While celebrating the Solemn Feast of Corpus Christi yesterday, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that it is the Eucharist which binds us to Christ, a “feast” we must partake of in order to avoid falling into despair.

According to Vatican Radio, the pope marked the solemnity with Mass on the steps of Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran ahead of a torchlight procession to St. Mary Major.

“The body of Christ is the bond which unites you to him: eat it, or you will have no part in him. The blood is the price he paid for your redemption: drink it, lest you despair of your sinfulness,” Francis said.

What does it mean to “have no part in Him”, to be torn from Him, to fall into cowardice and despair of our sinfulness?

“We are torn from Him when we are not obedient to the Word of the Lord, when we do not live brotherhood between us, when we race to occupy the first places, when we do not find the courage to witness to charity, when we are unable to offer hope. The Eucharist allows us to not be torn from Him, for it is the bond of communion, is the fulfillment of the Covenant, a living sign of the love of Christ who humbled and annihilated Himself for us, that we might remain united.”

Participating in the Eucharist does not allow divisions among us. Through it we achieve communion with God and one another. It becomes “communion with the poor, support for the weak, fraternal attention to those who are struggling to carry the weight of everyday life.”

It also protects us against the kind of evildoing that comes from worshiping worldly powers. This kind of evildoing comes about when we let ourselves be affected by the idolatries of our time: “appearance, consumption, the self at the center of everything; but also being competitive, arrogance as the winning attitude, the idea that one never need admit to a mistake or to find oneself in need. All this demeans us, makes us mediocre, lukewarm, insipid Christians.”

He reminded that Jesus shed his blood as a ransom and as a lavacrum – a cleansing agent, that we might be purified of all these sins.

“In order that we fall not into cowardice, despair of sinfulness, that we not become weak, let us look to him, let us drink deep draughts from His source, that we might be preserved from the risk of corruption. Then shall we experience the grace of a transformation.”

We will always remain poor sinners, but the Blood of Christ will deliver us from our sins and give us back our dignity, he said.

“Without merit of our own, with sincere humility, we can bring to our brethren the love of our Lord and Savior. We will be His eyes that go in search of Zacchaeus and of the Magdalene; we will be His hand who helps the sick in body and spirit; we will be His heart that loves those in need of reconciliation and understanding.”

After communion and the Holy Father’s blessing, the congregation sang the Pange lingu and began to make its way down the via Merulana, about a mile, through the heart of the city, with Our Lord in the Eucharist. Pope Francis met the faithful at St Mary Major, which welcomed the Eucharistic Lord with the pealing of the bells and the Tantum ergo.

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