Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ), a special day where we draw attention to our Eucharistic Lord, and was instituted as a Feast in the entire Latin Church after a Eucharistic miracle in Bolsena, Italy in 1263.

In the beginning, there was a man named Adam, and he had a great deal going for him. He had an intimate relationship with God—the Lord walked in the same garden and called to him by name—and, as a result, he also formed a beautiful relationship with his wife, his own self, and his surroundings. But one day, leaning into a tree, he turned away from God, turned on his wife, and turned his life (and the world) upside down.

In the account of Pentecost as recorded in scripture, we’re told the fire of the Holy Spirit fell upon Our Lady and the apostles in the Upper Room, were they were not consumed nor harmed by the flame. Once we hear such a thing, we’re immediately led back to Moses before the burning bush at Mount Sinai. The bush was on fire, but was not consumed. The bush wasn’t consumed because the fire was expressing the presence of God. It led Moses to greater reverence. It was a sign of his purification and of his call to go and proclaim freedom from slavery and an exodus back to the Promised Land of his forefathers.

Relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with Our Lord. They are venerated (not worshiped) as tangible memorials of holy people and events. The practice has roots in early Christianity and is based on the belief in the power of God's grace working through the saints and their remains. The veneration of relics is supported by passages like 2 Kings 13:21, where a dead man comes to life after touching the bones of the prophet Elisha. In the early Church, Christians gathered at martyrs’ tombs to celebrate Mass, believing that their closeness to the remains of the saints brought them spiritually closer to God. Now, in each altar as a connection to the early life of the church, first-class relics of saints, typically of a martyred saint, are embedded inside the altar, and that is true for us here at OLMC.

Traveling through Italy, I visited numerous churches that were exquisite in their beauty, from large Papal Basilicas to small local parishes, and were constructed in a variety of times over the course of history, each with their era’s distinctive marks. These churches, from the more simple ancient churches simply decorated with early frescoes, to the lavish baroque basilicas gilded with gold and porphyry all display a commitment to making the most beautiful house for our Lord that they could at that moment.

Ten days ago, on May 8, 2025, Robert Cardinal Prevost was elected Pope, taking the name Leo XIV. This day he was elected, May 8, is a feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, commemorating his multiple apparitions atop Monte Gargano in southeastern Italy since the year 492. This feast day used to be celebrated throughout the world, but has now often been neglected.

While I was in Italy, we celebrated Mass in the Catacombs of Rome, surrounded by the tombs of the early Christians, as well as by where some of the early Popes used to be buried. There were buried martyrs, clergy, families, and children; all Christians who lived the faith even through persecution. We celebrated Mass in a similar way to these early Christians, who celebrated the Mass atop the tombs of the Martyrs, sometimes even becoming martyrs themselves in the process. Even through the centuries of time that have passed between then and now, we share the same faith as the faith of our forefathers.

Today I am writing to you from Italy, where only a few days ago, I attended the funeral Mass of Pope Francis. I had planned for this trip many months ago to go for the Jubilee Year, and was going to be at the Canonization Mass of (soon to be Saint) Carlo Acutis, but just 3 days before I left, Francis passed, causing the Canonization to be postponed. A trip for jubilation turned to a trip for mourning.