Sunday with the Octave of Corpus Christi



from: vultus.stblogs.org

I wanted to write something about the Octave of Corpus Christi, but I fear I would not have anything better to say than David Forster of Liturgia Latina. I would encourage you all to read his post on Sunday with the Octave of Corpus Christi here. He reads the Old Testament typology of the prophet Samuel through the eyes of St. Gregory the Great in order to consider the idea of God feeding man. Fittingly, the Gospel reading on this Sunday is from chapter 14 of St. Luke, wherein Jesus speaks a parable of a man who has prepared a great feast, but all the invited excuse their absence. The actual Thursday feast of Corpus Christi is laden with Incarnational undertones (the doxologies, the preface of the Mass, the hymn Pange Lingua to some extent). Earlier I even posted an excerpt from St. Gregory of Nyssa's catechism concerning the Eucharist, which takes an "organic" approach. Point being, there is a great wealth of typology, ecclesiology, theology, and liturgy to consider when trying to understand the Eucharis. This is why the Church gave the feast an octave in the 15th century. It is for our benefit.