June 2, 2024
Corpus Christi
by Fr. Boniface Endorf, OP
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Today we celebrate Corpus Christi, the celebration of Christ’s Body and Blood given to us in the Eucharist. Today we celebrate the means of our salvation. The Eternal Son, the second Divine Person of the Trinity, united to His Divine Nature our human nature so as to become one with us, both fully Divine and fully human. He did so to undo the fallenness of humanity, to save us. Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and as a consequence alienated humanity from God, and all the sin and evil of this world is a result of that original sin. The Son took a human nature to Himself in order to become the new Adam, remaking humanity. Jesus was obedient to the Father, undoing the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and was obedient even unto death. As a human He represented us, and as God He had the divine power to love as we could not after the Fall. In His love, He gave His human life up for our sake. He saved us through the human nature He took to His divine nature. And so we are saved by Jesus’s humanity, through His Flesh and Blood. That is why we celebrate the Eucharist, where we receive the very Flesh and Blood by which we are saved from evil and sin and restored to union with God. Thus, Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53).
Today, at our 9am Mass, we pray especially for those receiving First Communion. Let us pray that through the graces of the Eucharist they may grow in the divine life it offers and experience the salvation it confers.
Also today, at the 11:30am Mass, we process with the Body of Christ into the world. We are proclaiming the salvation Christ brings to the world—showing the means by which we are saved. Let us with joy proclaim our salvation to all the world!
After the Corpus Christi procession we’ll have a final going away party for Fr. Clement in the parish hall.
Finally, our summer brothers have arrived. They are Brs. Roland, Anslem, and Basil. Please welcome them to St. Joseph’s!
God Bless,
Fr. Boniface
