Lord, open my lips.
 - And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Psalm 95 is the traditional Invitatory Psalm. Psalm 24, 67, or 100 may be substituted.

Antiphon: Come let us adore Christ the Lord, the bread of life.

Psalm 95

Psalm 24

Psalm 67

Psalm 100

God, come to my assistance.
 - Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
 -  as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen. (Alleluia.)


HYMN

The Word of God proceeding forth, Yet not leaving the Father's side, Went forth upon His work on earth And reached at length life's eventide. By false disciple to be given To foemen for His Blood athirst, Himself, the living Bread from heaven, He gave to His disciples first. To them He gave, in twofold kind, His very Flesh, His very Blood: Of twofold substance are we made, And He would freely be our Food. By birth our fellowman was He, Our Food while seated at the board; He died, our ransomer to be; He ever reigns, our great reward. O saving Victim, opening wide The gate of heaven to all us below: Our foes press on from every side; Your aid supply, Your strength bestow. To Your great Name be endless praise, Immortal Godhead, One in Three! O grant us endless length of days With You in our true country.

Verbum supernum prodiens,   Nec Patris linquens dexteram,   Ad opus suum exiens,   Venit ad vitae vesperam. In mortem a discipulo   Suis tradendus aemulis,   Prius in vitae ferculo   Se tradidit discipulis. Quibus sub bina specie   Carnem dedit et sanguinem;   Ut duplicis substantiae   Totum cibaret hominem.   Se nascens dedit socium,   Convescens in edulium,   Se moriens in pretium,   Se regnans dat in praemium.   O salutaris hostia,   Quae caeli pandis ostium,   Bella premunt hostilia;   Da robur, fer auxilium. Uni trinoque Domino   Sit sempiterna gloria:   Qui vitam sine termino   Nobis donet in patria.

Words: Thomas Aquinas; Melody: Verbum supernum prodiens, plainsong Mode 2 L.M.


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: Tell those who are invited: Behold, the meal is ready; come to the marriage feast.

The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures
where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,
to revive my drooping spirit.

He guides me along the right path;
he is true to his name.
If I should walk in the valley of darkness
no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff;
with these you give me comfort.

You have prepared a banquet for me
in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil;
my cup is overflowing.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me
all the days of my life.
In the Lord's own house shall I dwell
for ever and ever. Glory...

Antiphon 1 Tell those who are invited: Behold, the meal is ready; come to the marriage feast.

Antiphon 2 If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink from ever-flowing streams.

Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?

My tears have become my bread,
by night, by day,
as I hear it said all the day long:
Where is your God?

These things will I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I would lead the rejoicing crowd
into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,
the throng wild with joy.

Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.

My soul is cast down within me
as I think of you,
from the country of Jordan and Mount Hermon,
from the Hill of Mizar.

Deep is calling on deep,
in the roar of waters;
your torrents and all your waves
swept over me.

By day the Lord will send
his loving kindness;
by night I will sing to him,
praise the God of my life.

I will say to God, my rock:
Why have you forgotten me?

With cries that pierce me to the heart,
my enemies revile me,
saying to me all day long:
Where is your God?

Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God. Glory...

Antiphon 2 If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink from ever-flowing streams.


Antiphon 3 The Lord fed us with the finest wheat and filled us with honey from the rock.

Ring out your joy to God our strength,
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

Raise a song and sound the timbrel,
the sweet-sounding harp and the lute;
blow the trumpet at the new moon,
when the moon is full, on our feast.

For this is Israel's law,
a command of the God of Jacob.
He imposed it as a rule on Joseph,
when he went out against the land of Egypt.

A voice I did not know said to me:
"I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load.
You called in distress and I saved you.

I answered, concealed in the storm cloud;
at the waters of Meribah I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning.
O Israel, if only you would heed!

Let there be no foreign god among you.
no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

But my people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.

O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.

The Lord's enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock."  Glory...

Antiphon 3 The Lord fed us with the finest wheat and filled us with honey from the rock.


Wisdom built herself a house, alleluia.
- She mixed her wine and set her table, alleluia.


FIRST READING

From the book of Exodus          24:1-11

They saw God, and they ate and drank

Moses himself was told, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, with Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You shall all worship at some distance, but Moses alone is to come close to the Lord; the others shall not come too near, and the people shall not come up at all with Moses."

When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the Lord, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the Lord has told us." Moses then wrote down all the words of the Lord and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do." Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his."

Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and they beheld the God of Israel. Under his feet there appeared to be sapphire tilework, as clear as the sky itself. Yet he did not smite these chosen Israelites. After gazing on God, they could still eat and drink.


RESPONSORY          John 6:48,49,50,51,52
I am the bread of life.
Your forefathers ate manna in the desert,
and they died.
 - This is the bread that comes down from heaven;
anyone who eats this bread will never die.

I am the living bread that comes down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
 - This is the bread that comes down from heaven;
anyone who eats this bread will never die.


SECOND READING

From a work by Thomas Aquinas, priest
(Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lect. 1-4)

O precious and wonderful banquet!

Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfilment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.


RESPONSORY
Know that in this bread is the body of Christ
which hung on the cross,
and in this cup, the blood of Christ
which flowed from his side.
 - Take, therefore, and eat his body;
take and drink his blood,
and you will become members of his body.

Eat this sacred food,
so that your bond of unity with Christ may never be broken.
Drink this sacred blood, the price he paid for you:
so that you may never lose heart because of your sinfulness.
 - Take, therefore, and eat his body;
take and drink his blood,
and you will become members of his body.


CANTICLE          TE DEUM

You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord; we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
  Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
  heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;
  Father, of majesty unbounded,
  your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
  and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free
you did not shun the Virgin's womb.
You overcame the sting of death
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God's right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come and be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

V.  Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance;
R.  govern and uphold them, now and always.
V.  Day by day we bless you;
R.  we praise your name for ever.
V.  Keep us today, Lord, from all sin;
R.  have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
V.  Lord, show us your love and mercy;
R.  for we put our trust in you.
V.  In you, Lord, is our hope;
R.  and we shall never hope in vain.

The concluding part of the hymn may be omitted.


PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist
as the memorial of your suffering and death.
May our worship of this sacrament of your Body and Blood
help us to experience the salvation you won for us
and the peace of the kingdom
where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

ALTERNATIVE PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ,
we worship you living among us
in the Sacrament of your Body and Blood.
May we offer to our Father in heaven
a solemn pledge of undivided love.
May we offer to our brothers and sisters
a life poured out in loving service of that kingdom
where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.


Let us praise the Lord.
- And give him thanks.