I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!

BY SISTER DIANE HEISS, SDSH

HOW MANY WAYS are there to say, “I love you?”

There are probably as many ways as there are unique persons, each trying to express our love as best as we can. We each have our own limitations and failures in love, and our attempts can fall short of the love we feel. However, God’s love is infinite, and capable of being expressed in countless ways.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, our annual feast in which we remember in a particular way Jesus’ love for us through the gift of his Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. On Holy Thursday, at the Last Supper on the night before he died, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying “… This is My Body which will be given up for you” and then He took a cup of wine, blessed it, and said “This is … My Blood … which will be poured out for you … for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”

With that gift of Our Lord, in a way we cannot fully comprehend, but still believe due to the virtue of faith, Jesus is truly present — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — under the appearances of “bread” and “wine.” This miracle is called Transubstantiation, meaning that although the appearances of “bread” and “wine” remain the same, the reality or substance is completely changed — that what was formerly bread and wine is now the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

We might struggle with the doctrine of the Real Presence, wondering how Jesus can be present under the appearances of “bread” and “wine.” Nonetheless, we trust in Our Lord’s words, and we profess the constant faith of the Church, from antiquity to the present, that Jesus Christ gives

Himself to us as food in the Most Blessed Sacrament. May our celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi increase our faith in this tremendous gift, and may we receive Our Lord regularly and with great devotion.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI:

■ Participate in a Corpus Christi procession.

■ Write a letter thanking Jesus for the tremendous gift of receiving Him in Holy Communion.

■ If you have not recently gone to Confession (received the Sacrament of Penance), do so soon and start receiving Jesus regularly in Holy Communion.

■ Read I Corinthians 11:23–26 and talk about your favorite parts of the Mass.

■ Using Biblical references on love, prepare a family prayer service.

■ Find Corpus Christi coloring/craft activities online for your children.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES FOR THE FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART:

■ Make a Holy Hour.

■ Pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart. (Find online)

■ Choose a different invocation from the Litany each day and pray with it, asking for the grace to realize what it cost Jesus to pour out His life and love to redeem each of us.

■ Make heart shaped cookies, decorate and enjoy them.

■ Watch the Sacred Heart Kids’ Club Video: https://sacredheartsisters.com/ C