Exiit qui seminar - Corpus Christi
As a part of his Sunday Angelus message on October 11, 2020, Pope Francis spoke about Blessed Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old boy from Milan who was beatified the day before in Assisi, Italy "He did not ease into comfortable immobilism" the Holy Father said, "but understood the needs of his time, because he saw the face of Christ in the weakest. His witness indicates to today’s young people that true happiness is found by putting God in first place and serving Him in our brothers and sisters, especially the least." What causes a teenager to act with such vibrant love and an unbelievable love of neighbor? The Eucharist. Even though his parents weren't particularly religious, Carlo knew that the Lord was speaking to his heart to know, love and serve Him. Blessed Acutis wrote, "Jesus is my great friend and the Eucharist my highway to heaven." Carlo wanted everyone to love the Most Blessed Sacrament and experience the great joy of being in communion with Christ. From age 11, he started compiling a list of all of the Eucharistic miracles in the world and created a website to help others learn about the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior. That website is still up and running at http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/liste/list.html .
As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body of Christ (Corpus Christi), we are called to remember that the Most Blessed Sacrament truly is Jesus Himself, not a symbol. It is a reality that, according to some experts, 70% of Catholics do not believe. As our world opens back up and as our celebration of Mass returns to normal, our job is just getting started. We, as a Church, have to not only proclaim the truth of the Eucharist, but we have to live it. People will come back to Church not through any special program or outreach, but those types of things allow others who may not love Christ as they should to enter into relationship with us. It is through our authenticity and our great love of our Lord and one another that we can lead others to Christ and to His Body and Blood. As this soon to be saint wrote, "The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven." Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us!
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Fr. Rob Sinatra
