Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem ... Praise, Sion, the Savior; praise the guide and the shepherd with hymns and canticles. Today we celebrate this great Solemnity in honor of the Eucharistic mystery. In it, liturgy and popular piety are united, which have not spared ingenuity and beauty to sing to the Love of loves. For this day, St. Thomas composed these beautiful texts for the Mass and the Divine Office. Today we should give many thanks to the Lord for having remained among us, make amends to him and show him our joy at having him so close to us: Adoro te, devote, latens Deitas..., I adore you with devotion, hidden God..., we will say to him many times today in the intimacy of our heart.
In the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament we can say to the Lord slowly, with love: plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor..., I do not see the wounds, as Thomas saw them, but I confess that you are my God; make me believe more and more in you, that I may hope in you, that I may love you.
Faith in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist led to devotion to Jesus in the Sacrament even outside Mass. The reason for preserving the Holy Species, in the first centuries of the Church, was to be able to bring communion to the sick and to those who, for confessing their faith, found themselves in prisons in danger of martyrdom. With the passage of time, the faith and love of the faithful enriched public and private devotion to the Holy Eucharist. This faith led to treat the Body of the Lord with the utmost reverence and to give it public worship. Of this veneration we have many testimonies in the most ancient documents of the Church, and it gave rise to the feast we celebrate today.
Our God and Lord is in the Tabernacle, there is Christ, and there our adoration and our love must be present. This veneration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is expressed in many ways: blessing with the Blessed Sacrament, processions, prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, genuflections which are true acts of faith and adoration? Among these devotions and forms of worship, "the Solemnity of Corpus Christi deserves special mention as a public act rendered to Christ present in the Eucharist (...). The Church and the world have great need of Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of Love. Let us spare no time in going to meet him in adoration, in faith-filled contemplation open to making reparation for the grave faults and crimes of the world. Let us never cease our adoration. " Today in particular should be filled with acts of faith and love for Jesus in the Sacrament of the Blessed Sacrament.
If we attend the procession, accompanying Jesus, we will do so like those simple people who, full of joy, followed the Master in the days of his life on earth, naturally manifesting to him their many needs and ailments; also the joy and happiness of being with him. If we see Him passing by on the street, exposed in the Monstrance, we will let Him know from the intimacy of our heart how much He represents to us.... "Adore him with reverence and devotion; renew in his presence the sincere offering of your love; tell him without fear that you love him; thank him for this daily proof of mercy so full of tenderness, and foster the desire to approach communion with confidence. I am amazed at this mystery of Love: the Lord seeks my poor heart as his throne, so that he will not abandon me if I do not turn away from him. On this throne of our heart Jesus is more joyful than in the most splendid Monstrance.