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Today is Corpus Christi Sunday! A very special and high holy Day. The hymn Panis Angelicus has often been in the charts recently. Pavarotti, Roberto Alagna, Lesley Garret and many have recorded it-even me (listen on www.music.podshow.com under 'Opera') but this him is part of the liturgy for today. Read on and find the origins of this amazing feast and ritual by which Jesus said 'Lo I am with you always even to the End of Time.
The Church's other devotions are Benedictiona special meditation where the priest blesses the Faithful with a Consecrated Eucharist in which Jesus is now present and Adoration. This is a meditation where you sit before the Eucharist and allow it to enter your hearts.
Panis angelicus The Bread of Angels
fit panis hominum; Becomes the Bread of Man
Dat panis coelicus The Bread of heaven
figuris terminum: Represents all future outcomes
O res mirabilis! What a wonderful thing!
Manducat Dominum. a poor and humble servant
Pauper, servus et humilis consumes him, the Lord
Te trina Deitas We beg of You
unaque poscimus: God, One in Three
Sic nos tu visita, that you visit ussicut te colimus; as we worship You
Per tuas semitas By your ways
duc nos quo tendimus, lead us who seek
Ad lucem quam inhabitas. the light in which You dwell
Amen. Amen
St Thomas Aquinas
Panis angelicus is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by St Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi as part of a complete liturgy of the Feast including prayers for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
The strophe that begins with the words "Panis angelicus" (bread of angels) has often been set to music separately from the rest of the hymn. In 1872, César Franck set this verse to music for tenor and orchestra. He incorporated it into his Messe Solennelle Op.12. Count John McCormack's 1932 performance of it in Dublin's Phoenix Park was considered the highlight of his career. It has been sung effectively by Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Richard Crooks, and Roberto Alagna, as well as by the soprano Lesley Garrett and many other recording stars.My own recording can be found on Podshow under 'opera'.
Processions-Following Jesus
In some areas, like here at Llantarnam Abbey in Monmouthshire, there are large processions, led by the children who are to make their first Holy Communion at this time. This sacrament is part of the initiation of the new Christians into the life of the Church and the body and blood will help to transform them before their final Confirmation as full members of the Church.Little girls often wear bridal dress, to show they have become brides of Christ and boys also wear smart clothing for this special day.
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St Thomas Aquinas other Songs
St Thomas Aquinas wrote other hymns for Corpus Christi: Verbum supernum prodiens (the last two strophes begin with "O salutaris Hostia") and Pange lingua gloriosi (the last two strophes begin with "Tantum ergo".
The name given to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in its twofold aspect of sacrament and Sacrifice of Mass, and in which Jesus Christ is truly present under the bread and wine.
Other titles are used, such as "Lord's Supper" (Coena Domini), "Table of the Lord" (Mensa Domini), the "Lord's Body" (Corpus Domini), and the "Holy of Holies" (Sanctissimum), to which may be added the following expressions, and somewhat altered from their primitive meaning: "Agape" (Love-Feast), "Eulogia" (Blessing), "Breaking of Bread", "Synaxis" (Assembly), etc.; but the ancient title "Eucharistia" appearing in writers as early as Ignatius, Justin, and Irenæus, The expression "Blessed Sacrament of the Altar", introduced by Augustine, is at the present day almost entirely restricted to catechetical and popular treatises.
From the earliest ages, the Sacrament of the altar has occupied the central place ages, both in the Divine worship and services of the Church and in the life of faith and devotion of the Faithful.
The Church honours the Eucharist as one of her most exalted mysteries, since for sublimity and incomprehensibility it yields in nothing to the allied mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation. These three mysteries constitute a wonderful triad, which causes the essential characteristic of Christianity, as a religion of mysteries far transcending the capabilities of reason, to shine forth in all its brilliance and splendor, and elevates Catholicism, the most faithful guardian and keeper of our Christian heritage, to a great height.
Jesus
No one can come to me
unless drawn by the Father
and I will raise that person up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets
They will all be taught by God
everyone who has listened to the Father
and learnt from him
comes to me.
Not that nyone has seen the Father
Except him who has hhis being from God
he has seen the Father.
In all truth I tell you,
Everyone who believes has Eternal Life
I am the Bread of Life
Your fathers at manna in the desert
and they are dead.
But this is the Bread that comes down from heaven
so that a person may eat it and not die.
I am the living Bread who has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this Bread will live forever
and tha Bread that I shall give you
is my Flesh 'for the Life of the World'.
Then the Jews started arguing among themselves. How can a man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said:
In all truth I tell you
If you do not eat(Gk 'gnaw') the Flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his Blood
you have no life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood
has eternal life
and I shall raise that person up on the last day.
For my Flesh is Real food
And my Blood is Real drink
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
lives in me
And I live in that person.
As the living Father sent me
and I draw life from the Father
so whoever eats me will also draw life from me.
This is the Bread which has come down from heaven
it is not like the Bread our ancestors ate;
They are dead
But anyone who eats this Bread will live forever!
This is what he taught in Capurnaum at the Synagogue
After hearing it, many of his followers said.'This is intolerable language . How can anyone accept it?' Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said 'Does this disturb you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives Life,your flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
B ut there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him. He went on 'This is why I told you that no one would come to me, schept by gift of the father. After this many of the disciples left him and followed him no more.
Then Jesus said to the Twelve 'What about you, do you want to go away too? Peter answered 'Lord to whom shall we go? You have the message of Eternal Life and we believe. We have come to know that you are the Holy one of God. Jesus replied to them and said 'Did I not choose all twelve of you? Yet one of you is a devil. He meant Jusas who was son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the man of the Twelve who was to betray him.
St John Chapter 6 ve 14-end from New Jerusalem Bible Study Edition
Note
The followers to whom Jesus was speaking were simple folk. They took what he said absolutely literally. They were so disgusted at what they thought was cannibalism and walked off, unable to go there. Jesus could have called them back and said 'Hey, come back, I didn't mean it, it was only a symbolic act, but he did not. It was quite clear what he meant, when he used the Greek word for 'to gnaw, or chew'-translated in English by 'eat'-'The sense is therefore different and Jesus as raised the stakes 'If you do not gnaw on my body and drink my blood'. This is what so dismayed the disciples who left. Peter and the Apostles (bar Judas) trusted him.
Maundy Thursday-Thursday in Holy Week
This was the Passover Feast where Christ instituted this holy Sacrament and ritual which transforms the Bread and Wine into the Flesh and Blood of Christ.The words of consecration are from the Bible.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night that he was betrayed took the bread in his sacred hands and when he had given thanks said:
'Take this all of you and eat it.
THIS IS MY BODY GIVEN UP FOR YOU AND FOR ALL MANKKIND
Do this in remembrance of me.
Then he took the cup and said
'TAKE THIS ALL OF YOU AND DRINK FROM IT'
THIS IS MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT
It will become your spiritual drink.
Do this in remembrance of me.
St. Irenaeus (c.130 - c.200),Thrown to the Lions for his faith.Martyr
All the Early fathers taught by Peter and Paul and the other Apostles believed this, which gives us the link with them right back through time.Google the Early Church fathers and the Eucharist.These were the people Peter and Paul taught.
But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God, and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration, maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption.
But if this indeed does not attain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of His body. For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and whatsoever else makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was actually made. By His own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle declares, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins."
And as we are His members, we are also nourished by means of the creation (and He Himself grants the creation to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends rain when He wills(3)). He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies.
When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made, from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him?--even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."
(6) He does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh;but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,--that [flesh] which is nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His body.
And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality,
Prayer Requests Today
Please pray for my Friend Pat, recently gone to God. A wonderfully cheerful giver, friend and deeply supportive of all. She will be sadly missed.
Please Pray for my friend Mary-the most wonderful Christian woman now contemplating her own journey to God. Pray for her daughter Eva, another friend and her sister Stella.
Lastly please pray for the McCann family that their daughter will soon be returned.That the Holy Spirit will enter the conscience of the person who has taken her and they do the right thing, especially Kate Mccann's peace of mind.Pray for me and my family if you are able to do so. God Bless! Mary
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