This Sunday, the Dominican community gathered in Saint Stephen’s Basilica for the 11.30 am Sunday Mass, celebrated for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
The celebration was presided over by Brother Bernard Ntamak-Songue, a son of the Province of Saint Charles Lwanga of Central Africa and librarian of the École biblique. Brothers of the community, students, members of staff, friends of the convent and the faithful of Jerusalem came together for this feast, which holds a special place in the Catholic tradition.
The music for the liturgy was led by Brother Łukasz Popko, cantor of the community, with the valuable assistance of Fr Gwilym Evans, FSSP. The chants for the Mass and the procession helped sustain the prayer of the assembly and brought out the beauty of the celebration.
La Fête-Dieu
At the end of Mass, the faithful took part in a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the cloister of the basilica. Carried in the monstrance, the Body of Christ was solemnly borne through the cloister galleries as the assembly sang Eucharistic hymns.
This procession, inherited from a long tradition of the Church, gives public expression to Christian faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. By following the Lord carried in the midst of his people, the faithful show their desire to place Christ at the heart of their personal lives, their community and their mission.
In the luminous setting of Saint Stephen’s, this gesture took on a particular significance. The stones of the convent, dedicated for more than a century to the study of the Bible, remind us that every authentic intellectual quest finds its fulfilment in the encounter with Christ, the Word of God made flesh.
The celebration concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. On this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the community thus gave thanks for the gift of the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Church’s life, the bread of life offered for the salvation of the world.