This year’s Corpus Christi Eucharistic procession on Sunday 14 June has been postponed by the Archdiocese of Sydney due to New South Wales government public gathering restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
In normal circumstances, Catholics in their thousands would have gathered from across the region to carry the Blessed Sacrament through Sydney’s Central Business District to sanctify and bless the metropolis.
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP nonetheless encouraged the faithful to observe this most important feast by attending adoration in local parishes.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith
“I know that many parishes across the archdiocese of Sydney will be offering you an opportunity to spend time with our lord through Eucharistic adoration, “said Archbishop Fisher who emphasised the centrality of the Eucharist to the Catholic faith.
“The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith [and] the feast of Corpus Christi is a time to unite in our love of the Blessed Sacrament. I invite you to spend some time in prayer with our Lord on this great feast.”
The Archbishop compared the extraordinary situation with the circumstance of Australia’s early Catholic history where the resilience of the faithful in their devotion to the Eucharist sustained the faith despite the suppression and banning of the Mass by the British government.
“Let us draw inspiration from the colonial Catholics in Sydney who were forbidden from attending Mass for 30 years but nurtured their faith through prayer and Eucharistic adoration.”
The annual feast of Corpus Christi was established by the Church in 1264 by Pope Urban IV on the recommendation of Doctor of the Church Saint Thomas Aquinas. The feast focuses on the devotion to the Holy Eucharist wherein is present the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ through the transubstantiation of bread and wine. The Eucharistic sacrament, established by Christ at the Last Supper, is the heart of the Mass and life-source of the faithful in the Catholic Church.
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