June 14

Weekend Bulletin
Children’s Bulletin

SERVE Registration
Religious Ed Grade 1-6 Registration
Religious Ed Grade 7-8 Registration
High School Discipleship Registration

Deacon’s Digest
Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Each year, two weeks after Pentecost, our Church celebrates Corpus Christi Sunday (the Body and Blood of Christ). As I was reflecting on this during the week, I could not help but remember my own First Communion on May 10, 1964 – Mother’s Day. I was seven years old and in the second grade at St Joseph Cathedral School here in Sioux Falls. I received Holy Communion in what could be called the “old rite” or the Tridentine Mass. That was when all of the Mass prayers were in Latin and the servers were the only ones who responded to the priest’s prayers and invocations.
The Dominican Sisters who taught us in the school made VERY sure that we were well formed prior to receiving. My classmates and I had to memorize many things – lists of virtues of vices, the 10 Commandments, the first chapter in the Baltimore Catechism and so on. We all had to recite these perfectly prior to being “ok’d” for First communion. My mom drilled me every evening – “name the 7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost, tell me the 7 Deadly Sins, what are the 4 Cardinal Virtues” and on and on. I sometimes think that if I ever contract Alzheimer’s disease I will still be able to recite those lists!
Just before the big day a priest came into our classroom and had all of us stand up and answer his questions together – as a class. When he was through with his questions, he made us keep standing – for a long time – and we were all wondering what he was up to. Finally, he had us look around the room and told us that all of God’s people standing together in unity as the Body of Christ was the best “sign” of living out the reception of the Eucharist. The purpose of Eucharist, he told us, was to make us into one community that could more effectively show the world the power and love of God. This all happened a long time ago (55 years!) and my memory may not be perfect - but it is what I recall.
When the big day for First Communion came around, I was nervous and a little bit scared. We had been told so many times that we were receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ that I wondered what would happen to me. As I knelt at the Communion Rail and the priest approached, presented the Host, and said “Corpus Christi” I barely got the “amen” out before he put the Eucharist on my tongue. Although I did not faint away or feel some special exhilaration, I knew something BIG had just happened. I pray that all of those receiving “Corpus Christi” for the first time later this month will know the Peace and True Presence of God when they receive.
As I listen to the Eucharistic Prayers today, I am struck by the way they match what our priest said about community. In Eucharistic Prayer 3, shortly after the Consecration, the words say, “Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.” (emphasis added)
Certainly, there is a personal Blessing each time we receive Holy Communion but we need to remember that any good we receive from the Eucharist is for the benefit of the community and unity of Christ’s Body. Pray and work for that Grace at St Michael Parish, in our Diocese and in the worldwide Church. When we are in unison, we are much better at bringing God’s life into a world that is starving for “True Presence”.