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Catholic World News News Feature

Pope leads Corpus Christi procession through Rome June 15, 2006

In a brief but profound meditation on the Eucharist, delivered as his homily during a Mass for the feast of Corpus Christ, Pope Benedict XVI said that the transubstantiation of "poor man's bread" into the Body of Christ is both a "synthesis of creation" and a means by which "creation is raised to the divine."

At an evening Mass celebrated in the plaza outside the basilica of St. John Lateran, the Holy Father spoke about the significance of the bread used in the Eucharist. The celebrant refers to this bread as "fruit of the earth and work of human hands," he noted. That phrase acknowledges that man's work is involved in making bread, but also that man relies on God for his substances, since "the fact that earth bears fruit is the work of God, not anything man has done."

The bread of the Eucharist comes from the earth, the Pope continued, but it also comes from God. And in the Sacrifice of the Mass this bread-- food that is accessible even to the poorest of men-- provides an encounter between lowly man and his almighty Creator.

Contemplating this ordinary bread, the Pope said, the believer is "struck with awe at the way in which Jesus transforms his host into his very Self." At the same time, the Eucharist draws together all of the faithful, sharing the same supernatural food, united in Christ's Body.

As he closed his homily, the Holy Father looked forward to the Eucharistic procession that he would lead, from St. John Lateran up the Via Merulana to the basilica of St. Mary Major. The procession itself speaks of the wish of the faithful, to follow after Jesus Christ, he said. He asked participants to join in prayer that God would "lead the Church and her pastors on the right path."

The traditional Corpus Christi procession ended with Benediction at St. Mary Major. The feast day is celebrated in Rome each year on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. Vatican offices were closed on June 15 in observance of the holy day.