By Natashya Fernandez
Glendalough Parish last weekend celebrated the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) with a procession on Sunday 18 June.
A true expression of Catholic Faith, Parish Priest Father Douglas Harris said the feast of Corpus Christi reminds us that our Lord is present with us.
With a particular personal devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Fr Doug said that his love for the Eucharist started in his early 20’s when he would spend time in prayer before the tabernacle.
“God is able to give all of Himself to us and give us as much as he can – His infinite love, His desire to give and for us to receive. This is through Holy Communion, where he becomes food so we may receive all of Him – His love, His bread, His life,” Fr Doug said.
Now in its fourth year, parish committee member Sean Tobin said that the feast celebrates the inestimable gift that Christ gave to the church in the form of his body.
“It is the most important open expression of our Catholic faith in the liturgical year in which we take Christ, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, out onto the streets of our suburbs, and worship Him for all to see,” he said.
A special and significant event that the parish is striving to hold on to as an important tradition, Mr Tobin said that every year parishioners come out in numbers to partake in the feast.
“It is a true expression of our love for the Lord and the Eucharist. It is a day of thanksgiving, and appreciation for the great gift of the Eucharist.
Mr Tobin continued by saying that the Corpus Christi procession is very much related to the Glendalough parish as it is the centre of the perpetual adoration movement in Perth.
“We have had perpetual adoration here for 14 years at St Bernadette’s Church, so it’s fitting that the procession is happening here because there is a great love and devotion for the Eucharist,” Mr Tobin added.
The procession took parishioners through the street starting from the church with the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance carried by Fr Doug, underneath a beautiful canopy held up by four men and led by the acolytes and altar servers bearing incense and lanterns.
The Blessed Sacrament was then exposed at the LJ Goody Bioethics Centre where there were prayers of adoration and thanksgiving, with the procession returning to the parish centre for Benediction to end the feast day.
The St Elizabeth of the Trinity Choir sang the words composed by St Thomas Aquinas for the institution of this feast day in the 13th century, O Sacrum Convivium.
“The gathering after the Procession is a true reminder for us all to focus on Jesus, who does indeed give us His flesh to eat so that He will fill us with life, when we open our hearts to receive His word and be filled with his divine joy and peace,” Mr Tobin ended.
