In 2017, on Corpus Christi Sunday — the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ — the Diocese of Macau, under the leadership of the Most Reverend Stephen Lee, has brought back a tradition that was lost 44 years back. The Diocese of Macau has since then resumed this annual tradition of the’ Corpus Christi’ procession.
His Excellency, The Most Reverend Stephen Lee, Bishop of Macau, explained that the Body of Christ is in a superior level: “In our Catholic Faith, Christ and the Eucharist are always in the first place. Then, the rest of the pious customs of different saints, like the processions of different saints, would make sense. We cannot live our true faith only by venerating Mary and the saints. It is with the faith in Christ that many devotions to Mary and saints take on a meaning.”
On this day, the faithful in Macau join the prelate of the Diocese, the priests and consecrated persons in adoring the Blessed Sacrament and accompanying the Lord in a walk through the centre of the City of the Holy Name of God. As per the words of Pope St John Paul II, “the devout participation of the faithful in the Eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a grace from the Lord which yearly brings joy to those who take part in it” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 10).
【Source】O Clarim, “One Body, One Church – The Return of the Corpus Christi Procession”; Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Encyclical Letter of Saint John Paul II
【Photography】Ivan Leong ©️ O Clarim