SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
“The Twelve approached Jesus and said, ‘Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions.’ He said to them, 'Give them some food yourselves.’ . . . . Gather them into groups. . . . Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied.” Luke 9:11-17
Jesus asks His disciples to use what they had available to feed the hungering-for-spiritual-food people gathered around them. Through all the years since, Jesus’ disciples have done this, and since 1872, this has been carried on right here at St. Michael Church. Today “the ball is in our court.” We are the gathered disciples to whom Jesus is speaking. We are the ones who need to be aware of the hungering-for-spiritual-food people who live and work around us.
Let us take the time to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”
Let us then come to be gathered, blessed, broken and shared--first, among ourselves and then, upon leaving our church building, those with hungering-for-spiritual-food people around us.
Meditation: Panis Angelicus
Charlotte Church singing Panis Angelicus, live from Brixton Academy. This hymn, Panis Angelicus (Latin for "Bread of Angels" or "Angelic Bread"), was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi.
(Viewing the hymn words on a computer allows aligns the Latin and English words.)
Panis angelicus
fit panis hominum;
Dat panis cœlicus
figuris terminum:
O res mirabilis!
Manducat Dominum
Pauper, pauper servus et humilis.
Pauper, pauper servus et humilis.
Te trina Deitas
unaque poscimus:
Sic nos tu visita,
sicut te colimus;
Per tuas semitas
duc nos quo tendimus,
Ad lucem quam inhabitas.
Ad lucem quam inhabitas.
May the Bread of Angels
Become bread for mankind;
The Bread of Heaven puts
All foreshadowings to an end;
Oh, thing miraculous!
The body of the Lord will nourish
the poor, the servile, and the humble,
the poor, the servile, and the humble.
You God, Three
And One, we beseech;
That You visit us,
As we worship You.
By Your ways,
lead us where we are heading,
to the light that You inhabit,
to the light that You inhabit.