“Well, today is the feast day of Corpus Christi, the body of Christ in our Gospel passages.
The passage today is the Institution of the Eucharist, the Last Supper as told in the Gospel of Saint Mark, which of course got me to remember back in 1964, when I was seven, my First Communion. I don’t remember much about 1964, but I remember my First Communion.
Most everybody does, don’t you? We remember it because something very powerful, something very beautiful happened. We received Jesus Christ into our lives in a very special and important way. And that’s why we recall that day. Because of how wonderful it was, how joyful it was, how fulfilling it was to now be, in a special way, part of the Body of Christ.
Well, a few hundred years back, in the 1700s in Salzburg, Austria, a young person received his First Communion, probably around the age of seven, at the Cathedral in Salzburg.
His name was Mozart.
A few years later on, when he got a little bit older, he was hired by the Cardinal Archbishop of Salzburg to specifically write music for liturgies at the cathedral. And he wrote a particular piece for this day in memory of his First Communion.
He put into music his feelings about what a beautiful and wonderful thing it was to receive the Body of Christ.
And so, with all of you today, I’m going to try to play that piece on my cello: Ave Verum, in honor of Corpus Christi. While I’m playing that, I invite all of you to close your eyes and think about your First Communion. Think about the very real fact that all that joy you had and that wonderment you had and the joy you had is still there when you receive Communion today.
If we just put away our cares of the world and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, I’m sure you’ll be able to feel again that feeling from many years ago when, for the very first time, you received the Lord.”
~Fr. Joseph Gembala
Recorded live on Sunday, June 2nd, 2024 at St. Malachy Church.