The André House Community in Phoenix, Arizona, recently celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus on Sunday, June 6, with a Mass at 10:30 am immediately followed by a eucharistic procession through the area asking the Lord Jesus to bless the people who live there. The event was held outdoors in the parking lot of André House.
The Corpus Christi procession, most often held on the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, is a “public witness of faith and worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament”. The procession usually begins after the celebration of Mass, at which the host for the procession is consecrated. Placed in a monstrance (a sacred vessel that displays the sacred host to the faithful), the Blessed Sacrament is then carried out of the church and through the streets of the city or neighborhood accompanied by the songs and prayers of the people.
Says Pope John Paul II, “The devout participation of the faithful in the eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a grace from the Lord which yearly brings joy to those who take part in it” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n.10). He continues: “In the humble signs of the bread and wine, changed into the body and blood, Christ walks beside us as our strength and our food for the journey, and he enables us to become, for everyone, witnesses of hope” (n.62).
