The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
14 June 2020
Full Printable Version Here.
Collect
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray,
so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption.
Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Amen.
Readings and Commentaries
As if the Church were not satisfied with fifty days of paschal feasting, the festivals continue beyond the season. First the Holy Trinity is honoured, and now the Body and Blood of Christ. Many still know today’s feast by its shorter Latin name, Corpus Christi.
This observance originated in the Belgian city of Liège in the 13th century. Very soon after, in 1264, Pope Urban IV decreed that the feast be celebrated by the whole Western Church. From then until the reforms of the Second Vatican Council the popular focus of the feast was on the presence of Christ in the consecrated bread, the Blessed Sacrament.
Nowadays the feast invites us to enter into the whole mystery of Jesus’ self-gift to us in the eucharistic meal. We are reminded that the eucharist is first and foremost an action that engages us heart and soul. Our communion in the Body and Blood of Christ makes the Church the Body of Christ. Like Jesus we break the bread and pour out the wine of our lives for the sake of the world.
First Reading
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy 8:2–3, 14–16
Moses said to the people: ‘Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone but that man lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
‘Do not then forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: who guided you through this vast and dreadful wilderness, a land of fiery serpents, scorpions, thirst; who in this waterless place brought you water from the hardest rock; who in this wilderness fed you with manna that your fathers had not known.’
Responsorial Psalm Ps 147:12–15, 19–20
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or
R. Alleluia.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates,
he has blessed the children within you. R.
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command. R.
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees. R.
Second Reading
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 10:16–17
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf.
Gospel Reading
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 6:51–58
Jesus said to the Jews:
‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’
Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood
has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me
and I live in him.
As I, who am sent by the living Father,
myself draw life from the Father,
so whoever eats me will draw life from me.
This is the bread come down from heaven;
not like the bread our ancestors ate:
they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’
Concluding Prayers
Almighty and all-merciful God, lover of the human race, healer of all our wounds, in whom there is no shadow of death, save us in this time of crisis; grant wisdom and courage to our leaders; watch over all medical people as they tend the sick and work for a cure; stir in us a sense of solidarity beyond all isolation; if our doors are closed, let our hearts be open. By the power of your love destroy the virus of fear, that hope may never die and the light of Easter, the triumph of life, may shine upon us and the whole world.
Through Jesus Christ, the Lord risen from the dead, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy Mary, health of the sick, pray for us.
St Joseph, guardian of us all, pray for us.
(Most Rev. Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane)
or
Gracious God, We give thanks anew for your providence and presence. We prayerfully seek your grace, amidst COVID-19 here and overseas. We pray for those in need of healing. We pray for your peace with those who are anxious or grieving. We pray you will continue to strengthen and sustain all those who are serving in response. We pray for your Holy Spirit’s discernment amidst the many choices and decisions facing our national, community and medical leaders. We pray we each might see quickly what more we can do to help those who are vulnerable. This prayer for our nation in the family of nations, with all that is on our hearts, we gather now and pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.