2 JUNE – THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

On June 2, the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (previously called the Feast of Lord’s Body – Corpus Christi) is traditionally celebrated on Thursday of the second week after Pentecost. But since this day is a working day in many countries, the celebration of the Solemnity is usually moved to Sunday.

Solemn services in Azerbaijani, Russian and English were held in the main Catholic church of Baku – in the Church of the Immaculate Conception and in the parish of St. John Paul II. The Holy Mass in Russian and the Eucharistic procession were led by the Apostolic Prefect of the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan, Bishop Vladimir Fekete.

“In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, through the prayer of the priest, bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ. And we, participating in the Holy Mass and receiving the Holy Eucharist, are called by God to this change. Some perceive the Eucharist as a kind of reward, a sign of our dignity to be a partaker of Christ. But Jesus descends to us in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood not to reward, but to heal us. He did not say that only holy people can approach Him and become partakers of His Body and Blood. Christ established the Sacrament of the Eucharist for us as a source of spiritual strength to resist evil in the world and evil in ourselves. We should open our hearts to Christ, entrust Him with all our weaknesses and vices in sincere repentance, and then, accepting the Holy Sacrament with faith, we ourselves, by the power of the Spirit of Christ acting in us, will be transubstantiated into Jesus,” Bishop Vladimir Fekete noted in his sermon.

After the Holy Mass, according to ancient tradition, the faithful performed the Eucharistic procession, at the end of which Bishop Vladimir Fekete blessed all the participants in the service, the city and the country with the Most Holy Sacrament.