Friar Raymond della Vigna was perplexed.

Sometime in 1375, the priest, a member of the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic, was celebrating Mass. As the moment of consecration approached, he prayed that the wafer of bread he held would become the veritable body of Christ by virtue of his speaking the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, “For this is My body”.

COLORADO SPRINGS. A 2019 Pew Research Center survey revealed that approximately 70% of Catholic interviewees believe that the bread and wine used at Communion are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, compared with 30% who believe the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Spurred on by this information, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops responded to this crisis of belief by proposing a national Eucharistic Revival, comprised of three years of renewal and formation. The process began officially in June 2022, with the year of Diocesan Renewal. In June 11, 2023, Corpus Christi Sunday, the parish phase kicked off, and in June 2024, a year of Mission will commence.

COLORADO SPRINGS. St. Patrick Parish will continuously adore the Blessed Sacrament in Our Lady of Knock Chapel after the 11:30 a.m. Mass on June 4 through June 10 at 4 p.m. This extended period of adoration will be in honor of the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 11 and to highlight the start of the second year of our nation’s Eucharistic Revival — which will be focused on the parish level. 

We are getting closer to the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and the next phase of the Eucharistic Revival! This past year has been spent praying, discerning, and laying a foundation for the upcoming year.  Now it is time for an update and a look ahead.

With the recent coronation of King Charles, I was reminded about the Saturday afternoon last September, when I spent an hour in the adoration chapel at Holy Apostles Church.

As my time starts to wind down here in the diocese before taking on a new assignment overseas, I hope that these articles have been an encouragement to the reader, even a challenge, to embrace the gift of Sunday as the Lord’s Day — a day of worship, rest, and recreation. In the face of our culture’s worsening health, many Christians instinctively want to push back and “do something” about it. Setting Sunday apart for the Lord and his purposes is tantamount to an act of rebellion.

Following the death of Margaret della Metola in 1320, every step taken by the Roman Catholic Church to investigate her sanctity has been done quietly and on the cheap. Mother Church’s reticence in this regard over the past 700 years seems quite perplexing.

We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection, until you come again.” — Memorial Acclamation, Option No. 1.

“We celebrate Sunday because of the venerable resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we do so not only at Easter but also at each turning of the week.” — Pope Innocent I

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns!