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Dear brother and sisters,

We gather for our celebration of Corpus Christi at a significant time in the life of our diocese when the Pastoral Plan – The Word Who is Life – is being implemented. While this is a time of change, all we do grows from our encounter with the True Vine  - the person of Jesus Christ – who gives Himself to us in the Eucharist. Our continuing conformity to Him, our remaining part of the Vine, is the only way for us to ensure that we are faithful to the Mission to which He has called us.

Our celebration today, elevated by the wonderful carpet of flowers, celebrates the gift of the Eucharist, and impresses upon us all the centrality of the Lord’s Eucharistic presence in our lives.

The wonder of the Eucharist calls for our upmost thanksgiving - it is the greatest gift for our journey. We speak of Viaticum - food for the journey - as the last Communion before death, but the Eucharist is the food for our journey of life. The Lord gives us His very self as the supreme sustenance for our lives. The Lord’s Passover - His life death and resurrection - is made present by none other than the Lord himself, acting through his Priest. Just as Jesus gave Himself to the Apostles in the Upper Room, under the appearance of bread and wine , so He gives Himself to us. He is the Bread of Life.  Like the disciples at Emmaus, we recognise Him in the breaking of bread and our hearts burn within us as He speaks to us on the road of our own pilgrimage and feeds us with his very self.

Every aspect of our life as His people should flow from the Eucharist and we bring ourselves and all our life's experience to the foot of the Cross and to the empty tomb as we gather to listen to Him, welcome Him, praise Him and receive Him.  As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains: through His death on the Cross, Jesus, Who is the new covenant, makes it possible for us to render service to the Living God.

The Eucharist is beyond our understanding. We see and receive Jesus, Who humbled Himself to share in our humanity and who, in this action of the Mass, calls us to share in His life, in His divinity.  This wonderful mystery, through which we become conformed to Christ, demands our lifelong reflection, prayer, participation and thanksgiving.

Our Eucharistic procession is a significant and powerful extension of this celebration. Pope St. Paul VI, whose feast we celebrated only yesterday, wrote of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament as “a proof of gratitude, an expression of love and a duty of adoration towards Christ our Lord.”  Expressing our gratitude, love and adoration in a public way is a witness to our faith in Jesus’ Real Presence. The procession is an act of witness and, together with the celebration of the Eucharist itself, is a moment of evangelisation. This public witness to the Eucharistic Presence of the Lord proclaims Him to the world. The Eucharist is at the heart of our mission as the Church, for it is here that we encounter Christ, deepen our unity with Him and with one another. It is this encounter, this closeness to the Lord, which we proclaim.

Across the Diocese, Eucharistic Adoration provides opportunities for prayer to underpin the work of the Pastoral Plan. These times are a vital element in the life of the Diocese as we look to the future and the continuing renewal of our mission.

Many will remember the Adoremus gathering in Liverpool a few years ago, part of the celebration of Eucharistic Congresses across the whole world. Indeed, our flower carpet team laid a carpet in Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral for that celebration. This year, Adoremus continues, as it were, with a gathering at Oscott College in Birmingham on the 14th of September. Each diocese has been offered 44 places for this event and you can book a place and find out more details on our diocesan website.

Spend time with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, speak to others of his Real Presence, share frequently in the celebration of the Eucharist for it is participation in Him that brings about, in a way not possible in any other context, our conformity to Him, and the growth in holiness that will enable us to proclaim Him to the world.

With every blessing,

+ Richard

To book your place for Adoremus, click here.

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