Vatican City, Jun 18, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged, during his weekly Angelus address, that Sunday marked the celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ) in most of the world.
Corpus Christi, the Pope explained, "is the solemn public feast of the Eucharist, Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, ... which on this day is shown to everyone, amid the fervor of faith and devotion of the ecclesial community.
"The Eucharist," the Pope said, "constitutes the 'treasure' of the Church, the precious heritage that her Lord left her.
However, the Holy Father continued, “this treasure, which is intended for the baptized, does not limit its field of action to the environment of the Church. The Eucharist is the Lord Jesus, Who gives Himself 'for the life of the world.' In all times and places, He wishes to encounter men and women and bring them the life of God."
"The Eucharist also has a cosmic significance," the Pope went on. "Indeed, the transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ constitutes the beginning of the divinization of creation itself.”
The incomparable importance of the Eucharist in the world is the reason that Catholics generally celebrate the feast by processing with the Blessed Sacrament through the neighborhoods surrounding their churches, the Holy Father said.
"In carrying the Eucharist through the streets and squares," the Holy Father concluded, "we want to immerse the bread of heaven in our daily lives. ... On this feast day, Christians as a community proclaim that the Eucharist represents everything for them, it is their very life, the source of love that conquers death."