Pope Benedict leads Corpus Christi procession in Rome on June 7, 2012.
Posted on 06/07/2012 7:57:51 PM PDT by Petrosius
Rome, Italy, Jun 7, 2012 / 05:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says the Second Vatican Council did not reject Eucharistic adoration outside of Mass, including the Corpus Christi procession that he led this evening in Rome.
“One unilateral interpretation of the Second Vatican Council has penalized this dimension, restricting in practice the Eucharist to the moment of celebration,” the Pope said during his homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 7.
“In this case, the accentuation placed on the celebration of the Eucharist acted to the detriment of adoration as an act of faith and prayer addressed to the Lord Jesus, truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar,” he stated.
Pope Benedict offered an open-air Mass in the piazza outside his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Feast of Corpus Christi commemorates the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist and has been celebrated universally since 1264.
The Pope told the large outdoor congregation that the way Eucharistic adoration was de-emphasized in the Church was “influenced by a certain secularizing mentality of the 1960s and ‘70s” and this had “repercussions for the spiritual life of the faithful.”
He proposed that limiting one’s relationship with the “Eucharistic Jesus” solely to the moment of the Mass risked “emptying his presence in the rest of existential time and space,” including in our daily lives.
The Pope explained that there is no contradiction or conflict between Christ worshiped in the Mass and Christ adored outside the sacred liturgy, since “communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go together.”
“In order to truly communicate with another person, I have to know him, I need to know how to remain in silence near him, to listen to him, to look upon him with love,” he said.
“True love and true friendship,” he continued, “lives always in this reciprocity of gazes, of intense eloquent silences, full of respect and of veneration, so that the encounter is lived profoundly, in a personal and not superficial way.”
Indeed, he proposed that Eucharistic adoration prepares the hearts of both priests and lay people for a more fruitful encounter with Christ in the Holy Mass.
“In the moment of adoration, we are all on the same level, on bended knee before the Sacrament of Love,” he said.
Following tradition, the papal liturgy was followed by a Corpus Christi procession, led by the Pope towards the nearby basilica of St. Mary Major.
With the sun setting, tens of thousands of pilgrims carried candles and lanterns as they sang Eucharistic hymns and filed in procession behind the Eucharist in the monstrance, carried aloft on the decorated papal float.
The evening concluded with Benediction outside the basilica, which Pope Benedict led.
Just curious, how many Catholics have heard the same thing that I have heard at Mass since the changes. Most hate the changes to the Mass and don’t understand why the wording changed. “Under my roof” really? It is interesting that we have one priest who snickers everytime the people say, “and with thy spirit”. Looking for feedback not criticism or Latin translation explanations.
Scriptural accuracy?
“Under my roof” really?
This is what the Latin says:
Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.This phrase is a reference to the reply of the Centurion in Matt. 8:8:
The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.This is an example of how the former translation lost some important scriptural references. Additionally, the former translation failed to translate the word anima/soul. This is an example of how the former unfaithful translation was used to change the theology of many of the prayers.
The new translation is a marked improvement on the old. Any priest that has a problem with it actually has a problem with the Catholic faith represented by the Mass, preferring the watered down version that was presented with the old translation.
Feedback at my parish (Our Lady of Peace in Santa Clara) has been just the opposite: WE LOVE THE NEW LATIN MISSAL!
It is so more meaningful:
Use the occasion of the new Roman Missal to educate yourself about your faith! It sadly sounds like your Parish priests have not taken their Catechismal responsibilities seriously, and should be taken to task for that.
My parish has had perpetual Eucharistic Adoration since 1976. That's right, we haven't closed our doors AT ALL in 35 years. 8^)
So, I might ask your Pastor if he can set up some Eucharistic Adoration sessions, especially ones that last throughout the night. It can do wonders for a Parish.
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Perhaps you missed a whole bunch of threads on the Litrugy of the Mass that covered this.
The changes reflect the original Latin Vulgate — and are reverent and accurate.
I love them.
I would hope that you can ask your priest to do some more education on this.
A great study book is “A Biblical Walk through the Mass” by Sri.
Wow! I bet you have long Confessional lines and a lot of vocations — those are the two products of Perpetual Adoration.
The correlations and implications of perpetual adoration can at times be overstated. The largest church in our town has had such adoration for a number of years, and yet is anything but reverent or orthodox. The liturgy is extremely innovative there and often includes rather egregious abuses. Additionally, the pastor has a rather obvious distaste for any tradition and recently hired a local country music performer, who is entirely unfamiliar with anything Catholic, to be the music director. Not only does this mean that every Mass has become a hoe-down but he also interrupts the liturgy to call for shout outs. I have heard homilies there which would curl your hair, including one which replaced the gospel reading because that “book of legends” was unnecessary and then went on to deny that there are saints in heaven. Being familiar with that particular parish I have stopped looking at perpetual adoration as such a strong indicator of spiritual health as I may have once done.
Interesting and upsetting. Thanks.
Great point and helpful explanation.
Find a parish that does the mass in a good and holy manner.
I am going to have to pull a Bill Clinton and walk this one
back. A lot of people have opened my eyes to do much more
research on this before I make snap judgments. I agree that
I need to talk with the priest who has a hard time with the
new wording in the order of Mass. Thanks to all of you who
were both informative and respectful.
At our local parish it seems to have been pretty seamless. I haven’t noticed any complaints but then again Father gave a special talk last year about what the changes were and why.
I will say this though. Had I not been going to the Latin Mass and not understood where the translation came from, I bet I would have turned up my nose at it too.
If you don’t know the history, “and with your spirit” sounds kinda fruity New Age. :)
Additionally, our city has a yearly Corpus Christi procession that visits three of the Catholic Churches downtown, with a brief homily at each stop. I believe that this will be the fifth year for that.
You wrote:
” “Under my roof” really?”
Yes, really. It’s from the Bible: Matthew 8:8.
And that’s what it always said in the Latin Mass too.
Also, we say it just before we recieve Jesus - in the Eucharist - under the roofs of our mouths.
Yes, really.
So much beauty apparently goes wasted because of ignorant people.
In my hometown, East Hartford, CT, there is a parish, though I am not a parishoner, St. Mary’s there is a forever or perpetual adoration chapel, which has been around for at least nearly 30 years, started by a man who lost his son in an auto accident.
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