Churches will celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi with Eucharist processions
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this year on June 8, honors Jesus’ true and real presence in the Eucharist. Celebrations and processions will take place on Sunday.
This presence happens during transubstantiation or “change of substance,” when at the Consecration of the Mass, the priest says the words which Christ said during the Last Supper, “This is My Body,” “This is the chalice of My Blood,” “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Matthew 26:26, 28)
On the Feast of Corpus Christi, Catholics are called upon to focus on the body of Christ, first in the Eucharist, and second in the Church.
The Church is called the Body of Christ because of the intimate communion which Jesus shares with his disciples.
After Mass, churches hold public Eucharistic processions with the Eucharist displayed in an elaborate monstrance and promote adoration along the route.
“The Corpus Christi celebration is important for our parish because we want and need to give public witness to our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist,” Father Joseph Mancini, pastor of St. Stephen’s in Kearny. “Especially now as our country is observing the Eucharistic Revival, we need to show the world that we need Jesus more than ever.”
St. Stephen’s traditionally holds a procession and creates an “infiorata,” a carpet made of flower petals.
The feast originated in France in the early 13th century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264 and was historically celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. Now it is celebrated on the Sunday following that Thursday.
In the recently released playbook “Year of Parish Revival” the National Eucharist Revival team, presents recommendations for Eucharistic Revival at a parish level this year. The three-year-long Eucharist Revival is in response to the bishops’ invitation to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ through the celebration of the Eucharist. The playbook offers suggestions for parishes to reinvigorate worship, create more personal encounters with Christ and more robust faith formation, and ways to be more missionary in a welcoming church.
Holding a Eucharistic procession for Corpus Christi is one of the suggestions to create more personal encounters.
Parishes and monasteries around the Archdiocese of Newark will hold processions such as St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, The Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, and St. Stephen’s Church.
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Belleville will be having the procession for the 13th year, Father Ivan Sciberras said.
On June 11, in between the English and Spanish masses at 12:30 p.m., they will process around the block with the monstrance displaying the Holy Eucharist.
In honor of Eucharistic Revival Year of the Parish, June 14-16, the church will also have a 40-hour devotion beginning Wednesday after the 7 p.m. Mass in the Convent Chapel, concluding on Friday – Solemnity of the Sacred Heart – at noon.
St. Aloysius Church in Caldwell will hold a procession following the 5 p.m. Mass in Spanish. An Adoration of the Eucharist will be held in the church until 9 p.m.
The Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit will hold a Corpus Christi Procession on Sunday, June 11 at 4 p.m. for a Corpus Christi Procession. The faithful will assemble in the monastery chapel and the procession will head out at 4:30 .pm., processing through the streets of Summit before returning to the monastery.
The event will close with Vespers sung by the Dominican Nuns and close with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
At St. Stephen’s in Kearny, a procession will follow a noon bilingual Mass. The half-hour procession will take place on surrounding streets and return to the church for benediction.
Father Mancini said St. Stephen’s parishioners are proud of their “infiorata,” which is a carpet made of flower petals or sand or sawdust, depicting different scenes, and will adorn the center aisle.
Featured photo: Father David Hinojosa of Saint Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Belleville holds the monstrance with the eucharist at last year’s Eucharist Procession. (Photo/ Father Ivan)
