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The Time After Pentecost
not merely symbolically, but actually and in person. In the Eucharist there really resides He who
was born of Mary, who was crucified and died for us, who arose from the dead and was glorified.
“I believe . . . in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,” who is actually present here in the
Blessed Sacrament. He was “born of the Father before all ages; God of God, light of light, true
God of true God; begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father; by whom all things were
made. Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven; and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; and was made man. He was crucified also for us, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and
ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with
glory to judge the living and the dead; and His kingdom shall have no end” (Credo).
Our God dwells among us. He has appeared among us and revealed Himself to us, not
merely in word or in the spirit or by virtue of the grace He imparts; but He has appeared in
visible form for men who depend so utterly on their senses. In Paradise God appeared to our
first parents in visible form, and again He made His presence known to Moses by means of the
burning bush. When the chosen people were being led through the wilderness, He made His
presence known in a visible manner by means of the cloud which appeared over the Ark of the
Covenant by day, and the pillar of fire which appeared by night. Then, finally, He appeared in
new visible form, God and man in one person, as the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary. “And
we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”
( Jn 1:14). “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” not only for the few short years of
His earthly life, but forever in the most Blessed Sacrament, the miracle of His love. “Behold,
I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28:20). We believe in
this work of the infinite mercy of God. We are grateful, and we rejoice in the possession of the
Blessed Eucharist.
Today we renew our faith in the presence of Christ in the tabernacle. We renew also our
trust in Him, our love for Him, and our consecration to His service. “How lovely are Thy tabernacles,
O Lord of Hosts. My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (Ps 83:2 f.).
Prayer
O God, who in this wonderful sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we
beseech Thee, so to reverence the sacred mysteries of Thy body and blood that we may ever perceive
within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
Friday after Corpus Christi
“O God, who in this wonderful sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion!” (Collect.) The
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament are the memorial of the passion of Christ.
The Holy Eucharist recalls the suffering and death of Christ. “This is My body, which is
given for you. . . . This is . . . My blood, which shall be shed for you” (Lk 22:19 f.). The Holy
Eucharist is the fruit of the suffering and death of Christ. It embraces the bloody sacrifice
on the cross and all the actions and all the suffering that went to make up His passion. The
Eucharist commemorates the suffering in the Garden of Olives, the scourging, the crowning
with thorns, the unjust condemnation, and the bitter journey to Golgotha. It includes
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