Taking the Eucharist out to the public in turn of the century Barcelona, exiting the Basilica Santa Maria del Mar.  The oil painting done by Barcelona native Ramon Casas displays the splendor of a Corpus Christi procession.  My mother, born and raised in Zaragoza, family in Barcelona, tells of the wonder and magnitude of the Basilica, yet its quaint association with the common fishermen, dock labors, and seafaring men.  In 1936 the Basilica would be set on fire during the calamitous Spanish Civil War, a conflict of intense aggression against the Church.

I posted and realized, I am showing my fifty years. I assume turn-of-the-century means the eighteen hundreds on into the nineteen hundreds. The industrial revolution, Pope Leo XIII, Modern thought: Nietzsche, Marx, existentialist, and the theater of the absurd, the reinvigoration of faith through Our Lady of Lourdes and the declaring of Mary’s Immaculate Conception sprouting wondrous fruit, and the precursor to two horrible world wars. Now we have an even more modern turn of the century, the twentieth on into the twenty-first, future shock accelerating at such a rapid pace who dares foresee coming days. How can one not turn to the hope of Divine Intervention, beyond the splendor of an inspiring, warning, Marian apparition; all knowable and possible worldly solutions extinguished. May trust in the Lord be strong during trying and difficult days.

Let us take pleasure in the celebration of the coming Solemn Feast of Corpus Christ. I am grateful for a procession to partake in, a church becoming a home, a chance to be in community, sharing in the taking of the Eucharist to the streets of Cleveland.