Corpus Christi

Pentecost recalls the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the Blessed Mother. St. Katharine wrote that “the Holy Ghost is ever within me – the presence of God.” Like the Apostles, we have received the Holy Spirit; like the Apostles, we each have our “own particular work to do for the Church.” Spending a little time with the Holy Spirit, after Communion or whenever we have some quiet time, we may hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit, inviting us to work with God to do what God has asked us to do. We will find joy in using the gifts and talents that God gave us in doing what God asks us to do.

St. Katharine prayed: “O most holy and most adorable Spirit of my Jesus, let me hear Your sweet voice. Oh, Divine Spirit I wish to be before Thee as a light feather, so that Your Breath may carry me where you will.” May we have the faith to trust God’s will to see us through whatever storms enter our lives and to rejoice with God when blessings come our way.

As a young woman, Kate wrote in her diary: “Do not let a day pass in … June without saying a fervent prayer to the Sacred Heart. Let nothing worry you.”  For St. Katharine, the Sacred Heart was “the center, the power of the Eucharist.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart had come easily and early to Kate. Kate had had an aunt – Emma’s sister – in the Religious of the Sacred Heart. Kate and her sisters did their sacramental preparations with the Religious of the Sacred Heart.

In her travels, St. Katharine tried to schedule daily Mass along her journey. She checked train schedules and would squeeze a daily Mass in between connections. She felt the omission of a daily reception of the Eucharist would be a great loss to her. St. Katharine had daily Mass and Communion written into the earliest rules of the congregation, something usually reserved to the cloistered communities in her day. She had originally considered entering a cloistered community for this reason.  Bishop O’Connor, her spiritual director, assured her that she could write that into her new congregation’s constitution.

The feast of Corpus Christi – the Body and Blood of Christ – is important to the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. St. Katharine wrote that “Each single Communion ought to be a real event in our life.” Do we feel as inspired each time we receive Communion as we might on Christmas or Easter? The gift of God Himself is the same, any day we receive Communion.

 

Stephanie Morris, Ph.D., A.S.B.S.