer, Teacher, Miracle-worker, Founder of numerous Nonateries. (Spiritual instructions 12, 2, 3).

PRAYER – O God, Thou Who in this wondrous Sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy Passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the Sacred Mysteries of Thine Body and Blood that we may ever experience within ourselves, the effect of Thy redemption. Who lives and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in DOMINICAN OP, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Dedication of the Church of MonteVergine, near Naples, Italy (1126) and the Saints for 30 May

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ:
Corpus Christi

The Feast is liturgically celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday
https://anastpaul.com/2022/06/16/the-festival-of-corpus-christi/

St Anastasius II of Pavia
St Basil the Elder
St Crispulus of Sardinia
Blessed Elisabeth Stagel OP (c1300-1360) Virgin, Prioress of the Order of Preachers
St Emmelia
St Euplius
St Exuperantius of Ravenna
St Gamo of Brittany
St Gavino of Sardinia
St Isaac of Constantinople
Bl Lawrence Richardson
St Luke Kirby
St Madelgisilus
St Reinhildis of Riesenbeck
St Restitutus of Cagliari
Bl Richard Newport

St Venantius of Lérins
St Walstan of Bawburgh
Bl William Filby
Bl Willilam Scott