Dominican Friars
Province of St. Albert the Great, USA

Know Before You Go

Corpus Christi: The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

Know Before You Go

Join Father Greg Heille from the Chapel of Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis for this week's Know Before You Go, as we prepare to celebrate one of the Church's most beautiful feasts - Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Discover the remarkable Dominican heritage of this feast! In 1264, Pope Urban IV called upon St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the prayers and hymns for this new celebration. The hymns Aquinas wrote - including Pange Lingua (with Tantum Ergo) and Panis Angelicus - are still treasured and sung throughout the Church today.

**This Weekend's Mass Readings:**
- **First Reading (Deuteronomy 8):** God fed our ancestors with manna in the desert
- **Second Reading (1 Corinthians 10:16-17):** The Eucharist as our sacrament of unity - we become one body in Christ
- **Gospel (John 6:51-58):** Jesus declares "I am the living bread that came down from heaven"

Father Greg walks us through the beautiful opening prayer (collect) written by Thomas Aquinas, which Dominicans pray daily, and shares the moving conclusion of the Corpus Christi sequence. He explores how the Eucharist is both our spiritual nourishment and the sacrament that unites us as one body in Christ, regardless of where we worship in the world.

From the solemn celebration of Holy Thursday to the joyful feast of Corpus Christi, we return again and again to receive the Bread of Life and become what we receive - the Body of Christ in the world.

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**📖 TIMELINE:**

0:00 - Introduction to Corpus Christi
0:17 - The Dominican Connection to This Feast
0:38 - Pope Urban IV & Thomas Aquinas (1264)
0:49 - Aquinas Writes the Prayers and Hymns
1:02 - Famous Hymns: Pange Lingua & Panis Angelicus
1:17 - The Young Dominican Order's Gift
1:22 - The Opening Prayer by Aquinas
1:46 - Prayer Text: "A Memorial of Your Passion"
2:16 - The Corpus Christi Sequence
2:34 - "Good Shepherd, True Bread, Jesus"
3:08 - First Reading: Manna in the Desert (Deuteronomy 8)
4:08 - Jesus, the Bread of Life
4:17 - Gospel: The Bread of Life Discourse (John 6)
5:07 - Returning to Be Nourished
5:41 - Second Reading: The Eucharist & Unity (1 Corinthians 10)
6:18 - We Become the Body of Christ
6:57 - From Holy Thursday to Corpus Christi
7:12 - Celebrating Our Unity in Christ

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