Corpus Christi

This is my body that is for you.  

God in Christ is hidden and yet revealing himself over and over, doing anything at all to get our attention; “playing in ten thousand places,” in nature and grace, over and over, all day long. Vigilance is essential, a willingness to be surprised at every corner of the cloister, as St. Bernard would say, because angels will be there- heavenly messengers- reminding us that Someone is here. Someone is coming, sneaking in. Someone wants to be with us. Someone we love has seen our sad predicament and has come down to be with us now. Someone we long for has come to feed us with his Body, the Bread of heaven, with his Blood, true honey from his wounded side. Christ is at once hidden and most especially present for us in this Most Blessed Sacrament. 

Quiet as a thief on tiptoe, Christ Jesus comes, present in a morsel of broken Bread, a sip of Wine; the God of tiny violets and of tall, tall trees, too tremendous for us to grasp fully but also somehow astoundingly, disarmingly ordinary. Let us open to this Divine Thief; open the doors of our hearts to the flood of his love and mercy.

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is always a great feast in the monastery. At the end of the solemn Eucharist, we process around the cloisters chanting. We pause at the station altar pictured above and enter the doors of the church to the ringing of bells. Yesterday's celebration was heightened by the addition of the special hour of adoration begun at 11AM in conjunction with churches around the world, as the Holy Father had requested. In the top photograph we see one of the brothers in adoration before the enthroned Sacrament. Both photographs were taken by Brother Daniel.