JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!
Today is a day when we set aside time for family and friends and give thanks for the bounty and blessings bestowed upon this country and within our own lives. As Catholics, it is a day when our hearts can swell with joy for the gifts of Our Lord that we have received, and continue to partake in each and every time we receive Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist, which itself means 'thanksgiving'.
Indeed, it can be argued that the Last Supper was the first formal Thanksgiving in which Christ Jesus offered the perfect thanks to His Heavenly Father and ours,
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke itand gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.24 “This is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” [Mark 14:22-26]Today is the day when Our Lord Jesus wishes to establish His Kingdom within our hearts and souls, through the graces He imparts to us by His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, as found in the thanksgiving meal par excellence, the Eucharistic Feast. So today as we enjoy the delicious food and company of loved ones or even experience some disappointment or strain in the company and meal we share with others today, let us remember first and foremost that our hearts are to be cells of perpetual praise and thanksgiving, and our Eucharistic King makes this all possible. With him, we can "Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his Name is exalted. [Is 12:4]
May a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving permeate our minds, souls, hearts, and words at each and every moment as we celebrate this and every day as a supreme gift given to us by God through the strength bestowed on us in and through the Holy Eucharist. Amen
. Altar Prepared for the Feast of Corpus Christi, detail from an Antiphonary (one of the six “Lodi Choir Books”), in Latin, Italy, Milan, ca. 1470–95. Commissioned for Lodi Cathedral by Bishop Carlo Pallavicino and illuminated by Francesco Bettini and others. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; MS M.682, fol. 19v. Purchased, before 1921. Photography: Graham S. Haber.
"It is not to remain in a golden ciborium that He comes down each day from Heaven, but to find another Heaven, the Heaven of our soul in which He takes delight. You must open a little, or rather raise on high your corolla so that the Bread of Angels may come as divine dew to strengthen you, and to give you all that is wanting to you."
- St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church
