Corpus Christi: Spiritual Meaning

Corpus Christi is, in the words of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, “the feast of God”: the only day of the liturgical year consecrated to exclusively honoring the adorable person of Jesus Christ and His real and living presence among us. We solemnly and joyfully celebrate that Christ is here, now, truly present in the Eucharist.

It is the mystery that Saint Josemaría Escrivá described with disarming simplicity: “Our God has decided to remain in the Tabernacle to nourish us, to strengthen us, to divinize us.” And it is the mystery before which Saint Thomas Aquinas — the greatest theologian in history — knelt before writing a single line.

Corpus Christi: Etymological Meaning

Corpus Christi is a Latin expression that literally means “the Body of Christ.” It is the name by which the Church designates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This feast publicly proclaims, before the whole world, that Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist: with His Body, with His Blood, with His Soul, and with His Divinity.

The choice of this name is not accidental. The Church does not call this feast “the feast of the Eucharist” or “the feast of the Sacrament”: she calls it Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. Because what she celebrates is not a rite or a symbol: it is a Person. It is Christ Himself, who wished to remain among us in the closest and most humble way possible, hidden under the appearances of bread and wine.

Corpus Christi: Spiritual Meaning

Saint Peter Julian Eymard explained the spiritual meaning of this feast with unparalleled clarity:

“Other feasts celebrate some mystery of His past life: they are beautiful and honor God. Nevertheless, they are but a memory, an anniversary of a distant past that revives only in our piety. The Savior is no longer in these mysteries; He performed them once, and thereafter only His grace remains. But here there is an actual mystery: the feast is ordered to the living person of our adorable Savior, who is present among us.”

The spiritual meaning of Corpus Christi has three inseparable dimensions:

• The Real Presence

Christ is not in the Eucharist in a symbolic or figurative way, but is really and substantially present. The dogma of transubstantiation teaches that, when the priest pronounces the words of consecration in persona Christi, the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine His Blood. The appearance does not change (we still see bread). But the essence changes completely. Saint John Chrysostom declares that it is not man who performs this conversion, but Christ crucified Himself, whose words pronounced by the minister transform the offerings by the power of the Creator.

• The Divine Food

Christ is not only present, but He also gives Himself as food. Whoever receives Communion not only pays homage to Christ from outside: they receive Him within themselves.

“You are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:27).

The Eucharist transforms us because the soul that devoutly receives Communion is assimilated by Christ, who becomes its life.

• The Permanent Company

The Tabernacle is the dwelling place where Christ chose to remain. Saint Josemaría Escrivá used to say that the Tabernacle had always been for him

“Bethany, the quiet and peaceful place where Christ is, where we can tell Him our worries, our sufferings, our hopes and our joys, with the same simplicity and naturalness with which His friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, spoke to Him.”

Corpus Christi: Biblical Meaning

Although the Eucharist was instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is true that in the Old Testament we can find numerous prefigurations, images that announced this mystery:

Old Testament Prefigurations

• The Manna in the Desert (Ex 16:13-14)

For forty years, God fed His people in the desert with bread that fell from heaven every morning. It was free, abundant, daily — and only the portion for each day could be gathered, without hoarding. Jesus Himself evokes it in the discourse of Capernaum to announce that He is the true Bread from heaven:

“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (Jn 6:49-50).

• The Priesthood of Melchizedek (Gen 14:18)

Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, offers bread and wine to Abraham after his victory. The Letter to the Hebrews presents Christ as “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:20). Christ offers Himself under the species of bread and wine to the Heavenly Father as a propitiatory victim for our sins.

• Water from the Rock (Ex 17:1-6)

Moses strikes the rock and water gushes out, quenching the thirst of the people in the desert. Saint Paul identifies that rock with Christ: “The rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). The water that flows from Christ’s side on the Cross (Jn 19:34) — blood and water — is the source of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist.

The Words of Jesus in the Gospel

The most profound text on Corpus Christi in the Bible is the discourse on the Bread of Life in chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, delivered in the synagogue of Capernaum:

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51).

“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. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn 6:53-54).

When many disciples were scandalized and left, Jesus did not soften the discourse or explain it as a metaphor. On the contrary, He asked the Twelve:

“Do you want to go away as well?” (Jn 6:67).

The Church has always read this passage as the explicit promise of the Eucharist, fulfilled at the Last Supper.

• The Institution at the Last Supper

The night before His Passion, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, which will be given up for you; do this in memory of me.”

And in the same way, the chalice:

“This chalice is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in memory of me” (1 Cor 11:24-25).

Saint Paul adds the ecclesial dimension:

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body” (1 Cor 10:16-17).

Corpus Christi: Meaning and History

The feast of Corpus Christi originated in the 13th century in Liège, Belgium, from the mystical visions of Saint Juliana of Mont Cornillon (1193-1258). Juliana repeatedly contemplated a radiant full moon with a dark spot. The Lord showed her that this spot was the absence, in the liturgical calendar, of a specific solemnity to honor the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The feast was instituted in the universal calendar by Pope Urban IV through the bull Transiturus de hoc mundo on September 8, 1264, also prompted by the Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena which occurred in 1263 when the blood of Christ flowed from the consecrated host, staining the corporal, which is now venerated in Orvieto Cathedral.

Pope Urban IV commissioned the greatest theologian of his time, Saint Thomas Aquinas, to write the Office and hymns for the new feast. The Angelic Doctor composed five hymns that are simultaneous pinnacles of liturgical poetry and Eucharistic theology: Lauda Sion, Adoro Te Devote, Pange Lingua — whose conclusion is the famous Tantum Ergo —, Sacris Sollemniis — which contains the Panis Angelicus — and Verbum Supernum — from which the O Salutaris Hostia is taken.

It is said that when Saint Thomas presented his work to the Pope, another great theologian — Saint Bonaventure — tore up his own prepared work, recognizing that it was impossible to surpass it.

The Eucharistic Hymns of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Adoro Te Devote

The Adoro Te Devote is the hymn of personal and contemplative adoration before God hidden behind the sacramental veils. Saint Thomas maintains that sight, touch, and taste are fallible in judging the Eucharist. But the spiritual ear that receives the Word of the Son of God provides absolute certainty.

Two images from the hymn have been etched into Christian spirituality: the good thief’s plea on Calvary — “remember me” — as a model for the soul’s attitude before the Eucharist; and the image of Christ as the “loving pelican” — a bird that, according to medieval tradition, feeds its young with its own blood — whose Eucharistic blood possesses infinite power capable of redeeming the entire world with a single drop.

I devoutly adore You, hidden God, truly concealed beneath these appearances. My heart submits entirely to You, and surrenders completely upon contemplating You.

 

In judging You, sight, touch, and taste are mistaken; but hearing alone is enough to believe firmly; I believe all that the Son of God has said: nothing is truer than this Word of truth.

On the Cross, only the Divinity was hidden, but here the Humanity is also hidden; nevertheless, I believe and confess both, and I ask what that repentant thief asked.

 

I do not see the wounds as Thomas saw them, but I confess that You are my God: make me believe more and more in You, hope in You, and love You.

 

Memorial of the Lord’s death! Living Bread that gives life to man: grant my soul to live from You and always savor Your sweetness.

 

Lord Jesus, good Pelican, cleanse me, impure as I am, with Your Blood, of which a single drop can free the whole world from all crimes.

 

Jesus, whom I now see hidden, I pray that what I so ardently desire may be fulfilled: that when I behold Your face face-to-face, I may be happy seeing Your glory.

 

Amen.

Lauda Sion

The sequence Lauda Sion Salvatorem is sung at the Corpus Christi Mass before the Gospel. It is the most precise exposition of the Eucharistic dogma in poetic form: the consecrated bread and wine are true signs that enclose divine realities. A single one of its stanzas summarizes centuries of theological reflection:

“Under these species, heavenly goods hide mysteries; they are signs, not realities; the blood and flesh, wonders, are, without ceasing to be simple, the living Christ in His truths.”

Pontifical preacher Raniero Cantalamessa emphasizes that Saint Thomas here follows the rule he imposed on himself: first kneeling before the mystery so that the Holy Spirit might infuse the word before drafting any treatise.

Praise, my soul, your Savior;
praise your guide and shepherd
with hymns and canticles.

Proclaim His glory as much as you can,
for He is above all praise,
and you can never praise Him enough.

The special theme of our praises,
the living and life-giving bread,
is what we propose today.

Which at the table of the sacred supper
to the group of the twelve apostles
was given without a doubt.

Let, then, be full, let be sonorous,
let be joyful, let be pure
the praise of our soul.

For we celebrate the solemn day
on which this divine banquet
was instituted.

At this table of the new king,
the new Passover of the new law
puts an end to the old Passover.

The old yields to the new,
shadow to reality,
and light drives away the night.

What Jesus Christ did at the supper,
He commanded to be done
in His memory.

Instructed by His holy commands,
the bread and wine of salvation
we consecrate in sacrifice.

It is a dogma given to Christians,
that bread becomes flesh,
and wine becomes blood.

What you do not understand and do not see,
a living faith attests,
outside of all natural order.

Under diverse species,
which are accident and not substance,
the most precious gifts are hidden.

His flesh is food and His blood drink;
but Christ is whole
under each species.

Whoever receives Him does not break Him,
does not shatter Him or dismember Him;
He is received whole.

One receives Him, a thousand receive Him;
and that one takes as much as these,
for He is not consumed when taken.

The good and the bad receive Him;
but with unequal fortune
of life or death.

It is death for the wicked, and life for the good;
see how the same food
produces such diverse effects.

When the Sacrament is divided,
do not hesitate, but remember
that Jesus Christ is as whole in each part
as He was before in the whole.

The substance is not divided,
only the sign is broken;
neither the being nor the size
of Christ present are reduced.

Behold the bread of angels,
made our viaticum;
true bread of the children
that is not thrown to dogs.

Figures represented it:
Isaac was sacrificed;
the paschal lamb, immolated;
and manna nourished our fathers.

Good Shepherd, true bread,
O Jesus!, have mercy on us.
Feed us and protect us;
make us see the goods
in the land of the living.

You, who know and can do all things,
who feed us here while still mortal,
make us there Your table companions,
co-heirs and companions
of the holy citizens.

Amen. Alleluia.

How to live the day of Corpus Christi

Saint Peter Julian Eymard taught that Corpus Christi is “a feast of frank joy and great hopes.” It is the day when Jesus Christ shows Himself as King and bestows graces. It is not a day of pure austere recollection: it is a feast, in the fullest and most Christian sense of the word.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá proposed:

“Tell Him often with an act of faith that comes from within you: ‘Lord, I believe that You are truly present there, with Your Body, with Your Blood, with Your Soul, with Your Divinity.'”

Specifically, Corpus Christi day invites us to:

• Participate in Mass with special recollection

It is the central celebration of the day. In many countries, it is a holy day of obligation, and where it is transferred to Sunday, the obligation is fulfilled on that Sunday. But beyond the precept, it is the day when the Church celebrates with greater solemnity the mystery that beats at the heart of every Mass of the year.

• Attend the Eucharistic procession

The Corpus Christi procession is one of the oldest and most beautiful public manifestations of faith in Christian tradition. Going out into the street accompanying Christ in the monstrance is an act of faith that transcends private devotion: it is the Church proclaiming to the world that her Lord is alive and present.

• Make a visit to the Most Holy Sacrament

Corpus Christi inaugurates the Octave of Corpus: eight days during which many parishes offer special Eucharistic adoration. Stop before the Tabernacle, even for a few minutes, and tell Christ what Saint Josemaría told Him: “Lord, I believe You are there. I love You. Increase my faith.”

• Receive Communion with living faith

Saint Peter Julian Eymard stated it bluntly: “For souls who know how to receive Communion, there is only one feast: to receive Communion!” Well-received Communion is the most intimate and complete Corpus Christi: Christ entering the soul not as into a stone temple, but as into His most beloved dwelling.

Do you want to live the solemnity of Corpus Christi with devotion? Here are some articles that can help you:

• What is celebrated in Corpus Christi?: Everything about the origin and history of this solemnity: the visions of Saint Juliana and the Eucharistic miracles of Bolsena and Lanciano.
• 3 Impactful Eucharistic Miracles: History of three impressive Eucharistic miracles in Argentina and Italy.
• 4 Proofs of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist: biblical evidence, from tradition, in Eucharistic miracles, and in the lives of saints that prove the Real Presence of the Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament.
• The 7 Fruits of Communion in the Spiritual Life: The fruits of Communion in our souls and the necessary dispositions for the Eucharist to truly transfigure our lives.