Sunday, June 18, 2006

I Love a Parade








Today we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi. Here's some Catholic trivia: our tradition holds that the Eucharist was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. We mark that on Holy Thursday during the sacred Triduum (3 days) leading up to Easter. But since that is a pretty solemn time the liturgy on Holy Thursday is appropriately reserved. Therefore another feast was instituted to celebrate the Eucharist, taking place 2 Sundays after Pentecost (the formal end of the Easter season), when we're still in a party mood.


So, as has been done since medieval times, we make a grand fuss, including a procession after Mass that involves bagpipes, banners, streamers, children strewing flower petals and the Blessed Sacrament carried by our priest under a canopy. The point of this exercise is to literally take the sacrament to the street or as Father put it this morning, "out of the comfortable confines of these cathedral walls and into a world that is anything but comfortable". For a gal like me, who's all about ritual and symbol, this is one of my favorite feasts.



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4 Comments:

Blogger Grish opined...

Sounds like fun was had!

June 18, 2006 5:36 PM  
Blogger Amy opined...

huh, reckon i spy charlie rounding the corner there

June 18, 2006 7:40 PM  
Blogger Lorraine opined...

Aye, he's the one with the sporran. Wait. They all have sporrans. Must admit, I did think of the wee lad when the pipes began a'tunin'. Wonder if he actually even likes pipes. No matter. I do.

June 18, 2006 9:18 PM  
Blogger Renee opined...

Looks like a beautiful celebration.
We did the same thing here as well, minus the kilts.

June 19, 2006 2:40 PM  

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