DETROIT — On Sunday, June 7, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger reverently held the monstrance high as he led the faithful from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament out onto Woodward Avenue for the annual Corpus Christi procession.
The traditional Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ gave Catholics across the Archdiocese of Detroit an opportunity to bear witness to all of southeast Michigan to what the faith is all about.
Before the cathedral's procession, Archbishop Weisenburger addressed the feast during his homily.
The archbishop pointed to the Gospel reading, from John (6:51-58), which begins with, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
“This sixth chapter of John’s Gospel is all about the Eucharist, and the evangelist John draws a marvelous parallel between the people of Israel traveling and wandering in the desert toward their destination of the Holy Land and being given manna in the desert to sustain them,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “And now Jesus is the bread from heaven — the true bread of life — that sustains us in our journeys.”
Just as the Israelites would encounter many hardships on their journey toward salvation and needed something to sustain them, the same is true of us, Archbishop Weisenburger added.
“The Eucharist really is our manna in the desert,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “It is our eternal life, and it is a sharing of the very body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord. What Jesus is stressing in this teaching is that a disciple is not simply one who follows the teaching; rather, the true disciple is one who is transformed by the very Christ he or she receives and grows in the likeness of the God they encounter in the form of bread and wine.
“May this manna from heaven keep us strong, especially in truth and compassion; in generosity, in humility … in all these ways keep us strong in sacrificial love, for we are becoming what we receive, and what we receive is indeed our Lord,” Archbishop Weisenburger added.
(Photos by Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)
