Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today we are marking the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is the feast day in the Church calendar that gives thanks for the gift of the Eucharist. It is an especially challenging time to celebrate this feast as we mark it during what we might think of as a fast from the Eucharist — during a time of pandemic. Of course, the Church has celebrated the Eucharist during difficult times before. Whether it is plague, violence, upheaval, or so many other disruptions to normal life the Eucharist has been our bond to generations past and generations to come.

Today, at the end of morning prayer, we will offer a simple devotion to the Eucharist called Benediction. Benediction simply means blessing and this extra devotion consists of two hymns from our hymnal, a psalm, a prayer, a blessing of the people, and a concluding set of prayers called the Divine Praises.

The Divine Praises are a moving thing to think about and pray with. They begin and end with “Blessed be God.” They include the lines, “Blessed be the Name of Jesus. Blessed be Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament. Blessed be God in his angels and his saints.”

What I’ve always loved about this devotion is that even as we give thanks and receive the blessing of Christ in the Eucharist we also offer praise for the God we know in the saints. Who are the saints? Simply those who have lived with the full love of God — those who have lived lives exemplifying the grace we find in the Sacraments. Even as we are blessed we offer a prayer of thanks for the blessing of God among and in us — in Jesus and in one another.

in a time when we are having so much trouble believing that our fellow citizens — whether of another color or another political party — are worthy of our love we can use this reminder that God is not only dwelling in Bread that is blessed but that we can bless God in the lives of everyday people whom we might struggle to like let alone bless. The gift of the Eucharist reminds us that we are knit together by love, we are in-dwelt by God, and for that we can offer blessings and praise.

Fr Robert