Corpus Christi Sermon by Archbishop Lefebvre

CORPUS CHRISTI

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Greatest Sacrament

If there is a feast which ought to be dear to our hearts: to the heart of the priest, to the hearts of the Catholic Faithful, it is indeed the Feast of the Corpus Christi. What in our holy religion is more grand, more beautiful, more divine than the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist?

Greatest manifestation of the Charity of God

What could Our Lord Jesus Christ have done to manifest His charity, His love for us more efficaciously, more obviously than by leaving us under the appearances of bread and wine His Body, His Blood, His Soul and His Divinity? These things we have just sung in the Epistle, in the Gradual, in the Alleluia, in the Gospel.

We must manifest our Faith in the Holy Eucharist which is the greatest manifestiation of the Charity of God

We have affirmed our faith in the Holy Eucharist—this faith which today is turned to doubt, this faith which is turned to doubt by the lack of respect that men have for the Most Holy Eucharist, for Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself present under the appearances of bread and wine. We should affirm more than ever our faith in the Most Holy Eucharist. That is why we are happy to gather here today, around Jesus in the Eucharist: to manifest to Him our faith in His Divinity, to adore Him.

This custom, this tradition, of adoring Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist publicly has existed for centuries and centuries in the Church: in villages, in cities, in small cities as well as great ones, in religious houses and in monasteries.

The Council of Trent declared that we must honour Our Lord Jesus Christ publicly so that those who see, and who observe the faith of Catholics in the Most Holy Eucharist, might also be attracted by this homage rendered to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and that finally they might believe in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ present in this great Sacrament.

And the Council of Trent added, Let those who refuse to admit the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ be struck, struck by a punishment of God—by the blinding of their hearts—if they refuse to honour Our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why, in a little while when we see the Holy Eucharist, we shall look upon it with all our faith, repeating to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Yes, we believe, O Jesus, that Thou art present in the Holy Sacrament.

We believe it today twice, three times, four times as strongly, for all those who no longer believe, for those who despise Thee in Thy Sacrament, for all those who commit sacrileges.

We shall perform this act of faith, asking Our Lord Jesus Christ to increase our faith.

The Blessed Sacrament: sign of the truth of our Faith

Could there be a religion in which God were nearer to man, than in the Catholic Religion? God does not believe that He is humiliating Himself in coming to us, and in giving Himself to us in His Flesh and in His Blood. God does not humiliate Himself, He remains God. If we receive Him worthily then instead of Him being brought low, we are raised to infinite heights.

The Blessed Sacrament: call to faith, hope & charity

Let us try to receive Him worthily today. Make an act of faith in the Real Presence before you receive Holy Communion. Make an act of hope that it should profit you. Make an act of charity to return the infinite love showered upon you.

The Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary

We cannot think of the Eucharist without thinking of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, for if the Virgin Mary had not pronounced her Fiat, we would not have the Holy Eucharist either. It is because she pronounced her Fiat that today we have the joy, the happiness of possessing Our Lord Jesus Christ in our tabernacles, on our altars.

Let us then ask the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to give us this charity which she knew so well, which she saw in her Son, Jesus.

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