Being somewhat unreconstructed in some things I sent a text to a Roman Catholic priest I am well acquainted with this morning wishing him a Happy Corpus et Sanguis Christi. I do this every year as I know he regards the recent required change to the Sunday after The Most Holy Trinity as a capitulation to the modern age with its emphasis on rights rather than commitment and duty.
This evening we shall have the traditional Parish Mass with Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.
The image above is a copy of a hand-written and painted devotional card given to Fr Sam Salter R.I.P on the occasion of his first Mass at St Wilfrid's, Brighton (no longer in existence - unfortunately). Fr Sam preached at my first Mass in 1995 and gave me this card to remind me always of that day and it sits in my Breviary awaiting me each Corpus Christi. It was painted by a Religious Sister that served in the Parish of St Wilfrid's and serves to remind us of the timelessness of the Mass and of how we participate in the drama of our salvation:
We are at the Crucifixion.......................Christ has died
We are are in the "last days"..................Christ has Risen
We are at the Parousia..........................Christ will come again
I have always found the writer to the Letter to the Hebrews reference (1:2) to the days between the Resurrection and Parousia as the "Last Days" as salutory, but also as brimming with joy and hope as we know that he is with us to the close of the age.
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