Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

A detail from a painting by Giovanni Cimabue, in the lower level of the Basilica at Assisi.

The National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi in San Francisco

Eucharistic Adoration

Consecration

During the celebration of the Eucharist in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, through the power and grace of God, at the spoken words of the priest, the elements of bread and wine are consecrated—that is, made holy—and they become the real body and blood of Christ. This substantive change is called transubstantiation. The bread and wine become Christ himself—truly, really, substantially, whole and entire, soul and divinity (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1374)—in stark contrast to Protestant teaching that sees the Eucharist as a mere symbolic “remembering.”

For this reason, Catholic faithful should approach Communion with awe and reverence, and should make an outward act of reverence—a bow or a genuflection—before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass (cf. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 160).

Moreover, the eucharistic consecration defines the priesthood. The priesthood derives from the Eucharist and exists for the Eucharist. And even if a priest should be stained with sin personally (may we pray for his soul), we still receive the sacred body of Christ from his hands.

Adoration

Saint Clare The “Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during the Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1378). Moreover, it continues, “Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his creator. . . . Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance of our supplication” (CCC 2628).

And what is humility? It is, simply, as Saint Francis himself recognized—and lived to the fullest—the awareness that no human accomplishment has any value apart from the great glory of God, and that the only path to that glory is through a chaste emptying of the self of all human pretentiousness and self-importance.

No wonder, then, that our God should have chosen to reveal himself in his Son through a birth among animals in a stable, and through the most humiliating death ever known—all to expose the great glory hidden behind the Son’s humble obedience to his Father’s will.

The Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows 12:15 PM Mass every Friday at the NATIONAL SHRINE OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

The hymn, O Salutaris Hostia, that follows was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the institution the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264; we chant this hymn in our adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

We chant the hymn in its original Latin; a more-or-less literal English translation is provided that, though not approved for liturgical use, may help those not familiar with Latin to appreciate the original text.

Hymn

Listen to the Latin

O salutaris Hostia
Quae coeli pandis ostium.
Bella premunt hostilia;
Da robur, fer auxilium. O saving Victim
who reveals the gate of heaven.
Hostil wars overwhelm [us];
Give strength, bring aid.

Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempiterna gloria:
Qui vitam sine termino,
Nobis donet in patria. To the one and triune Lord
Be everlasting glory:
Which life without end,
Give us in the fatherland.

For more information:

ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA (The Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church)
(John Paul II, April 2003)

EUCHARISTIAE SACRAMENTUM
Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship
(Promulgating the editio typica of rites for holy communion and worship of the eucharist outside Mass, 21 June 1973.)

The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist
(A document from the USCCB.)

The Real Presence Association
(Has numerous links to Church documents and articles regarding issues related to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.)