After an unusually cold and dark start to the weekend in London, the Sunday of 2 June proved welcomingly warm and sunny. The favourable turn in the weather augured a special day in the UK's capital.
The usual hustle and bustle of modern central London life had an unusual element added to it from noon until the early evening that day: hundreds of people from all walks of life processing on the streets from Covent Garden to Marylebone via Oxford Street, following a faint but strong-smelling cloud of incense that enveloped an ornately embroidered canopy, carried and surrounded by an array of people that looked like they’d been transported straight from the Middle Ages.
It was London’s annual Corpus Christi procession, the local version of a tradition started in 1264 by Pope Urban IV to commemorate a Eucharistic miracle at Bolsena, Italy. Just as in 1264, under the ornate canopy was Jesus Christ, King of the universe, the living God who instituted the original Eucharistic celebration around 33 AD in Jerusalem.
I was in the procession as a volunteer street marshal, one of about 20 volunteers (if you include on-the-spot recruits!), led by the dapper and jovial Rafael Steinmetz Leffa, who I had only previously ended up volunteering alongside as a helper in Lourdes in early May with the British Order of Malta.
Although one would expect Londoners to have justifiable fatigue from public displays of processions and protests, as this procession carrying Lord Jesus in the shiny monstrance moved slowly through central London, I saw public onlookers of all ages and ethnicities stop in visible awe to get a snap on their smart phones of the majestic Corpus Christi procession.
Many of them must of thought, what on earth is all this about? Thankfully, we had the charismatic street marshal Rose Cleary handing out printed explainers along the way. Watching this throughout the day made me wonder how many of these accidental experiences might be the spark that transforms the lives of so many of these onlookers.
I recall recent guidance by fellow Catholic convert Prof Stephen Bullivant who said in a <em>Catholic Truth Society</em> interview that the Catholic Church needs to “maximise the accidents for Grace to trip people up”. The <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/considering-the-solemnity-of-corpus-christi-through-raphaels-stanza-della-segnatura/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Corpus Christi processions across the world</mark></a> do just that.
Indeed, my Corpus Christi celebrations on Sunday began by accident where they also ended. On 30 May (the traditional date for Corpus Christi), I had left my Rosary at home. I therefore popped into the Saint James’s Church at Spanish Place to buy one for the day, stumbling across an enchanting morning Mass of the Ancient Rite celebrated by Fr John Hemer. He gave the most roaringly charismatic explanation of the Real Presence I’ve ever heard. As a result, I looked to Sunday’s Feast of Corpus Christi with a renewed fire for Christ.
For the volunteer street marshals, Corpus Christi began slightly before 11 a.m., when each of us got an armband and then attended an overfull Mass at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, led by the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía. In his homily, the nuncio praised Blessed Carlo Acutis for spreading reverence for the Eucharist via the internet.
After Mass, Rafael gave us marshals a short orientation, and then handed us white sticks – to be held horizontally as a guide to people to maintain a respectful distance from the canopy – along with buckets full of water bottles for the canopy party and leaflets to give the public. Then we took our places surrounding the official procession party, which was led by an Order of Malta Knight. Our first stop was <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/warwick-streets-pipe-organ-restoration-project-struggling-to-find-grants/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory at Warwick Street</mark></a>, via Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus for Adoration at 2 p.m.
Ahead of 3.30 p.m. we began to lineup for the larger procession which would pass through Regent’s Street and Oxford Street, stopping to pray at the Ukrainian Cathedral, on the way to finish at Spanish Place around 5 p.m.
The lineup at Warwick Street was essentially a huge family reunion. I saw Catholics that I’ve known for 15 years. It was a glimpse of the joy you probably experience when you wake up in Heaven. Recognisable clerics under the canopy were the Nuncio, Eparch Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, and Mgr. Philip Whitmore. They were surrounded by knights and dames of the Order of Malta and Order of the Holy Sepulchre, all in full knightly regalia. There was a lone Papal knight of St Gregory, dressed in green, Peter Sefton-Williams.
As the procession advanced, we and central London were graced by the incredible singing talent of Toby Ward. It all felt that for the height of a single Sunday, an image of the worship in Heaven you see described in the Book of Revelations entered London life, and it was glorious. We ended the London Corpus Christi Procession at an overfull <a href="https://www.sjrcc.org.uk/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Saint James's Church at Spanish Place</mark></a>.
There is a new renaissance emerging in the Catholic Church which seems to have <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/westminster-cathedral-forced-to-turn-people-away-due-to-surge-of-attendees-for-easter-triduum/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">begun this past Holy Week</mark></a> and has become even more evident this Feast of Corpus Christi.
How can we participate in this renaissance? The beauty of the Catholic Church is it provides us a blueprint of action to obtain the varied treasures of existence. What else could we expect from a God who tells us, “be fruitful and multiply”, “love one another as I have loved you", “do this in remembrance of me”, “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation".
Take your pick: daily Mass, frequent Confession, Eucharistic Adoration, praying for the dead, the daily Rosary, a procession, <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/why-young-people-love-the-chartres-pilgrimage/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">pilgrimages</mark></a>, serving the sick and the poor and loving your neighbour as yourself and a litany of other acts of devotion and mercy.
The more that Catholics engage with the treasures of the Church, the more “accidents for Grace” we will produce for our brothers and sisters who do not know the Good News. Do not underestimate the Holy Spirit’s custom in using a so-called “accident” as a hand of rescue to a friend drowning in a secular world which only offers the cruel curse of Tantalus; or to a friend who has died seeking relief in Purgatory.
What is the Holy Spirit preparing us for here on earth? It doesn’t really matter. What we do know is what God is preparing for us in the beyond: to be with Him forever in Heaven with the rest of our family, the Church Triumphant.<br><br><em>Photo: Screenshot from Catholic Herald video showing Corpus Christi procession in central London.</em>
<em>Robert Stephenson-Padron OBE is the managing director of <a href="https://penrosecare.co.uk/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Penrose Care</mark></a> which provides home care services to the elderly and disabled. A convert, he was baptised in 2006 while a student at UC Berkeley.</em>
