This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi! This feast day is always celebrated on the second Sunday after Pentecost in the United States. It is a day to commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and remember that Jesus is truly present, body and blood, in the bread and the wine. He gives Himself to us every time we receive Him in Holy Communion. This day is a good opportunity to talk with children about the bread and the wine truly becoming Jesus during Mass. We call this Real Presence, and we believe that Jesus is really, completely with us. (You can explain this to young kids who think that they might 'hurt' Jesus by receiving communion, by letting them know that Jesus is giving us the gift of Himself, so that He can always be with us. You can also remind them that Jesus rose from the dead, so His body is different than ours and can't be hurt.)At the risk of sounding a little preachy, the first thing we can do to celebrate this and every Sunday is go to Mass. What better way is there to learn about Jesus being with us than to experience it first hand? Many aspects of our faith are not passed on by learning about them, but by living them, and we should help our kids do this is at Sunday Mass. I like our parish's family Mass, since screaming kids are not a problem!
The other thing my family will do is a tradition I started last year. I got the idea from Lacy's Trinity Sunday Sundaes over on Catholic Icing. She has wonderful Catholic ideas and activities, and you can find her 'Trinity Sundae' post here.
The basic idea is to make a representative 'sundae' on the 'Sunday' of the feast! This is what I did for the Body and Blood of Christ:
Ingredients:
Purple-ish ice cream or sherbet (I used black cherry) to represent the wine that becomes Jesus's blood.
Round cookie wafers to represent the bread that becomes Jesus's body.
Whipped cream, where the white, fluffy cream reminds us that Jesus was a pure and innocent sacrifice for our sins.
Red colored sugar or sprinkles to represent Jesus's blood.
Put together as you would any sundae in a stemmed serving dish (the stemmed dish represents the chalice, which is the cup used to hold the wine that becomes Jesus's blood at Mass.) As you eat, talk to your children about the meaning behind Corpus Christi Sunday Sundaes. Enjoy!
