From the Florentine household to the Christian faithful around the world and to the members of the Court of St. Mary of Walsingham, grace, peace, and our Apostolic Blessing on this Feast of Corpus Christi in the year of our Lord 2019. It is indeed one of the most joyous occasions in the liturgical year. It offers a chance look back and reflect on the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, for it is the fact that the Holy Mass is a true and living Sacrifice that we affirm, acknowledge, profess, and celebrate this day. Christ is with us always, and most of all in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Christ was incarnate, He suffered and died, rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Without all of that, the faith would be meaningless, and they would be no hope in humanity. In the Sacrament we join ourselves to the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross and celebrate His glorious resurrection and ascension, that we may have the promise and hope of life everlasting. That is what is the inherent nature of the Most Blessed Sacrament. What a joyous gift it is! It is the ultimate symbol and true and living expression of love.
In the Imperial Patriarchate, we continue those traditions of the true Catholic faith that we have been entrusted to maintain. Our patrimony stretches back over 2000 years to Julius Caesar, and to Charlemagne, Bosone d’Arles, and Leo X. Our founding was made holy by Christ on the Cross, indeed by the very Body of our Lord. The brevity of human life and the vast length of the legacy of the Patriarchate is such that I can scarcely consider the Patriarchate to belong to me. Rather, I can only consider that I belong to it. I am its shepherd, nothing more.
If the patrimony of the Patriarchate has any merit in history or in the present period, then it is because of the faith and good works of its people. I am grateful to those who have continued to serve our ecclesiastical state so loyally and so long. And, I am impressed continually with the great achievements of our people.
Let us further pray for peace in the world – an elusive goal that we must nevertheless continue to make a priority, never giving up hope. To that end, let us further pray that the leaders of the temporal governments of the world may gain wisdom, acknowledging the true source of wisdom, and work together for the common good, using territorial nations as means to help people rather than mechanisms of division.
May Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless each of you during this celebration of Corpus Christi, which underpins all that we as Christian faithful do.