Corpus Christi 2016

Feast Day

Corpus Christi Procession (1913), by Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso

In some parts of the world, the Feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday.

In the United States, since the feast is not a Holy Day of Obligation, we celebrate it on the first Sunday following Trinity Sunday.

Pope Francis with Eucharistic monstrance on Corpus Christi 2013

Catholics are not the only Christians who believe in the Real Presence, but our belief in transubstantiation sets us apart from our Protestant brothers and sisters.

Today is also the final Sunday of May. At St. Peter's, we say a rosary before 8:00 Mass on Sundays in May to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Historic

While my beloved Kansas City Royals have acquired a reputation over the past couple of seasons as a team that never quits, and a team capable of executing Houdini-like escapes from defeat in a game's late innings, what happened in the bottom of the 9th inning at Kauffman Stadium yesterday had never happened before in the team's 47-year history. Trailing the Chicago White Sox 7-1 with their closer on the mound and one out, the Royals staged a furious rally to score seven runs and win the game 8-7.

"We did it AGAIN!"

The rally went like this: single, double, walk, walk (forcing in a run), two-run single (deflected off the pitcher's glove), run-scoring ground out (CF Lorenzo Cain beat the relay throw, thereby avoiding a game-ending double play), run-scoring double, run-scoring double (tying the game), wild pitch (runner to third), intentional walk, intentional walk, single.




Rookie DH Brett Eibner, who got his first big league hit in Friday night's game, had a double AND the game-winning single in the same inning. Quite a day for the young man, whose family was there to see it.

Reliever Chien-Ming Wang got the win with two scoreless innings, improving his record to 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA. The Royals won the series, their fifth straight, and will go for a sweep this afternoon.

It will be interesting to see how the White Sox respond, having lost the first two games after leading 5-1 and 7-1.

"That actually happened???"

It actually did, yeah...

Happy Birthday!

Patrick Henry (1815), by Thomas Sully

On May 29, 1736 Patrick Henry was born on the family farm in Hanover County, Virginia.

Henry was an important and influential figure in the run-up to the American Revolution, and his oratorical skills in particular played a significant role in the our country's founding.

G.K. Chesterton, photo by E.H. Mills in 1909

On May 29, 1874 Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in Campden Hill in the Kensington district of London.

Chesterton is one of my favorite writers AND one of my favorite thinkers. I have enjoyed his fiction (especially his Father Brown stories) and his non-fiction (Orthodoxy is one of the best examples of Christian apologetics ever written) ever since I first encountered him in high school.

Chesterton's thoughts on language and style were also very influential in my development as a writer.

It's Just a Scratch, Really

From the ferocious pen of Michael Ramirez, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

One of my favorite things about 8:00 Mass at St. Peter's on patriotic holidays is that our music minister at those services always selects patriotic hymns for the entrance and recessional music.

Today's recessional made me cry, as it almost always does. "America the Beautiful," which combines music written in 1882 by Samuel A. Ward with an 1895 poem by Katharine Lee Bates, was first published in its present form in 1910. It is one of the most beloved patriotic songs of all time, and I could sing it before I had finished 1st Grade.

In my opinion, nobody has ever sung it as well as the incomparable Ray Charles,
who had a long association with the song.

In 1972 Ray released A Message From the People, an album of songs about America and its citizens. The album was a modest success, but Ray's version of "America the Beautiful" went virtually unnoticed.

That began to change following Ray's live performance of the song on The Dick Cavett Show on September 18, 1972. The album cut was released as a single in 1976, and it cracked the Billboard R&B Singles chart. His soulful rendition quickly became a staple of his live performances for the rest of his career.

Perhaps his most famous performance of the song came at the Republican National Convention in 1984, where Charles closed the convention with an especially heartfelt rendition.

Today's send-off is Brother Ray's live 1972 performance on the Cavett telecast. Enjoy...