Understanding the Day
Season
Time After Pentecost
Week
Week 1 of Time After Pentecost
Rank
First-class feast
Corpus Christi (Sanctissimi Corporis Christi) is celebrated in the Time After Pentecost as a principal feast honoring the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The celebration falls in the first week of this season and is a standalone feast rather than part of an octave or vigil in this context.
Daily Prayer
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Weekly Prayer
Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.
Weekly Formation
Commandment 8
The Ten Commandments
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
The Eighth Commandment requires truthfulness and respect for another person’s good name. It forbids lies, false testimony, rash judgment, slander, detraction, and the needless disclosure of faults, because justice and charity both govern speech.
Saint & Feast
Principal celebrationCalendar title
Corpus Christi
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Today in Church History
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Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Eucharist is the heart of Christian life, completing Christian initiation for those baptized and confirmed and drawing the whole community into the Lord’s sacrifice. Instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, it perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross and is the Church’s memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, sign of unity, and bond of charity. As the source and summit of Christian life, it contains Christ himself and stands at the center of the Church’s sacraments, ministries, and apostolic works. In our shared devotion, the Eucharist calls us into the unity of God’s people and gives us a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy and eternal life with God.
As we reflect together, the many names for the Eucharist reveal the inexhaustible richness of this sacrament. It is Eucharist, an action of thanksgiving to God for his works of creation, redemption, and sanctification. As the Lord’s Supper, it recalls the supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his Passion and anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. In the Breaking of Bread, those who receive the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and become one body in him. The Eucharist is also the memorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection and the Holy Sacrifice, making present Christ’s one sacrifice and including the Church’s offering. At Holy Mass, the faithful are sent forth to fulfill God’s will in their daily lives.
The sacrament of Penance, instituted by Christ, offers sinful members of the Church—especially those who have fallen into grave sin after Baptism—a new possibility for conversion and for recovering the grace of justification. Over time, its celebration developed from rigorous public penance to the private practice of confession between penitent and priest, making repeated reception possible and bringing forgiveness of grave and venial sins into one sacramental celebration. Its essential structure joins the penitent’s acts of conversion—contrition, confession, and satisfaction—with God’s action through the Church, which forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ, prays for the sinner, and helps restore ecclesial communion. As we prepare for Penance, we can prayerfully examine our conscience in the light of God’s Word, especially the Gospels and apostolic teachings, with sorrow for sin and a resolve not to sin again.