Two feasts that are intricately linked are the feasts of Corpus Christ and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They are even celebrated within days of each other.
This is no coincidence, as the feast of Corpus Christi was given an “octave,” meaning that the spiritual themes celebrated on Corpus Christi would remain the primary focus of the Church’s liturgy for a total of eight days.
This was the case for many centuries, and during the 17th century, St. Margaret Mary Alocque had a private vision in which Jesus revealed his heart to her and said, “I ask thee that the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi be set apart as a special feast to honor My Heart.” It is recorded that she had this vision during Eucharistic adoration, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar.
As a note, this octave is no longer on the calendar of the Church and the feast of Corpus Christi is widely celebrated on a Sunday, with the feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after it.
Jesus’ heart
Pope Benedict XVI commented on this link in his 2011 homily on the feast of Corpus Christi:
Everything begins, one might say, from the heart of Christ who, at the Last Supper, on the eve of his passion, thanked and praised God and by so doing, with the power of his love, transformed the meaning of death which he was on his way to encounter. The fact that the Sacrament of the Altar acquired the name “Eucharist” — “thanksgiving” — expresses precisely this: that changing the substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the fruit of the gift that Christ made of himself, the gift of a Love stronger than death, divine Love which raised him from the dead.
He further explains how the Eucharist came from the love in Jesus’ heart:
This is why the Eucharist is the food of eternal life, the Bread of Life. From Christ’s heart, from his “Eucharistic prayer” on the eve of his passion flows that dynamism which transforms reality in its cosmic, human and historical dimensions. All things proceed from God, from the omnipotence of his Triune Love, incarnate in Jesus. Christ’s heart is steeped in this Love; therefore he can thank and praise God even in the face of betrayal and violence, and in this way changes things, people and the world.
The next time you celebrate either feast, recall the spiritual link between the two and how the Eucharist is a gift from the heart of Christ.
And today we celebrate...