This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, or, as we traditionally know it, Corpus Christi. In addition, six children will receive Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist for the first time at the 11:15 AM Mass this Sunday, appropriately dated on a solemnity that is Eucharistically themed to begin with.
Also, at the 5:00 Saturday and 11:15 Sunday Masses, we will conclude with Benediction.
HOW DID THE NAME CHANGE COME ABOUT?
Some may ask: If it's Corpus Christi, then why does the missalette say Body and Blood of Christ? The full Latin name in the liturgical calendar as we know it today would actually be Corpus et Sanguis Christi. But in the liturgical calendar before 1969, the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi) and the Blood of Christ (designated as "Precious Blood") fell on two separate dates. Corpus Christi, whose date is movable and (like Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity) depends on the date of Easter, until the late 1960's did not fall on a Sunday at all. It was the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after that was merely the Second Sunday after Pentecost). The feast of the Precious Blood fell on the fixed date of July 1.
Since 1969, Corpus Christi and Precious Blood have been consolidated to one date, that Second Sunday after Pentecost. Even in Masses celebrated in the Extraordinary Form (the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962), where Corpus Christi would still fall on the Thursday date, some parishes will celebrate the traditional Mass of Corpus Christi on Sunday as an external solemnity. Thus the new name, Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS:
The brass trio (dubbed by yours truly, "The Plumbers") will be on hand to enhance all Masses this weekend except for the 7:30 AM. Numbers given are in Worship (red hymnal).
Entrance hymn: 363 Lift up your heads, O mighty gates (same tune as Christ is alive, which we sang during Easter Season).
Gloria: Messa Populare "Laus Tibi Christe", music by Federico Caudana (which we've been singing all along)
Responsorial Psalm: You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek, music by Richard Rice
- ("Melchizedek", pronounced "Mel-KEE-zeh-deck").
In place of the Sequence: 758 Tantum Ergo (in Latin)
Alleluia: chant, Mode VI
Offertory hymn: 737 Alleluia! sing to Jesus
Sanctus through Agnus Dei: same as last weekend
(In addition, at the 5:00 and 11:15 Masses: during the Elevation of the Host and Chalice, the brass will lead the short Fanfare in B-flat by John Ferguson.)
Communion anthem: Ave Verum by Camille Saint-Saëns
Meditation hymn (7:30 and 9:00 Masses): 488 Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All
Benediction music (5:00 and 11:15 Masses):
757 O Salutaris Hostia and 758 Tantum Ergo (both in Latin)
Recessional hymn (ALL Masses): 524 Holy God, we praise Thy Name
Peace,
BMP
