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Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Maiden Lane

Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Maiden Lane

The Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament

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News

Posted on 9 November 2019

Newsletter – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Newsletter – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on 2 November 2019

Newsletter – 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Newsletter – 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on 25 October 2019

Newsletter – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Newsletter – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on 19 October 2019

Newsletter – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Newsletter – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on 11 October 2019

Newsletter – St Edward the Confessor

Newsletter – St Edward the Confessor

Posted on 4 October 2019

Newsletter – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Newsletter – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Posted on 29 September 2019

Newsletter – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Newsletter – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Posted on 21 September 2019

Newsletter – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Newsletter – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Posted on 13 September 2019

Newsletter – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Newsletter – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Posted on 7 September 2019

Newsletter – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Newsletter – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

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Our Location

1-5 Maiden Lane
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 7NB
020 7836 4700
Registered Charity No. 233699

Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament

Corpus Christi is the home of the Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament - a Catholic Confraternity devoted to the worship of Jesus Christ, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Find out more and sign up today!

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Do we really want to live eternally? Perhaps many people reject the faith today simply because they do not find the prospect of eternal life attractive. What they desire is not eternal life at all, but this present life, for which faith in eternal life seems something of an impediment. To continue living for ever — endlessly — appears more like a curse than a gift. Death, admittedly, one would wish to postpone for as long as possible. But to live always, without end —this, all things considered, can only be monotonous and ultimately unbearable. This is precisely the point made, for example, by Saint Ambrose, one of the Church Fathers, in the funeral discourse for his deceased brother Satyrus: “Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin ... began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labour and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing". A little earlier, Ambrose had said: “Death is, then, no cause for mourning, for it is the cause of mankind's salvation”. . Whatever precisely Saint Ambrose may have meant by these words, it is true that to eliminate death or to postpone it more or less indefinitely would place the earth and humanity in an impossible situation, and even for the individual would bring no benefit. Obviously there is a contradiction in our attitude, which points to an inner contradiction in our very existence. On the one hand, we do not want to die; above all, those who love us do not want us to die. Yet on the other hand, neither do we want to continue living indefinitely, nor was the earth created with that in view. . . . . . . #corpuschristi #londoncatholic #catholiclondon #catholic #romancatholic #catholicism #coventgarden #maidenlane #eucharist #blessedsacrament #jesus #jesuschrist #christ #sacredheartofjesus #adoration #sacredheart #heartofjesus #romanrite #missaleromanum #mass #catholicmass #ordinaryform #extraordinaryform #tlm #traditionallatinmass
Why did St Paul make precisely this, the word of the Cross, the fundamental core of his teaching? The answer is not difficult: the Cross reveals "the power of God", which is different from human power; indeed, it reveals his love: "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men". Centuries after Paul we see that in history it was the Cross that triumphed and not the wisdom that opposed it. The Crucified One is wisdom, for he truly shows who God is, that is, a force of love which went even as far as the Cross to save men and women. God uses ways and means that seem to us at first sight to be merely weakness. The Crucified One reveals on the one hand man's frailty and on the other, the true power of God, that is the free gift of love: this totally gratuitous love is true wisdom. St Paul experienced this even in his flesh and tells us about it in various passages of his spiritual journey which have become precise reference points for every disciple of Jesus: "He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'"; and again "God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong". The Apostle identified so closely with Christ that in spite of being in the midst of so many trials, he too lived in the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for his sins and for the sins of all. This autobiographical fact concerning the Apostle becomes paradigmatic for all of us. . St Paul gave a wonderful synthesis of the theology of the Cross in the Second Letter to the Corinthians where everything is enclosed between two fundamental affirmations: on the one hand Christ, whom God made to be sin for our sake, he died for all; and on the other, God reconciled us to himself without imputing our sins to us. It is from this "ministry of reconciliation" that every form of slavery is already redeemed. Here it appears how important this is for our lives. We too must enter into this "ministry of reconciliation" that always implies relinquishing one's superiority and opting for the folly of love. . . . . . . #corpuschristi #londoncatholic #catholiclondon #romancatholic #coventgarden #Cross
Today, 11 November, the Church remembers St Martin, Bishop of Tours, one of the most celebrated and venerated Saints of Europe. . Born of pagan parents in Pannonia, in what is today Hungary, he was directed by his father to a military career around the year 316. Still an adolescent, Martin came into contact with Christianity and, overcoming many difficulties, he enrolled as a catechumen in order to prepare for Baptism. He would receive the Sacrament in his 20s, but he would still stay for a long time in the army, where he would give testimony of his new lifestyle: respectful and inclusive of all, he treated his attendant as a brother and avoided vulgar entertainment. Leaving military service, he went to Poitiers in France near the holy Bishop Hilary. He was ordained a deacon and priest by him, chose the monastic life and with some disciples established the oldest monastery known in Europe at Ligugé. About 10 years later, the Christians of Tours, who were without a Pastor, acclaimed him their Bishop. From that time, Martin dedicated himself with ardent zeal to the evangelization of the countryside and the formation of the clergy. While many miracles are attributed to him, St Martin is known most of all for an act of fraternal charity. While still a young soldier, he met a poor man on the street numb and trembling from the cold. He then took his own cloak and, cutting it in two with his sword, gave half to that man. Jesus appeared to him that night in a dream smiling, dressed in the same cloak. . Dear brothers and sisters, St Martin's charitable gesture flows from the same logic that drove Jesus to multiply the loaves for the hungry crowd, but most of all to leave himself to humanity as food in the Eucharist, supreme Sign of God's love, Sacramentum caritatis. . . . . #corpuschristi #londoncatholic #catholiclondon #catholic #romancatholic #catholicism #coventgarden #maidenlane #eucharist #blessedsacrament #jesus #jesuschrist #christ #stmartin #adoration #stmartinoftours #martinmas #tours #missaleromanum #mass #catholicmass #ordinaryform #extraordinaryform #tlm #traditionallatinmass
Today, on Remembrance Sunday, we remember those who have died in Christ, whilst serving their country in battle. . In our time, especially after having lived through the past century, humanity has become particularly sensitive to the mystery of Holy Saturday. The concealment of God is part of contemporary man's spirituality, in an existential almost subconscious manner, like a void in the heart that has continued to grow larger and larger. Towards the end of the 19th century, Nietzsche wrote: "God is dead! And we killed him!". This famous saying is clearly taken almost literally from the Christian tradition. We often repeat it in the Way of the Cross, perhaps without being fully aware of what we are saying. After the two World Wars, the lagers and the gulags, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our epoch has become increasingly a Holy Saturday: this day's darkness challenges all who are wondering about life and it challenges us believers in particular. We too have something to do with this darkness. . Yet the death of the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, has an opposite aspect, totally positive, a source of comfort and hope. And this reminds me of the fact that the Holy Shroud of Turin acts as a "photographic' document, with both a "positive" and a "negative". And, in fact, this is really how it is: the darkest mystery of faith is at the same time the most luminous sign of a never-ending hope. Holy Saturday is a "no man's land" between the death and the Resurrection, but this "no man's land" was entered by One, the Only One, who passed through it with the signs of his Passion for man's sake: Passio Christi. Passio hominis. And the Shroud speaks to us precisely about this moment testifying exactly to that unique and unrepeatable interval in the history of humanity and the universe in which God, in Jesus Christ, not only shared our dying but also our remaining in death the most radical solidarity. . . . . . . . . . #corpuschristi #londoncatholic #catholiclondon #catholic #romancatholic #catholicism #coventgarden #maidenlane #eucharist #blessedsacrament #jesus #jesuschrist #remembranceday #remembrancesunday #remembrancesunday2019 #cenotaph #wewillrememberthem🌹 #requiem
Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday and there will be a Solemn Requiem Mass for All the Faithful who have fallen in battle over the centuries. If you’ll be at the Cenotaph at 11am, you’ll have just enough time to make it to Mass afterwards... . We will remember them. . . . . . . . . #corpuschristi #londoncatholic #catholiclondon #catholic #romancatholic #catholicism #coventgarden #maidenlane #eucharist #blessedsacrament #jesus #jesuschrist #remembranceday #remembrancesunday #remembrancesunday2019 #cenotaph #wewillrememberthem🌹 #requiem #requiemmass #mass #11november #armisticeday #whitehall #trafalgarsquare #britishlegion
The liturgy today has us celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, called the "mother and head of all the Churches of the Urbe and Orbe". Actually, this Basilica was the first to be built after the Edict of the Emperor Constantine who, in 313, conceded to Christians the freedom to practice their religion. The same Emperor gave Pope Miltiades the ancient estate of the Laterani family and had the Basilica, the Baptistery and the Patriarchate built for him, the latter being the Bishop of Rome's residence, where Popes resided until the Avignon era. The dedication of the Basilica was celebrated by Pope Silvester in about 324 and the temple was dedicated to the Most Holy Saviour; only after the 6th century were the names of Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist added, from which came its common name. This occasion initially only involved the city of Rome; then, from 1565 onwards, it extended to the entire Church of the Roman rite. Hence, honouring the holy building is meant as an expression of love and veneration for the Roman Church "which", as St Ignatius of Antioch affirms, "presides in charity" over the entire Catholic communion. . . . . . . . . . . #corpuschristi #londoncatholic #catholiclondon #catholic #romancatholic #catholicism #coventgarden #maidenlane #eucharist #blessedsacrament #jesus #jesuschrist #christ #stjohnlateran #lateranbasilica #johnlateran #lateran #romanrite #missaleromanum #mass #catholicmass #ordinaryform #extraordinaryform #tlm #traditionallatinmass
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