for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
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After the strong season of the liturgical year which, focusing on Easter spreads over three months - first the 40 days of Lent, then the 50 days of Eastertide -, the liturgy has us celebrate three Feasts which instead have a "synthetic" character: the Most Holy Trinity, then Corpus Christi, and lastly, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What is the precise significance of today's Solemnity, of the Body and Blood of Christ? The answer is given to us in the fundamental actions of this celebration we are carrying out: first of all we gather around the altar of the Lord, to be together in his presence; secondly, there will be the procession, that is walking with the Lord; and lastly, kneeling before the Lord, adoration, which already begins in the Mass and accompanies the entire procession but culminates in the final moment of the Eucharistic Blessing when we all prostrate ourselves before the One who stooped down to us and gave his life for us….
Corpus Christi reminds us first of all of this: that being Christian means coming together from all parts of the world to be in the presence of the one Lord and to become one with him and in him….
God created us free but he did not leave us alone: he made himself the "way" and came to walk together with us so that in our freedom we should also have the criterion we need to discern the right way and to take it….
Adoring the Body of Christ, means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, Christ is really there, and gives true sense to life, to the immense universe as to the smallest creature, to the whole of human history as to the most brief existence. Adoration is prayer that prolongs the celebration and Eucharistic communion and in which the soul continues to be nourished: it is nourished with love, truth, peace; it is nourished with hope, because the One before whom we prostrate ourselves does not judge us, does not crush us but liberates and transforms us.…
This is why gathering, walking and adoring together fills us with joy. In making our own the adoring attitude of Mary…let us pray for ourselves and for every person that he or she may know you, O Father and the One whom you sent, Jesus Christ and thus have life in abundance.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Homily, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, 2008For the complete text, please visit:
For more information on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi 2012, please visit:
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More than one million people had attended the VII World Meeting of Families in Milan which was, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI concluded, "an 'epiphany' of the family. Families were present in their many different forms, but also in that unicity which is their fundamental identity: a communion of love founded upon marriage and called to be a shrine of life, a small Church, a cell of society. A message of hope went out from Milan to the whole world, a message backed up by real experience that it is possible and joyful, though demanding, to experience a faithful love 'forever', open to life; it is possible to participate as families in the mission of the Church and in the construction of society. ... May the experience of Milan bring abundant fruits to the Church and favour increased attention to the cause of the family, which is the cause of man and of civilisation".
For complete information regarding the VII World Meeting of Families, please visit:
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