In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O God, You Who in this wondrous sacrament have left us a memorial of Your passion, grant us, we beseech You, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood that we may ever experience within us the effect of Your redemption. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen
Ps. 80:17.
He fed them with the best of wheat, alleluia; and filled them with honey from the rock, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Ps 80:2
Sing joyfully to God our strength; acclaim the God of Jacob.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
He fed them with the best of wheat, alleluia; and filled them with honey from the rock, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. 80:2. Sing joyfully to God our strength; acclaim the God of Jacob.
A Reading from the first letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians1 Cor. 23-29.
Brethren: I myself have received from the Lord - what I also delivered to you, - that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks broke, and said, Take and eat. This is My Body which shall be given up for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In like manner also the cup, after He had supped, saying, This is the new covenant in My Blood; do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you shall eat this Bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until He comes. Therefore whoever eats this Bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the Body and the Blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of the cup; for he who eats and drinks unworthily, without distinguishing the Body, eats and drinks judgment to himself.
Thanks be to God.
Ps. 144:15-16.
The eyes of all look hopefully to You, O Lord; and You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand; and satisfy the desire of every living thing. Alleluia, alleluia.
John 6:56 - 57.
My Flesh is food indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He who eat My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abides in Me and I in him.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59.
At that time, Jesus said to the crowds of the Jews: My Flesh is food indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He who eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. This is the Bread that has come down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this Bread shall live forever.
Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
Homily by St Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo)26th Tract on John.
By use of meat and drink men would fain that " they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more," Apoc. vii. 16, and yet there is but one Meat and one Drink, Which doth work in them that feed thereon that " this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality," 1 Cor. xv. 53, namely communion with that general assembly 2 and Church of God's holy children, who are "kept in perfect peace," Isa. xxvi. 3, and are "all one," John xvii. 11, fully and utterly. And therefore it is, as men of God before our time have taken it, that our Lord Jesus Christ hath set before us His Body and His Blood in the likeness of things which, from being many, are reduced into one. In one loaf are many grains of corn, and one cup of wine the juice of many grapes. And now He giveth us to know how that which He spake cometh to pass, and how indeed " this Man can give us His Flesh to eat," and His Blood to drink.
He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." To dwell in Christ, therefore, and to have Him dwelling in us, is to "eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup," 1 Cor. xi. 28, and he which dwelleth not in Christ, and in whom Christ dwelleth not, without all doubt doth not spiritually eat His Flesh nor drink His Blood, although he do carnally and visibly press the Sacrament with his teeth but, contrariwise, he " eateth and drinketh damnation to himself," because he dareth to draw nigh filthy to that secret and holy thing of Christ, whereunto none draweth nigh worthily, save he which is pure, even he which is of them concerning whom it is said " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matth. v. 8.
As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." This is as though He said: The Father hath sent Me into the world John x. 36, and I have emptied Myself [and taken upon Me the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man], Phil. ii. 7, 8. I have My life from the Father, as One That is greater than I. John xiv. 28. He that eateth Me, even he, by thereby taking part in Me, shall live by Me. It is as having humbled Myself Phil. ii. 8 that I live by the Father, but he that eateth Me, him will I raise up, John vi. 55, and so he shall live by Me. It is said "I live by the Father " that is to say, He is of the Father, not the Father of Him, and yet not so, but that the Father and the Son are co-equal together. Also it is said "So he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me," whereby He showeth the gracious work towards His people of Him Who is the " one Mediator between God and man," 1 Tim. ii. 5, and not that He Which is eaten and he which eateth Him are co-equal together.
From St. Josemaria Escriva
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (Jn 13:1).
When our Lord instituted the Eucharist during the Last Supper, night had already fallen. The world had fallen into darkness, for the old rites, the old signs of God ‘s infinite mercy to mankind, were going to be brought to fulfillment. The way was opening to a new dawn —the new Passover. The Eucharist was instituted during that night, preparing in advance for the morning of the resurrection.
Jesus has remained in the Eucharist for love ... for you.
He has remained, knowing how men would treat him ... and how you would treat him. He has remained so that you could eat him, and visit him and tell him your concerns; and so that, by your prayer beside the tabernacle and by receiving him sacramentally, you could fall more in love each day, and help other souls, many souls, to follow the same path.
Good child: see how lovers on earth kiss the flowers, the letters, the mementos of those they love …
Then you, how could you ever forget that you have him always at your side —yes, Him? How could you forget ...that you can eat him?
Lord, may I never again flutter along close to the ground. Illumined by the rays of the divine Sun —Christ —in the Eucharist, may my flight never be interrupted until I find repose in your Heart.
Pray 5 decades of the Rosary meditating on the Luminous Mysteries
