ONLY WHO BELIEVES AND LOVES CAN UNDERSTAND THE EUCHARISTIC MYSTERY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 3, 2002 (VIS) - "Today in Italy and in other countries we celebrate the solemnity of Corpus Christi," said the Pope today at noon before praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"The Christian community gathers around the Eucharist and, in it, adores the most precious treasure: Christ truly present under the species of consecrated bread and wine. Everyone comes out of the churches and carries the Blessed Sacrament in the streets and squares of cities."

John Paul II emphasized that "in order to get to know the fascinating depths of this presence of Christ in the 'signs' of bread and wine, faith is necessary, or rather faith enlivened by love. Only those who believe and love can understand this indescribable mystery, as a result of which God shares in our smallness."

"Precisely for this reason, the Eucharist is the center of the community. Ever since the beginning of time, from the first community of Jerusalem, Christians used to gather on the day of the Lord to renew at Holy Mass the memorial of Christ's death and resurrection. Sunday is a day of rest and praise, but without the Eucharist it loses its true meaning. For this reason, in the Apostolic Letter "Novo millenio ineunte," I proposed once again the importance of Sunday as a serious pastoral commitment and on it the Eucharistic celebration."

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