Corpus Christi: Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ: Liturgical Prayers
Greeting
The Lord Jesus is here among us, he has brought us together.
He speaks to us today; he gives himself to us to eat and to drink. May he
always be with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
Take and Eat
The most frequent form of contact with the Church is, for
almost all Catholics, the Sunday Mass. It is good to ask ourselves today: Why
are we here? What are we doing here? Why must it be the Eucharist that brings
us together? Because the Eucharist is the Lord himself. It assures us,
believers, that the Lord is here, that he is present not only in the Blessed
Sacrament but in each of us and in our communities. He guarantees to those who
believe in him that he is walking with us as our companion in life. Even more,
he shows us in the Eucharist how to live like him, give ourselves with him; how
with him to break ourselves for one another and to give thanks to God, and to
each other too. We join Jesus now in his thanks to the Father.
An Active Presence
When in a cafeteria, sitting at the same table with someone
who is just sitting there without a word or a sign of recognition, it is as if
they are not present. People are present to one another when they interact. We
believe in the real presence in the Eucharist. The Lord is there for us,
speaking to us, loving us, giving himself to us, and I hope that we respond to
him. He enables us to become present to others in the same way he is present to
us. Let us ask him for this living real presence.
Penitential Act
Take and Eat
Our life is still much unlike that of Jesus, for we are
sinners in need of forgiveness. We now seek the Lord’s pardon and strength.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, in the Eucharist You give yourself to us to eat
and share. All thanks and praise to you! Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist, you invite us to become with
you food and drink for the life of the world. All thanks and praise to you! Christ,
have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, in the Eucharist, you give us the strength to
live the way you lived: for God and people. All thanks and praise to you! Lord,
have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord, unite us more to you by forgiving us and making us share more deeply in your life. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
An Active Presence
We would sin less if we were more aware of the presence of
Jesus in our lives, We ask him to forgive us. (pause)
Lord Jesus, in the Eucharist you sit at table with us and
you converse with us by your word: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist you set for us the table of
yourself: you give yourself to us: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, in the Eucharist you make us become more like
yourself: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Speak to us, Lord, your forgiving word and make us whole and
new again. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that the Spirit may give us a real hunger for
the Lord (pause)
God our Father, you fill the hungry with the food they need and
you do not let the poor go away with empty hands. Keep speaking to us the Word
of your Son as the inspiration and guide of our life. Let Jesus sustain and
restore us with his body and refresh us with his drink of joy, that we may
share ourselves with each other and become each other’s delight. Let his bread
of life be the pledge of your unending bliss and happiness. We ask this through
Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Gen 14:18-20): A Covenant in Bread and
Wine
Melchizedek, priest and king of Jerusalem, welcomes Abraham
with a covenant meal of bread and wine. In the signs of bread and wine of the
Eucharist, Jesus strengthens us in the covenant with the Father.
Second Reading (1 Cor 11:23-26): The Meal of the Lord’s
Coming
Paul tells us how Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last
Supper. We should continue celebrating the Eucharist to hasten the coming of
his kingdom of love and justice among us and to prepare for his final coming.
2 Reading: 1 Cor 11:23-26
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also
handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took
bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body
that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the
cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you
eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he
comes.
Sequence Lauda Sion
Laud, O Zion, your salvation, Laud with hymns of exultation,
Christ, your king and shepherd true:
Bring him all the praise you know, He is more than you bestow. Never
can you reach his due. Special theme for
glad thanksgiving Is the quick'ning and the living Bread today before you
set: From his hands of old partaken, As
we know, by faith unshaken, Where the Twelve at supper met. Full and clear ring out your chanting, Joy
nor sweetest grace be wanting, From your heart let praises burst: For today the feast is holden, When the
institution olden Of that supper was rehearsed. Here the new law's new oblation, By the new
king's revelation, Ends the form of ancient rite: Now the new the old effaces, Truth away the
shadow chases, Light dispels the gloom of night. What he did at supper seated, Christ ordained
to be repeated, His memorial ne'er to cease: And his rule for guidance taking, Bread and
wine we hallow, making Thus our sacrifice of peace. This the truth each Christian learns, Bread
into his flesh he turns, To his precious blood the wine: Sight has fail'd, nor thought conceives, But
a dauntless faith believes, Resting on a pow'r divine. Here beneath these signs are hidden Priceless
things to sense forbidden; Signs, not things are all we see: Blood is poured and flesh is broken, Yet in
either wondrous token Christ entire we know to be. Whoso of this food partakes, Does not rend
the Lord nor breaks; Christ is whole to all that taste: Thousands are, as one, receivers, One, as
thousands of believers, Eats of him who cannot waste. Bad and good the feast are sharing, Of what
divers dooms preparing, Endless death, or endless life. Life to these, to those damnation, See how
like participation Is with unlike issues rife. When the sacrament is broken, Doubt not, but
believe 'tis spoken, That each sever'd outward token doth the very
whole contain. Nought the precious gift
divides, Breaking but the sign betides Jesus still the same abides, still
unbroken does remain.
The shorter form of the sequence begins here.
Lo! the angel's food is given To the pilgrim who has
striven; see the children's bread from heaven, which on dogs may
not be spent. Truth the ancient types
fulfilling, Isaac bound, a victim willing, Paschal lamb, its lifeblood
spilling, manna to the fathers sent.
Very bread, good shepherd, tend us, Jesu, of your love befriend us, You
refresh us, you defend us, Your eternal goodness send us In the land of
life to see. You who all things can and
know, Who on earth such food bestow, Grant us with your saints, though
lowest, Where the heav'nly feast you show, Fellow heirs and guests to be.
Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel (Lk 9:11b-17): Jesus Feeds the Hungry
Jesus welcomes all that go to him, speaks his liberating
word to them, and gives them food when they are hungry. In the Eucharist,
Christ gives himself and renews the covenant.
Intercessions
Let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ that with him we may be
open to all needs and all hungers. Let us say: R/ Stay with us, Lord.
– For
a Church hungry for community and shared responsibility, that we may be
tolerant of one another and respectful of legitimate diversity and that we may
build up one another, let us pray: R/ Stay with us, Lord.
– For
Christian Churches hungry for unity and for the sharing of the Eucharist, that
our prayers and efforts at reconciliation may bring us together in the body of
the Lord, let us pray: R/ Stay with us, Lord.
– For
the many people in the world hungry but not yet satisfied with food and human
dignity, that they may be given their fair share of the goods of the world and
of spiritual values, let us pray: R/ Stay with us, Lord.
– For
those who are hungry for freedom, justice and peace, that we may belong among
them and that we may not be too easily satisfied, let us pray: R/ Stay with us,
Lord.
– For
those who hunger for faith and hope, that they may find Christ and that we may
be the humble way to him, let us pray: R/ Stay with us, Lord.
Lord Jesus Christ, stay with us and nourish us with yourself
and with the courage to go all the way with one another and with you, our Lord
for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Our God and Father, as a meal brings a family together and
is a sign of unity and solidarity, so too we are gathered in unity around the
table of your Son. Let your Son keep us together in friendship, peace and a
common concern for love and justice among us and in the whole world. We ask you
this through him who gives himself to us and stays with us, Jesus Christ, your
Son and our Lord forever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
With joy we give thanks to our God who cares by giving us
Jesus as our companion in life and our food for the road.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray to our Father in heaven to give us the food for
our bodies and the food of the Lord’s body: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us to live in
peace and friendship. Through the body and blood of your Son free us from the
selfishness of sin and give us the will and courage to bring food and justice
to a hungry world, as we work in joyful hope for the coming of your kingdom
among us and for the final coming in glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
R/ For the kingdom...
At the Breaking of Bread
As Jesus commanded us to do, we break his bread for all who
are hungry for him. Let us also break and share ourselves with one another, that
together we may follow the way of the Lord.
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus our Lord, who gave bread to the hungry. He
says to us now: I am the bread of life. It is my flesh for the life of the
world. Happy are we to be invited to the table of the Lord. R/ Lord, I am not
worthy...
Note. It would be fitting on the Solemnity of the Body and
Blood of Christ to give communion under both kinds.
Prayer after Communion
Lord Jesus Christ, you have given us your body and blood, your
whole self. Accept our thanks and stay with us to be our strength in the
beautiful but demanding task of bringing your love, justice and hope to a
divided and cold world. And make us capable of setting the table of ourselves
for one another, as you do for us, our Lord and Savior forever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
In this Eucharist, the Lord has shared himself with us not
just for our consolation but to possess us and to transform us with his own
spirit of commitment to God and to people. The lot of people hungry in any way for
food and love, for encouragement, for something and someone to believe in, can
no longer leave us indifferent. May God give us this self-forgetting courage: the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go with the Lord
and share ourselves with him.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Commentary
Corpus Christi
Read:
King and priest Melchizedek offers up bread and wine. In
Paul, we have the earliest account of the institution of the Eucharist. Jesus
feeds about five thousand men.
Reflect:
The Feast of Corpus Christi affirms the
Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist— a scandal for many, but a core
experience of faith for the believer. Writing on the Real Presence, Flannery
O’Connor, a thoroughbred catholic story teller, recalls an encounter with
another author, a fallen-away catholic:
“[She] said that when she was a child and received the Host,
she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the ‘most portable’ person of the
Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty
good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell
with it.” That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this
is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it
is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”
Pray:
For an unshakable faith in the Real Presence of Christ in
the Eucharist.
Act:
Today, tend to the Corpus Christi in the
body of a needy person.
