How to celebrate Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharistic on June 2

As Catholics prepare for the Eucharistic Congress in July as part of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival initiative, parishes within the archdiocese are preparing for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this year on June 2, honoring Jesus’ true and real presence in the Eucharist. Celebrations and processions will take place on Sunday.  

Christ’s true presence in the hosts happens during transubstantiation or “change of substance,” when at the Consecration of the Mass, the priest says the words that 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). Transubstantiation is followed by the ringing of the bells. 

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, Catholics are called upon to focus more deeply 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 that 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.  

Father Joseph Mancini, pastor of St. Stephen’s in Kearny, which holds a procession annually said that the celebration is important for the parish because it gives public witness to the belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  

“Especially now as our country is observing the Eucharistic Revival, we need to show the world that we need Jesus more than ever,” Father Mancini said. 

The feast originated in France in the early 13th century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264.  

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 (2022-2025) 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.  

Here’s a sprinkling of parishes and monasteries around the Archdiocese of Newark that will hold processions: 

• The Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit will hold a Corpus Christi Procession on Sunday, June 2 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 p.m., 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 Mass at 1:15 p.m. The procession will take place on surrounding streets and return to the church for benediction.  
• St. Aloysius Church in Caldwell will hold a Corpus Christi Procession on Sunday, June 2, immediately following the 11 a.m. Mass. 
• On Sunday, June 2, St. Peter’s Church in Belleville will hold a Corpus Christi Procession at 1 p.m. 

Currently, four groups of pilgrims are making their way on foot to the Eucharistic Congress which will be held in Indianapolis, IN in July. 

Featured image: (St. Paul in Ramsey.)