Although in our country Catholic churches hold particularly beautiful festive masses on Sundays, the church officially celebrates the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, or the Lord's Day, on Thursday, i.e. today. The main holiday is full of beautiful symbols and beautiful traditions.
The main feast of the Lord's Holy Body and Holy Blood in the Catholic Church is the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament: according to the Catholic faith, in the sacrament established by Jesus at the Last Supper (during the Holy Mass, at the Transfiguration), the bread really becomes the body of Christ, while the wine really becomes the blood of Christ. The holiday held on the Thursday following Holy Trinity Sunday was founded by King IV almost eight hundred years ago. Pope Orbán, because some heretical groups began to dispute the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
The purpose of the holiday then and since then is the solemn confession of faith in the Eucharistic Jesus, the most spectacular element of which, apart from the prayers written for the occasion, is the procession. On Lord's Day (or on the following Sunday), the faithful, led by the priest carrying the sacrament in his hands, leave the church and show their settlement the holy secret of their faith: Jesus who lives with us. A similar thing only takes place at Easter, during the procession celebrating the resurrection.
The procession, during which the goal is to present Jesus to the world, and to have the world pay homage to Jesus, has a particularly powerful symbolism this year. The procession stops at four ceremonially decorated altars facing the four heavens, at which the priest reads excerpts from the Gospel and then gives a sacramental blessing to the members of the community.
This blessing traditionally asks for protection against natural calamities and wars
In Europe, long decades passed without the latter being thought of by the faithful as a real, imminent danger while they planted the cross.
Due to the pandemic, the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, which finally took place in 2021, raised the eyes of Hungarian Catholics on the sacrament of the altar with fresh strength. For many, one of the outstanding events of the NEK, the Saturday evening Eucharistic procession through downtown Budapest, in which hundreds of thousands of believers took part, was a spiritual experience of a lifetime. The goal then was the same as this weekend:
to show the city and the world the one who gives hope and the future.
After the congress, the first Lord's Day will now take place, which for the refreshed Hungarian church may also mean a renewal of religious momentum.
Source and full article: mandiner.hu
Featured image: source: vaciegyhazmegye.hu
