Project BLACK MAMBA: Corpus Christi

'Tis the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi): Corpus Christi-link, Wikipedia-link Solemnity, Wikipedia-link Body of Christ, & Wikipedia-link Real Presence.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ
The Book of Deuteronomy, chapter eight, verses two, three, & fourteen(b) thru sixteen(a);
Psalm One Hundred Forty-seven, verses twelve & thirteen, fourteen & fifteen, & nineteen & twenty;
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter ten, verses sixteen & seventeen;
The Gospel according to John, chapter six, verses fifty-one thru fifty-eight.

Commentary: Video Gospel reflection by Jeff Cavins: Encountering the Word.

Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, today’s Gospel passage is one of the most shocking in the New Testament. Those who heard it were not only repulsed intellectually, they were disgusted, viscerally. For a Jewish man to be insinuating that you should eat his own flesh and drink his blood was about as nauseating and religiously objectionable as you could get.

So what does Jesus do? Does he soften his rhetoric when he hears these reactions? Does he offer a metaphorical or symbolic interpretation? Does he back off? On the contrary, he intensifies what he just said: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” As all the scholars point out to us, the verb used here in Greek is trogein, which indicates the way an animal eats.

So what do we do? How should we understand this? If we stand in the great Catholic tradition, we honor these mysterious and wonderful words of Jesus. We resist all attempts to soften them or explain them away or make them easier to swallow. We affirm, with all of our hearts, the doctrine of the real presence.

Mass Journal: Week 25
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

Several years ago, my brother Nathan was living in Japan for a year as an exchange student. During that time, I received a letter from him with a photograph he had taken of what seemed to be the courtyard of an ancient Japanese garden. In the middle of the courtyard was an almond tree in full bloom. Nathan was always a talented photographer, but what really captured my attention was a quotation he had written on the back of the photograph. The quotation was from the writings of El Greco, the famed Greek-born Spanish painter. It read: "I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me about God,' & the almond tree blossomed."

Otherwise, 18 June would be the festival of Saints Mark & Marcellian, Martyrs (died circa 286), martyred in the reign of the emperor Maximian: Martyr-link Mike-Kilo, Martyr-link Mike-Charlie, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Gregorio Barbarigo, Bishop (1625-1697): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.