The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) is June 18 this year. Many parishes will host Corpus Christi processions. In Rome, Pope Francis will celebrate a 7 p.m. Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran; following Mass he will lead a Eucharistic procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, Vatican Radio reported.
The Church’s teaching about the Eucharist is deeply rooted in sacred Scripture. Here are just five examples:
1. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me (John 6:54-57).
2. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).
3. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles (Acts 2:42-43).
4. Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf (1 Corinthians 10:17).
5. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die (John 6:48-50).