“O Precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament , in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion,”
       St. Thomas Aquinas, text included in Office of Readings, Corpus Christi, Liturgy of the Hours 

     I can tell you quite honestly that this Mystery and the Church’s celebration of this Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ as I was growing up in St. Cecilia’s Parish in Leominster were at the heart of my budding vocation, and remain so today.

     It is so simple AND so mind-blowing. What is so important for me is that the sacrifice in which we take part is not simply a human response to God in view of our needs or our sins. It is FIRST God’s response to us–the choice and action of Christ, true God and truly human. It is neither the sacrifices of old which could never fully purge our sins away. It is the new and eternal sacrifice of the new and eternal covenant. And it is made present to us in every age— reality more than mere memory!

     Sacred cups and plates derive their true beauty and sacred nature not from their design or expensive appointment but from that which they come to contain. Sacred vestments do not contribute to the richness of that they are used to celebrate, but call us to ever greater awareness of the majesty of the God who chooses to be in out midst. Bread, wine … God PRESENT! Yes, indeed, so simple and so mindblowing!