Rector's Rambling - June 10, 2012 - Bishop's Visit & Corpus Christi

We welcome today, with thanksgiving, our Right Reverend Father in God, Wendell N. Gibbs, Jr.  Bishop Gibbs is the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan.  St. Ignatius of Antioch (died about 117) said, "Wheresoever the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wheresoever Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."  The office of Bishop is the outward sign of the unity of the Church, and as members of the One, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, as we proclaim in the Nicene Creed, so too we acknowledge his office as the central locus of unity for members of the Episcopal Church in Southeast Michigan.

The bishop is to visit each parish once every three years, but we have been blessed to have Bishop Gibbs here more frequently.  One reason is that we continue to have new members (or children growing into teens) seeking to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, or to be received into the Episcopal Church.  This is done by the bishop, and he will administer the sacrament to 11 people today.  This sacrament is a decision to take for oneself the promises made by you, or for you by your sponsors, at baptism, and by the apostolic ministry of the bishop to “stir up” the work of the Holy Ghost in the candidate.

Additionally, today is the Sunday within the Octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi.  We celebrated the Feast Day on Thursday with grand solemnity, and the Feast is so nice we do it twice, albeit with different music.  It is most worth doing again so that more of us can be reminded about the great gift of Our Lord’s Body and Blood under the species of Bread and Wine, and an encouragement by His promise to us that we will be fed by Him and strengthened for Eternal Life.  Jesus said, “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54)  We take Jesus at his word, and so we do so in the Blessed Sacrament.